From Fear of Islam to Outreach: How 9/11 Prompted Interfaith Efforts...
After the deadly attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the first person Rabbi Ted Falcon called was his friend, Jamal Rahman, a Sufi imam. On the following Sabbath, the rabbi invited the imam to hisSeattle synagogue to speak to the congregation. Soon after, the two spiritual leaders, along with Pastor Don Mackenzie, commenced a series of frank conversations about their beliefs, both shared and exclusive. The talks eventually inspired a radio show, a pair of books, and worldwide speaking tours. The men’s willingness to ask and answer tough questions about faith in the wake of 9/11 had clearly struck a nerve with many Americans. In particular, many people wanted to talk about a religion they had barely considered before the attacks, but which now...
France Has Problems With All Religions — Not Just Islam...
A couple of months ago, the French media reported on yet another clash between religious extremists and state authorities. Fifty boys from a private religious school near Paris arrived at a public lycée to take their final examination; however, when two women serving as their proctors met them, there was a standoff. The students, citing religious scruples, refused to enter the room. After a few tense minutes, the school authorities blinked first: They agreed to replace the two female proctors with men. The students, by the way, were wearing yarmulkes. This latest bulletin from the battered no-man’s land that lies between republican France and its religious radicals came to mind as I read René Guitton’s “La France des...
Andalusian fusion: Christianity and Islam...
BY GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO ASSOCIATED PRESS For the third time in a week, I’m touring the Alhambra, one of the most popular sites in the world’s fourth most-visited country, and finally I have it all for myself. Not a pushy guide but a bullfrog in one of the fountains is the loudest sound on a late May night in this hilltop Islamic palace complex in southern Spain. I linger to stick my nose into the cabbage-size roses lining the pathways and to gaze over the floodlit red-tinged ramparts. Their massive simplicity belies the infinite intricacy of the palaces inside, and I can easily believe the legend that the last Muslim ruler wept as he left Granada. Centuries later, we...
Number of Muslims in the U.S. doubles in last decade...
BY MEGHAN NEAL / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, May 3, 2012, 12:49 PM A new survey reveals the dramatically changing face of religion in America, with the number of Muslims in the U.S. soaring 67% in the decade since the 9/11 attacks. Data released Tuesday from the 2010 U.S. Religion Census shows Islam was the fastest growing religion in America in the last 10 years, with 2.6 million living in the U.S. today, up from 1 million in 2000. Mormonism too saw remarkable growth, with a 45% increase in adherents. It added nearly 2 million members since 2000, bringing their number in the U.S. to 6.1 million. “Both of these groups entered more than 200 counties that...
Holocaust survivor finds haven as Muslim in Israel...
For more than five decades, Leila Jabarin hid her secret from her Muslim children and grandchildren — that she was a JewishHolocaust survivor born in Auschwitz concentration camp. Although her family knew she was a Jewish convert, none of them knew of her brutal past. It was only in the past week that Jabarin, who was born Helen Brashatsky, finally sat down and told them the story of how she was born inside Auschwitz, the most notorious symbol of Nazi Germany’s wartime campaign of genocide against Europe’s Jews. In an interview with AFP to mark Holocaust Memorial Day which begins at sundown on Wednesday, Jabarin, now 70, chuckles as she talks about what to call her. Her Muslim name is Leila, but in this Arab town...
Malaysian Prime Minister Says He Upholds Islamic Faith in Respecting Other Religions...
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (Bernama) — Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today his every action at religious celebrations of non-Muslims in the country is in accordance with the permissible tenets of Islam. The prime minister said he emulated the example set by Prophet Muhammad in showing respect for other religions without any breach of the Islamic faith. “I uphold my faith. I also uphold my role as a Muslim leader. We must follow the ways of the Prophet in respecting the religions of other people without failing in terms of our own faith,” he said when closing the 2012 National Assembly of Muslim Scholars, Intellectuals and Virtual Writers...
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