May 16th, 2022 Eid al-Fitr, the “small Eid”, which marks the end of Ramadan, was earlier this month. The “great Eid”, Eid al-Adha, honouring the prophets Abraham and his son, lasts for four days, and will take place in a couple of months. These are both key festivals of the Muslim calendar, marked as they are […]
May 10, 2022 As the month of Ramadan neared its end on May 1, there were scores of video messages around the world congratulating Muslims on the occasion. That happens every year, but one particular video piqued my attention recently: In a tweet shared by the information agency of Ukraine’s defence ministry, Ukrainian Muslims in full military […]
Febuary 09, 2022 Last month, the government of Canada decided to appoint a special representative for combatting Islamophobia. The announcement was made on the fifth anniversary of a terrorist attack against a mosque in Quebec; an attack that was inseparable from deeply problematic discourse that had become mainstreamed in Canadian society. That relationship has played […]
March 16, 2021 Dr H.A. Hellyer FRSA is an academic, think-tank analyst, and media commentator who researches the interchange between public policy, international relations, security studies, and religion. His work is focused on the West and the Arab world—the two worlds that he is originally from by heritage and by upbringing. A scholar at the Carnegie Endowment […]
November 19, 2020 Some things change, and some things stay the same. The current furor around France’s relationship with its Muslim citizens in recent weeks seems new, but contemporary European history would teach us otherwise. The question is: Did we ever learn those lessons? In 2005, the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published an article with cartoons […]
October 2, 2020 Some fourteen centuries ago, the grandson of the last Prophet of Islam, Husayn, was killed at Karbala, in modern Iraq. Muslims around the world will mark the murder of him and his followers, recalling his struggle against a tyrannical ruler. His sacrifice continues to inspire Muslims worldwide, who hold him up as […]