The Taliban’s war on education: ‘Nobody talks about what is happening to the boys’
Five years after the ultra-conservative Islamists retook Afghanistan, students describe male pupils being beaten for minor rule breaches and inexperienced teachers struggling to deliver lessons
Before he leaves for Kabul University each morning, Hashmat* checks his face for the beard he has been ordered to grow. Male students are required to grow their facial hair and wear traditional Afghan clothes and those who fall short are punished. Hashmat says he recently saw a classmate beaten for wearing trousers.
“They look at you before they listen to you. If your appearance is wrong, you are already in trouble before the class begins,” he says.
Continue reading...As a Muslim cricketer, at times I felt like I didn’t belong. I yearn for an Australia where all that matters is how you play | Usman Khawaja
Whenever I wore the baggy green, I was reminded of what that cap represented – a team that was stronger because each player brought something different
A cricket scorecard is pretty straightforward.
It shows you how many runs you scored, how long you played and whether your team won or lost. Cricket has always been appealing to me because of that honesty. The numbers don’t care about your appearance, where you were born or what you believe.
Continue reading...Austrian court rules ski resort hotel’s burkini ban is discriminatory
Hotel did not allow two Muslim women to wear full-body bathing suit, which has become bugbear of European far right
An Austrian court has found an alpine hotel’s ban on burkinis discriminatory, a politically explosive ruling in a country where the far right is on the rise.
The full-body bathing suit worn by some Muslim women has become a bugbear of the European far right, which has campaigned to restrict Muslim dress in public spaces.
Continue reading...Two in five Britons think Muslims cannot integrate in UK, poll finds
Government’s former extremism adviser sounds alarm as idea that diversity is harmful becomes ‘mainstream view’
Two in five Britons believe Muslims cannot integrate into British society and more than half believe the country’s national identity is disappearing due to “diversity”, a report authored by a former government adviser on extremism has found.
Sara Khan, who stood down in 2024 as the UK’s first counter-extremism commissioner, said such views contrasted sharply with accompanying findings that showed 85% of Muslims “favour integration”.
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