Latest Islam News

Death toll from attack in Russia's Dagestan reaches 21

Jun. 25, 2024 05:40 AM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — The death toll in the attack by Islamic militants in Russia's southern region of Dagestan has risen to 21 after a wounded police officer has died in a hospital, officials said Tuesday. Sunday's attack, in which militants attacked Christian and Jewish houses of worship...

'Hamster' crypto craze gripping Iran highlights its economic malaise ahead of presidential election

Jun. 24, 2024 22:11 PM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Cab drivers and bikers tap away furiously on their mobile phones as they wait at red lights in the Iranian capital during an early June heatwave. Some pedestrians in Tehran are doing the same. They all believe they could get rich. The object of...

Russian region of Dagestan holds a day of mourning after attacks kill 20 people, officials say

Jun. 24, 2024 13:40 PM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s southern region of Dagestan held the first of three days of mourning Monday following an attack by Islamic militants who authorities say killed 20 people, mostly police, and attacked Christian and Jewish houses of worship in assaults in two cities. Sunday's...

More than 1,300 people died during Hajj, many of them after walking in the scorching heat

Jun. 23, 2024 20:46 PM EDT

CAIRO (AP) — More than 1,300 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced extreme high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, Saudi authorities announced Sunday. Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said...

Probe finds carelessness caused Jewish student group's omission from New Jersey high school yearbook

Jun. 19, 2024 21:15 PM EDT

An investigation into how and why a Jewish student group was erased from a New Jersey high school yearbook found the omission was caused by negligence and carelessness, but was not done on purpose or out of malice, the school district announced Wednesday. East Brunswick Public...

Jihadis from Africa’s Sahel have crossed into Nigeria’s north, a new report says. A lot is at stake

Jun. 19, 2024 18:55 PM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Jihadi fighters who had long operated in Africa’s volatile Sahel region have settled in northwestern Nigeria after crossing from neighboring Benin, a report said Wednesday, the latest trend in the militants' movements to wealthier West African coastal nations. ...

Hundreds died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia amid intense heat, officials say

Jun. 19, 2024 16:06 PM EDT

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Hundreds of people died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones' bodies. Saudi...

Muslim pilgrims wrap up the Hajj with final symbolic stoning of the devil and circling of the Kaaba

Jun. 19, 2024 02:05 AM EDT

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslim pilgrims wrapped up the Hajj in the deadly summer heat on Tuesday with the third day of the symbolic stoning of the devil, and the last circumambulation around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, in the city of Mecca. The three-day stoning ritual in...

Religious and cultural mentions removed from names of China's Xinjiang villages, rights groups say

Jun. 18, 2024 19:05 PM EDT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Authorities in China’s western Xinjiang region have been systematically replacing the names of villages inhabited by Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities to reflect the ruling Communist Party’s ideology, as part of an attack on their cultural identity, a report released...

A Swedish diplomat says his release from a 2-year detention in Iran is like a dream

Jun. 18, 2024 11:27 AM EDT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Swedish European Union diplomat who was held in Iran for two years and freed in a prisoner swap over the weekend said Tuesday that his release was “the dream that I sometimes did not dare to believe in." Johan Floderus and a second Swedish citizen,...