What is Eid and how do Muslims celebrate it? 6 questions answered
The ConversationMuslims all over the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, one of the religion’s principal festivals. In August, Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Adha. Ken Chitwood, a scholar of global Islam, explains the two Islamic festivals.
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Eid al-Fitr 2019: Everything you need to know
Al JazeeraAs Muslims around the world bid Ramadan farewell, they also prepare for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month.
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The Hijab Friendly Hair Salon
BBC NewsFor many hijab-clad women, getting your hair done in a regular salon can prove to be an isolating experience. One woman decided to address that by starting the first women’s only salon in New York. Now, her business serves as a safe-haven where hijabi women can be pampered.
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As Yemenis prepare for Eid, even celebration is a struggle
Al JazeeraThis year, families celebrate being alive and healthy as poverty, unemployment dampen spirits in war-torn Yemen.
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Israeli forces and settlers enter Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Al JazeeraMarking Jerusalem Day, when Israelis celebrate their occupation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war, Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound along with hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews. The Waqf organization which oversees Islam’s third holiest site said police used rubber bullets and pepper spray and arrested seven people.
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A Muslim appeal for Saudi Arabia to show mercy
The EconomistAt least 80 respected scholars and teachers of the Muslim faith, from many countries but mostly Anglophone ones, have lent their names to a plea to the Saudi authorities. It urges the kingdom to spare the lives of three well-known figures in the world of Islam.
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How Muslim leaders can respond in an age of extremism
The ConversationTerror is a vicious cycle, always a catastrophe for its victims, inevitably a calamity for its perpetrators, and unavoidably a cost for humanity. These researchers ask, can community leaders help mitigate this? and more specifically, examine how how Muslim leaders should respond in communities simultaneously blamed for and victimized by terrorism.
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Intel: Why Turkey’s transfer of Muslim bloc leadership to Saudis was so uncomfortable
Al MonitorWhen two adversaries bump into each other, a common solution is to avoid interaction. But that wasn’t an option for Turkish and Saudi officials this week as Ankara turned over leadership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to its rival in an unusually frosty handoff.
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Hate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have a long history in America’s past
The ConversationHate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have shown an increase in recent years. But is there an association between the two?
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Muslims leave Sri Lanka govt to allow probe of terror claim
APEleven Muslim politicians resigned from top government posts in Sri Lanka on Monday, saying they wanted to enable the government to investigate allegations that some of them had links to the extremists who carried out the deadly Easter attacks.
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Qatar expresses reservations over Mecca summit outcome
Al JazeeraQatar said on Sunday it had reservations about hardline statements on Iran made at emergency summits in Mecca organized by Saudi Arabia.
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During Ramadan, growing Muslim philanthropy enters the spotlight
Religion News Service“The purpose of fasting is to connect with your creator spiritually,” says Waleed Ahmad, the director of programs at Humanity First USA, a Muslim-led aid organization. “But it’s also to realize there are people in the world who don’t get those two meals a day. So let’s at least give our lunch money to them.”
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#BlackoutEid: Celebrating being black and Muslim
Al JazeeraNena Beecham explains Why we need black Muslim spaces and hashtags like #BlackoutEid.
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The Muslims Who Don’t Fast During Ramadan
Atlas ObscuraMembers of Senegal’s Baye Fall sect eat, cook, and deliver food in grand processions.
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Pop culture got Islam wrong for years. ‘Ramy’ made getting it right look easy.:
Washington PostZainab Mudallal writes, “Instead of presenting Islam as a brooding, world-historical force, ‘Ramy’ made religion one of its major subjects, taking audiences inside one person’s spiritual journey. “And “Ramy” took on these tasks as the first show on a mainstream, U.S. outlet that centers around Arab and Muslim experiences. That’s a lot of pressure to place on a freshman series, especially one that runs only 10 roughly 25-minute episodes…But “Ramy” works because it embraces those challenges.”
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Moon sightings, politics play a part in Muslim holiday
APMuslims across the Middle East and beyond began Tuesday marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, one of the most celebrated holidays for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, amid confusion about the start of the three-day holiday fed partly by political differences.
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Muslims celebrate Eid, ending Ramadan holy month
ReutersMuslims around the world celebrated the Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday on Tuesday, marking the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
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In pictures: Muslims around the world celebrate Eid
BBC NewsThe “festival of the breaking of the fast” begins when the moon rises on the final day of Ramadan, a holy month of fasting. The timing varies from country to country, with some following the moonrise in Mecca and others using local sightings.
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What is Sahwa, the Awakening movement under pressure in Saudi?
Al JazeeraScholars linked to the Saudi al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Awakening), or Sahwa, movement, a period of powerful social and political change between the 1960s and 1980s, are reportedly on death row, but Sahwa has not always been out of favor with the kingdom.
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Who are the key Sahwa figures Saudi Arabia is cracking down on?
Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia is currently cracking down on the Sahwa, or Awakening, with at least three figures linked to the movement reported to be on death row.
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Wrecked mosques, police watch: A tense Ramadan in Xinjiang
Yahoo NewsThe corner where Heyitkah Mosque in China’s restive Xinjiang region once hummed with life is now a concrete parking lot where all traces of the tall, domed building have been erased.
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Muslims have more visibility than ever. But can we praise it?:
The Washington PostFashion writer Hoda Katebi reflects on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue that featured hijabi model Halima Aden in a burkini: “…we live at the cusp of both unprecedented Muslim visibility and heightened anti-Muslim racism. If we are not careful, these new modes of representation may contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism, rather than combat it.”
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Saudi gentrifies Shiite old quarter after crushing revolt
France24Strip malls and palm-dotted boulevards stand in the once bullet-scarred old quarter of Awamiya, a Shiite-majority town on Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich eastern coast where the long-planned facelift fuelled deadly clashes.
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Amid Ramadan celebrations, Jordanians fear an uncertain future
Religion News ServiceAlthough Ramadan is meant to be a month of prayer, self-discipline and charity toward those less fortunate, it also provides opportunities for reflection on the social and political realities for young Jordanians uncertain about their kingdom’s future.
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How the joy of Eid masks an unbearable grief for Yemeni war orphans
Middle East EyeFor the children of Taiz who have lost their parents, the holidays are a painful reminder of their former lives.
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The Boy At The Back Of The Class: Hit children's writer on her story of kindness
Middle East EyeOnjali Q Rauf’s debut novel has become an award-winning hit, spurred by her lifetime of helping others.
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Aung San Suu Kyi finds common ground with Orbán over Islam
The GuardianThe leader of Myanmar has found a new ally in far-right, staunchly anti-immigrant Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.
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How will Austria’s new headscarf ban affect Muslims?
The Washington PostOn May 16, Austria’sparliament approved a law banning headscarvesin public primary schools. Authors explore the new policy’s implications for Muslim minority in the central European nation.
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Muslim Wellness Foundation's Black Iftar centers culture and healing
The Philadelphia TribuneThe Muslim Wellness Foundation hosted a special Iftar (Ramadan breaking of fast) that centered the experience of Black Muslims Saturday at the Pennyack Mill. Named The Black Iftar (Philly), the event is not exclusively open to Black Muslims, but was designed to fill a void left by racism against Black Muslims and acknowledge their practice of Islam.
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Saudi Arabia and Iran after the summits of discontent
Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia hosted three summits last week – a Gulf, an Arab and an Islamic one – with one common goal: Confront and isolate Iran. All other urgent issues in the region, from the ongoing decimation of Yemen to the implosion of Libya to the daily bombings in Syria and the worsening occupation of Palestine, all had to take a backseat.
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Quebec Is Poised to Undermine Religious Freedom
Foreign PolicyWith a proposed ban on public employees wearing religious symbols in Quebec to be debated by the legislature by June 14, the Canadian province is poised to potentially become the first regional government in North America to ban the veil for government staff. Like many bans on religious symbols, this one, in theory, will also target turbans and yarmulkes. In practice, it will hit Muslim women who wear the hijab hardest.
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Forced conversions, marriages spike in Pakistan
Religion News Service“We were walking back to our house after working on the farm when men in a car came out of nowhere and dragged us in with them,” said Suneeta, who is Hindu and lives in Badin, a small city in the south of Pakistan. “The next thing we knew, we were in a shrine being forced to say the kalma (acceptance of Islam) by a cleric.”
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Greece: Athens mosque likely to open by September, official says
Al JazeeraGreece’s education and religion minister says the country’s long-delayed first state-sponsored mosque is likely to begin operating in September, about three years after its construction was approved by parliament.
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In northern Nigeria, Muslims and Christians take small steps toward reconciliation
Religion News ServiceRecently, a group of Muslims visited Christian widows and orphans in northwestern Nigeria and donated food, clothing and school items as part of efforts to enhance peaceful coexistence among different faiths.
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Hope dwindles for cease-fire in Afghanistan at end of Ramadan
The Washington PostAn unprecedented cease-fire last year at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan saw an influx of Taliban fighters into urban areas, where they mingled with civilians, posed for selfies and raised expectations for successful peace talks that would put an end to the country’s drawn-out war. Despite the spike in violence during Ramadan this year, many were optimistic that a similar arrangement would again be made.
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Maydan editors selected some of the most thought-provoking news items on issues around Islam, religion and public-life for you. Let us know what you have been reading. Drop us a line at mediaroundups@themaydan.com!