Islam

Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, and David Oyelowo have all portrayed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., whose Atlanta sit-ins, Montgomery bus boycotts, and peaceful protests desegregated the nation. When Kelvin Harrison Jr. was first offered the role, he was overwhelmed by the weight of the historical figure and turned it down.  “I still was a little bit scared and unsure if that was something that I needed to be participating in,” Harrison tells Rolling Stone. “I didn’t really see what I could offer…

Credit: Timur Weber from Pexels The ongoing conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel is playing out on screens like never before. Through social media, millions are witnessing the violence that has killed thousands since Oct. 7. People have turned to social media to learn about the history and politics of the region. And increasingly, many are using…

River Spirit (Saqi Books, UK) is set in late 19th century Sudan, during the turbulent times of the Mahdist wars and the Ottoman rule. How did you decide on this particular historical moment?  Author Leila Aboulela (Rania Rustom) I initially wanted to write about a more peaceful time in Sudan’s history, the time of rebuilding and fresh hopes after the British invasion of 1898 which brought an end to the Mahdist state. In 2018, I was awarded a fellowship, at the Rockefeller Centre in Bellagio, Italy, based on a…

Twitter Inc. under Elon Musk has reinstated several previously suspended Hindu nationalist accounts that were popular in India, one of its largest markets by users, with human-rights groups saying the move has spurred a resurgence of divisive religious material on the platform.Some of the accounts that were suspended had been reported for posting hate speech aimed at religious minorities in India, according to groups that reported them. Upon their return in recent weeks, some have tweeted…

The day the music died was 24 September 2022. On that Saturday, the legendary tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, a man who blew his horn “as if he was a dragon breathing fire”, passed on, at age 81. With his death came the end of a majestic era, a time of saxophone spirituality and musical mysticism that will probably never be surpassed or even replicated. Sanders, like so many of his generation, channeled spirit into song, drawing inspiration from a panoply of sacred sources.For a while, younger hip-hop generations also…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain As religious diversity grows in Quebec, the province's prisons are having to adapt to inmates' diverse religious needs. Some inmates turn to alternative faiths such as Islam or Buddhism. Why do they do this? What do they get out of it? These are the questions asked by Géraldine Mossière, a professor…

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia’s futuristic megaproject Neom is planning to serve wine, cocktails and champagne at a beach resort that is scheduled to open next year, according to planning documents and people close to the development, in what would be a first for a conservative kingdom where alcohol is banned.The sale of alcohol, if allowed, would mark a risky milestone for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic and cultural makeover of his country, which is aimed in part at…

File photo of a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile landing at a secret air base after flying a mission in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016.Photo: John Moore (Getty Images)The U.S. drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, over the weekend was conducted by the CIA using what was likely the Hellfire R9X missile, according to the New Y0rk Times and India’s Hindustan Times. The missile is unique for not having any…

As a child of South Asians, do you feel like your family is a case study for the American dream?Absolutely! My parents got some wonderful opportunities in the US. They came from generations of strivers. That’s why I chose to open the book with my grandmother, who, in 1912, living in Hyderabad, told her parents that she wanted to go to school. This was when women and girls in her community did not go to school. She was just eight years old, and demanded an education. She grew up to raise five daughters and three sons. My…

Since she debuted in 2014, Kamala Khan has been explicitly Muslim, and one who incorporates Islam into her heroism. Right after she underwent Terrigenesis and received her polymorphic powers in her second-ever issue, she recites an ayah from the Quran that her dad always quotes whenever he sees terrible events on the news. “Whoever kills one person, it is as if he has killed all of mankind — and whoever saves one person, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.” Even though she has no idea what her new powers even are,…