President Obama sends greetings to Muslims celebrating Eid al Adha and on the Hajj pilgrimage on behalf of him and his family. He describes both ceremonies as “reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major faiths.”
A new division opened in the State Department this year: the office of the Special Representative to Muslim Communities. Farah Pandith’s mission is to reach out to the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims. She tells Steve Inskeep the office will influence how Muslims perceive the United States.
In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim World in Cairo, the French press compare the two leader’s leadership style, particularly their rhetoric on Islam. President Sarkozy similarly addressed the Muslim world in Riyad in January 2008. Le Monde concludes that the French President remained far more neutral and secular in…
When President Obama visits Turkey early next month, some observers are expecting he will use the occasion to deliver on his promise to deliver a major foreign policy speech from a Muslim nation in his first 100 days. But indications are that he will not give the speech in Turkey. The White House and State…
French specialist of religion and Islam, Bruno Étienne has passed away in Aix-en-Provence, France. In 1980 Étienne became director of the CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research), holding the chair in the Muslim World and became Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence. In 1985 he founded “Observatoire du fait religieux” (Observatory of…
