Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The coronavirus statistics in both Iran and the United States are horrible. The US has the worst record on dealing with the pandemic in the industrialized world. One clue to why the two countries are doing so badly with regard to basic public health strategy may lie in the importance […]
- Africa (152)
- Animals (1)
- Asia (862)
- Australasia (3)
- Australia (8)
- Authoritarianism (190)
- Canada (1)
- Cats (1)
- Culture (428)
- Dehydration (1)
- Democracy (257)
- Dissent (290)
- Economy (755)
- Education (77)
- Elderly (3)
- Electricity Cost (1)
- Energy (1,135)
- Environment (1,566)
- Climate Change (992)
- Acidification of Oceans (49)
- Agriculture (1)
- CO2 (1)
- Dehydration (4)
- Denialism (100)
- Desertification (122)
- Extreme Weather (191)
- Flooding (33)
- Forests (2)
- Green New Deal (26)
- Mass Extinction (22)
- Methane (13)
- Net Carbon Zerio (2)
- Rainforests (8)
- Sea Level (195)
- Soil Carbon Release (9)
- Super Storms (43)
- wildfires (33)
- Climate Crisis (295)
- Drought (46)
- Environmentalism (235)
- Green Transportation (131)
- Ice Melt (47)
- Oceans (24)
- Pollution (162)
- Water (50)
- wildlife (4)
- Climate Change (992)
- Europe (808)
- Featured (2,764)
- fiction (5)
- Food (9)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Health (486)
- History (248)
- Human Rights (1,007)
- Immigration (17)
- International (617)
- Islamophobia (314)
- Juan Cole (268)
- Latin America (68)
- Latinos (3)
- leisure (21)
- media (384)
- Middle East (7,386)
- Arab World (4,677)
- Iran (935)
- Israel (713)
- Israel/ Palestine (1,992)
- Israel/Palestine (8)
- Kurds (265)
- Turkey (450)
- military (105)
- Modernism (1)
- nationalism (102)
- NATO (6)
- Natural Disasters (11)
- nuclear weapons (60)
- Patriarchy (2)
- Peace (83)
- Persian mythology (1)
- Pete Buttigieg (1)
- Popular Culture (24)
- Poverty (11)
- privacy (20)
- racism (362)
- Rape (5)
- religion (1,209)
- Rights (128)
- robots (1)
- Romance (1)
- science (119)
- Secular (West) (8)
- Secularism (27)
- Sexual Assault (2)
- South Pacific (1)
- Spirituality (21)
- Statelessness (14)
- Surveillance (259)
- Terrorism (1,037)
- Tolerance (5)
- Uncategorized (8,049)
- United Nations (84)
- Urbanization (3)
- US Foreign Policy (626)
- US politics (4,140)
- Anti-War Movement (6)
- Campaign Finance (27)
- Censors (21)
- Central Intelligence Agency (59)
- Civil Rights (84)
- Congress (40)
- Conspiracy Theories (8)
- Constitution (324)
- crime (6)
- Democratic Party (642)
- Democratic Socialists of America (15)
- Domestic Terrorism (16)
- Drone Warfare (26)
- Espionage (117)
- Ethnicities (299)
- Far Right (244)
- FBI (42)
- Foreign Policy (203)
- Gay Rights (15)
- Guns (66)
- Immigration (203)
- Israel Lobbies (84)
- Marijuana (1)
- Militarization (233)
- National Security State (390)
- Native Americans (28)
- Nuclear arsenal (6)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (381)
- Police (36)
- prison reform (6)
- Private Prisons (1)
- Progressive Politics (1)
- Puerto Rico (25)
- Religious Right (1)
- Reproductive Choice (7)
- Republican Party (2,533)
- Supreme Court (60)
- Voter suppression (22)
- Whistleblowers (4)
- Xenophobia (8)
- Veterans (29)
- Voting Rights (6)
- War (290)
- White Supremacists (114)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (303)
- workers (153)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (124)
Islam
Peace and pro-Christian themes in Muhammad and the Qur’an
Juan Cole is interviewed below by Professor Adnan Husain, Queens University (co-editor of A Faithful Sea: The Religious Cultures of the Mediterranean, 1200-1700) on themes of peace and warmth toward Christians in the Qur’an. The event was sponsored by the Muslim Societies Global Perspectives initiative at Queens University. My remarks are drawn in large part […]
On how there are no “Infidels” in the Qur’an, and how Christians and Jews are never Called That
My new article is out in The Journal of the American Oriental Society about the meaning of the root k-f-r in the Qur’an, the Muslim scripture. We’ve all grown up hearing about the Qur’an’s condemnation of “infidels” or “unbelievers,” but I think that this is for the most part a mistranslation. I argue that the […]
As Humanity faces Sea-Level Rise, Revisit the Noah Story in the Bible and Qur’an
Jack Miles | Emir-Stein Center “Cultures are often revealed through the stories they hand down through generations. Every civilization has foundational ones. Among the stories many cultures tell, we find tales of a great flood, but the story of Noah’s flood captured the imagination of three great traditions: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. The Jewish and […]
Revolutionary, Muslim-Majority Sudan Declares Separation of Religion and State
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The transitional government of officers and civilian revolutionaries in Sudan has separated religion and state. In an agreement signed Thursday in Addis Ababa with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM–N), Sudan’s prime minister Abdullah Hamdok agreed that Sudan would not establish any particular religion. The agreement included the language, “The state […]
The Hate Lobby: Teachers slammed for Teaching objectively about Islam and the Arab World
Susan H. Smith | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – As Muslim and Arab students join their classmates in heading back to school this fall, the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks weighs on their minds. It’s a time of perennial blame and shame, a time when classmates and teachers hold them unjustly […]
Kanye West Offends Muslims by appropriating Angels of Death and Resurrection for his Sneaker Lines
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Muslim twittersphere was on fire this week with the news that Kanye West’s Adidas lines would offer two new sneakers, Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Israfil and Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Asriel. Israfil and Azrael are angels in the Islamic tradition. According to Dubai-based Alarabya, many Muslims found the names […]
The Empires of Faith and the Making of the Prophet of Islam
What can modern historians know about the historical figure of the prophet Muhammad? Can modern historians and their critical methods add anything new or, at the very least, be more certain about aspects of his life than generations past? In 1968, the French orientalist Maxime Rodinson began his influential biography of Muhammad with a dour […]
Turkey Turned the Hagia Sophia back into a Mosque: Is it Consistent with Muslim Values, the Dialogue of Civilizations?
(Special to Informed Comment) – Debates are currently going on regarding the destiny of the Hagia Sophia (literally “Divine Wisdom”, the sixth-century cathedral built by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian) in Istanbul. President Erdogan made a kicked off this dispute with his declaration a few days ago allowing Muslims to pray at the venue. This wide-ranging […]