- “The IX Kurultai of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan will be held on April 26. The decision to convene it was made by the Ulema Council in connection with the end of the term of office of the current, VII convocation. The press service of the Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (SDMK) reported. The main task of the upcoming Kurultai will be the formation of a new, VIII composition of the Ulema Council.”
- “The U.N. [said] more than half of people detained by the Taliban‘s morality police in the first 6 months of new laws regulating personal conduct were men who had noncompliant hairstyles or their barbers.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan issued a sharply worded condemnation of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Wednesday, labeling its recent statements on the application of Qisas — a retributive form of justice under Islamic law, typically meaning ‘an eye for an eye’ — as ‘irresponsible and rooted in ignorance of Islamic law.’”
- For more content and context on the recent developments in Afghanistan, consult our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb’s “Resource Roundup: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Islamic Law.”
- In the UK, “[p]ossessing non-consensual images of a Muslim woman who is not wearing face covering should be classified as a criminal offense—even if the photos are taken in public—according to a new parliamentary committee report.”
- “Malaysian national mortgage firm Cagamas Bhd has sold 2.02 billion ringgit ($606.8 million) of Islamic bonds based on palm oil contracts, the company said.”
- “Long one of the Islamic Republic’s [Iran] staunchest ultra-conservatives, cleric and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has lately championed anti-corruption and urged caution on a new hijab law in a shift which has confounded allies.”