Converting to Islam: British Women on Prayer, Peace and Prejudice...
Ioni Sullivan, local authority worker, 37, East Sussex I’m married to a Muslim and have two children. We live in Lewes, where I’m probably the only hijabi in the village. I was born and raised in a middle-class, left-leaning, atheist family; my father was a professor, my mother a teacher. When I finished my MPhil at Cambridge in 2000, I worked in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Back then, I had a fairly stereotypical view of Islam, but became impressed with the strength the people derived from their faith. Their lives sucked, yet nearly everyone I met seemed to approach their existence with a tranquillity and stability that stood in contrast to the world I’d left behind. In 2001, I fell in...
Madonna Reveals She is Studying the Quran...
Madonna revealed this week she has been studying the Holy Quran, a practice which has come alongside her efforts to build girls’ schools in Islamic countries. “I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Holy Quran. I think it is important to study all the holy books,” the U.S. pop icon said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar published on Friday. Madonna added that she agrees with what one of her friends tell her; that a good Muslim is a good Jew, a good Jew is a good Christian, and so forth. The “Material Girl” recently got her fans talking after posting a picture on Facebook from a photo shoot in which she wore...
Why So Many Latinos Are Becoming Muslims...
Most Latinos know the country is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month right now. What far fewer Latinos know is that next week marks Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s most sacred holidays. And yet the two observances are more related now than most Latinos realize. Just as the U.S. Latino population is on the rise – Hispanics are now the nation’s largest minority – so is the number of Latino Muslims. And it’s not just a result of Arab Latin Americans emigrating to the United States. According to organizations like WhyIslam.org, Latinos are one of the fastest growing segments of the Muslim community. About six percent of U.S. Muslims are now Latino – and as many as a fifth of...
The Mercy Behind Halal Slaughter Methods...
Like many religions, Islam is often misunderstood not only by non-Muslims but even by many Muslims as well. This is partly to do with how Islamophobic media sources portray Islam, and partly to do with how Muslims misrepresent their own religion. On the other hand, misconceptions of Islam, particularly in the west, by simply be down to a miscommunication between the two civilizations. However, when the two sides discusses these perceived differences through respectful and informed dialogue, they often find that they have more in common than they might have thought. One of many areas where this breakdown in understanding exists is the rituals surrounding Eid ul-Adha. On this day, millions of Muslims all over the world sacrifice...
Why Turkey Lifted Its Ban on the Islamic Headscarf...
Turkish women who want to wear the hijab – the traditional Islamic headscarf covering the head and hair, but not the face – to civil service jobs and government offices will be able to do so now that the Turkish government has relaxed its decades-long restriction on wearing the headscarf in state institutions. The new rules, which don’t apply to workers in the military or judiciary, come into effect immediately and were put into place to address concerns that the restrictions on hijab were discouraging women from conservative backgrounds from seeking government jobs or higher education. “A dark time eventually comes to an end,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to the parliament. “Headscarf-wearing...
Coalition Crosses Religious Lines to Aid the Community...
As she sat on her deck with her walker in front of her, surveying the crowd of people working to repair her home, Geraldine Dorsey was pleased about the volunteers who came together — from different faiths — to help her. “They were one,” Dorsey said of the members of three synagogues and one mosque who gathered April 25 to make repairs to the home of the 75-year-old Mount Airy resident, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has limited mobility. The interfaith group, which has dubbed its collaborative efforts CIRCLE, or the Columbia-Rockville Interfaith Rebuilding Coalition for Living Enhancement, was there to repair the home suggested by Rebuilding Together Howard County, a nonprofit that uses volunteers and donated...
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