Category: Islam and Other Religions

Pedantry has an interesting post on Islamic finance. It’s difficult to excerpt, so you should go there to read it in full.

Via ParaPundit, I found a sympathetic but scholarly review of Luxenberg’s book. A much better reading than the mumbo jumbo of the Newsweek article. Al-Muhajabah tackles the allegation that Muslims don’t engage in textual or critical analysis of the Quran and Brian Ulrich compares the media approach to the world to Civilization III.

Via Ideofact, I see that Tacitus has linked to an article in Newsweek about Christoph Luxenberg (a pseudonym) who claims that some of the words in the Quran should be considered to be in Syriac rather than Arabic. In a note of encouragement to his fellow hijackers, September 11 ringleader Muhammad Atta cheered their impending… Continue reading Quran and Textual Analysis

Brian Ulrich points out an article in the Lebanon Daily Star about production of a critical edition of the Quran based on the manuscripts found in a Sanaa mosque in Yemen. A professor of literature and human science at Sousse University in Tunis, Abdeljelil heads a team of scholars compiling a critical edition of the… Continue reading Textual Analysis of Quran

The answer to the quiz about the country in the Americas where Muslims are the largest percentage of the population as compared to other countries is Suriname. According to the CIA World Factbook, here are some of the population statistics for Suriname: Population 436,494 Religions: Hindu 27.4%, Muslim 19.6%, Roman Catholic 22.8%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly… Continue reading Muslims in the Americas

Which country in the Americas has the highest proportion of Muslims in its population? Please note that I am not asking about the largest number of Muslims. Instead the question is about Muslims comprising the largest percentage of that country’s population. Drop me an email and I’ll announce the first person to get it correct.… Continue reading Quiz

Somehow, a lot of people and the media think most Muslims are Arabs. It pisses me off. Can’t the media look up some data? The latest is a CNN story about the case of Sultana Freeman, a Muslim woman who has brought a lawsuit against Florida for revoking her driver’s license with a fully-veiled photo.… Continue reading Muslim = Arab + Iran?

My previous post on tolerance in Islamic societies of the past linked to most of the debate in the blogosphere. A number of other bloggers have written about Disaffected Muslim’s criticisms, e.g., Shia Pundit, Elham and TheBit. This post is not to criticize Disaffected Muslim since a number of her criticisms are valid but their… Continue reading Tolerance, Perfection and Progress