Source : World Bulletin / 01 Apr 2014

Yemen's first mosque, which was built by Muaz bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) - a prominent companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) - is at risk of collapsing and urgently awaits necessary repairs to save it.

Source : Arab news / 29 Mar 2014

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowment and Guidance has urged preachers to keep their Friday sermons short and concise and is considering taking legal action against preachers who discuss controversial topics.

“Ministry inspectors have received complaints from worshippers that preachers make their sermons unnecessarily long and often repeat the same sermons several times throughout the year,” a ministry source said. “Boring sermons make worshippers inattentive and defeat the purpose of attracting people to faith.”

Source : AA / 29 Mar 2014

Turkey will restore a masjid (prayer room for Muslims) in Andalusia, a region that was controlled by its Muslim rulers for a few centuries in the Iberia Peninsula in Spain's southern city of Cordoba, says the Turkish cooperation agency.

In a district of Cordoba dubbed as Mazquit, the masjid is located at the historical remains of Andalusian period of Cordoba and very close to Mosque of Cordoba, a well-known Islamic monument which was converted to a cathedrale. 

Source : AA / 27 Mar 2014

Turkey is to support the rebuilding of an Islamic heritage site in Timbuktu which was destroyed by armed groups in 2012, the United Nation’s cultural agency’s (UNESCO) representative in Mali Lazare Eloundou said on Wednesday.  

“Turkey along with UNESCO is ready to work to rebuild mausoleums, tombs and mosques which UNESCO started on March 14, at an  estimated cost of around $11 million,” Eloundou said.     

Source : Hipa.ae / 26 Mar 2014

China’s Fuyang Zhou wins the grand prize of $120,000 at the annual HIPA competition in Dubai. The Chinese photographer is among 17 winners at the grand ceremony, which took place at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) on the evening of 17 March.

Source : IINA / 25 Mar 2014

Jeddah is set to become a local and regional focal point for the rapidly expanding textile industry. Yesterday, the first “Textile Arabia” exhibition started at Jeddah Center for Events and Forums.

By Ahmad Shaaban / Khaleej Times / 22 Mar 2014

The Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai on Thursday launched its electronic services guide on its official website.

By Irfan Mohammad / Arab news / 21 Mar 2014

The project for translating Friday sermons at the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah is rapidly expanding to include languages other than Urdu and English.

Live translation into the Malay and French will be launched from Friday at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Source : Arab news / 19 Mar 2014

Employees of the Kaaba cloth factory roll up their sleeves spending four hours every fortnight to clean the cloth covering the Kaaba to ensure it is free of dust from the ongoing expansion projects in the Holy Mosque. Employees work around the clock to meet the project deadlines of the expansion of the holy mosque. 

Source : Gulf-Times / 17 Mar 2014

Saudi authorities have banned hundreds of books, including works by renowned Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish, as part of a crackdown on publications deemed threatening to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The local Okaz daily reported yesterday that organisers at the Riyadh International Book Fair had confiscated “more than 10,000 copies of 420 books” during the exhibition.