For most of about 1.8 Billion Muslims in the world, Ramadan is not just a period for upping piety: it has a cultural significance that typifies the concept of brotherhood in Islam. Communal feasts, fuller congregations and increased acts of…
Nigeria’s interfaith council fosters peaceful Christian-Muslim relations
The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) is working to defuse tensions between Christians and Muslims here, providing a forum since 1999 to enhance dialogue between the two groups. Through the past two decades, the interfaith group has responded to crises that have wracked…
Islam and feminism are not mutually exclusive, and faith can be an important liberator
Islam is not unique in having theological interpretations that centre on men. Christian, Jewish and Buddhist women (and men) have grappled with the overt and covert sexism within their own sacred texts and traditions in numerous ways. This is because…
Indian Muslim Actress Zaira Wasim Quits Bollywood For Islam, Says: ‘My Relationship With My Religion Was Threatened… I Do Not Belong Here’
In a June 29, 2019 Facebook post,[1] celebrated Indian Muslim actress Zaira Wasim renounced Bollywood for Islam, saying her five-year film career damaged her faith in Islam. Wasim rose to fame in “Dangal,” an acclaimed 2016 movie based on the true…
Islam and religious imperialism
I was named Muhammadu Saheed on the eighth day of my birth. I was boarded in a Quran school at age four and graduated at age 10 with a talk-of-the-town Wolimat ceremony in Ago-Iwoye. I have also had the privilege…
How Muslim women break stereotypes by mixing faith and modesty with fashion
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to wear a headscarf following the Christchurch mosque attacks in March has earned her worldwide praise. But in an online backlash, critics pointed out that women in conservative Muslim countries have no choice and risk public…
Bollywood star quits acting over Islamic faith
A Bollywood actress who starred in India’s highest-grossing movie said she is quitting acting because it is incompatible with her Islamic faith, sparking a social media storm. In a lengthy social media post published Sunday, Zaira Wasim said she was…
Use Ramadan to perfect other pillars of Islam – Cleric
A Muslim cleric and Khalifatul Qadariyyah in FCT, Alhaji Abdulrauf Abdulhameed Oloriomokewu, has urged Muslims to use the period of Ramadan to perfect other pillars of Islam. He gave the advice in Abuja at the 14th Annual Ramadan Lecture organised…
Transnational and transracial message of Islam
Adhan, the call summoning the faithful to prayer, delivered by a muezzin, has rang out from atop the minarets of mosques around the world for the last 15 centuries, ever since the Islamic commonwealth of nations began in the seventh…
Friday essay: how Western attitudes towards Islam have changed
Less than a week after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York on 11 September 2001, US President George W. Bush gave a remarkable speech about America’s “Muslim Brothers and sisters”. “These acts of violence,” he declared, “violate the fundamental…