Word: faithful
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...considered "retrograde and reactionary" because Westerners confuse what is happening in Islam with a revival of Christian fundamentalism. "Not only is this a baseless and arrogant assumption," says Azzam, but it is tantamount to "a return to colonialism?indirect but of a more profound type." Defenders of the faith further argue that Islam is not monolithic, that it is compatible with various social and economic systems, and that far from being a return to the Dark Ages, it is wholly consonant with progress. Items...
...Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, rose to power; by the early '60s there was a belt of independent, predominantly Islamic states stretching from Morocco to Indonesia. For Muslims of the Middle East, one event in the past decade stands out as a modern landmark in the history of the faith. On the afternoon of Oct. 6, 1973, the cry of "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great) rose from the throats of Egyptian soldiers as they stormed across the Suez Canal and overran the lightly manned Israeli strongpoints of the Bar Lev Line. Later the first Egyptian flag raised on the eastern...
...number of recent events have combined to focus Western attention on Islam: the resurgence of the faith in African politics, the oil wealth of the Arabian peninsula, the revolution in Iran. But many Muslims feel, with some justice, that this belated interest in their world and their faith has resulted in hostile propaganda rather than empathy and understanding...
...equally opposed to the materialism of the West and the atheism of Communism. Islam has a flexible view of economics, which lends itself to either capitalist or socialist interpretations. It approves individual initiative, respects private property and tolerates profits within limits. Muslims, in short, are encouraged by their faith to acquire the good things of this world, but the emphasis is on moderation and communal responsibility...
Tithing is one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith. In several Islamic states, an annual tax of 2.5%, called the zakat, is levied against an individual's assets for the benefit of the community. The principle of wealth-sharing extends to governments as well. Saudi Arabia distributes about 7% of its evergrowing G.N.P. (estimated at $66 billion in 1978) to less privileged Muslim states in the form of low-cost loans and gifts. By comparison, U.S. foreign aid last year amounted to only one-third of 1% of G.N.P. Mahbub Haq, an economist with the World Bank, foresees...