By Noorzehra Zaidi, University of Maryland, Baltimore County | – For many Muslims breaking fast in mosques around the world this Ramadan, something will be missing: plastics. The communal experience of iftars – the after-sunset meal that brings people of the faith together during the holy month starting on March 22, 2023 – often necessitates […]
- Africa (190)
- Animals (1)
- Asia (1,145)
- Australasia (7)
- Australia (22)
- Authoritarianism (345)
- Canada (2)
- Cats (1)
- Celtic Religion (1)
- Culture (484)
- Dehydration (1)
- Democracy (300)
- Dissent (394)
- Economy (951)
- Agriculture (2)
- Banking (66)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (29)
- Cryptocurrency (1)
- Debt (20)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (25)
- Employment (115)
- Food Insecurity (18)
- Homelessness (14)
- Industry (1)
- Inequality (392)
- Inflation (2)
- infrastructure (8)
- Investment (91)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (7)
- Neoliberalism (184)
- Plutocracy (574)
- Poverty (188)
- Regulation (1)
- Sanctions (3)
- Taxes (33)
- Technology (1)
- Trade (112)
- Weapons sales (4)
- Education (95)
- Elderly (3)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Energy (1,549)
- Batteries (30)
- Coal (125)
- Fossil Fuels (285)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (6)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (373)
- Green Hydrogen (6)
- Heat Pumps (3)
- Hydroelectric (8)
- Natural Gas (96)
- Nuclear Energy (150)
- Petroleum (270)
- Power Grid (10)
- Pumped Hydro (5)
- Solar Energy (337)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (277)
- Environment (2,279)
- Climate Change (1,364)
- Acidification of Oceans (52)
- Agriculture (19)
- Biodiversity (4)
- CO2 (72)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (133)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (150)
- Dust Storms (3)
- Extreme Weather (261)
- Flooding (95)
- Forests (8)
- Green New Deal (39)
- Mass Extinction (53)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (17)
- Rivers (4)
- Sea Level (286)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (180)
- wildfires (161)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (951)
- Drought (216)
- Environmentalism (373)
- Green Transportation (226)
- Ice Melt (111)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (79)
- Oil Spills (6)
- Pollution (213)
- Water (82)
- wildlife (15)
- Climate Change (1,364)
- Europe (1,207)
- Featured (3,477)
- fiction (5)
- Food (13)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Health (615)
- History (307)
- Human Rights (1,222)
- Immigration (18)
- International (724)
- Islamophobia (355)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (87)
- Latinos (4)
- leisure (21)
- media (445)
- Middle East (8,533)
- Arab World (4,983)
- Iran (1,187)
- Israel (819)
- Israel/ Palestine (2,536)
- Israel/Palestine (8)
- Kurds (287)
- Turkey (541)
- Turkiye (67)
- military (111)
- Modernism (2)
- nationalism (108)
- NATO (32)
- Natural Disasters (12)
- nuclear weapons (88)
- Patriarchy (8)
- Peace (116)
- Persian mythology (1)
- Pete Buttigieg (1)
- Planetary Exploration (1)
- Popular Culture (24)
- Poverty (11)
- privacy (21)
- racism (434)
- Rape (7)
- religion (1,384)
- Rights (136)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (133)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (28)
- Sexual Assault (2)
- South Pacific (2)
- Spirituality (21)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (276)
- Terrorism (1,074)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,068)
- United Nations (116)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,088)
- US politics (4,922)
- Anti-War Movement (10)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (21)
- Central Intelligence Agency (61)
- Civil Rights (94)
- Congress (67)
- Conspiracy Theories (18)
- Constitution (371)
- Courts (2)
- crime (9)
- Democratic Party (869)
- Democratic Socialists of America (20)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (26)
- Espionage (120)
- Ethnicities (356)
- Far Right (350)
- FBI (47)
- Foreign Policy (203)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (92)
- Immigration (229)
- Israel Lobbies (110)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (263)
- National Security State (451)
- Native Americans (37)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (512)
- Police (41)
- prison reform (7)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (7)
- Puerto Rico (27)
- Religious Right (11)
- Reproductive Choice (51)
- Republican Party (2,803)
- Supreme Court (107)
- Voter suppression (35)
- Whistleblowers (4)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (32)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (421)
- White Supremacists (196)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (493)
- workers (210)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (185)
Islam
Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important Piece of History – here’s why Art Historians teach them
By Christiane Gruber, University of Michigan | – Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, recently dismissed Erika López Prater, an adjunct faculty member, for showing two historical Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in her global survey of art history. Following complaints from some Muslim students, university administrators described such images as disrespectful and Islamophobic. […]
2023 Prediction: The 2 Major Headaches for U.S. Foreign Policy, aside from Russia, will be Israeli and Iranian Fundamentalism
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the desire of all recent presidents to pivot away from the Middle East, Israel, fundamentalism and Iran have made it difficult to do so. In 2023, I believe that the Biden administration will have to spend far more time on Iran and Israel-Palestine than it had imagined, despite the […]
Muslim Authorities Condemn Taliban Ban on Women in Universities, as NGOs Close in Protest
By Michael Jansen | – ( The Irish Times ) – Four global aid agencies have suspended services in Afghanistan in response to a Taliban ban on women working at non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In a joint statement, Care, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee said: “We cannot effectively reach […]
Taliban’s University Ban Signals Return To Past Repression Of Women
I’m Mustafa Sarwar, a senior news editor at RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. Here’s what I’ve been tracking and what I’m keeping an eye on in the days ahead. (RFE/RL ) – The Taliban banned women from attending universities in Afghanistan on December 20. In a statement, the Taliban’s Higher Education Ministry said the decision was effective […]
The Great Muslim Sufi Mystic Farid al-Din Attar on Jesus’ Innocence, Love, Forgiveness
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Christians are often surprised to discover how important Jesus is to the Muslim spiritual tradition. The Muslim scripture, the Qur’an, praises him as a Word from God and affirms the Virgin Birth. In Muslim civilizations with painting traditions, such as the Mughals in India, Jesus, Mary and the nativity became […]
Mehran Kamrava, ‘Triumph and Despair: in Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic’ (Review)
Review of Mehran Kamrava, Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Barcelona (Special to Informed Comment) – During the last three months, Iran has been a main focus of international media attention due to the ongoing anti-government protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old […]
What are Iran’s morality Police? A Scholar of the Middle East explains their History
By Pardis Mahdavi, The University of Montana | – Until recently, most people outside of Iran had never heard of the country’s morality police, let alone followed their wider role in the region. But on Sept. 16, 2022, the death of Jina Mahsa Amini sparked widespread protests in the streets of Iran and elsewhere that […]
Headwear and Hegemony: how ‘Turban Tossing’ Protests are threatening Iran’s ruling Clergy
By Negar Partow, Massey University | – (The Conversation) – The ongoing protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s “Guidance Patrol” (or morality police) have made world headlines. But there is another form of protest that has received less mainstream attention in Western media. Whereas […]