2011-03-14T00:27:57Z Pamela K. Taylor observes religion in the news as a feminist American Muslim. tag:onfaith.washingtonpost.com,2011:/onfaith/modernmuslim//667 Copyright (c) 2011, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2011-03-14T00:27:57Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2011-03-13:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2011/03/the_rss_feed_for_this_blog_has_moved.html

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Erica Pytlovany 2011-02-15T20:39:59Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2011-02-14:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2011/02/minorities_in_the_muslim_world.html

The recent attack and murder of Ismailis in Indonesia is a sad testament to the state of the Muslim community. Stories of persecution of minorities in the Muslim world are all too common (see this link, and this, and this, for instance). Often this persecution stems from religious intolerance, and the judgment that religious minorities (whether they be Shi'a in Sunni lands, Sunnis in Shi'a lands, Ahmedis, Ismailis, or other Islamic splinter groups) are not...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-12-17T16:59:29Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-12-17:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/12/ashura_-_a_time_for_remembrance_and_reconciliation.html

When the Prophet Muhammad and his people moved to Madinah, they found the Jewish tribes there fasted in remembrance of their ancestors being succored from Egypt and Pharaoh -- Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. Muhammad said that Muslims too remember and are grateful for God's blessing on Moses and his people, and so Muslim began fasting on the day of Ashura as well. A second occasion of remembrance for Muslim is the slaughter...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-12-02T20:54:43Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-12-02:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/12/juma_in_bed.html

The mosque I called home for many years is beautiful -- modern, red brick with angular planes on the outside, glorious beveled windows and a light-filled, almost austere, soaring serenity on the inside. It also isn't terribly accessible if you are handicapped. While there is an elevator, there are also steps no matter which way you try to get to the prayer hall (there are actually three different ways to get to the prayer hall,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-11-19T19:13:51Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-11-19:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/11/hajar_and_maryam.html

This past week, some 2.5 million Muslims traveled to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage, the Hajj. One of the rites these Muslims participated in involves running (or walking) between the hills of Safa and Marwa. This rite commemorates an event in the life of Hajar, Ibrahim's second wife, mother of Ismail. When Sarah found out she was going to have a child, Ibrahim took Hajar and Ismail out to the desert and left them. Soon,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-11-12T17:27:06Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-11-09:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/11/women_in_the_minbar.html

Next week I will be in Washington DC to lead the services for Eid ul Adha, the holiday that marks the end of Hajj. Many friends have asked me, Why fight for women's right to lead congregational prayers and preach in the mosque? Aren't there more important battles? What about domestic violence? What about women being stoned for adultery while the men go scot-free? What about political rights? Or educational and economic rights? Is this...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-10-29T17:39:12Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-10-28:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/10/talking_peace_living_peace.html

Muslims are fond of informing people that Islam comes from the root word that means peace; that a Muslim is one who creates peace, lives in peace, who exemplifies peace. We greet each other with words of peace, and are commanded to be peacemakers on earth. The Qur'an over and over again enjoins us to harmony among humankind as in these verses: 25:63 For, the servants of the Most Gracious are they who walk gently...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-10-26T13:54:37Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-10-14:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/10/gay_and_muslim.html

As an addendum to my previous post, and in response to the suicide of a young, lesbian woman whose name -- Aiyisha Hassan -- suggests a connection to Islam, I want to very publicly state, if you are gay and Muslim, there is a place for you in Islam. If you are finding hostility or worse at your mosque, please contact us at Muslims for Progressive Values. We have welcoming communities in New York, Washington...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-10-01T17:20:15Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-09-30:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/09/hatred_is_lethal.html

Seth Walsh, 13, of Tehachapi Calif., hanged himself. Billy Lucas, 15, of Greensburg, Ind., also hanged himself. Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, shot himself in the head. Tyler Clementi, 18, a freshman at Rutgers, jumped off the George Washington Bridge. All four committed suicide in September. Four young lives made unbearable by taunting. A senseless waste of life. Senseless sorrow for four families. The common thread in these tragedies is bullying, particularly bullying because of...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-09-21T14:01:58Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-09-20:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/09/head_of_al-azhar_backs_french_niqab_ban.html

A leading scholar at al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most important school, has thrown his support behind France's niqab ban. Abdel Muti al-Bayyumi, a member of an influential council of clerics at al-Azhar, said that the niqab, burqa, and other full-face veils that leave only an opening for the eyes have "no basis in Islamic law and there is nothing in the Quran or Sunna that supports it." Gamal al-Banna, another leading Egyptian scholar, agrees, saying...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-09-13T20:40:23Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-09-13:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/09/searching_for_win-win_not_zero_sum_in_the_islam_debate.html

America is in the grips of a new dialogue on tolerance and bigotry. Like Jews, Catholics and Mormons before us, Muslims are facing stiff antagonism from certain sectors of society. Anti-Islam rhetoric challenges not only Muslim integration and participation in American life, but the legitimacy of Islam as a religion (or even the very fact that Islam is a religion, as some groups are trying to deny us authenticity by calling Islam a political cult)....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-08-17T18:28:31Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-08-16:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/08/saudi_takes_a_step_backward_for_religious_freedom.html

Last week, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decreed that only senior religious scholars were going to be allowed to make public religious rulings (or fatwa) in the kingdom. At first glance, given some of the high publicity, alarming and/or ludicrous rulings in the past few months -- from fatwas that allowed men and women who worked together to be killed because they were deemed to be mingling inappropriately, or conversely for women to breastfeed adult...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-08-11T17:53:19Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-08-10:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/08/ramadan_mubarak.html

The month of Ramadan begins Tuesday or Wednesday depending on what part of the world you are in, and what method of determining the start of the month you use (calculations or moonsighting). With its dawn to sunset fasting, and extra emphasis on the human-Divine relationship, Ramadan is a time for reflection, self-improvement, and spiritual development. This year there is much for the Muslim world to reflect upon -- from the horrific slayings of doctors...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-08-24T15:25:05Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-08-07:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/08/malaysia_appoints_first_female_sharia_judges.html

This month two new judges began working in the Sharia courts of Malaysia -- Rafidah Abdul Razak and Suraya Ramli. The two have been assigned to family court, and will be hearing cases to do with marriage and divorce, child custody, alimony, shared property division and inheritance. Their appointment, hailed as a step toward women's equality, stirred debate when the governing council for the Sharia court system let it be known that severe limits might...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor 2010-08-03T15:29:53Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2010-08-01:/onfaith/modernmuslim/2010/08/bigoted_protests_show_ignorance_and_intolerance.html

This past winter, a friend of mine gave me eighteen Qurans to burn. They were, he said, a Russian translation that included commentary in with the verses. He felt they should be destroyed rather than given to people who might not be able to tell what was authentic verse and what was interpretation. Many Muslims, like my friend, believe that the only permissible way to destroy old or damaged copies of the Quran --...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Pamela K. Taylor