- Criticism of French President Macron, who recently described Islam as “a religion in crisis” and vowed to pass legislation in the coming weeks to allow for greater government control over mosques and their clerics, continued, as some legal scholars have contended that his statements violated both the French Constitution and international law. Others have noted the danger of reducing the current tensions to a “superior France vs. backwards Islam” dichotomy.
- Hajooj Kuka, an award-winning Sudanese filmmaker, was recently released from prison, where he was held based on the country’s Islamic penal code’s vaguely worded public nuisance charges that criminalize “indecent public behavior.”
- Talks at Juba (South Sudan) between Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North appeared to fail, as the Sudanese government rejected the recommendation to adopt a mode of secularism largely based on the Turkish model.
- Egypt‘s Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced that the government had given its approval for the government to issue the country’s first sovereign sukuk.
- Oman announced its plans to transform the country’s mosques into environment-friendly buildings that would use clear and renewable energy.
- The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation continued to invest in Uzbekistan, to which it has introduced Islamic finance for the first time in 2018.
- The regional government in Bangsamoro (Philippines), with a sizable population of Moro Muslims, launched its first development plan with the passage of its own administrative code.