religion

SANAA (IRIN) – Yahia Abu Talib, serious and stoic, is in no doubt about the importance of his role. “We protect homes and mosques,” he says, referring to the so-called popular committees of which he is a member. In a mixed neighbourhood of Yemen’s capital Sana’a, Abu Talib calls himself a “social superviser” for the […]

Islam

Can’t We all Get Along? Sunni-Shi’a Commonalities

contributors

By Tareq A. Ramadan As we enter the Islamic New Year (1436 AH) and therefore the month of Muharram (one of Islam’s sacred months), many Muslims see an increasingly fractured and segmented Muslim world that is rife with sectarianism resulting from, and exacerbated by, the political and military conflicts that have recently engulfed parts of […]

Islam

The Critical spirit of Islam against the mass insanity of ISIS

contributors

By Neslihan Çevik The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), having declared itself a caliphate, is now making a call to all Muslims (especially engineers and doctors) to emigrate to their new home, “Sham,” the land of Ibrahim, with the caution that ones who remain outside will be drowned in apostasy and heresy. However, […]

Epidemics

Ebola’s not the First Racial Germ Panic: The Long History of Xenophobia and Scapegoating

contributors

By Dan Dinello The attempt by some GOP politicians to tie the ebola outbreak to immigration issues is nothing new in American or European history. Immigrants have often been despised, feared and stigmatized by the native-born as harbingers of disease or even death. Conflating disease carriers with foreigners and social outcasts is a practice that […]

Featured

Iraq: US dismayed Shiite Gov’t hasn’t Armed Sunni Tribes fighting ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The pan-Arab London daily Hayat [Life] reports that members of the al-Anbar provincial council say they have met with American officials who are “disgusted” and the slowness of Baghdad to arm the Sunni Arab tribes fighting ISIL. Last week 220 members of the Al-Bu Nimr tribe were murdered by ISIL for taking […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Is ISIL’s Ideology really Grounded in Saudi Textbooks?

contributors

By Emile Nakhleh WASHINGTON (IPS) – According to an article published Oct. 21 on Al-Monitor, the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) has issued new regulations for the school systems under its control in Iraq and Syria. The announced purpose of the so-called guidelines, which carried the imprimatur of the group’s “Amir al-Mu’minin,” presumably leader Abu […]

Entertainment

Why are Berkeley Students Protesting Bill Maher as Commencement Speaker?

contributors

AJ+ “Bill Maher is scheduled to be the guest speaker at UC Berkeley’s fall graduation this December. But despite the university’s reputation for free speech, some students say Maher is too offensive toward Muslims, women and others to enjoy the honor of speaking at graduation. AJ+ spoke with the students leading the charge to cancel […]

Featured

Iraq: Grand Ayatollah Sistani joins Hagel in calling for Arming Sunni Tribes of al-Anbar

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Al-Zaman (The Times of Baghdad reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistan is calling, just as is US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, for the arming of Sunni tribes in al-Anbar Province to fight ISIL in Iraq. (The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government in Baghdad has been reluctant to move too quickly toward creating Sunni […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Women: After 13 Years of War, the Rule of Men, Not Law

contributors

By Ann Jones via Tomdispatch.com On September 29th, power in Afghanistan changed hands for the first time in 13 years. At the Arg, the presidential palace in Kabul, Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as president, while the outgoing Hamid Karzai watched calmly from a front-row seat. Washington, congratulating itself on this “peaceful transition,” quickly collected the new […]