Word: islam
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...time for a reality check. Muslims make up about 3% of the E.U. population today, and that figure will reach no more than 10% by 2025. But the fear that radical Islam will sweep through the old Continent is symptomatic of something bigger: Europe's identity crisis. Thanks, in part, to immigration, the relatively high Muslim birthrate and the rising number of mixed-race marriages, Europe is getting more diverse by the day. Once homogeneous communities are now a jumble of cultures. Inevitably, some of them clash. And, as Europe struggles to figure out what it means to be European...
...Islam isn't the biggest part of the multicultural conversation, but right now it's the loudest. The head-scarf debate - like anything to do with religion - is charged with emotion. France defends its ban in schools as a necessary step to maintain the nation's official commitment to secularism, pointing out that it also applies to Jewish skullcaps and Christian crosses. But Birgit Sauer, a political scientist at the University of Vienna, says the timing of these new laws shows that Europe is still unwilling to accept Islam as an element of its identity. "All these states had trouble...
...European governments need to recognize that Islam - like all religions - is an integral part of the European identity, while Muslims should be willing to bend to certain laws that are in place for the common good, with no exceptions. A U.S.-style hands-off approach keeps church and state separate, but still gives the faithful a space in mainstream society: lift statewide bans on the veil (and all other religious symbols), but leave decisions on dress codes to individual institutions and organizations. So while one school might prohibit teachers from wearing the niqab in class, another might not, giving Muslim...
...begun to infect the Englishmen in India in the 1850s. Many believed that they had been granted the Empire in order to convert Hindus and Muslims to the "true faith." On the other side, a growing number of India's Muslims were turning to a more orthodox form of Islam and dreaming of declaring jihad against the British. In May 1857, thousands of sepoys (Indian soldiers) serving in the British army mutinied, mainly due to fears that the British were out to corrupt Islam and Hinduism. The revolt may have been inevitable, but what was wholly unexpected was that...
...words Islam and couture aren't often used in the same sentence. But Turkish gown guru Rabia Yalçin is making her debut at New York's Fashion Week, alongside such industry heavyweights as Donna Karan and Nicole Miller, at a Feb. 9 fund raiser called Designers for Darfur. The Istanbul-based designer dresses modestly in public in accordance with Islamic tradition. And at first blush, her gowns seem similarly demure, but with the slip of a button, they become more than a little provocative, as shown at left. "In private, clothing should reflect a woman's sensuality," Yal?...