{"id":3155,"date":"2013-11-27T07:51:53","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T07:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=3155"},"modified":"2013-11-27T07:51:53","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T07:51:53","slug":"angola-denies-muslims-stance-says-no-ban-on-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/","title":{"rendered":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"images\/stories\/news3\/angola.jpg\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; margin: 5px;\" \/>The controversy over reports that the southwest African nation of Angola had banned Islam and begun to demolish mosques took a new turn Tuesday when Manuel Fernando, director of the Angolan Ministry of Culture\u2019s National Institute for Religious Affairs, denied both reported measures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThere is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion,\u201d Fernando told AFP. \u201dThere is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship, whichever they are.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u201cThe Republic of Angola \u2026 it\u2019s a country that does not interfere in religion,\u201d the official said on Monday afternoon. \u201cWe have a lot of religions there. There is freedom of religion.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But the Angolan magazine Exame Angola reports that a mosque in Huambo was closed recently \u201cunder express orders of the police authorities of the province of Huambo.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That came from a member of the mosque in question, which Exame reports is the 60th to be closed in Angola. All quotes from Exame referenced in this article have been translated from Portuguese.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The reports of mosques being dismantled have come under scrutiny, as a quick Google Images search shows that a photograph published by numerous news outlets this month that supposedly depicts the minaret of an Angolan mosque being dismantled in October 2012 had been published at least as far back as Jan. 23, 2008, when the Housing &amp; Land Rights Network used it to illustrate an article about the demolition of Bedouin homes in Israel.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On Friday, the weekly Beninese newspaper La Nouvelle Tribune published an article quoting \u201cseveral\u201d Angolan officials, including Minister of Culture Rosa Cruz, who reportedly offered the following remarks, which are translated from the French: \u201cThe process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Their mosques would be closed until further notice.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And the website OnIslam.net cited African news agency Agence Ecofin reporting, \u201cAccording to several Angolan newspapers, Angola has become the first country in the world to ban Islam and Muslims, taking first measures by destroying mosques in the country.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The reports set off a massive surge of interest, as they spread across the world and eventually went viral, causing alarm among Muslims and jubilation by Islamophobes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source:<em><strong> The News Tribe<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The controversy over reports that the southwest African nation of Angola had banned Islam and begun to demolish mosques took a new turn Tuesday when Manuel Fernando, director of the Angolan Ministry of Culture\u2019s National Institute for Religious Affairs, denied both reported measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c102-muslim-minorities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The controversy over reports that the southwest African nation of Angola had banned Islam and begun to demolish mosques took a new turn Tuesday when Manuel Fernando, director of the Angolan Ministry of Culture\u2019s National Institute for Religious Affairs, denied both reported measures.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"majed\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"headline\":\"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Muslim Minorities\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/\",\"name\":\"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/27\\\/3155\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"SunniOnline\",\"description\":\"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\",\"name\":\"majed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"majed\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/author\\\/majed\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline","og_description":"The controversy over reports that the southwest African nation of Angola had banned Islam and begun to demolish mosques took a new turn Tuesday when Manuel Fernando, director of the Angolan Ministry of Culture\u2019s National Institute for Religious Affairs, denied both reported measures.","og_url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/","og_site_name":"SunniOnline","article_published_time":"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00","author":"majed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"majed","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/"},"author":{"name":"majed","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"headline":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam","datePublished":"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/"},"wordCount":381,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Muslim Minorities"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/","url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/","name":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam - SunniOnline","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-27T07:51:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/11\/27\/3155\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Angola denies Muslims stance, says no ban on Islam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/","name":"SunniOnline","description":"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be","name":"majed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"majed"},"url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/author\/majed\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}