CHICAGO (RNS) At the corner of West 63rd Street and South Fairfield, there are all the predictable signs of decline: vacant businesses, empty lots, spikes in violence. But this nondescript intersection is also the site of a renaissance in American Islam, where new Muslim institutions are emerging at an unprecedented rate.
(RNS) Nailah Lymus argues that there’s greater demand for modesty than perhaps the fashion industry realizes, and that it will need models to respond. Since launching her Underwraps modeling agency, she’s received more than 400 queries from aspiring Muslim models from the U.S. to Indonesia to Great Britain.
LONDON (RNS) The increasing isolation of Britain’s Muslim community is leading to stepped-up attacks against Muslims and a sense that Muslims can act like “idiots” against outsiders in some parts of the city, British government and Muslim leaders say.
TOLEDO, Ohio (RNS) Randolph Linn, the Indiana truck driver who pleaded guilty last month to federal arson and related crimes committed at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, has asked to withdraw his plea.
Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, emphasizes universal love, peace, acceptance of various spiritual paths and a mystical union with the divine. It is associated with the dancing of whirling dervishes, who originated in the 13th century as followers of the poet and Muslim mystic, Rumi. Their dance is a traditional form of Sufi worship, [...]
SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) The Spokane Islamic Center wants something mosques all across the country are seeking and can’t seem to find: an educated, bilingual, experienced imam who understands American culture. So far, the search has taken 18 months. By Tracy Simmons.
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(RNS) An ad campaign on San Francisco buses is aimed at trying to change public perception of the word “jihad,” which the program’s founder says has been distorted by extremists — Muslim and anti-Muslim alike. By Doug Stanglin / USA Today.
(RNS) A new report on global religious identity shows that while Christians and Muslims make up the two largest groups, those with no religious affiliation — including atheists and agnostics — are now the third-largest “religious” group in the world. The study, released Tuesday (Dec. 18) by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, [...]
