Word: islamics
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...important role, since only they can become bishops. While the number of monks in Western religious communities has declined by the hundreds during the past decade, the nine ancient Coptic monasteries of Egypt, almost deserted a few years ago, are now filled to overflowing. Though Egypt is identified with Islam, no place could be more appropriate for a monastic renaissance. It was in Egypt that monasticism first flowered, nurtured by the formidable example of the great 4th century anchorite, St. Anthony of the Desert. At the height of the movement, before the 7th century Arab invasions, Egypt boasted some...
There is a certain irony in that statement, since Jumblatt first came to power as the hereditary feudal chieftain of Lebanon's 300,000 Druzes, an esoteric branch of Islam that emerged in the 11th century. Other curious paradoxes mark his career. He is both a dedicated socialist and a millionaire. Despite his fidelity to Druze beliefs, he was educated at Roman Catholic schools, and studied law and philosophy at the Sorbonne. He knew and was deeply influenced by Jesuit Theologian-Anthropologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, quotes Thomas Aquinas frequently, and is respected as an authority on the mysticism...
...Jerusalem magistrate, Ruth Or, that Jews had a right to pray on the Temple Mount, the site of the ancient Temple of Solomon and hence Judaism's holiest site. It is also the site of Al Aqsa mosque, revered by Moslems as the third most sacred spot in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Previously, Israel's Chief Rabbinate had forbidden Orthodox Jews even to set foot on the Temple Mount, lest they accidentally commit sacrilege by stepping into the ancient temple's lost Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could enter. But some militant Orthodox...
Obedience to masculine law is still sanctioned by Islam and symbolized by the veil. Although the future preponderance of the veil is dubious, it still prevails as the norm. Most young women in the cities wear Western clothes, but the vast majority in rural areas retain the veil and traditional caftan. In certain instances the veil seems ridiculous, such as on a long bus ride...
Right after the revolution, the government came out in favor of "lifting the veils," both literally and figuratively. By figuratively, it implied the destruction of the mentality and behavior commonly deemed appropriate to the respectable Islamic woman, and putting women to work, particularly in factories. The outcry was so great that the government soon abandoned this line. Many Muslims interpreted removal of the veil as a profound threat to the spirit of Islam. The government couldn't risk alienating the Muslim population and decided instead to take the opposite stand, supporting the veil as an example of the fact that...