Attacks on the Qur’ān can’t be ‘defended with the excuse of freedom of expression’: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 6 said that attacks on the Qur’ān cannot be “defended with the excuse of freedom of expression” and that such acts “target social peace and stability”. He was talking with a delegation from the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.
Erdogan also asked them to tell the US Congress and other political circles about the dangers of Islamophobia. “Many of you have access to political circles in America. You play important roles in terms of social peace and stability. You have representatives in local and federal politics. By using this influence, you can effectively inform all political circles, especially the American Congress, that attacks on the holy Qur’ān cannot be defended under the excuse of freedom of expression and that they target social peace and stability,” he underlined.
Ensure education for women: OIC delegation urges Taliban
A delegation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) reminded Afghanistan’s interim Taliban government on Wednesday, September 6 that education is an “Islamic obligation for both men and women.” The members of the delegation discussed the issue with Afghan Minister of Education Mawlawi Habibullah Agha and Minister of Higher Education Mawlawi Nida Muhammad Nadim in the capital Kabul, said a statement by the OIC.
“During the meetings, both sides stressed that education is an Islamic obligation for both men and women, with the consensus of the Ummah (Muslim community) scholars,” the statement added.
Taliban officials briefed the delegation on the efforts exerted by the interim administration “in reviewing curricula and providing a safe environment for girls’ education throughout the country,” it said. It added that the scholars “confirmed the readiness of the OIC member states to provide all possible support in this regard.”
France’s abaya ban debate masks major issues in education system: unions
The abaya ban in schools has become a topic that has distracted other issues in France’s education system, such as a teacher shortage and overcrowded classrooms. The government banned the abaya, a loose-fitting, full-length robe worn by Muslim students, as of Monday, when the school year started.
Out of the 12 million students nationwide, 298 of them came to school wearing an abaya despite the ban, and 67 of them refused to remove it, Education Minister Gabriel Attal said.
The abaya ban is not a fresh debate for France, but it has dominated the French news agenda for a while now and tends to occult the real problems in the education system, according to teachers’ unions. Secretary-General of the Snes-FSU trade union, Sophie Venetitay, told broadcaster France Inter on Aug. 28 that the abaya debate was masking a lack of teachers and overcrowded classes.
7.1 million internally displaced in war-torn Sudan: UN
The number of displaced civilians within Sudan has almost doubled since the outbreak of clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group in April, a report said citing the UN migration agency on September 5. “Nearly 7.1 million people are internally displaced within Sudan,” the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.
It said around 3.8 million new people have been displaced by the ongoing fighting between the army and RSF since April. “Since the onset of violence, more than one million people have fled to neighbouring countries,” it added. According to the UN agency, around 24.7 million Sudanese, or half of the country’s population, are now in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
Arab League says Arab-Turkish relations improved
The head of the Arab League said there has been an improvement in Arab-Turkish relations, Ikram Kouachi of Anadolu Agency wrote on September 6. Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said, at the end of the 160th session meeting held at the foreign ministers’ level in Cairo, that “the Arab Ministerial Council held previously a group of meetings for the committees concerned with Türkiye, Iran and the Palestinian cause.”
“We are monitoring the development of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and between Iran and the Arab countries,” he said. Aboul-Gheit also said that “there is an improvement in relations between Türkiye and the Arab countries.”
Illiteracy rate in Palestine drops by 84% over past two decades
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) official data shows that the illiteracy rate in Palestine has fallen by 84 per cent over the past two decades. The data was published by the bureau on September 7. There has been a significant decrease in the illiteracy rate since 1997, from 13.9 per cent of Palestinians aged 15 or over in 1997, to just 2.2 per cent in 2022. According to data issued by the Galilee Association, Rikaz, the illiteracy rate among Palestinian individuals aged 15 years and over in the territories occupied since 1948 was 3.6 per cent in 2017.
“Illiteracy rates among Palestinian males (aged 15 years and above) in Palestine dropped during the period 1997-2021 from 7.8 per cent in 1997 to 1.2 per cent in 2021, and among females for the same period from 20.3 per cent to 3.5 per cent,” said the PCBS. “In the West Bank, the rate dropped from 14.1 per cent in 1997 to 2.5 per cent in 2021, while in the besieged Gaza Strip it fell from 13.7 per cent in 1997 to 2.0 per cent in 2021.”
The PCBS pointed out that more than half of those who are illiterate are the elderly. Those aged 65 and over had the highest illiteracy level; the age group 30 to 44 recorded the lowest.
According to official data, about 51,000 illiterate people live in urban communities, while the illiteracy rate in rural communities is 2.9 per cent, equating to around 15,000 people. The figure for the refugee camps is 2.3 per cent, which is around 6,000 people.
More than 800 died in a devastating earthquake in Morocco
Hundreds of people lost their lives and many injured when a devastating earthquake hit Morocco late last night. Moroccan state television, citing the Ministry of the Interior, reported that the number of victims of the earthquake which struck the country Friday had risen to 822 dead and 672 injured, including 205 in serious condition who are taken to the hospital. There are the preliminary figures announced by the ministry.
The earthquake hit capital Rabat, Casablanca, Meknes, Fas and other provinces of the country including El Gouz, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant. A Moroccan official announced that the earthquake which struck the country on Friday evening was “the most violent in a century.”
The head of the department at the National Institute of Geophysics (governmental), Nasser Jabour, told the media that it is “the first time in a century that the centre has recorded a violent earthquake of this type in Morocco.”
He said that “the earthquake, whose epicentre was located in the village of Ighil (city of Marrakesh), was felt in many cities within a radius of 400 km.”