Malaysian Muslim comedian faces backlash for ham joke, sparking free speech debate

Malaysian religious authorities plan to summon an award-winning Muslim comedian for questioning over a joke posted on social media about ham that has ignited intense religious sensitivities in the Muslim-majority nation and raised questions over the boundaries of free speech in a culturally diverse society.

He humorously commented on the word ham in the name of an iced coffee drink – ham sap kopi – that he jokingly suggested could “lead me down the wrong path in so many ways”.

The agency has also filed a police report and is collaborating with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to push for a possible suspension of social media accounts and removal of the allegedly offensive content.

“Jakim will never compromise with any act of making fun of Islamic teachings and hurting the sensitivities of Muslims,” the department’s director general Sirajuddin Suhaimee said in a statement late on Wednesday.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/...ech-debate

Why are the sensitivities of muslims so special?

(January 24, 2025 at 3:55 pm)zebo-the-fat Wrote: Why are the sensitivities of muslims so special?

Because they haven't mentally matured beyond the irrational ego associated with religious convictions.

Pregnant Woman Dies After Brutal Exorcism In Badin District

On Monday evening, 30-year-old Sangeeta Kohli, who had been expecting her first child after six years of marriage, was reportedly beaten for five days by two exorcists who claimed she was possessed by a jinn. The exorcists, Bachu Kohli and Harsan Kohli, detained Sangeeta in Khuda Bux Hisbani village, where they subjected her to violent rituals intended to rid her of evil forces, including jinn and witches.

Residents of the village disclosed that the exorcists performed severe beatings on Sangeeta every night, convinced that these actions would expel the supposed demons.

Sangeeta’s brother, Ashok, revealed that the exorcists continued to beat his sister even after she had died. “When the police arrived, both Bachu and Harsan were sitting by Sangeeta’s body,” Ashok said. He also stated that the exorcists used various methods of violence, including tying a shoe to Sangeeta’s nose as part of their supposed exorcism procedure. Despite her screams of pain, which locals confirmed could be heard each night, the exorcists dismissed them as cries from jinn.

Local communities and human rights groups are now calling for increased awareness and regulation of these harmful traditions.

https://thefridaytimes.com/28-Jan-2025/p...n-district

Koran burner shot dead in Sweden

A man who repeatedly burnt the Koran in 2023 in Sweden, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, media reported Thursday as police confirmed a man died in a shooting the day before.

A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Korans at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.

It postponed the ruling until February 3, saying that "because Salwan Momika has died, more time is needed."

In August, Momika, along with co-protester Salwan Najem, was charged with "agitation against an ethnic group" on four occasions in the summer of 2023.

According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Koran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims -- on one occasion outside a Stockholm mosque.

Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair's protests.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20...-in-sweden

Muslim charity says ‘controlling husbands are just caring’

The Muslim Family Foundation (MFF) is alleged to use its social media accounts to promote the subordination of women, saying that a wife must seek her husband’s permission in every aspect of family life, and that his controlling behaviour is simply a sign of care.

In one of its videos on Instagram, MFF tells Muslim women they can respect their husbands by “always asking for his permission when you want to go out” and by “lowering your gaze” in front of men who are not members of the family.

Another MFF film, posted on YouTube, states that the husband’s “opinions should come before everyone else’s” and that he “must have the final say” in big family decisions.

The charity, based in Newham, east London, also offers “Islamic counselling, psychotherapy and coaching” with a “Muslim therapist” to help with “women’s issues, marriage, family issues and identity issues”.

Another video says women should dress modestly because those who “cover themselves in make-up” or are “someone undressed” acquire “the sin of everyone who looks at her”.

Alejandro Sanchez, of the National Secular Society (NSS), told The Telegraph: “The fact that this charity promotes dark ages misogyny is bad enough. That it presents itself as a counselling and psychotherapy service is even more troubling.

“Any woman seeking advice from the Muslim Family Foundation would be left with the impression that it is her religious obligation to subordinate herself to her husband. The public purse should not be subsidising this regressive ideology through the tax breaks granted by charitable status.”

Mr Sanchez added: “The idea that this charity is acting in the public benefit is farcical and makes a mockery of the Government’s counter-extremism efforts. The ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose is allowing misogyny to be spread with impunity. It must be urgently reviewed.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02...st-caring/

What century are these people living in??

So they're closing Muslim schools in France because they are radicalizing children.

Quote:France: Muslim private schools under threat of closure

More than 600 primary and secondary students at the Al Kindi private Muslim school group, located in the suburbs of Lyon, in central-eastern France, risk not returning to their school at the start of the next academic year.

On 10 January, the prefecture terminated the association contract with the state of this institution founded in 2007 and withdrew public subsidies amounting to 1.5 million euros ($1.53m), which were used to cover tuition fees and the salaries of around 30 teachers.

Prefect Fabienne Buccio said she based her decision on a school board inspection report that accused Al Kindi of a series of pedagogical and administrative “failures” as well as “attacks on the values ​​of the Republic”.

The report from the inspection, carried out in October 2024 following another one in April that year, mentions the discovery of two books deemed “radical” in the school library, one of which “promoting violent jihad”.

It also highlights controversial remarks made by a professor on his YouTube channel, where he supported controversial imams, some of whom have been expelled from France. The report also denounces internal regulations deemed discriminatory against girls, such as a ban on skin-tight tops or makeup.

"Far from being a series of isolated facts, these failures and dysfunctions demonstrate the proximity of the Al Kindi schools to the thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose project is contrary to the values ​​of the Republic," the prefecture said.

In October, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was not ruling out classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" group and banning it, while advocating for the establishment of a new criminal offence to fight political Islam in the country.

"We must be particularly wary of this Islamist infiltration that is spreading within associations, sports clubs, schools and even local authorities," Retailleau said.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/franc...at-closure

They not closing them, that implies something which isn't happening even if that's the cynical intent of the advocates. They're withdrawing public and purportedly secular funding from private and religious schools. If the theists say that salvation isn't for sale unless the government subsidizes the god-price..that's on them....and if the government says they shouldn't be footing gods bills....then lets talk about the christians too.

Muhsin Hendricks, world’s ‘first openly gay imam’, shot dead in South Africa

Hendricks, involved in various LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, came out as gay in 1996. Two years later he started hosting meetings in his home city for LGBTQ+ Muslims, who treated him like their community imam. “I opened my garage, put a carpet down and invited people to have tea and talk,” he told the Guardian in 2022.

In 2011 Hendricks bolstered his role as an imam figure by setting up a mosque space after a friend endured a local sermon condemning homosexuality. “I said, ‘Maybe it’s time we started our own space, so people can pray without being judged’.”

He ran the Al-Ghurbaah mosque at Wynberg near his birthplace, Cape Town. The mosque provides “a safe space in which queer Muslims and marginalised women can practise Islam”, its website states.

Hendricks, the subject of a 2022 documentary called The Radical, had previously alluded to threats against him.

He told the Guardian he had been advised to hire bodyguards but said he never feared attacks and insisted that “the need to be authentic” was “greater than the fear to die”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...uth-africa