religion

Saudi Reforms are softening Wahhabi Islam’s Role, but Critics warn the Kingdom will Still Quash Dissent

By Nathan French, Miami University | – (The Conversation) – The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, or “MBS,” is bringing a new vision of a “moderate, balanced” Saudi Islam by minimizing the role of Saudi religious institutions once seen as critical to the monarchy. For decades, Saudi kings provided support to religious […]

Antisemitism

How individual, ordinary Jews fought Nazi Persecution – A New View of History

The Conversation

By Wolf Grune, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – In Nazi Germany, Hertha Reis, a 36-year-old Jewish woman, performed forced labor for a private company in Berlin during World War II. In 1941, she was evicted by a judge from the two sublet rooms where she lived with her son and […]

African-Americans

How some Muslim and non-Muslim Rappers alike embrace Islam’s Greeting of Peace

The Conversation

By Margarita Guillory, Boston University and Jeta Luboteni, Boston University | – Ever since the United States’ “war on terror” began, American media has been rife with stereotypes of Muslims as violent, foreign threats. Advocates trying to push back against this characterization sometimes emphasize that “Islam means peace,” since the two words are derived from […]

African-Americans

‘Knowledge of self’: How a key Phrase from Islam became a Pillar of Hip-Hop

The Conversation

By Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, University of Michigan | – (The Conversation) – I was 9 years old when Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full” dropped. I have vivid memories of the bass-laden track booming out of car stereos and hearing it on Black radio, like Kiss FM’s top eight at 8 p.m. countdown. On […]

Christianity

Sinead O’Connor’s Music and Life were infused with Spiritual Seeking, From the Hebrew Prophets, to Rasta, to Islam

The Conversation

By Brenna Moore, Fordham University | – When news broke July 26, 2023, that the gifted Irish singer Sinead O’Connor had died, stories of her most famous performance circulated amid the grief and shock. Thirty-one years ago, after a haunting rendition of Bob Marley’s song “War,” O’Connor ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul […]

Egypt

The Existential Crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Abdelrahman Ayyash, Amr ElAfifi, and Noha Ezzat, Broken Bonds: The Existential Crisis of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, 2013-22 (Washington, DC: The Century Foundation, 2023). Munich (Special to Informed Comment) – July 3, 2023, marked the tenth anniversary of the military coup that removed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi from power, paving the way for the […]

Ancient Greek Religion

The “Cerberus” Heat Wave and the Closing of the Parthenon: Why the Climate Crisis Evokes Cosmic Mythology

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – High daytime temperatures in the Mediterranean basin are disrupting life in many ways, in Spain, Morocco, Greece, Turkey and elsewhere. Tourists in Greece suffered frustrations on Friday when government authorities abruptly closed the Parthenon from midday until evening. There were fears that the tourists up there would have a heat […]

Antisemitism

When it Comes to Defining Antisemitism, it’s Official: the IHRA, which forbids Criticizing Israel, is no Longer the only Game in Town

Georgia Recorder

Joe Sterling ( Georgia Recorder ) – The battle over a controversial definition of antisemitism that forbids criticism of Israel has taken a new turn in Georgia and the rest of the country, thanks to the Biden administration. That’s good news for those of us who oppose giving that one definition the force of law. […]

Featured

Muslims are understandably Protesting Qur’an Burning in Sweden, but the Qur’an itself urges them to do so Peacefully

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Swedish police permitted the burning of the Muslim scripture, the Qur’an (Koran) in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, on the grounds that previous attempts to stop such acts have been overruled by the courts on freedom of speech grounds. Hate acts targeting minorities are not actually free […]