Spirituality

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Qur’an (sometimes spelled Koran), is one of great books in world history. Only a handful of works have been nearly so influential and widely read. The Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Analects of Confucius, and the Buddha’s Sutras are among the few books that rival it in that […]

Islam

Spirituality without Prophets: Ibn Tufayl and the story of the feral child of philosophy

contributors

Hayy concludes that persuading people away from their ‘natural’ stations would only corrupt them further.

Meditation

Transcendental Meditation helps Veterans with PTSD: Study

AFP

Meditation is self-empowering, and can be practised just about anywhere at any time

al-Qaeda

Top 5 things that Make Bangladesh a natural Target for Extremists

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Bangladesh has been plagued by extremist violence for years, but the violence and hostage-taking in Dhaka on Friday and on Saturday morning was a whole new level of disruption. Why Bangladesh? Here are some reasons: 1. Bangladesh is a multicultural state, where some 9 percent of […]

poetry

Spirit and Sensuality in the mystical Sufi poetry of Rumi

contributors

By Nesreen Akhtarkhavari and Anthony A. Lee, Translators | (Informed Comment) | – – The poems of Rumi, the thirteenth-century teacher, scholar, and poet known simply as Mowlana in the Muslim world, have shaped Islamic culture for centuries. They still stand just as vital after eight hundred years. Rumi speaks to us of unchanging spiritual […]

Christianity

As Glaciers Melt in Ecuador, Pope Francis challenges Technocrats, touts “Keeping” the Environment

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pope Francis continues to preach environmentalism as he addresses crowds in Latin America, a challenging message in poor countries where over-exploitation of natural resources is a constant temptation. These are also countries and populations, however, most at risk from pollution and the ravages of climate change. […]

Christianity

Vatican recognition of saints symbolic victory for Palestinians

contributors

By: Charlie Hoyle BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The grounds of the Carmel Convent in Bethlehem, home to blue-shuttered stone buildings on a hilltop facing the Nativity Church, are adorned with the image of Mariam Bawardy, one of two Palestinian nuns canonized by Pope Francis in Rome on Sunday. Tucked away from the traffic-filled streets of central […]

Books

A Journalist Journeys to the Heart of the Quran (Muslim Scripture)

contributors

By JOSEPH RICHARD PREVILLE and JULIE POUCHER HARBIN for ISLAMiCommentary : Carla Power Great journalists invite us to be companions with them on their journeys to extraordinary places. Carla Power offers such an invitation in her new book, If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran […]

Dissent

Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]