Islam – News Stories About Islam - Page 11

Thomas Friedman

Dec 16, 2009 1:14 PM CST

Islam Needs a Civil War

Muslim majority must triumph on the ground and in 'Virtual Afghanistan'

(Newser) - Islam has become corrupted by the ideology of a "violent minority," and it's long past time that the majority of Muslims take back their religion, writes Thomas Friedman. How? It needs a "civil war," just as America needed one to overcome the ideology of slavery. "...

To Protest Swiss Ban, Exec Puts Minaret Atop Office

Dec 11, 2009 11:57 PM CST

To Protest Swiss Ban, Exec Puts Minaret Atop Office

Non-Muslim businessman calls country's support 'scandalous'

(Newser) - The recent passage of a ban on minarets so irked a Swiss businessman that he’s added one to his company headquarters. Shoe-store-chain owner (and non-Muslim) Guillaume Morand calls “shameful” the 57% of voters who approved the right-wing effort to keep the Muslim towers from the country’s skyline....

Sarkozy
to Muslims:
Be Discreet

Dec 8, 2009 12:38 PM CST

Sarkozy to Muslims: Be Discreet

French president sympathizes with Swiss in minaret ban

(Newser) - People of all faiths, but especially Muslims, must “refrain from ostentation and practice their religion in humble discretion,” Nicolas Sarkozy opined today, sympathizing with the Swiss voters who approved a minaret ban last week. In a column in Le Monde, the French president warned Muslims that doing anything...

Minaret Ban
Shoves Swiss
Hard to the Right

Dec 1, 2009 12:38 PM CST

Minaret Ban Shoves Swiss Hard to the Right

Surprise vote shows anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment on the rise

(Newser) - The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) got a surprising shot in the arm with Sunday’s vote to ban minarets in the country. Though it’s been growing rapidly since its 1980s inception, the SVP has had little success in referenda until now, with critics accusing it of racism...

Swiss Projected to
Approve Minaret Ban

Nov 29, 2009 8:38 AM CST

Swiss Projected to Approve Minaret Ban

Nationalist measure reflects rising anti-Muslim sentiment

(Newser) - Swiss voters approved a move to ban the construction of minarets in a vote today on a right-wing initiative that labeled the mosque towers as symbols of militant Islam, early projections showed. The Swiss looked to have swung from only 37% supporting the proposal a week ago to 59% in...

Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy

Nov 27, 2009 11:50 AM CST

Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy

Kandahar official survives attack on holiest Muslim holiday

(Newser) - The governor of Kandahar narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded underneath his convoy. Turyalai Wesa was on his way to prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the holiest holiday on the Muslim calendar. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, a violent Afghan hotspot, and...

Gadhafi Hires 200 Hot Italian Women, Tries to Convert Them

WACKY DICTATORS

Nov 16, 2009 2:23 PM CST

Gadhafi Hires 200 Hot Italian Women, Tries to Convert Them

Leader also gives out copies of his book

(Newser) - Moammar Gadhafi hired a couple of hundred attractive Italian women for the night, headed to the Libyan ambassador's place in Rome, shepherded them into a room, and ... tried to convert them to Islam. The Libyan dictator offered $75 for the evening, causing most of the women to assume they’d...

Home-Grown Islamic
Terrorism No Threat

OPINION

Nov 12, 2009 8:14 AM CST

Home-Grown Islamic Terrorism No Threat

US Muslims well-integrated, 'devout capitalists'

(Newser) - Whatever place religious extremism occupied in the troubled mind of Nidal Hasan, the United States—unlike Europe—has no reason to fear terrorism from its own Muslim population, says Max Fisher . American Muslims are far less vulnerable to al-Qaeda recruitment than their brethren across the pond, Fisher writes in the...

Hasan Felt Discriminated Against, Wanted Out of Army

fort hood shooting

Nov 6, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Hasan Felt Discriminated Against, Wanted Out of Army

Suspect moved to San Antonio hospital

(Newser) - Nidal Malik Hasan considered himself a victim of anti-Muslim bias and had been trying for 6 months to quit the Army, his cousin says. "I think because he’s a Muslim he didn’t want to go to Afghanistan or Iraq, and he didn’t want to expose himself...

Muslim Groups Condemn Hasan, Rush to Judgment

fort hood shooting

Nov 6, 2009 12:28 PM CST

Muslim Groups Condemn Hasan, Rush to Judgment

Groups preach tolerance as hate mail pours in

(Newser) - With hate mail already pouring in, Muslim American groups rushed to condemn the Fort Hood shooter today as a criminal who doesn’t represent Islam. “You wouldn't take a Christian or a Jewish soldier who did something like this and look at other Christians and Jews and say, 'Can...

Swiss to Vote
on Minaret Ban

Nov 5, 2009 6:47 AM CST

Swiss to Vote on Minaret Ban

Referendum this month sparks fear of Muslim backlash

(Newser) - Swiss government and business leaders are having a panic attack over a referendum that would ban minarets on mosques—and, they fear, make the country a target for Islamic terrorism. The handiwork of the anti-immigrant Swiss People's Party, infamous for an earlier campaign poster showing a white sheep kicking a...

Omar bin Laden: Dad Beat Me

Book Excerpt

Oct 28, 2009 11:26 AM CDT

Omar bin Laden: Dad Beat Me

Terrorist's fourth son describes his childhood in Growing Up bin Laden

(Newser) - When Omar bin Laden was about to be born, his father got so excited that he lost his keys. When he finally found them after a frantic search, he tore to the hospital at reckless speed in his brand new golden Mercedes. It’s hard for Omar to imagine the...

GOPers Run
'Witch Hunt' for Muslim Spies

Glenn Greenwald

Oct 16, 2009 10:37 AM CDT

GOPers Run 'Witch Hunt' for Muslim Spies

Advocacy group tries to place Muslim interns in Congress. So?

(Newser) - Four House Republicans are using a document reprinted in a fringe book on a supposed conspiracy to “Islamize America” to call for an investigation into Muslim “spies” in Congress—spies in the form of interns in congressional offices, that is. How “repugnant” and crazy, writes Glenn Greenwald...

A Quarter of World Is Muslim

Oct 8, 2009 5:31 AM CDT

A Quarter of World Is Muslim

Asia, not Middle East, is center of the world of Islam

(Newser) - A quarter of the world's population is Muslim, and nearly two-thirds of the religion's adherents live in Asia, according to an extensive new study mapping the world of Islam. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation, and India, a majority-Hindu country, has the world's third-largest population of Muslims—more than twice...

Gitmo Guard: Why
I Embraced Islam

Interview

Oct 7, 2009 2:13 PM CDT

Gitmo Guard: Why I Embraced Islam

Terry Holdbrooks sympathized with the detainees, and was soon bounced from the army

(Newser) - Terry Holdbrooks didn’t know anything about Islam when he was assigned to guard the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The lone son of junkie parents, raised by his ex-hippie grandparents, he liked hard drinking, hard rock, and tattoos. But once there he became intensely curious about Islam, wondering how the...

Iranian Clerks Warned to Dress Mannequins in Hijabs

Sep 23, 2009 5:21 AM CDT

Iranian Clerks Warned to Dress Mannequins in Hijabs

Shopkeepers also told to hide curves

(Newser) - Iranian shopkeepers have been ordered to dress female mannequins in Muslim hijab head scarves, and to keep any curves strictly under wraps, reports the BBC. The edict is part of a continuing crackdown on "Western style" dress. The sale of bowties and neck ties, as well as the...

Houses of Worship
Adapt to Swine Flu

Sep 20, 2009 5:56 PM CDT

Houses of Worship Adapt to Swine Flu

Synagogues, churches, mosques get ready for H1N1

(Newser) - Places of worship across the country are adjusting holy rituals to head off swine flu, CBS News reports. On the Jewish New Year, one Massachusetts synagogue is skipping handshakes and promoting the use of hand sanitizer—and, in a substantial break from tradition, allowing worshipers to not kiss the Torah....

Obama Praises US Muslims
at Ramadan Dinner

Sep 1, 2009 9:32 PM CDT

Obama Praises US Muslims at Ramadan Dinner

(Newser) - President Barack Obama praised the contributions of American Muslims tonight at a White House dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Muslim community leaders, Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and members of Congress were on hand as Obama paid tribute to "a great religion and its commitment to justice...

Facebook: Defining
Religion in 100 Characters

Aug 30, 2009 1:08 PM CDT

Facebook: Defining Religion in 100 Characters

From agnostics to Jedis, users wonder how to sum up views

(Newser) - It could be a quick question: What's your religion? But Facebook’s request for that information has led many to review and revise their beliefs to fit into a 100-character space, the Washington Post reports. Answers range from Christian, Facebook’s most popular belief system, to a professed belief in...

Yale Sides With Dictators by Censoring Cartoons

OPINION

Aug 29, 2009 10:57 AM CDT

Yale Sides With Dictators by Censoring Cartoons

Muhammad decision is short-sighted

(Newser) - Yale University has “handed a victory to extremists” by deciding to pull images of the prophet Muhammad from its upcoming book on the Danish cartoon controversy, writes Mona Eltahawy in the Washington Post. Eltahawy is a Muslim living in Denmark, and she knows full well that the cartoons offended...