Posts Tagged ‘#SSRCWCG’

Last July, I wrote about President Nicholas Sarkozy’s comments on the burqa. Since then, a number of steps have been taken towards a partial ban on the burqa that included setting up a panel to discuss the issue as well as a national debate on French identity.
Over the last six months, the panel has been studying [...]

On Tuesday night, I attended Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s talk “Refuse to be Silenced: Feminism Today” as part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Distinguished Lecture Series. This series aims to generate constructive dialogue around controversial issues. I was hesitant to go to the lecture because I was aware of her story and her attitudes towards Islam; however, [...]

Even though two thirds of Americans (63%) admit that they have little or no knowledge about Islam, according to a recent Gallup poll, almost half of Americans acknowledge some level of prejudice against Islam (53%) and Muslims (43%). Furthermore, “personal affiliation with a Muslim may help to soften extreme prejudice, but is not enough to [...]

This is a guest post by Clare Milliken, a UW-Madison undergraduate majoring in journalism. She recently published a story about the Muslim student community on campus in the Isthmus newspaper.
Working as a reporter opens your eyes to the world, allowing you an intimate look into others’ lives, cultures, and experiences. Never have I appreciated this [...]

Last Thursday, Trijicon, a Michigan based company announced that it would stop inscribing Biblical references on gun sights for the military. This came after many groups, including the Interfaith Alliance and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemned the practice. These inscriptions gained attention after ABC News aired a story about the weapons, referred to by some as [...]

In last week’s post about Muslim-Christian tensions in Egypt, I highlighted that I am troubled by the way that two connected faiths that call for tolerance are often manipulated for specific purposes. As a follow up to that post, I wanted to write about the violence last week between Christians and Muslims in Jos, which stands [...]

This is part 5 of our series, Media and Islam. Previous parts explained why we started the series and examined Al Jazeera, Global Voices and CNN.

Having lived through the atrocities of the Nazi era, Germany is very sensitive to issues of tolerance. Perhaps that is why it has put more effort into integrating its four [...]

While Egypt is a Muslim majority country, it has a significant Christian minority, about 10% of the population. Although relations between the groups have fluctuated over time, recent trends have unfortunately been towards increased tension. With the recent shootings on January 6th, the Coptic Christmas Eve, outside a church in southern Egypt, many are worried about an increase [...]

A few months ago, I wrote a post about the contributions of scientists during the Islamic empire and how they have often been glossed over. Next Thursday, January 28th, the next Inside Islam radio show will take up the topic of Islam and Science. Professor George Saliba from Columbia and Professor Jim Al-Khalili from the University of [...]

This is the fourth part of our series, Media and Islam. Previous parts explained why we started the series and examined Al Jazeera and Global Voices.
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own fact,” said US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. News media’s job is to give the public both facts and [...]

Even though the prevailing image in mainstream media is often that it is a religion of violence, many forget that since its inception Islam called for a system of social justice and responsibility for others. From early on in his life, the Prophet Muhammad was concerned about the state of the less fortunate. In Muhammad’s time, [...]

An uproar is occurring in a perhaps unexpected place. This past week Malaysia witnessed rising tensions as several churches have been vandalized. These tensions are the result of a court ruling in which a government ban on the use of Allah by Christians was overturned. Proponents of the ban argue that the term Allah should [...]

A few months ago, I wrote a post about flying while Muslim and the case of the six imams who were removed from their flight because they prayed before boarding. Now this story has even more relevance since the Christmas day attempted bombing by Umar Farooq Abdulmutallab.

The Fort Hood shooting in November and the arrest of five Virginia young men in Pakistan in December have shocked many Americans in a different way than 9/11 did. The terrorists in the 2001 attack were Islamic extremists from abroad, but the suspects in the two recent cases are American Muslims raised and educated here [...]

In this year’s Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, Tariq Ramadan came in at number 49 for “dedicating his life to proving that Europe and Islam are not incompatible”–no small task in the world today. Ramadan is considered by many to be a very controversial intellectual. For some, he is too liberal and westernized while for [...]

Even though 98% of its population practices Islam, the Western African country of Niger is a secular state, protected by laws mostly inherited from the French. In recent years, the government has adopted some woman-friendly policies but rejected a few as well. What’s behind those rejections? What role does Islam play in the politics of [...]

An Islamic center near Ground Zero? That’s what Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is hoping for.  Al Farah Mosque on West Broadway has already bought the building at 45 Park Place that used to be the Burlington Coat Factory. The significance of this building goes beyond the fact that it is close to Ground Zero: on September 11th, a [...]

Two weeks ago, I went to a sociology class to give a presentation on Islam. I have gone to this same class for at least the last four years. The experience is always interesting and challenging. Over the years, I have found that many of the questions remain the same, but become more nuanced, although [...]

A year ago we wrote a post about the seemingly unstoppable growth of Islamic finance while Western bankers and investors were entangled in the worst financial mess since the Great Depression. But the recent debt crisis in Dubai has caused many people to wonder whether the phenomenal growth in Islamic finance is a “mirage in [...]

This is a guest post by Dominique Haller, a producer for the Here on Earth show at Wisconsin Public Radio. She is from Switzerland.
The vote banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland leaves that country with many questions. How did it come to this vote? What does the Swiss political system have to do [...]