Skip to content
Curated playlist

Islam-related controversies

  • Persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of PortugalIn December 1496, Portugal's king ordered all Jews and Muslims to convert or leave. King Manuel I signed the decree.
  • Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda's emir, Osama bin Laden, once sent a Portuguese convert to Islam to Rome with orders to kill an exiled king. The target was Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. Bin Laden wanted to stop him from returning home and possibly heading…
  • Islamic StateThe Islamic State, known variously as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, governed roughly 12 million people by the end of 2015. Its commanders directed more than 30,000 fighters. No government recognised it as a state, and the United Nations designated…
  • IslamismIslamism first meant nothing more than the religion of Islam. The English word appeared in 1696, then nearly vanished.
  • Islamic terrorismIslamic terrorism is the name given to attacks by militants who invoke Islam to pursue aims such as jihad and a restored caliphate. Even the name is disputed. A 2024 study by the Fondation pour l'innovation politique counted 66,872…
  • TalibanIn August 2021, the Taliban took Kabul's Presidential Palace after President Ashraf Ghani fled.
  • Blood libelBlood libel is an antisemitic trope that falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians to use their blood in religious rituals. It is also called ritual murder libel. In 1144, a boy named William was found dead in the woods, his body marked…
  • Al-Shabaab (militant group)Al-Shabaab, Arabic for "the youth", is a Sunni Islamist militant organization based in Somalia. On the 29th of October 2022, it claimed responsibility for a twin car bombing in Mogadishu that targeted the Ministry of Education. The attack…
  • BurqaIn 2017 the Austrian parliament adopted a ban on face-covering clothing in public spaces, and Islamic garments such as the burqa were among its targets. The law came into force on the 1st of October 2017 and carried a fine of 150 euros.…
  • Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and died in Yemen under the missiles of an American drone. On the 30th of September 2011, a group of men was traveling toward Ma'rib Governorate. They stopped for breakfast in Al Jawf…
  • CrusadesIn 1095, Pope Urban II called a crowd in France to march on Jerusalem.
  • Israeli–Palestinian conflictThe Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a struggle over land and self-determination inside the former territory of Mandatory Palestine. Israel has held the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for so long that this is called the longest military…

Queue