Rabat - Founder and leader of Apata Adu­ra Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Ekute, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, the former Pastor Adekunle Afolabi attributed his conversion to Islam to a divine message he received from a strange man in white in his dreams.

After practicing Christianity for over 25 years, the 45-year-old man, now known as Alfa Abubakar Afolabi, is convinced that Islam is “the only religion that leads to heaven.”

“I was preparing for the anniversary when I started having dreams that eventually led to my conversion,” the former pastor said.

“At first in the dreams, I noticed my members were sitting on the floor in the church and some of them were covering their heads. I also saw that people were washing their hands and feet before entering the church just like it is done in Islam,” he added.

When the former pastor converted to Islam, about 150 of his congregation abandoned his church, and his decision was met with different reactions.

While some of his family relatives and friends respected his decision, the former pastor said that his wife was among those who opposed his choice.

“The only person who at the time opposed it was my wife, be­cause she was a Christian when I married her.”

However, many others who “have always known me to be truthful with whatever I’m doing,” respect him, adding that they “also respect my decision, so there hasn’t been any cause for alarm.”

The church, which used to be a Christian place of worship, has started to receive many Muslims looking for a good place to perform daily prayers.

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Rabat - The Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium (CAIB), the leading watchdog fighting Islamophobia in the country, has released its first report highlighting a shocking increase in discriminatory acts against Muslims and their places of worship.

Established last year, the Collective revealed that the number of Islamophobic acts increased by 94 percent in Belgium between 2011 and 2014.

“In 2014, there was at least one Islamophobic act every two days in Belgium,” the report said.

[caption id="attachment_164928" align="aligncenter" width="882"] Acts regarded Islamophobic by the Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium from 2011 to 2014[/caption]

Based on the official annual figures of the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities in Belgium, CAIB highlighted that in the period between 2011 and 2013, there were at least two Islamophobic acts every week, one of which was clearly in breach of anti-discrimination Law.

The report added that Islamophobic acts are increasing in Belgium after "several consecutive years without the government’s awareness of the seriousness of the phenomenon and its impact on social cohesion and public freedoms.”

To fight effectively against racism and xenophobia, CAIB identified three priorities for this purpose:1) For the government to take concrete action by formally recognizing Islamophobia as a violation of fundamental rights and a threat to social cohesion; 2) to monitor permanently the Islamophobic acts reported regularly; and 3) to recognize Muslim women wearing headscarves in high schools and in the job market.

Amid the growing propaganda of the organized groups against Islam, CAIB expressed its concerns, calling on the government to assure personal freedoms and the right to practice one’s religion.

After the attacks that targeted France, discrimination against Muslims has become stronger than ever in Europe, and Muslim places of worships are being desecrated more frequently.

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Rabat - The number of foreigners converting to Islam continues to rise in Morocco, as a Spanish family of three announced their conversion on Friday, in El Jadida, 90.56 km (56.27 miles) away from Casablanca.

The father and his son took the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith affirming the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as His Prophet) in the presence of thousands of worshippers in the Nour Mosque, after the noon prayer.

The daughter, on the other hand, was taught the Shahadaby a woman in the women’s quarters of the mosque.

In a video posted on YouTube, the father and his son expressed their happiness to convert to Islam and their new brothers and sisters.

The father decided to change his name to Omar while the son chose Idriss as his new name, although Islam does not require new converts to adopt Muslim names.

Every year during summer time, a number of non-Muslim foreigners announce their conversion to Islam, while visiting Morocco.

Thanks to its tradition of openness and tolerance, Morocco has become in recent years one of the main destinations for foreigners seeking to learn and convert to Islam. Every day, foreigners adopt the Islamic faith in different cities of the Kingdom.

The most recent conversion of foreigners to Islam in Morocco was last month, when a French man and a Swiss man converted to Islam in the Koutoubia Mosque of Marrakesh.

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Miami - Evangelical Pastor James McConell who has been under fire for months since his offensively insulting remarks about Islam during a sermon, is now formally charged by Belfast court, Ireland. McConnell depicted Islam as “satanic” and “heathen” and said “it had been spawned in hell”.

His controversial sermon at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast last year was streamed online. McConell has also posted written insults about Islam that have caused controversy. The Pastor appeared before the Belfast Magistrates Court to confront accusations.

Around 1,000 protesters in support of McConnell were gathered around the court chanting and holding signs in his favor.

According to RTE News, the 78 year-old Preacher’s Defense Lawyer, Joe Rice declared to District Attorney Judge Amanda Henderson that the his client was denying the accusations saying he was just expressing “his own personal views”.

Rice affirmed that McConnell “had not incited hatred nor had he encouraged violence against Muslims”. McConell “strenuously denied” any moral or legal charges.

The Preacher defended himself outside the court in front of his supporters by declaring to RTE News that these accusations against him were “absolutely stupid.”

“There has been a reaction of anger” in his support “even from atheists, even from people that don’t go to church”. He condemns these charges as “ridiculous,” he said.

The Pastor also told the court that he was taking a “principled stance” appealing to freedom of speech. He believes that “he has every right to criticize Islam, as Islamic clerics have the right to entice him”.

Some sources have even said that McConnell could face up to six months in jail for his remarks. The case was adjourned until September 3, 2015.

“Freedom of speech may allow someone to express their views, but it does not give the moral right to horribly offend an entire group of people with gross insults. Positions of power, whether in politics or religion need to be exercised with caution to avoid provocations and extremist results,” an American professor, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, told Morocco World News.

“To be an example to thousands of followers, there are responsibilities that comes with freedoms. It is always preferred and best regarded as respectful to further personal views that promote peace and unity,” he added.

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Rabat - In its leading role in the fight against religious extremism that has emerged in Africa, Morocco has done huge efforts to promote the true image of Islam through an in depth program of training imams of most of the African countries and some European countries.

On March 27, the king of Morocco inaugurated in Rabat the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates (religious preachers), which is a pilot project that will further enhance Morocco’s religious influence and anchor the Kingdom’s attachment to the precepts and fundamentals of Islam.

In this regard, Robert Holley, a former U.S. diplomat, said, on May 26 in Washington, that "the requests from several African countries for training imams in Morocco constitute a clear recognition of the success that Morocco has had under the King's leadership in adopting a multi-faceted approach to the issue of combating extremism and violence in the region."

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Rabat - A Dutch-Moroccan has sparked controversy among the Moroccan community in the Netherlands by signing on to play Jesus, news website Yabiladi reported, citing Dutch media.

35-year-old Abbie Chalgoum, an Economics teacher and an art enthusiast, accepted to play Jesus, the prophet of Christianity, in a play called 'Passion' in the city of Venlo.

While he has won praise from Dutch spectators who have declared themselves fans, Chalgoum, however, has earned nothing but threats and insults from his fellow Moroccans.

"They said that as a Moroccan and a Muslim, I should not play the role of Jesus," Chalgoum told Dutch media regarding the disapproval from the Moroccan community. "Because Jesus is a prophet and prophets should not be depicted".

Chalgoum said that a group of young Moroccans started to harass him at the train station because of his role in the play. "They started to insult me and threaten me. They then said that they know that I don't live in Venlo and that they know where to find me in Amsterdam".

The Moroccan actor was advised by the police to lodge an official complaint. According to Dutch media, the group of young Moroccans has already been questioned by authorities.

In Islam, the depiction of prophets and religious figures is prohibited.

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Miami - Iraqi and Syrian territories are not only enduring the oppression of the Islamic State’s radicalism, but they are also faced with a practice that according to ISIS fighters, it is not a sin but a religious devotion. Abducting, abusing, selling, enslaving, and violently raping women and young girls may seem like the ultimate human rights violations, but ISIS defends them as “acts of worship”.

A lengthy and heart-wrenching report by The New York Times describes the horrific stories of preteen and teenage girls who have been abducted, bound, and violently raped by ISIS fighters. Girls sold as sex slaves and brutally abused without remorse until they crumble and either lose their life or escape.

According to the NY Times, these acts have been officially practiced since August 3^rd 2014 when ISIS-run Islamic courts ruled the revival of “sex slavery” as an institution. Since then, over 5,270 Yazidi women have been abducted and 3,144 are still held captive. Some have managed to escape to refugee camps where they recount their terrible experiences.

Yazidi women and girls in Iraq are part of a religious minority who do not practice Islam, and ISIS claims “the Quran not only gives the right to rape [them] – it condones it and encourages it”. The NY Times interviewed 21 refugees who escaped the Islamic State’s “organized sex trade”.

The most terrifying of the recollections was by a 12-year old girl who the report describes “so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands”. She shared how the ISIS militant tied and gagged her, then prayed before and after raping her. “I kept telling him it hurts – please stop. He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God”.

According to the report, ISIS has created an “infrastructure” of rape and sex slavery; and even “established guidelines, including a lengthy how-to manual issued by the Islamic State Research and Fatwa Department”. They proliferate this horrific ideology by misinterpreting and citing “narrow and selective portions of the Quran”, where it is supposedly “spiritually beneficial, even virtuous” to perform such violent acts.

F (real name unknown), a 15-year old girl who had been sold to an Iraqi fighter and escaped, told the NY Times, “Every time that he came to rape me, he would pray. He kept telling me this is ibadah”, meaning ‘worship’ in Islamic faith. The teenager added, “He said that raping me is his prayer to God. I said to him, ‘What you’re doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.’ And he said, ‘No, it’s allowed. It’s halal”, meaning ‘permissible’ in Islam.

The stories of the victims are appalling and their experiences repeat over and over again. It is evident that enslaving and violently raping Yazidi women has become a fully-planned and premeditated act used by the Islamic State militants. According to several reports, ISIS officials utilize this as recruitment tool within “extreme conservative Muslim groups” where sex is taboo, to entice young men with sex to join the Islamic State.

The use of “sex slavery” contracts, written manuals of rape, claims of honor, victory and pride, as well as disgraceful and twisted interpretations of the Quran, where ISIS affirms “having sex with a slave pleases God” are alarming the world. Young men who become ISIS militants are being brainwashed to believe they have the legal and moral right to possess and destroy these women.

The Islamic State continues to terrorize and commit crimes against humanity by justifying their acts under extremist religious beliefs that cannot be accepted under any circumstance and misconstrue the Islamic faith.

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Rabat - American aid worker Kayla Mueller was repeatedly raped before her death by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and al Shams (ISIS), US officials told ABC news.

Prior to her death earlier this year, Mueller, 26, who was abducted while working as aid worker in Aleppo, Syria in August 2013, had been sexually abused and tortured by the leader of ISIS.

"We were told Kayla was tortured, that she was the property of al-Baghdadi. We were told that in June by the government," Kayla's parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, told ABC News.

The group said that Mueller died in a Jordanian airstrike, but the American government denied ISIS’s claims, stressing that the group killed the hostage.

The same source said that al-Baghdadi personally took the hostage to the compound of Abu Sayyaf, who was in charge of ISIS’s oil and gas.

He regularly visited her at the Sayyaf’s compound and sexually abused her.

Contrary to the rumors saying that Mueller willingly married al-Baghdadi, US officials said that they obtained information confirming the abuse from teenage Yazidi girls who were also held hostage as sex slaves inside the Sayyaf compound.

"Kayla did not marry this man. He took her to his room and he abused her and she came back crying," her mother Marsha told AP.

A new report published by The New York Times describes the horrific stories of preteen and teenage girls who have been subject to the atrocities of torture and sexual abuse.

[video id="C8c1TPqlBsU" type="youtube"]

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Rabat - The video of an Indian Muslim man saving a physically challenged shopkeeper from a deadly sword attack on Tuesday night, went viral on social media, with users hailing the heroic act that saved the life of the shopkeeper.

The incident was caught on tape by the shop surveillance camera, showing a thug attacking a shopkeeper sitting in his chair with sword.

[video id="jutcGSD2TBU" type="youtube"]

Indian sources said that the assault took place after “the owner raised his voice against a group of druggies who used to extort money from nearly 200 shopkeepers on the threat of violence and arson.”

"Allah gave me the strength to save the man’s life,” Nasiruddin Mansuri told Mid-Day.com on Friday.

“I’m no brave heart. I usually get scared very easily and tend to avert my gaze when fights break out, because I can’t stand bloodshed. I have no idea what got into me that day," he added.

"Islam teaches us to help the oppressed and stand up to oppressors. I think I did what should have been done. It was an act done in the heat of the moment,” Mansuri said.

The family of the shopkeeper is reportedly very grateful for Mansuri’s bold act.

“We cannot repay Mansuri for what he has done. We have seen the CCTV footage of how he overpowered the man without thinking of his own safety," said Manish Singh Thakur, the victim’s brother.

"He could have left the shop or could have sat in a corner, as he was just a customer, but he showed exemplary courage and saved my brother’s life.”

This act of bravery is likely to promote the true image of Islam at a time when communal violence and clashes between Hindus and Muslims have tarnished India's unity.

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Rabat - There is no doubt about who is the villain of this story. UN and Human Rights observers and workers have collected unquestionable evidence that ethnic cleansing is happening in Burma, and that it is the Burmese government that is responsible, if not directly, then by not protecting the religious minorities, especially the Muslim Rohingya to whom it has, since 1982, denied Burmese nationality.

Reports of hatred and violence towards Muslims are well documented. Observers are less cautious now than a few months ago to talk about genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The Rohingya are systematically starved and deprived from health care and physical protection. Alternatively, they take risks on boats that are often not apt to sail, where many drown, or if rescued, become hostages and prisoners of ruthless human traffickers.

When answering questions of eyewitness reporters on the state of the Rohingya, President Thein Sein insists there aren't any in Burma. “There are no Rohingya.”

There are concentration camps in which the Burmese authorities confine them, allegedly to protect them, where they are turned into slaves and sold into human trafficking markets. The question remains, why is this allowed to continue? One could add, why is no other nation intervening to end this dark age against a religious minority at a time when armies and coalitions are formed to topple regimes, for much less, in other parts of the world?

AFP Photo / Christophe Archambault

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Rabat - Paulo Coelho, a world renown bestselling author, has publicly defended Islam by describing the Quran, Islam’s holy book, on his official Facebook page, as the “Book that changed the world”.

The Brazilian author posted on August 8 an image of the Quran on his Facebook page with a statement saying, “Exhibition ‘Books that changed the world’”.

The post received major attention on the social network, gaining over 38,614 likes and more than 4313 shares, which show the popularity of the Author among tolerant people.

A Facebook user, under the name of Hiba B Dakkak, commented on Coelho’s post, saying, “Really!!! This book is the source of violence and murder.”

But Coelho replied by refuting her claims, saying “Not true. I am Christian, and for centuries we tried to impose our religion by the force of the sword - check "crusades" in the dictionary... We murdered women - calling them witches, and we tried to stop science - like in the case of Galileu Galilei. So, it is not to blame a religion, but how people manipulate it.”

The reply of Coelho received more than 7200 likes.

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Rabat - Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Sid Miller, came under harsh criticism for a photo he shared on his official Facebook page on Sunday night, suggesting the US drop a nuclear bomb on Muslim countries.

The photograph, which has since been removed, has a picture of an explosion with a statement that reads, “Japan has been at peace with the U.S. since August 9, 1945. It’s time we made peace with the Muslim world.”

Faced with a flood of criticism over his anti-Muslim post, Miller said earlier this week that he wasn’t going to apologize.

Texas Democrats launched a press release Monday afternoon criticizing Miller for “selling such disgusting rhetoric.”

“It’s unacceptable for Republican Sid Miller to be selling such disgusting rhetoric. Sadly, this type of racist, xenophobic hate speech qualifies you for greater workplace with Republicans’ Tea Social gathering fringe base,” said Manny Garcia, the Texas Democratic Party’s Deputy Executive Director.

“We hope Sid Miller exhibits some respect for Texans and the duty of holding state workplace and points an apology,” she added.

The Republican official is reportedly facing death threats after his racist and Islamophobic hate speech.

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Agriculture says they are, “taking all of the threats against the Commissioner and his family seriously and they are collaborating with the Department of Public Safety.”

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Jerusalem - There appears to be an increase in the number of attacks and vandalisms involving French zionists in Palestine.

In the latest attack, on 20 August a group of 25 zionist Jews from France, carrying yellow Kahane flags (the flag of a group considered terrorist in Israel and the EU) attacked 3 international activists and Palestinians, and later vandalized a shop in Hebron's H2 area, close to Ibrahimi Mosque.

Details on a post on the International Solidarity Movement's website, when the activists attempted to capture what was happening on their cameras, the French group "responded by threatening the activists in Hebrew, attacking the cameras, pushing and spitting on the activists."

According to the activists, the Israeli military, present during the incident, took no action against the group. Instead they shook hands with them and forced the activists to change the direction of their walk.

Later, the same group (of French Jews) turned up at the activists' home and tried to force their way in. After having failed to gain access, they resorted to verbal abuse. Deciding that was not enough, the group returned to Ibrahimi Mosque, attacking Palestinians in a nearby shop and vandalizing the shop.

The military responded by arresting two Palestinians who were being beaten up by the group. A local Palestinian, Hasham Azzeh, tells me "this is the response of the military every time. The victim is treated as the criminal."

On 4 August, a man identified as French Jew by a security guard at Al Aqsa compound attempted to hang the Israeli flag on one of the entrances of the Dome of the Rock.

According to the security guard, who did not wish to be named, he had four security guys wrestle him to the ground.

All four were arrested by Israeli police, and released 48 hours later. The security guard told me "the worst fanatics we get storming this compound are French Jews." The visibly tired security guard added, "it's an exhausting job, trying to keep these people out. I do a 12-hour shift here."

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Taroudante - The imam of Forest Mosque in Brussels called on Muslims in Belgium to not observe the feast of the sacrifice during the upcoming Eid Al Adha in protest of the Belgian government ban on religious slaughter.

After the ban on religious slaughter without stunning the animal by the Ministry of Animal Welfare in Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium, the Muslim community began protesting in various ways for the right to slaughter rams during Eid Al Adha in the halal method.

Khaled Harra, the imam of the Forest Mosque, said in a statement that the Muslim community has other solutions.

Instead of observing the religious practice of slaughtering a ram during the feast, the imam called on Muslims “to either send the same sum of money to those who do not have the means to make their religious sacrifice, or spend that money profitably (i.e. finance projects here in Belgium)."

Commenting on the new rules by the Belgian Ministry of Animal Welfare, the imam considers them discriminatory.

"We pay our taxes! And for farmers who are in crisis, this represents a significant revenue, right?” the imam questioned.

“We feel increasingly stigmatized. Every time, we feel that these laws target Muslims. One can sense a growing Islamophobic climate, "he added.

By not making the sacrifice, the imam hopes to penalize farmers and push the government to react.

Muslims all over the world will observe Eid-al-Adha on September 23 or 24. Also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, the event commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son to God.

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Taroudant - Angola has reportedly banned Islam, Muslims and has closed the mosques in the country.

After its decision to ban the practice of Islamic religion and the shutting down of its places of worship in the whole country, Angola became the first country in the world to officially ban Islam.

“This is the final end of Islamic influence in our country,” Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said on Sunday.

Angolan Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva, announced earlier the ban, saying that “the process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice."

She also said that the ban must take place because Islam was “contradictory to the customs of Angola culture and it is a sect”.

Muslims are being prosecuted in a number of countries Sub-Saharan Africa, which are rocked by violence and bloody sectarian conflicts.

According to an Amnesty International report published on July 31, under the title “Erased identity: Muslims in ethnically cleansed areas of the Central African Republic,” Muslims in the Central African Republic faced torture, repression and are being forced to convert to Christianity.

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Taroudant - More than 78 Hajjis (pilgrims) from different cities and towns of the province of Errachidia were stranded on Sunday morning for more than seven hours at the Airport of Errachidia due to a flight delay of Royal Air Maroc (RAM).

After seven hours waiting at Moulay Ali Cherif Airport in Errachidia, where they slept outside on the grass, the Hajjis got stuck again, this time at Mohammed V International Airport. The plane that was supposed to fly them out of Casablanca took off at 7 a.m. with their luggage, but without them.

While stranded at the Casablanca Airport, the Hajjis -most of them from Tinejdad, Melaab, Rissani, Jerf (towns in the province of Errachidia) waited under very hard conditions inside a room apparently “reserved for African immigrants”.

One of the Hajjis, who preferred to speak anonymously, told Morocco World News that they were divided into three groups without taking into account that people came from the same place or belonged to the same family and wanted to remain together.

“The first group managed to fly out around 2 p.m. The second group will have to wait until 1 a.m. and the third group is scheduled to fly at around 4 a.m.,” the Hajji recounted.

Even though the airline offered to take them to a hotel to rest until the time of their flights, the authorities did not allow them to leave the airport claiming “their visas have already been stamped in Moulay Ali Cherif Airport in Errachidia.”

Royal Air Maroc (RAM) previously said they will operate 100 flights to accommodate Haj pilgrims from eight Moroccan cities – Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Tangier, Oujda, Nador, Agadir and Marrakech.

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Rabat - Moroccan Salafist, cheikh Abou Al Fadl Omar Haddouchi, claimed that he received a ‘very high’ offer from the Islamic State to be their “official mufti,” in Morocco. He said ISIS offered him huge sum of money in return but he refused.

Omar Haddouchi,  who was released from prison by royal pardon after having received heavy sentences for being implicated in the Casablanca bombing of 2003, said he has been the target of murder threat from ISIS over turning down the offer.

Sheikh Omar Haddouchi, considered the most hard-liner Salafist, refused to switch his allegiance from al-Qaeda to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s group. He has fiercely attacked IS on several occasions and mocked its declaration of a caliphate, calling it a “mockery.”

In a recent interview with Kuwaiti daily Al Ray newspaper, Haddouchi said his constant attacks against the Islamic State prompted ISIS to announce him an ”unbeliever” or kafir and issued a death threat against him.

“I was among the firsts who warned against the danger of ISIS,” Haddouchi said, adding that he urged the organization to treat people “nicely and not harshly.”

In 2013, Omar Haddouchi issued a fatwa to young people in Morocco and Tunisia, urging them not to travel to Syria because of the emotional and financial damage their move would cause to their loved ones left behind.

In his attempt to demonstrate the illegitimacy of any allegiance made to IS "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Haddouchi quoted a hadith of the Prophet that says: "anyone pledging allegiance to a stranger without approval from, or consultation with, the entire Muslim community, is eligible for the death penalty.”

The Salafist cheikh told Al Ray that ISIS’s so-called Caliphate will fail “because most Jihadists who were recruited are westerners who don’t even speak Arabic, while the others who came from Arab countries are ignorant and know nothing about Islam.”

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Taroudant - Moroccan immigrants are particularly the most common victims of xenophobia-related crimes and Islamophobia in Spain.

After the Charlie Hebdo murders in France last January, Spanish authorities have recorded an alarming increase in discriminatory acts against Muslims and their places of worship.

According to the International Islamic News Agency, “Spain’s Interior Ministry revealed that 40 percent of xenophobic crimes which Spanish police investigated are linked to Islamophobia.”

The same source said that Moroccans were more often subject to Islamophobic and xenophobic acts since they are the most numerous Muslim community in the country.

“More than 800,000 Moroccan Muslim immigrants live in Spain,” the Islamic Agency said.

The report, published on Monday by Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS, shared that most of the Islamophobia-related crimes, denounced by Spanish authorities, took place in Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona and Albacete.

In addition, the newspaper reported that racist assaults alone account for 31% of hate crimes in Spain.

There has been a rise in Islamophobia and hatred in most Western countries especially following the deadly attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris.

In its annual report released in February, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) recorded a 70% increase in Islamophobic acts in January 2015, compared to the same period in 2014. The watchdog reported an average of at least two identified cases of Islamophobia daily.

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Rabat - Angelina Jolie and Arminka Helic have embarked on a joint humanitarian effort to aid the Syrian refugee crisis calling upon the international community to recognize the special status of those fleeing the carnage in Syria.

American actress and Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Angelina Jolie, and member of the House of Lords, Bosnian Muslim Arminka Helic, have united in a humanitarian effort, co-writing an article with an appeal to the world to grant priority to Syrian refugees who have suffered hardships and to distinguish them from other migrants who have left their homes due to poverty.

The piece was published on UK’s media news website TheTimes on Monday. It emphasized the authors’ eager intention to aid Syrian refugees who are fleeing barrel bombs, chemical weapons, rape, and massacres in their country, which has become a bloody battlefield.

Jolie and Helic wrote, “It should come as no surprise that people who have endured years of war, or who have been living in refugee camps on dwindling rations, are taking matters into their own hands. How many of us could honestly say that in their shoes we would not do the same, confronted by fear, lack of hope, and a glaring lack of international political will to end the conflict?”

The writers highlighted that everyone should stand in solidarity with Syrian refugees, recognize that it is a global crisis, and work diplomatically to tackle the issue. “We need to build on this and make it a turning point in people’s understanding, not just of the Syria conflict but of the global refugee crisis. It requires us to use not just our hearts but also our heads and not just aid but also diplomacy, and to focus our efforts not just this year, but for years to come.”

They added that the main issue in resolving Syria’s crisis is not the physical location of the refugees, but rather human accountability with respect to the refugees. “The responsibility to help is not determined by the accident of geography but by adherence to universal human rights and values. It transcends religion, culture and ethnicity. We should not be reaching for the lowest common denominator in our response to the refugee crisis, but striving to live up to our highest ideals. Every country in the world, not just in Europe, must be a part of the solution.”

The authors also highlighted the current situation in the Middle East and the urgent and critical assistance needed by Syria’s neighbors.

Their article is a call to action, recounting the Western World’s historical philosophy of aiding refugees. “This is not the first refugee crisis we have faced, and nor will it be the last. From Europe to America, our countries are built in part on a tradition of helping refugees, from the aftermath of the Second World War to the Balkans conflict of the 1990s. The way we respond now will confirm what kind of countries we are, the depth of our humanity, and the strength of our democracies,” they concluded.

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Rabat - While newspapers across the world have paid tribute to Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who became the symbol of the refugee crisis, Charlie Hebdo has featured cartoons of the toddler, mocking his death.

Eight months after the terroristic attack that hit its headquarters in Paris in January, the French satirical magazine is back to the spotlight with a new controversial set of cartoons.

Hiding behind the freedom of speech, Charilie Hebdo made fun of the death of Aylan Kurdi, who was found dead recently on a Turkish beach, in two offensive drawings.

Entitled “So Close to His Goal”, the first drawing features Aylan lying face down on the sand near a publicity board of a 2-for-1 McDonald Happy Meal saying what translates into: “Two menus of children for the price of one.”

[caption id="attachment_167838" align="alignnone" width="600"] The cartoon features Aylan lying face down on the sand near a publicity board of a 2-for-1 McDonald Happy Meal saying what translates into: “Two menus of children for the price of one.”[/caption]

The second cartoon is entitled “The Proof that Europe is Christian.” It shows the little child drowning in the waters. On the left side, a man, supposedly Jesus, stands on the water while saying “Christians walk on waters… Muslims kids sink.”

[caption id="attachment_167839" align="alignnone" width="600"] Entitled "The Proof that Europe is Christian,” the cartoon shows the little child drowning in the waters. On the left side, a man, supposedly Jesus, stands on the water while saying “Christians walk on waters… Muslims kids sink[/caption]

Charlie Hebdo received harsh criticism on social media over these offensive drawings, with many twitter user labeling this move as “disrespectful.”

I condamn there acts it makes me sick but the cartoons were so disrespectful to muslims and now thy draw the Syrian Kid and make fun of him?

— ?rim (@zesfaye) September 10, 2015

Ladies and gentleman, Charlie Hebdo. That's why i was not and will never be Charlie. How can you mock that poor kid?? pic.twitter.com/q56oNrZgnY — Zariyab Mhd (@iZariyab) September 13, 2015

Charlie Hebdo is the absolute scum of the earth. pic.twitter.com/51OY32YoDv

— Ros Stafford (@Naknamara) September 13, 2015

Last week, the photograph of a the Syrian toddler whose tiny body washed up on a Turkish beach in Bodrum went viral on social media worldwide, causing outrage around the world.

The harrowing image made the headlines worldwide and has been cited as a tragic symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis.

Aylan was traveling with his 5 year-old brother Galip and his parents to the Greek island of Kos. Galip and the mother, Rehan, have also perished during their attempt to escape war in their country. The father, Abdullah, was found alive and taken to hospital near Bodrum.

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