Religion
The ‘Halal’ Victims of the Middle East
The provocative plot of the newly released show “Dahaya Halal” (Halal Victims) — an allusion to the operation’s apparent compliance with religious law, since none of the victims was committing adultery or fornication — has stirred drama, with people from across the Arab world going as far as calling for it to be pulled off the air. It was already taken off when it first began airing in 2020, but it returned this month.
The Muezzin and the Meowzin
As the proud owner of a 12-year-old white Havanese, Malik, I have experienced these conflicting views about dogs in the Middle East. I wondered, as the author of several books on contemporary Islam, what these views say about the religion today and Islam as a lived tradition.
Behind the Hamline University Incident — with Erika López Prater and Christiane Gruber
Erika López Prater, a former adjunct professor at Hamline University, showed students medieval depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for an art history class. Her contract was not renewed and the incident became the center of a nationwide controversy. Alongside Islamic art historian Christiane Gruber, she joins New Lines magazine’s Rasha Elass to discuss the rich variety of artistic traditions within Islam and unpack the complicated web of factors behind the current controversy.
Islamic Art Is Pivotal for Understanding the Richness of the Muslim World
The Hamline furore underscores how critical it is to liberate historical Islamic art from today's polarized politics, in the interests of students and the overarching scholarly quest for knowledge.
Why the Media Didn’t Publish the Muhammad Paintings at the Heart of the Hamline Controversy
The uproar about paintings of the Prophet Muhammad on campus shows legacy media need to interrogate the entrenched ideas that shape their coverage.
The Death of Syria’s Mystery Woman
Unknown to the world, the Qubaysiyat boast tens of thousands of disciples within Syria, in franchises across the Middle East and as far afield as Europe and the Americas. At their center was the towering figure of al-Qubaysi, a woman as influential as she was mysterious.
Islam and the Case Against Cultural Amnesia
Hamline’s firing of an instructor for showing Islamic medieval images of the Prophet Muhammad is akin to a Calvinist taking offence at an image of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling, and the university administration siding with the Calvinist and calling the incident "anti-Christian."