Question: Does the Quran really contain dozens of verses promoting violence? Summary Answer: The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who…
Graeme Wood is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. His personal site is gcaw.net. The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. What…
By NICHOLAS CARLSON At the World Economic Forum in Davos, we interviewed an Arab billionaire investor about the state of geopolitics. We asked him about ISIS, Syria, Mubarak, Obama, Israel, China, Oil, Africa, and the Arab Spring. The investor agreed to answer our questions, but only if we redacted his name and only refer to him…
Mareeg.com-More than half a century ago, Frantz Fanon made two pivotal observations about cataclysmic convulsions that would engulf Central and Eastern Africa. The first referred to his prescient observation that the African continent resembles a revolver, and Zaire is the trigger (Fanon, 1966 [2005]). His clairvoyant statement eerily prefigures what political commentators have, since…
By VALERIE TARICO, ALTERNET Le sacrifice d’Abraham (Matthias Stom) Some of humanity’s technological innovations are things we would have been better off without: the medieval rack, the atomic bomb and powdered lead potions come to mind. Religions tend to invent ideas or concepts rather than technologies, but like every other creative human enterprise, they produce some…
By Max Fisher , VOX Map of modern Saudi Arabia (Nations Online) Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud became king of Saudi Arabia this week on the death of his older brother King Abdullah. When Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was born in 1935, his country was only three years old. The Saudi Arabia of Salman’s birth had not yet discovered…
By ALEX DE WAAL, NYTimes Credit Anthony Russo On one of the last occasions an Egyptian president visited Addis Ababa, he got no further than the road from the airport: In 1995 the motorcade of President Hosni Mubarak came under fire from Egyptian jihadists. Mr. Mubarak was saved by his bulletproof car, his driver’s skill and…
The builders of the obelisks were not Christians but people who had same faith or similar to that of Ancient Egypt. These objects have no affiliation with Christianity and indeed pre-date Christianity. They erected such objects because they believed their soul and spirit will reach the Heavens to their God (sky/sun). The priest and the…
By Gemoraw, Gondar Online መ/ር ሳሙኤል ተስፋዬ ጥያቄ በየዓመቱ የጥምቀት በዓል በድመቀት ይከበራል፡፡ ከበዓሉ በፊት የከተራ በዓል የሚከበርበትን ታሪካዊና ሃይማኖታዊ ፋይዳውን ብታብራሩልን ዮስቲና ከአዲስ አበባ መልሱ ከተራ ከበበ ካለው የግእዝ ግሥ የወጣ ነው፡፡ ፍችው ውኃ መከተር፣ መገደብ ማለት ነው፡፡ የጥምቀት ዋዜማ ታቦተ ሕጉ ከቤተ መቅደስ ወጥቶ ውኃ ባለበት አካባቢ ስለሚያድር የየአጥቢያው ሕዝብ እየተሰበሰበ በወንዝ ዳር ወይም በምንጭ…
BY CHRISTIANE GRUBER, Newsweek The Charlie Hebdo killers were operating under a misapprehension. TOPKAPI PALACE LIBRARY In the wake of the massacre that took place in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, I have been called upon as a scholar specializing in Islamic paintings of the Prophet to explain whether images of Muhammad are banned in…