Robert Azzi: Eid al-Adha – blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans
For more than 1,400 years Muslims have gathered in what is today Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. To perform Hajj, the fifth of Islam’s five pillars, is the dream of every adult Muslim if they are physically and financially able, and this month millions of Muslims, traveling from Malaysia, Mali, […]
More than two million Muslims begin Hajj pilgrimage
Pilgrims gather in Mina valley, just outside Mecca, for start of the annual pilgrimage. More than two million Muslims have started the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The five-day pilgrimage must be performed by all Muslims, who are financially and physically able, at least once in their lives. On Sunday, pilgrims started gathering in […]
Amid an Anti-Muslim Mood, a Museum Appeals for Understanding
FLORENCE, Italy — They were made in Syria six centuries ago, and stand elegantly in a row of vitrines at the Uffizi Gallery here: five ceramic jars that once contained treatments, ointments and scents from the faraway Orient. These “Albarelli” jars are decorated with an interlacing pattern of flower stems and foliage. And at the […]