Conversion can be an exhilarating experience, but can come with a significant social toll.
Rigor académico, oficio periodístico
Islam – Análisis y Comentarios
A new attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt drives home the hatred of Islamic State and other some other Muslim groups for the Sufi traditions of inclusiveness and mystical worship.
While there are pockets of antipathy towards Muslims, an overwhelming majority of Australians don’t share it.
Sufis have remained defiant after a suicide bombing at a shrine in Pakistan.
We must know people as they would like to be known, not as some dominant power has decided we shall know them.
A physician describes the warm welcome he received from Sudanese Muslims just this month when he visited Sudan. His experience comes in part, he writes, from their faith.
The veil has long been a form of resistance.
The teaching of Islam is often limited to its religious practice. How Christians, Jews and Muslims borrowed freely from each other in the realm of art, music, and literature is seldom discussed.
State-registered religions will now have to have 50,000 followers with permanent residency, making Islam unlikely to be approved.
We are a secular nation, yet we acknowledge god in our Constitution. When it comes to religion, Australians tend to be pluralist and (relatively) tolerant.
Reality television is never going to properly portray the true experiences of Muslims in Britain.
The deadly attack on Holey bakery in July 2016 and a recent spate of crimes against minorities show that Bangladesh’s commitment to secularism and pluralism are at stake.
To avoid misguided use of sacred texts, religious believers should understand the context in which the texts appeared the first time.
About one-quarter of the world’s countries, both in developing and developed economies, have anti-blasphemy laws. Their implementation is always controversial and highly politicised.
The 2016 Scanlon Foundation survey provides grounds for caution in applying overseas comparisons to shifts in Australian public opinion.
The presidential turkey pardoning draws on a language of forgiveness common to many religious traditions.
A Trump presidency may not be all doom and gloom for Muslims. Yes, there is cause for concern but there is reason for optimism too.
A campaign to provide information for Muslim couples about English civil marriages could mean Sharia councils fade away.
An enormous rally in Jakarta, organised by hardline Islamic militia group the Islamic Defenders Front, appears to have mobilised a diverse group of conservative Muslims in Indonesia.
Islamophobia affects all those who encounter it – whether they are Muslim or not.
Muslim women are often criticised for their lack of political involvement, but Algerian women have embraced both anti-colonial and feminist movements.
Survey findings are typically considered in isolation in the media, with no understanding of context, of what is within and what is beyond the expected.
The beach lies at the edges of the country, and can feel like another place entirely. French hand-wringing over Muslim dress for paddling should make us look again at our own attitudes.
Those opposed to the building of new mosques don’t recognise their long history here, or potential to support Australian ideals. Mosques are part of our suburban landscape and can help overcome fears about Islam.
The burkini bans, now overturned by a French court, are selective and ridiculous. But controversy over women’s clothing, and competing cultural notions of appropriate garb, are nothing new.