A faith-based aid revolution in the Muslim world?
Every year, somewhere between US$200 billion and $1 trillion are spent in “mandatory” alms and voluntary charity across the Muslim world, Islamic financial analysts estimate. At the low end of the estimate, this is 15 times more than global humanitarian aid contributions* in 2011. Islam requires Muslims to give a portion of their wealth to charity […]
Recognizing World War II Muslims that sheltered fleeing Jews
WASHINGTON, April 27, 2017 – One of the little-known stories of the Holocaust is that of Muslims who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. Fortunately, on this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, more attention is being paid to this important record of bravery and idealism. At Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.., Holocaust […]
Americans Have Double Standards On Religious Violence
Americans exhibit a double standard when it comes to religious violence, extending far greater benefit of the doubt that attackers claiming to be Christian aren’t really Christian than they do for attacks carried out in the name of Islam, a survey has indicated. Responding to a survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, released Thursday, […]
Nepali girl dies due to banned menstruation practice
A 15-year-old girl has died in Nepal’s western Achram district after she was banished to a shed because she was menstruating, under an ancient Hindu practice that has been banned for over a decade, police said. “We are investigating the case. We suspect that she died of suffocation from the smoke of a fire she […]
Islam and politics: Indonesia’s identity crisis
The blasphemy charges against Jakarta’s governor will put Indonesia’s democracy and national identity to the test. Modern Indonesia is testimony to the ability of transition democracies to construct a constitutional framework that can guarantee equality, security and freedom from discrimination for all citizens. Since 1998’s Reformasi (the period of transition after the fall of Indonesia’s […]
Is There a Punishment for Apostasy in Islam?
I. Introduction In Islamic legal discourse, the term used to describe apostasy is Riddah, an Arabic term which literally, means defection or backsliding1. In the context of Islamic jurisprudence, this Islamic legal term describes the action whereby an adult Muslim denounces Islam as his or her faith. There has been a wide variety of opinions […]
Female Genital Mutilation Haunts Somalis in US
The United Nations estimates 200 million girls and women in more than 30 countries have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). Somalia has the highest rate in the world recorded by the United Nations, with about 98 percent the country’s female population between the ages of 15 and 49 affected by FGM.
Muslim extremists target world’s priceless treasures
From Mali to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, extremist fighters have regularly turned their sights on the priceless vestiges of peoples’ cultural heritage – for being un-Islamic. The International Criminal Court on Monday will open the trial of Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi, an extremist on a charge of war crimes for the destruction of shrines at the […]
Putting an end to violence against women
The word ‘women’ creates several images in one’s mind. Every image of women let it be mother, sister, wife or daughter is perceived through common lens of respect and dignity. Undoubtedly, women are the real architects of the society as no nation can rise to height of glory unless its women are side by side […]
Is honor killing an ordinary crime?
Honor Killing became a very common crime here as the women are beheaded, burned to death, stoned to death, stabbed, electrocuted, strangled and buried alive for the honor of their families. It is not surprising as news items of honor killings and honor attacks off and on appear in the media. Honor killing become the […]