Islam-Muslims

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Religion in the riots

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The death and destruction caused by rioters in the U.K. has been difficult to watch. I’ve followed the stories and wondered about how well the religion angles have been covered. One tragic story sticks out for how well a victim’s family religion was highlighted. That story is about the death of Haroon Jahan, one of three Muslim men to die after being hit by a car during riots in Birmingham. Reuters reported how his father Tariq Jahan rushed to aid the men, only to find out that one of the victims was his own son:


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Can't Armenians and Azerbaijanis just get along?

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The Washington Post published a news feature the other day about the stunningly complicated and delicate post-Soviet-era standoff in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, which pits Armenians against Azerbaijanis. On top of the story, of course, is a feature photograph — the first in a series.


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Oh yeah, she's a Muslim, too

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GetReligion co-founder Doug LeBlanc notified us of this absolutely fascinating piece by Terri Gross for NPR’s Fresh Air. It runs about 45 minutes or so and goes through a new documentary called The Interrupters. The documentary was done by Steve James, who also directed the fantastic Hoop Dreams.


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Auspicious start to Ramadan coverage

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Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, began yesterday. During the month, participating Muslims refrain from eating or drinking during daylight hours. Muslims believe Ramadan was the month during which the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The month is based on the Islamic lunar calendar and moves back about 11 days each year. So I guess that’s why it seems to come earlier each year.


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Breivik, Bin Laden and moral equivalency

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Normally we like to look at news treatment, as opposed to opinion pieces, related to religion. But there were two analysis items from this weekend that were worth considering. The first came from the New York Times and was written by Thomas Hegghammer, a Norwegian expert on Islamist violence. It’s helpful for those of us trying to analyze how to define this rather idiosyncratic terrorist.


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Unconscientious objector arrested in bomb plot

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I had this completely unrealistic thought last week about how nice it would be to have a nice long delay before the next terrorist-related news item. But just yesterday news broke about a plot to attack Ft. Hood, the same site where Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people two years ago.


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