Word: als
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...mission is not just a matter of combatting extremism. Al Salfi and the other 200 women graduates from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs' new training school for murshida also want to help restore what they see as women's rightful place within Islam. They take inspiration from the strong and often opinionated wives of the Prophet Muhammad. One wife, Khadija, helped him recognize that Satan once came to him disguised as the Archangel Gabriel; another wife, Aisha, was the source for many of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad, who trusted her wisdom and integrity. "For centuries, women have been...
...Kinder, Gentler Faith Inside the Salé shantytown mosque, more than 300 women of all ages are waiting for al Salfi, whose voice gathers volume and fluency as she warms to the subject of how women should behave in a mosque. Lesson 1: Refrain from gossip. Afterwards, women tell her of their family woes, confiding about the daughter turned prostitute, say, or the drunken husband who punches his wife. "Sometimes it's as much about psychology as it is religion," says the murshida program director, Mohamed Amin Chouabi, who notes that their year-long training teaches the women preachers...
...wake-up call arrived in May 2003, when al-Qaeda suicide bombers killed 45 people and wounded dozens of others in Casablanca in explosions outside a luxury hotel, a Jewish center, a Spanish restaurant, a social club and the Belgian consulate. Since then, Morocco has been rocked by scattered acts of terrorism, and in February police arrested 38 people who were allegedly members of an extremist gang suspected of pulling off robberies in Europe in the mid-1990s to bankroll a plot to assassinate Moroccan ministers and police chiefs. "We also know that Moroccans are feeding into the pipeline...
February 22, 2006 was when it all went to hell. At least, that's how many Iraqis- Sunnis and Shi'ites alike - remember it. That was the day a powerful bomb set by Sunni extremists ripped through the golden dome of the ancient al-Askari Shrine, one of the holiest sites of Shi'ism, located in the predominantly Sunni city of Samarra, 65 miles north of Baghdad. The blast triggered a round of sectarian bombings, massacres and kidnappings so horrifying that for the next year and a half, many Iraqis would wonder if life would ever return to normal...
...Between 2004 and 2007, al-Qaeda in Iraq had "controlled the city", says General Ra'ad Jassim Mohammed, one of the lead Iraqi National Police commanders in Samarra. Today, the city is witnessing a slow but shaky revival. Two months ago, the central market re-opened; a university - the city's first - is now under construction; and even the rubble of the ancient shrine, which was bombed again in 2007, is being prepared for a momentous rehabilitation. A city that had come to symbolize Iraq's sectarian schism may yet play a key role in national reconciliation. That...