Islam

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Overflowing Mosques Lead Muslims to Synagogue

(Newser) - With the Muslim population in the US booming, the start of Ramadan this weekend will see many worshippers overflowing into borrowed space, from ballrooms to synagogues, the Washington Post reports. The DC area's mosques are bursting at the seams; with the Koran's injunction against borrowing money at interest slowing new...

Fla. Judge May Return Muslim Teen Runaway to Family

(Newser) - An Orlando judge will hear arguments today in the case of Rafqa Bary, a 17-year-old ethnic Sri Lankan who ran away from her Muslim home because she feared her family would punish her for converting to Christianity. The judge will decide whether she should remain in state custody in Florida...

Beer-Drinking Model Demands Public Caning

(Newser) - A Malaysian model sentenced to caning for drinking beer wants her punishment carried out in public, CNN reports. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, will be the first woman to be flogged for alcohol consumption in the Muslim-majority nation. "Let's be transparent" about the punishment, Kartika has insisted. Her father...

Swiss Group Fights Against Islam's Minarets

(Newser) - A debate on freedom of religion featuring ultra-nationalist zealots is playing out in the most unlikely of places: a sleepy hamlet in Switzerland. A group is trying to block the construction of a 30-foot tall minaret on a mosque in Langenthal (pop. 14,000) because it's a symbol of Islam's...

Under the Veil, Plastic Surgery Soars in Saudi Arabia

Clerics, surgeons say Islam approves certain procedures

(Newser) - Does Islam frown on nose jobs or breast implants? Three years ago, clerics and surgeons said certain procedures were sanctioned. The results may not see much light of day in a kingdom where women cover up from head to toe, yet cosmetic surgery is booming. Plastic surgery centers were rare...

Pakistan Muslims Torch Christian Houses; 6 Dead

Crowd avenges alleged Koran desecration

(Newser) - Six people are dead after Muslim protesters torched houses in a Christian neighborhood of Pakistan’s Gojra City yesterday, CNN reports. The demonstrators, who were protesting an alleged desecration of the Koran at a Christian wedding last weekend, set fire to between 40 and 50 houses. A crowd burned 15...

UN Woman: 'Flogging Is Men Behaving Badly'

(Newser) - A former UN worker who faces possible lashing in Sudan for wearing pants blasted flogging as an "insult" to humans that has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with "men mistreating women," she tells the Guardian. Lubna Ahmed Hussein and 12 other women were...

Nigerian Rebel Leader Dies in Police Custody

(Newser) - The leader of an uprising set on introducing Islamic law in Nigeria died in custody today, the BBC reports. Mohammed Yusuf was captured in his in-laws’ goat pen in Maiduguri—and was later seen standing and with no visible injuries by a Reuters reporter. “He has been killed,”...

Terror Suspect Led Typical Suburban Life

But Boyd fought in Afghanistan, said 'good Muslims' waged jihad

(Newser) - The arrest of construction worker Daniel Boyd and his sons for conspiring to support terrorists came as a complete shock to their neighbors in North Carolina, who describe the 39-year-old father as a friendly gardener and fisherman. But Boyd has followed an uncommon path. After converting to Islam in the...

150 Maldive Women to Be Flogged for Affairs

(Newser) - A criminal court in the Maldives has ruled that 150 women will be flogged for having affairs in the Muslim country, reports the Independent. Some 50 men face the same punishment. Earlier this month an 18-year-old woman fainted after being flogged 100 times for having sex with two men, who...

China Closes Urumqi Mosques, Imposes Curfew

(Newser) - Chinese authorities forced mosques in Urumqi to stay closed today and reimposed a curfew in the restive western city, reports the BBC. The curfew was lifted after thousands of troops had seemed to restore order between Han Chinese and Uighur Muslims, who have battled in the worst ethnic violence China...

They May Love Obama, But Still Don't Like US

(Newser) - President Obama is viewed favorably around the world, but his popularity hasn't worked any magic on the image of the US, Tom Schaller writes on FiveThirtyEight. A new poll of people in 20 countries finds the average global opinion of the role the US plays in the world is 41%...

Turkish Game Show Tries to Convert Atheists

Imams, priests, rabbis, and monks given chance to convert unbelievers live on TV

(Newser) - This was probably only a matter of time: A Turkish game show starting this fall will bring on 10 atheists per show and give holy men from four faiths the chance to convert them, the Guardian reports. A Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, and a Buddhist monk...

Burka Is 'Not Welcome' in France: Sarkozy

Prez says religious covering a sign of female 'subservience'

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy today spoke out strongly against Islamic coverings for women, like the burka, the BBC reports. In a rare speech to parliament, which is considering a ban, the French president said, “we cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting. … The burka...

Death of 'Neda' May Echo for Weeks in Iran
Death of 'Neda' May Echo for Weeks in Iran
ANALYSIS
Jun 22, 2009 6:40 AM CDT

Death of 'Neda' May Echo for Weeks in Iran

Lengthy Shia cycle of mourning martyrs often includes protests

(Newser) - It's not clear who killed the Iranian protester known as Neda, but footage of her gruesome shooting in the streets of Tehran may transform the demonstrations gripping Iran, Time reports. Shia Muslims mourn their dead three, seven, and 40 days after death, and Iranians often use those commemorations for protests....

Obama the Messiah Twists History
Obama the Messiah
Twists History
OPINION
Jun 12, 2009 8:40 AM CDT

Obama the Messiah Twists History

Hovering from on high, he finds fault with US: Krauthammer

(Newser) - "He's sort of God," a Newsweek writer said of Barack Obama on MSNBC recently, which for Charles Krauthammer is only a mild overstatement of how the president sees himself: "hovering above mere mortals, mere country, to gaze benignly upon the darkling plain beneath him." In his...

Gaza's Single Ladies to Hamas: Put a Ring on It

Islamic group sees matchmaking as 'humanitarian work'

(Newser) - Washington deems Hamas a terrorist group, but for Gaza’s lonely single women, the Islamic militant group can be a lifesaver, the AP reports. Hamas runs a “marriage and development” service that finds husbands for hundreds of women, often helping those in their 30s—who are considered spinsters. “...

Dubai Woman Rattles Arab World With Sex Advice Book

Book of frank erotic advice rooted in religion shocks Arab world

(Newser) - A Dubai marriage counselor is making waves in the Arab world with a frank book on sexuality, the New York Times reports. Wedad Lootah, a former Islamic scholar, grounds her book of erotic advice in the teachings of the Koran. She discusses taboo subjects such as homosexuality and urges readers...

Obama Echoes Bush— But Does It Better

Why? 'He is decidedly not' his predecessor

(Newser) - President Obama’s speech in Cairo sounded a lot like President Bush’s 2006 speech to Muslims—yet Obama’s manages to carry far more weight, writes Michael Crowley in the New Republic. Both spoke of respect for “the history and traditions of the Muslim world”; both suggested governmental...

Obama 'Shrewd' in Cairo Speech
 Obama 'Shrewd' 
 in Cairo Speech 
OPINION Roundup
Jun 4, 2009 11:24 AM CDT

Obama 'Shrewd' in Cairo Speech

(Newser) - Most of America wasn’t even awake when it happened, but Barack Obama’s Cairo speech got people talking anyway, the Washington Post reports. The New York Times says Obama delivered a "sweeping and forceful—at times scolding and combative" message, which included what the Wall Street Journal called...

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