December 9, 2016
6:40 am

Pastor Matthias Linke of the Evangelisch-Freikirchliche Gemeinde church baptizes a newly converted Muslim refugee during a ceremony in Berlin on November 27, 2016. (AFP/John MacDougall)

In Germany, some Muslim refugees are converting to Christianity

From Iran and Afghanistan to Syria and Eritrea, a handful of the 900,000 migrants who arrived in 2015 have embraced the church

By Jessica Berthereau

December 8, 2016
12:45 am

Locals gather outside of the Jazar Mosque in the Old City of the northern Israeli city of Acre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, June 3, 2016. (Zack Wajsgras/Flash90)

Mosque-muffling bill on back burner as PM seeks tougher draft

MK Moti Yogev says two versions of controversial proposal could face initial Knesset vote as ministers negotiate differences

By Raoul Wootliff and Marissa Newman

November 29, 2016
9:21 pm

President Reuven Rivlin meets with Jewish and Muslim leaders at his Jerusalem residence on November 29, 2016. (Mark Neiman/GPO)

Rivlin decries bill to muffle mosques, urges interfaith dialogue

President hosts Jewish, Muslim leaders to discuss so-called muezzin bill; sheikh says legislation gives sense ‘our freedoms are vulnerable’

By AFP and Times of Israel staff

November 29, 2016
1:23 pm

Yesh Atid party chairman MK Yair Lapid speaks during a party faction meeting at the Knesset, November 21, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yair Lapid: Coalition wants to ‘insult Muslims’ with muezzin bill

Yesh Atid chair says law to limit sound pollution already exists but isn’t enforced, latest efforts ‘serve the haters of Israel’

By Raoul Wootliff

November 27, 2016
8:20 am

The Islamic Center of Long Beach, California. (Screen capture: Google Street View)

US mosques threatened with anti-Semitic, pro-Trump messages

New US president will ‘do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews,’ warns letter sent to California houses of worship

By AP

November 23, 2016
11:39 am

An Israeli flag waves in front of the minaret of a mosque in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City on November 14, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX)

Lawmakers revive bid to muffle Muslim call to prayer

With bill amended to exclude Shabbat siren, ultra-Orthodox minister gives green light to legislation

By AFP and Times of Israel staff

November 21, 2016
8:51 pm

Turkey fumes over Israel’s muezzin bill ‘insult’

Deputy prime minister says proposed law is ‘unacceptable,’ runs contrary to freedom of religion

By AFP

November 18, 2016
9:23 pm

Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi sings the Muslim call to prayer on the podium of the Knesset on November 14, 2016, to protest proposed legislation that would silence the call to prayer in early mornings (Joint List)

Israeli Arabs march against bill to muffle call to prayer

Ultra-Orthodox MKs also wary that pre-Shabbat siren would also fall foul of legislation

By Times of Israel staff and AFP

November 14, 2016
10:47 am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaking at a rally marking the 12th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, November 10, 2016. (AFP/Abbas Momani)

PA says it will go to UN over Amona, mosque-muffling bills

After controversial measures clear ministerial hurdles, Abbas’s spokesperson says international community will be asked to halt legislation, warns of ‘catastrophe’

By Dov Lieber

November 13, 2016
10:50 pm

View of the a mosque in the Old City of Acre, in Northern Israel on October 24, 2016. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Bill to quieten mosque prayer calls passes initial hurdle

Ministerial Committee approves controversial measure after Netanyahu vows his support; Arab MKs call proposal ‘hate-filled’

By Times of Israel staff

November 13, 2016
3:18 pm

A minaret with loudspeakers seen towering over the Mediterranean sea, near the Israeli town of Tel Aviv-Jaffo, November 15, 2014. (Nati SHohat/FLASH90)

Netanyahu backs bill to silence mosque prayer calls

Arab lawmakers say proposal to lower volume of muezzins is an attack on Muslim freedom of religion

By Stuart Winer and Raoul Wootliff

November 13, 2016
9:45 am

A bird flies towards the minaret of a mosque in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, June 28, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Mohammed Ballas)

Ministers to vote on bill to silence Israeli mosques

Claiming public ‘suffers’ from loud calls to prayer, proponents say freedom of religion trumped by quality of life

By Raoul Wootliff

November 7, 2016
8:07 am

Saudi women's rights activist Souad al-Shammary puts on a head scarf in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo)

Twice-divorced Saudi mother of 6 reinterprets Islamic law

Souad al-Shammar, a liberal feminist who roots her arguments in Islam, takes on kingdom’s powerful religious establishment

By Aya Batrawy

October 31, 2016
9:50 pm

Nuba's Mosque of Umar inscription, dated to the 9th or 10th century CE. (Assaf Avraham)

Centuries before trying to deny it, Muslims carved Jewish link to Jerusalem into mosque

Newly studied inscription from Mosque of Umar dated to 9th or 10th centuries highlights correlation between Dome of the Rock and biblical Jewish temples

By Ilan Ben Zion

October 27, 2016
12:24 pm

We should apologize to those Muslims

Ben Gurion Airport offers no prayer space for Muslims, so what should the Turkish travelers have done?

By Alon Goshen-Gottstein

Topic: Islam