The late President Ebrahim Raisi was supposedly being groomed to succeed an aging Ali Khamenei. The succession is a complex process, more dependent on politics than religion.
Shiite women prepare to march in the inaugural Ashoura procession in a neighborhood of Arusha, Tanzania, in 2017.
Mara Leichtman
A variety of cultural performances evoking intense emotions occur during the Islamic month of Muharram. A scholar observed the processions on Ashoura in northern Tanzania.
The Hazara have long been targeted in Afghanistan, and many fear violence will intensify with the Taliban in power.
Dimitris Lampropoulos/NurPhoto via Getty Images
With the Taliban again in power in Afghanistan, minorities like the Hazara may have the most to lose.
According to Islamic studies professor Abbas Barzegar, there are many ways Muslims practice their faith, with some young American Muslims even developing new interpretations of Islamic law.
Joana Toro/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images
Day 3 of our Understanding Islam series. Many Muslims belong to one of two sects of Islam, which agree on most of the fundamentals of Islam but vary in others.
Mosul, a major city in northern Iraq, in the 19th century
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Day 4 of our Understanding Islam series. Knowing the historical contributions of Islam and its influence on other faiths can help counter many assumptions about the religion today.
Shiite Muslims attend a mourning ritual during the Islamic month of Muharram, in the central shrine city of Karbala.
Photo by Mohammed SAWAF / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images
Millions of Muslims travel to Karbala in Iraq for one of the largest annual pilgrimages. The pilgrimage has adapted and changed over its centuries-old history.
Trump recently tweeted about prayer rugs being left along the border. Many may not know the role and history of Muslim prayer rugs and why they are not likely to be left behind.
Hosay, a religious ritual performed by Trinidadian Muslims, combines the somber Islamic observance of Ashura, brought by immigrant Indians, and the joy of Trinidad’s famous carnival.
The offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State has damaged thousands of structures in the historic Old City.
EPA/Stringer
The West needs to push for local action against Islamic State’s reign of terror in the Middle East. States in the region must find solutions to the conflicts to bring peace and stability.
Religion can be a force for peace, the goal of these Australian religious leaders, or conflict – the believer and not the religion itself bears the responsibility.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
There are religious and non-religious extremists and we should not confuse violent believers with religion itself, which has a long history of peacemaking.
Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, Religion and Civic Culture Center, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences