Sunnis

By Deina Abdelkader, UMass Lowell | – (The Conversation) – Most Muslims celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad on the 12th day of the third month of the Islamic calendar, Rabi’ al-awaal – which starts on the evening of Oct. 7 in 2022. Muslims view the celebration, called Mawlid al-Nabi or simply the Mawlid, […]

Featured

Iran Security Fires on Crowd Protesting Death in Custody of Kurdish Woman for “Bad Veiling”, Wounds 13

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday, 13 protesters were wounded when security forces opened fire on them outside the house of the governor in Saghez, Iranian Kurdistan. This, according to the Hengaw human rights organization. The demonstrators were expressing their fury over the death in police custody of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, 22, a Kurdish […]

Afghanistan

Taliban in Power – One Year On

Middle East Monitor

By Amina Khan | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 15 August 2021, the world looked on with trepidation as the situation in Afghanistan reached a critical juncture with the Afghan Taliban assuming power in the country. The takeover was swift, and relatively peaceful, with little resistance from the masses, followed by the […]

Islam

How this Tunisian Island brings Muslims and Jews Together

Global Voices

By Imen Boudali | Raseef22 | – This article by Imen Boudali was first published by Raseef22, and is being republished as part of a content-sharing partnership with Global Voices. ( Globalvoices.org ) – In May of each year, Tunisia hosts a unique and extraordinary event. The north African country, home to the oldest synagogue […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Taliban Forcibly Evict Minority Shia — Hazaras Targets of Collective Punishment

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (New York) – Taliban officials in several provinces across Afghanistan have forcibly displaced residents partly to distribute land to their own supporters, Human Rights Watch said today. Many of these evictions have targeted Hazara Shia communities, as well as people associated with the former government, as a form of collective punishment. […]

Afghanistan

Why the Hazara Minority of Afghanistan is now Imperiled

The Conversation

By Iqbal Akhtar | – The land we now call Afghanistan has been a place of constant migration through its mountainous passes. Its linguistic, cultural and religious diversity is a result of millennia of trade along the Silk Road. More than a dozen ethnic groups are mentioned in the country’s constitution. Afghanistan’s fall to the […]

Afghanistan

Deja Vu all over Again: The last Time Mazar-i Sharif Fell to the Taliban, there were Massacres

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In May, 1997, the Taliban swept into Mazar-i Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh Province. Horrible events ensued, which I’ll tell you about. Right now, it is important to say that Al Jazeera reports that Mazar fell to the Taliban again on August 14, 2021, as the Afghanistan National […]

Iran

The Iranian Government is more Pragmatic in dealing with Sunnis than its Sectarian image Implies

Shivan Mahendrarajah

St. Andrews (Special to Informed Comment) – The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is often depicted by its enemies and their press (the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel in particular) as an ideological and sectarian Shiite state, drunk on fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism, however, is a key part of the politics of these […]

Islam

What is Missing in our Sunni-Shi’a Conflict Narrative?

Juan Cole

Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) | – – The Sunni-Shi’a schism provides for different narrative and prescriptions for arriving at the ‘utopian Islamic society’ and the incoming of the Messiah, al-Mahdi. The theological, doctrinal and jurisprudential differences between the two main branches of Islam has translated into two different visions on the role of […]