Germany, like many locales, is currently undergoing processes of societal boundary drawing giving renewed salience to religious difference. The aftermath of President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital brought fierce debates about the (real or imputed) anti-Semitism of Muslim immigrants and their descendants. The result was a further instance of the discursive…
March 31, 2014 The parliament of the German State Baden-Württemberg has passed the burial law to legalize religious burial rituals. The Minister of Integration Bilkay Öney (SPD), interpreted the law as a positive signal for religious diversity. Prior to that law, Muslims were not permitted to bury their members without a coffin. In order…
The outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins was involved in an online Twitter row on Thursday after tweeting: “All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.” As users piled in to criticise him, the scientist continued: “Why mention Muslim Nobels rather than any…
The Myth of the Muslim Tide is a timely, sober and exhaustively researched book. British-Canadian Globe and Mail journalist Doug Saunders clearly and effectively debunks a number of irrational yet widely circulated demographic and historical claims by drawing on popular political literature, quantitative data and opinion polls. The short book is a useful tool with which to counteract…
Early last month, a conference was held in London, entitled “Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution?” under the auspices of The Deen Institute, an organization which aims at promoting engagement between the Islamic tradition and modernity. The event sparked off a debate on social media and op-ed columns regarding the place of evolution in the Islamic worldview….
