The Contradictions of Hajj, Through the Lens of a Smartphone
Source: The New York Times By Wajahat Ali Is it permissible to take a selfie in front of the Kaaba during hajj? With spotty internet, I was unable to Google the […]
Shattered by war, Sunni Arabs despair over future in Iraq
Source: Associated Press By HAMZA HENDAWI Sep. 10, 2017 KHAZIR CAMP, Iraq (AP) — Fawaz Saleh Ahmed has been secretly sneaking into his own village in northern Iraq to visit […]
A Sinner in Mecca review – Islam, homosexuality and the hope of tolerance
Source: The Guardian BY Charles Kaiser Sunday 10 September 2017 13.29 BSTLast modified on Monday 11 September 2017 14.33 BST Parvez Sharma is a proud gay Muslim whose first film, A Jihad For Love, was the first ever […]
Israel evicts Arab family from Jerusalem home Jews claimed
Source: Associated Press By ARON HELLER JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their home in east Jerusalem on Tuesday to make way for new Jewish tenants […]
Church leaders ‘united’ in defence of Jerusalem
By JT – Sep 04,2017 -JORDAN TIMES – EDITORIAL AMMAN — Heads of churches in Jerusalem on Monday issued a statement expressing their concern over Israeli violations of the status quo of the city’s holy sites. In July 2017, the heads of the Churches in Jerusalem were issued a […]
A journey through Hajj, Islam’s special pilgrimage
Source: CNN By Tamara Qiblawi and Kara Fox, CNN Graphics by Henrik Petterson, CNN (CNN)For the 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, the Hajj is a spiritual pinnacle. Each year, […]
More than 1.7 million Muslims gather for start of hajj
Source: Associated Press By OMAR AKOUR and AHMED HATEM MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — In Saudi Arabia, more than 1.7 million pilgrims are marking the start of the hajj pilgrimage […]
Hajj pilgrimage entangled in web of Saudi politics
Source: Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — More than 1.7 million Muslims from around the world have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the start of the annual hajj […]
Iran sentences New Age-style Shiite Islam founder to death
Source: Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An attorney for the founder of a mystical, New Age version of Shiite Islam says an Iranian court has sentenced his client to death. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei tells The Associated Press that the court sentenced Mohammad Ali Taheri to death on charges of […]
Chador in, hijab out: Iran VP’s wardrobe draws criticism
Source: Associated Press By AMIR VAHDAT TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Just a couple of weeks into her appointment, the new Iranian vice president’s decision to abandon her fashion style for […]
Iran Out to Remake Mideast With Arab Enforcer: Hezbollah
Source: The New York Times By BEN HUBBARD BEIRUT, Lebanon — For three decades, Hezbollah maintained a singular focus as a Lebanese military group fighting Israel. It built a network of bunkers and […]
Finding a life partner is hard enough. For those of the Druze faith, their future depends on it
Source: Los Angeles Times By Abby Sewell Reem Kaedbey was never very religious. She’s not even sure there is a God. But when it came to marriage, she never had […]
The road ahead for the Mideast
Aug 28,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – EDITORIAL The apparently imminent fall of the city of Tal Afar to the Iraqi forces backed by local militias, notably Hashed Al Shaabi, so soon after the recapture of Mosul is an added evidence that Daesh’s days in Iraq are now numbered. Tal Afar, strategically […]
HATE, HOPE AND SWIMMING LESSONS
Source: Time BY ROBIN SHULMAN | PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANNY WILCOX FRAZIER—VII FOR TIME Just over a year ago, Ghazweh Aljabooli and her husband and five children landed at the Des Moines airport and […]
The future of Islamism: Can political Islam make it in the modern world?
Source: The Economist The auguries are mixed. “DEAD, dying or detained.” That is how a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt describes the state of his comrades in what […]
Iranian refugees turn to Christianity in the Netherlands
Source: BBC News In the Netherlands, thousands of Iranian Muslim migrants and refugees are converting to Christianity, despite conversion from Islam being considered apostasy in Iran and punishable by death. […]
‘Peace for all or peace for none’
. Aug 22,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – Hasan Abu Nimah The Middle East is a region that has been deprived of peace for no less than a full decade. All efforts, by the UN, superpowers, regional actors and mediators over the years to resolve causes of instability have failed. Actually, the […]
Are Turkey’s schools dropping evolution and teaching jihad?
Source: BBC News By Selin GiritBBC News, Istanbul 22 August 2017 Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThe new curriculum will affect five-year-olds, 10-year-olds and teenagers in year nine (file pic) “In Turkey, […]
In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall
Source: NPR BY LAUREN FRAYER When children in Turkey head back to school this fall, something will be missing from their textbooks: any mention of evolution. The Turkish government is phasing […]
Israel’s response to Charlottesville hasn’t been as clear as you might have expected
Source: The Washington Post By Loveday Morris and Ruth Eglash August 16 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Aug. 13. (Dan Balilty/Reuters) As neo-Nazis and white supremacists […]