religion

By Ryan Burge | – For all the predictions and talk of a slump in support among evangelicals, it appears Donald Trump’s election loss was not at the hands of religious voters. As an analyst of religious data, I’ve been crunching data released in March 2021 that breaks down the 2020 U.S. presidential election results […]

Islam

Islamic Judaism? (Video)

Emir-Stein Center

John Tolan | Emir-Stein Center “In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars in Central Europe looked to early Islam and in particular to the Prophet Muhammad for inspiration and consolation. For these scholars, the Muslim prophet could serve as a heuristic model for reforming Judaism. John Tolan, Professor of History at the University of Nantes, […]

Antisemitism

What Christians can Learn from the Qur’an’s denial that Jews bore Responsibility for Christ’s Crucifixion

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Through Christian history, and especially since Christians became numerous and powerful as the Roman Empire adopted the faith as its state religion, Jews have been senselessly victimized around Easter and falsely blamed for the killing of Christ. Interestingly, the Qur’an denies that the Jews were at fault in Jesus’ execution. […]

Featured

US Church Membership falls under 50%; Are Republicans, anti-Gay Evangelicals driving Youth away?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Since about 2000, Americans have begun abandoning religion in droves, especially but not only the younger generations (Millennials and younger). Now a Gallup poll finds that for the first time in seven decades, only 47% of Americans say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. That figure was 70% […]

History

A New History of the Prophet of Islamﷺ – Juan Cole interviewed by Hamza Yusuf

Juan Cole

Juan Cole interviewed by Hamza Yusuf at Renovatio about the book: Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires Available at Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor And Hachette And Barnes and Noble And Amazon Renovatio writes: Can those working in the field of modern academic historical method contribute to new ways of viewing an […]

Jewish History

Startling Discovery of New Dead Sea Scrolls sheds light on Jewish Revolts against Imperial Rome

The Conversation

By Gareth Wearne | – On Tuesday news broke of the discovery of fresh fragments of a nearly 2,000-year-old scroll in Israel. The fragments were said to come from the evocatively named Cave of Horror, near the western shore of the Dead Sea. The finds were announced with attention-grabbing headlines that these were new fragments […]

Islam

What is Ramadan? Essential Information for Students and Teachers

contributors

This FAQ was distributed by Samer Ali, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, but it is useful for any campus and any community with a Muslim minority. RAMADAN 2021 AT U-M This Winter Semester, around finals, many Muslims at U-M will abstain from food and […]

China

City of lost mosques: how Suzhou tells the story of China’s Islamic past

The Conversation

By Alessandra Cappelletti | – The labyrinth of alleys and lanes in the old city of Suzhou hides a secret: historical fragments of the long history of Islam in China. Regular stories in the international press highlighting the treatment of Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region tend to obscure the fact that Islam was […]

Featured

Ayatollah Sistani Affirms Religious Freedom to Pope Francis in HIstoric Iraq Meeting

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday, Pope Francis met in the holy city of Najaf with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the spiritual leader of most of the world’s Shiite Muslims outside Iran. Back in 2004 when US Marines were fighting young Shiite militiamen in Najaf (quite against Sistani’s will), I tried to signal to […]