Month: December 2014
-
News and Analysis (12/31/14)
“What Mr Hellyer longs to see is the emergence, at least in the wider world, of rigorously independent voices who are willing to denounce human-rights abuses by all sides”: Western Muslims and Egypt, Telling (All) Hard Truths (The Economist) “The fundamental reason behind this shameful situation in many Muslim countries is clearly the failure of political leadership, exacerbated…
-
News and Analysis (12/30/14)
In Philadelphia, Muslims organize a rally against racism. “Rally leaders decried those killings and said demonstrators were focused on improving policing practices and police-community relations, not on protesting against police per se”: Muslims Hold City Hall Rally for Social Justice (Philly.Com) After a Muslim leader denounced the Ahmadis on a popular Pakistani television talk show, “Luqman…
-
News and Analysis (12/27/14)
“In Raqqa, once a city of more than 200,000 people, the militants have kicked locals out of their homes and doled out those houses as rewards to fighters and their families, many of whom come from impoverished backgrounds”: … Hoping to Create a New Society, the Islamic State Recruits Entire Families (Washington Post) … but…
-
“Pluralism in Islamic Ethicsâ€
[This is the third in a series of my notes on the International Institute of Islamic Thought conference on Islamic Law and Ethics held in Herndon, VA in June  2014. These notes have only been lightly edited and represent my perception of the discussion. The proceedings will be published by IIIT at a later time. Responsibility for any…
-
Ethics in Maqasid al-Shari’ah, Politics, and Policy
[This is the fourth in a series of my notes on the International Institute of Islamic Thought conference on Islamic Law and Ethics held in Herndon, VA in June  2014. These notes have only been lightly edited and represent my perception of the discussion. The proceedings will be published by IIIT at a later time. Responsibility for any errors…
-
News and Analysis (12/25/14)
Why do Muslim countries such as the UAE use Christmas decorations in public spaces when Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas? … Ask Ali: Why Muslims Don’t Celebrate Christmas (The National) … Meanwhile, Linda Sarsour explains that some Muslims celebrate Christmas because “Jesus is very central to Islam and is someone I take great inspiration fromâ€: Why Muslims…
-
News and Analysis (12/23/14)
Karen Armstrong sets out to dispell the bogeymen “that the idea that religion is a gratuitous cause of violence, whose elimination would promote peace[,] … that Islam is an egregious case of a religion that inspires violence[, and] that … the ‘Christian’ … is a more benign global force”: Trouble and Strife:Â Is Secularism or Religion…
-
News and Analysis (12/21/14)
A “24-year-old Muslim woman has filed a lawsuit against an Ohio jail after Cuyahoga County corrections officers allegedly ordered her to attend Christian prayer services or face solitary confinement”: Muslim Woman Says She Was Forced to Attend Christian Service in Ohio Jail (LA Times) “The arrest warrant for Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in…
-
News and Analysis (12/19/14)
The “Dharm Jagran Samiti (DJS) functionary …Â was reacting to the arrest of Nand Kishore Valmiki, a DJS activist [who] …Â was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in forcefully converting over 100 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra”: ‘We Will Free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021’: DJS Leader Vows to Continue ‘Ghar Wapsi’ Plans…
-
News and Analysis (12/17/14)
“[T]here are [monsters] in every country, and there are some in this country. Our obligations are to deal with some of the warmongers we have here and the infractions of our liberties here at home. But there is no moral obligation, there’s no constitutional authority, and there’s no practical advantage for us [to go abroad]”:…
