Damned Muslims

[Fake Messiah]

'Here is your bride... please don't beat her': As Taliban recognises child marriage, Afghans 'marry off' girls and BABIES - and can only hope they are not raped before they even hit puberty

Parwana Malik was just nine years old when her father sold her as a bride to a man in his 50s, desperate to find enough money to feed his family.

As tears streamed down his face, Abdul Malik pleaded with the groom to show mercy to his little girl.

‘This is your bride. Please take care of her. You are responsible now, please don’t beat her,’ he said.

Parwana is one of the millions of girls in poverty-stricken Afghanistan forced into under-age marriage, where desperate families have resorted to selling even their newborn babies just to survive.

In late 2021, UN children's agency Unicef said there were credible reports of families offering daughters as young as 20 days old for future marriage in return for a dowry.

The law states that a marriage arranged with a child is legally valid provided the spouse is socially compatible and the dowry is appropriate, and that the child may later seek annulment after reaching puberty, but only through a court order.

The document also adds that the silence of a 'virgin girl' is interpreted as consent to marriage, whereas the same silence from a male or previously married woman is not.

And in Afghanistan, where women and girls are unlikely to speak out for fear of punishment, the new legislation risks leaving many girls trapped.

In February of this year, the Taliban introduced a new penal code creating a caste system which puts women on the same level as 'slaves'.

As part of the new law, husbands are permitted to beat their wives as long as there is no serious bodily harm.

Article 34 of the code states that a woman who repeatedly goes to her father's house or that of other relatives without the permission of her husband and 'does not return home despite her husband's request' faces three months in prison.

Her family and relatives would also face punishment.

While girls remain the disproportionate targets of this exploitation, young boys have also fallen victim to the brutalities of the Taliban government, with many sexually exploited by older men and turned into sex slaves for the elite.

Under the barbaric tradition of the 'Bacha Bazi', young boys and adolescents are adorned in makeup, dressed in brightly coloured women's clothing and sent before groups of powerful men to dance and entertain.

A report released in November 2024 detailed how boys remain at high risk of commercial sexual exploitation through Bacha Bazi and 'are frequently underreported due to stigma and fear, particularly when perpetrators are police'.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-1...berty.html

[Fake Messiah]

But “Hijab is a choice”

Iranian star Parastoo Ahmadi reportedly sentenced to 74 lashes for singing without hijab

The Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi and eight members of a production team, including musicians, have been reportedly sentenced to 74 lashes for performing in a concert livestreamed on Ahmadi’s YouTube channel in 2024.

According to court documents, the criminal court of Qom province sentenced the artists to flogging, a two-year ban on leaving the country and a two-year ban on engaging in artistic activities on charges that include offending public decency through the production and publication of “vulgar and immoral content” online.

In December 2024, the 29-year-old singer performed the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland) without a hijab in a livestreamed performance that went viral.

She was briefly detained along with several musicians shortly after its release before being freed. Authorities later filed a formal case over the publication of the video, which has since accumulated millions of views on YouTube.

Bahar Ghandehari, the director of advocacy at the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said “Ahmadi’s punishment of 74 lashes for merely singing and appearing without a hijab is yet another reminder that human rights conditions in Iran have not changed, despite the Iranian authorities’ wartime propaganda campaign aimed at improving their image.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...hout-hijab

[Fake Messiah]

EU: Push to End Religious Persecution in Egypt

Religious persecution in Egypt is not improving, and could worsen if international partners downplay it in order to strengthen strategic cooperation. As Egypt’s largest trading partner, accounting for about one quarter of the country’s total trade, and as donor of billions of Euros, the European Union, in particular, has leverage to advocate for protecting Egypt’s vulnerable religious minorities.

Religious minorities suffer from state repression, discriminatory laws and administration, and violence by extremist groups. New for 2026, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed Egypt on the Special Watch List, finding conditions for religious freedom in the country “poor.”

Coptic Christians make up ten percent of Egypt’s population. But their churches, businesses and homes are frequently attacked, too often under the noses of local authorities, who fail to prosecute perpetrators. USCRIF found that 2,000 legalization requests for existing churches remain unsolved.

Blasphemy laws are used to target Coptic Christians and other religious minorities; Article 98(f) of the criminal code criminalizes insulting a “heavenly religion.”

The Ahmadiyya Muslim movement also faces an upsurge of persecution in Egypt, having been declared a “threat to Islam” by the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement’s TV channel was shut down by the government in its effort to champion Sunni orthodoxy. Members of another movement, the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, were arrested in 2025 for displaying a banner promoting a religious TV channel, and USCRIF found they were ill-treated in detention.

Problems of the small Egyptian Bahá’í community have become acute, especially given that the group is denied legal registration; Egyptian law recognizes only Islam, Christianity and Judaism as regards public religious life. As a result, Bahá’í houses of worship cannot be legally recognized. Marriage, civic identity and even the right to bury the dead are all highly problematic. A UN Special Rapporteur’s recent report specifically notes that fatwas issued by Al-Azhar, Egypt’s foremost religious authority, have blocked Bahá’ís from using public cemeteries and entrenched their marginalization in Egyptian society.

https://europeantimes.news/2026/09/eu-pu...-in-egypt/

---

Azerbaijan detains atheist TikToker and man who attacked him, charges both with inciting religious hatred

Both Bagirov, the victim, and his assailant Kamran Bilalov were charged with inciting religious or ethnic hatred and enmity. Bilalov was also charged with a subarticle concerning the use of violence to incite hatred.

Bagirov, known as Chevik on TikTok, has around 90,000 followers on the platform. He is also a veteran of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. He has gained public attention for his videos in which he speaks out against Islam, figures regarded as sacred by Muslims, and Islamic religious teachings.

Bagirov is known for holding discussions and livestreams on TikTok focusing on religion and atheism. He has previously attracted the attention of law enforcement; in July he was sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention under an article concerning acts that insult public morality, express clear disrespect towards society, and contain obscene language.

It is unclear which video or statements led to Bagirov’s prosecution.

In an unrelated case, on 2 September Bagirov was physically assaulted by two people in the city of Gabala, sustaining several injuries.

Since late 2024, Azerbaijan has detained a number of TikTokers and social media influencers on a variety of charges, including insulting public moral values, hooliganism, threats, and the illegal collection of donations.

Some have described the mass arrests of TikTokers as part of the authorities’ crackdown on social media, while others have said the detentions reflect general growing restrictions on freedom of expression.

https://oc-media.org/azerbaijan-detains-...us-hatred/

[Fake Messiah]

Inside the Muslim Manosphere Policing Women Online

Mariam has run a Facebook group for more than a year. And even though intended for women, the group’s size and visibility has meant that Miriam also gets a lot of messages from men. She has received a deluge of unsolicited messages telling her how to dress, not to raise her voice or wear makeup, and to cover her hands with gloves so that no skin is visible.

“I couldn’t take it any longer. It was starting to affect my mental well-being,” Miriam says.

Many women who are conspicuous on the internet have been harassed online. That comes in countless forms, even if the same misogyny underlies it. The particular variety Miriam was subjected to stems from a section of the “manosphere” dressed in the clothes of religion—the Muslim manosphere.

At its core, the manosphere is built around male grievance and antifeminist ideology—though whether that’s entirely organic or engineered to sell supplements and other products is up for debate. Regardless, it has no shortage of subcultures to chose from: Incels, pick-up artists, men’s rights activists, and followers of the Red Pill.

Some nuances may make these groups distinct, but they largely share a common worldview: Feminism has destabilized society, women have acquired too much power, and men must reassert control. And the Muslim manosphere is no different. It’s adopted those ideas circulating through the wider manosphere and rebranded them in the language of faith.

Sarah Kaddoura, a feminist researcher and creator of the YouTube channel Haki Nasawi, examined the Arabic-speaking manosphere in a 2025 report. In her study, she describes some of the most prominent influencers, such as Jordanian relationship coach Kareem Atta’i, who posts online as Coach Kareem or Red Pill Arabic.

Atta’i packages his ideas as relationship advice, but his videos frequently frame interactions between men and women as contests for power. Atta’i’s videos, which WIRED Middle East has watched, describe violence as a means of “disciplining” women or retaliating against sexual rejection.

The Arabic manosphere does more than translate Western Red Pill content. Its creators have adapted the ideology to local anxieties around religion, masculinity, marriage, money, and social change.

Kaddoura says influencers use financial insecurity, political instability, religious identity, and fears about declining morality or social cohesion to build their audiences. Misogyny becomes an explanation for a much wider sense of frustration—and women become its most visible target.

The problem is not religious expression online but the use of religious authority—real or claimed—to legitimize misogyny, harassment, and the public surveillance of women. The Muslim manosphere is also not confined to the Arab world. Like the broader manosphere, it crosses borders, languages, and platforms.

Take prominent UK-based creator Ali Dawah, whose channel features street debates and commentary about relationships, gender roles, religion, and Western culture. In one clip, Dawah says he hates Muslim feminists “the most.” In another video, he approaches women in public and challenges them over clothing he describes as immodest.

“Dawah” is not just this YouTuber’s name. In Arabic, it means to make an invitation to someone to learn about Islam. Ali is just one of many influencers often called “Dawah Bros,” and they’re generally known for being more aggressive than offering an invitation when it comes to promoting their manosphere-esque content.

Kaddoura sees the Dawah Bros as a platform-native successor to an older variety of media figure. During the 1990s, Islamic television programs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia regularly featured sheikhs answering callers’ questions about relationships, clothing, and acceptable behavior. However, unlike television preachers, today’s influencers are not limited to scheduled broadcasts, and they aren’t only interacting with people who’ve chosen to call in.

For many Muslim women—especially those who are in prominent places on the internet—these ideas do not remain confined to podcasts or debate videos. They spill into comment sections and private messages, where strangers appoint themselves enforcers of morality.

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-m...en-online/