religion

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A wave of suicide bombings was launched by four radical attackers struck al-Qaa, a largely Christian Lebanese village on the border with Syria on Monday, killing five locals and wounding 15. The first attacks came in the morning but that evening a second wave was launched, attacking […]

Featured

$206 Mn. to Hate Groups to Promote anti-Muslim Sentiment

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender and the Council on American Islamic Relations have jointly produced a new study on hatred of Muslims in the United States. As The Guardian notes, it finds 74 organizations promoting hatred of Muslims in the US, with 33 […]

Islam-hatred

FBI Director Schools Trump On American Muslims

contributors

Ana Kasparian, Brett Erlich, Kenny Hamilton, & Meredith Planko | (Young Turks Video) | – – “FBI director, James Comey, says that Donald Trump has it wrong about Muslims. The Republican presidential candidate blames the religion of Islam for the attack at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, and Comey says it is much more complicated […]

Sufism

Who Was the mystic Jalaluddin Rumi, and Whose Rumi Is He?

contributors

By Bismellah Alizada | (GlobalVoices.org) | – – As all the countries that call the work of Jalaluddin Rumi their own rise up against the idea of Leonardo Di Caprio playing the poet and scholar in a Hollywood epic, social media users in Afghanistan are pushing back against Iran and Turkey's reported joint claim to […]

Arab Americans

Despite Terrorism fears, 59% of Americans Welcome Syrian, Iraqi Refugees

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | “American attitudes on refugees from the Middle East”: A Public Opinion Poll by Shibley Telhami is just out. Despite the raft of Republican mayors who have pledged to keep Syrian refugees out of their states (that isn’t actually a thing) and the sewage that has spilled from the […]

Featured

Obama: Hating on Muslim-Americans makes you an ally of ISIL, & Unamerican

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama is clearly concerned about the direction of the country and the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim hate speech, especially in the context of impossible-to-prevent lone wolf attacks like that at Orlando. He launched his fiercest attack yet on Donald Trump and warned of a repeat of […]

Gay Rights

Three LGBTQ Muslims offer their thoughts on the Orlando shooting and dismiss right-wing attempts to Appropriate their cause.

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “Three LGBTQ Muslims offer their thoughts on the Orlando shooting and dismiss right-wing attempts to pay lip service to their cause.” AJ+: “Gay And Queer Muslims Dismiss GOP Attempts To Woo Them After #Orlando”

Iraq

Abuses of Fallujah Sunnis Raise Question: Does Iraq Gov’t Control of Shiite Militias

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – The announced investigation into allegations of abuse of civilians around Fallujah by Iraqi government forces is a test for the government’s ability to hold abusive forces accountable. Judicial officials should conduct this investigation transparently and impartially, assess command responsibility, and ensure protection for victims and witnesses. Ahead […]

African-Americans

Muhammad Ali Understood the Racist Roots of War and Militarism: And he called them out fearlessly.

contributors

By Phyllis Bennis | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – With all the discussion and debate these days about intersectionality and the need for progressives to link our movements against racism and against war, the name of Muhammad Ali belongs right up in our pantheon with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harry Belafonte, Joan […]