SARCELLES, France — Religious leaders gathered for an interfaith service in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles a day after Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue were attacked during Sunday’s banned demonstration against the Israeli offensive in Gaza. As residents of Sarcelles, a multi-religious suburb north of Paris with a vibrant Jewish community, emerged from their homes on Monday to take stock of the
BAGHDAD — More than 200 people – many of them Muslims – gathered on Sunday in front of a Catholic church in Baghdad carrying “I am Iraqi, I am Christian” slogans to show solidarity after a radical Islamist group evacuated Christians from their homes in the northern city of Mosul. “What gives us hope is a group of citizens - I do not want to say Muslims but they were Muslims - from Baghdad carrying
MANCHESTER, U.K. — The Muslim Jewish Forum of Manchester has called for understanding and calm following heightened tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict. Jonny Wineberg and Mohammed Amin from the Forum released a joint statement. In it they said, “As set out in our constitutional documents, the remit of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester is specific to Greater Manchester. “However both of us are aware of the potential for overseas events, particularly the current terrible conflict in Israel and Gaza, to impact
JERUSALEM — This week, Choose Life, a West Bank initiative of Arab and Israeli non-violent activists, including Ali Abu Awwad and Eliaz Cohen, organized a day of “fasting and making a personal accounting.” The event was publicized through social media - on Facebook and Twitter - attracting an international following of Muslims, Jews and Christians. The day fast was this past Tuesday,
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Faced with the seemingly impossible, Tanveer Akhtar often thinks of a story about pennies. She offered the point Tuesday, as visitors lined up to fill their plates at the Islamic Society of Central New York. This is Ramadan, a month of reflection and fasting for Muslims. At sunset, following evening prayers, those at the mosque ended a long day without food by sharing in "iftar" - literally, breakfast in the evening. What made it unusual were the guests,
ISTANBUL — A Muslim community in Ukraine's city of Dnepropetrovsk is due to have a mosque confiscated from them during the Soviet era returned to them, the city's Jewish governor Igor Kolomoisky vowed. Governor Kolomoisky made the promise last week in the building at the center of the issue, which has been serving as the Olympic Reserve Sports School since being converted in 1926, the Times of Israel
by JESSICA STEINBERG and NOAM IVRI, Times of Israel — 16 July 2014
ETZION BLOC, West Bank — The air was cool and verging on cold as dozens of Israelis streamed into the sandy parking lot in the West Bank, gathering for afternoon and evening prayers after a long day of fasting. At the other end of the lot, down a wide, unpaved road, Ali Abu Awwad presided over the Palestinian contingent, a small group of locals joined by members of Operation Groundswell, social activist
ELMHURST, Ill. — More than 200 people from around the world will meet at Elmhurst College for a seminar exploring the shared beliefs of Muslims and Christians. The World Community for Christian Meditation will sponsor the annual John Main Seminar, a conference designed to spread understanding and foster peace between faith communities. The seminar is held in a different country every year, according to a news release. Titled “Muslims and Christians: Listeners for the Word,” the event will go beyond what separates the two religions, to what beliefs
by DIANA COHEN ALTMAN, Washington Jewish Week — 16 July 2014
WASHINGTON — The true story of Jewish Azerbaijan past and present has Hollywood written all over it. Two ancient cultures meet on the same land. One is Muslim and one is Jewish. But here is the twist: The land is overflowing with natural riches, from fruits to “black gold” (oil), and the cultures work and live harmoniously. Not only that, but they forge new,
by RABBI MARC SOLOWAY, Boulder Jewish News — 16 July 2014
BOULDER, Colo. — July 15th was a fast day on both the Muslim and the Jewish calendars. Muslims throughout the world are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, and the Jewish community began its three week period of mourning that culminates with Tisha b’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second temples. The first day of this period, the 17th of Tammuz, is a minor fast day from dawn to dark, like the daily Ramadan fasts. This conjunction of fast days inspired many people across the world to get together, to fast
ISIS has shocked the world with horrific acts of brutality so inhumane and “unIslamic” that even Al-Qaeda has disavowed all links with them. Last September, more than 120 prominent Muslim leaders and scholars of Islamic law from around the world sent a letter to Al-Baghdadi, chief leader of ISIS, in which they condemned many ISIS teachings and practices as “forbidden in Islam”. The letter, signed by Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Shawqi Allam (the highest official of Islamic law among Sunni Muslims in Egypt, the most populous country of the Middle East) refers to the “Islamic State” in quotation marks only. Egypt’s Grand Mufti told CNN in February that “everything ISIS does is far away from Islam. What it is doing is a crime by all means.” Dar al-Ifta, the prestigious Islamic law school that Sheikh Allam oversees, even launched a campaign asking journalists not to call ISIS an “Islamic State”, suggesting “al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria” or QSIS instead to
