Word: islam
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...great religions were also intimately associated with the growth of trade and human contact. "For all the horror it visited upon people," wrote Chanda, "missionary activity had the effect of shrinking the world. The spread of proselytizing faiths brought dispersed communities into contact." Coffee, for example, traveled with Islam (which forbade the consumption of wine), spreading from Yemen throughout the Arab world, then into Turkey and Europe. The constant back-and-forth of Buddhist scholars between India and China nourished the Silk Road as an avenue of commerce. Sometimes religious divines explicitly advanced the process of globalization long before anyone...
...inspiring though such tales may be, Blair will not find his work easy. Religion is not an uncontroversial matter in the developing world-witness the Catholic Church's doctrine on abortion and contraception or the discrimination that women face in many Islamic societies. Moreover, in many nations, the legacy of the "war on terror" and the invasion of Iraq-both of which Blair is deeply associated with-have soured the environment for anything that looks even remotely like Western Christian proselytizing. That is why the foundation stresses that it hopes to work with groups from six faiths: the Abrahamic trinity...
...girls from the triumphant Noor-Ul Iman School see things differently. In their interpretation, Islam allows girls to play basketball in college. The New Jersey team has been playing for five years, and often before a mixed audience. "As long as we have our hijabs and are dressed in loose clothing, it's all right to play in front of men," says Asma Saud...
...amid feuding Lebanese factions. His priority has been to preserve the integrity of the Lebanese army, widely regarded as almost the only functioning state institution. Suleiman's profile rose considerably last summer when the army engaged in a bloody three-month battle against the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam faction in north Lebanon. But during the recent street battles in Beirut, Suleiman studiously avoided deploying the army against the warring parties, worried that the military could unravel along sectarian lines...
Readers looking for a detailed analysis of the role of Islam will be disappointed. While Kagan recognizes al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism as an ever present threat, he believes that modernity will ultimately triumph in the Middle East, and he dismisses the tenets of radical Islam as "a hopeless dream." As Kagan sees it, we live in "an age of divergence," with a return of great-power nationalism more akin to 19th century Europe than to the end of the cold war. He is under no illusions about the fundamental differences between the U.S. and its increasingly formidable rivals, Russia...