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You can't clone the Ka'bah | Riazat Butt

5 hours 48 min ago

Islam's holy sites cannot remain unchanged. But the suggestion that a new 'Ka'bah' be constructed in Sinai has ruffled feathersYou wait for a story about Mecca all year and then two come along at ...

Categories: General Blogs

Death of a president | Khaled Diab

Fri, 19/03/2010 - 11:30am

If exaggerated rumours of President Mubarak's death become fact, where will the end of his one-man show leave Egypt?Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has appeared on state television in a bid to lay ...

Categories: General Blogs

Egyptian writer's call for new Ka'bah shrine causes international uproar

Thu, 18/03/2010 - 7:36pm

Mount Sinai building could be affordable alternative to Mecca, says controversial thinkerAn award-winning Egyptian writer has caused an international row after he appeared to propose the ...

Categories: General Blogs

Why we're on strike at IslamOnline | Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla

Thu, 18/03/2010 - 4:30pm

New management in Qatar has hijacked our pluralist site in an attempt to make us follow a hardline agenda. We will not do soOn Monday, there were many on Facebook and Twitter who posted a ...

Categories: General Blogs

Le Pen's back, and winning again | Nabila Ramdani

Thu, 18/03/2010 - 10:00am

Fuelled by Nicolas Sarkozy's anti-Muslim 'identity' debate, the Front National is punching above its weight in regional electionsDuring the French presidential campaign of 2007, I trailed ...

Categories: General Blogs

'Jihad Jane': not the usual suspect | Wajahat Ali

Thu, 18/03/2010 - 10:00am

Terrorism comes in all shapes and colours, but it is apparently easier to label it as such when it's wrapped in a Muslim packageThe assumption that terrorism and radicalisation is specific to a ...

Categories: General Blogs

The rights and wrongs of halal | Nesrine Malik

Wed, 17/03/2010 - 4:37pm

Calls to outlaw halal and schechita slaughter are a diversion from the truth – that killing animals is never pleasantI remember vividly the first time I saw an animal slaughtered at our home in ...

Categories: General Blogs

World of Islam children's books spark protest from US Muslims

Wed, 17/03/2010 - 9:14am

Council on American-Islamic Relations complains Muslims are portrayed as violent in series by foreign policy thinktankA series of US children's textbooks on Islam contains misleading and ...

Categories: General Blogs

Sisters | Theatre review

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 9:30pm

Crucible Studio, SheffieldUntil Alia Bano's Shades, Muslim women rarely featured in British drama. Now Stephanie Street, who starred in Bano's play, fulfils a long-cherished dream by creating a ...

Categories: General Blogs

IslamOnline website in crisis as employees in Egypt stage sit-in

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 6:27pm

Future of one of the world's largest Islamic sites in doubt as row escalates between Qatari managers and workers in EgyptThe future of one of the largest Islamic websites in the world was in doubt ...

Categories: General Blogs

Workers' jihad at Islamic website | Jack Shenker

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 5:30pm

Staff at IslamOnline have gone on strike. But is it about workers' rights, religious principles or national rivalries?Islamic advice websites aren't the first thing that spring to mind when ...

Categories: General Blogs

Islamism: why the west gets it wrong | Roger Hardy

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 10:00am

Islamism is widely misunderstood in the west. It has its roots in a reaction to the global politics of the 20th century"The west is ill at ease with Islam", a BBC colleague remarked, long before ...

Categories: General Blogs

Two Muslim men charged over alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 12:05am

Two Muslim men were charged last night in the Irish Republic in connection with an alleged plot to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose artwork outraged many Muslims after he depicted the ...

Categories: General Blogs

Too little too late for Somalia | Riazat Butt

Mon, 15/03/2010 - 3:30pm

A gathering of clerics in Dubai feels like a poor substitute for concerted action by the international communityOn Saturday I asked if a fatwa could solve Somalia's problems. The consensus among ...

Categories: General Blogs

Jihad Jamie: Racial profiling under scrutiny after second white Islamist arrested

Sun, 14/03/2010 - 9:18pm

US citizen Jamie Paulin-Ramirez detained in connection with alleged conspiracy to kill Swedish cartoonistThe use of racial profiling as a counterterrorism tool has been fatally undermined after a ...

Categories: General Blogs

Fears over non-Muslim's use of Islamic law to resolve disputes

Sun, 14/03/2010 - 7:16pm

Muslim Arbitration Tribunal reports 15% rise in non-Muslims employing sharia law in commercial casesCampaigners have voiced concerns over a growing number of non-Muslims using Islamic law to ...

Categories: General Blogs

In search of the real Pakistan | Amil Khan

Sun, 14/03/2010 - 2:00pm

With extremism on the rise, it is more important than ever to support the tolerant, peaceful elements of Pakistani societyWhat exactly is Pakistan all about? The international media will tell you ...

Categories: General Blogs

Reporting on Nigerian massacre deaths seems to have hit a religious divide

Sun, 14/03/2010 - 12:08am

The recent atrocities near Jos in Nigeria received greater coverage than similar events there two months agoThey came from the hills at night. Wielding machetes, knives and cutlasses, the raiders ...

Categories: General Blogs

Can a fatwa solve Somalia's problems? | Riazat Butt

Sat, 13/03/2010 - 11:00am

At a summit in Dubai, scholars and clerics are gathering to destroy the Somalian rebels' religious credibilitySomali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been busy of late. This weekend he is ...

Categories: General Blogs

East is not always best | Usama Hasan

Sat, 13/03/2010 - 9:00am

Muslims in the west need to find their own expression of the universal teachings of IslamThe death last month of the Swiss-born British Muslim Charles le Gai Eaton provided a reminder of the ...

Categories: General Blogs