In discussions about the status of non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries one issue that has been hotly debated is that of the jizyah tax. Much has been written, by both Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars, on jizyah. Most non-Muslim scholars see jizyah as a symbol of what they regard as the deg

Cancers in all forms are causing about 12 per cent of deaths throughout the world. In the developed countries, cancer is the second leading cause of death accounting for 21% (2.5 million) of all mortality. In the developing countries, cancer ranks third as a cause of death and accounts for 9.5% (3.8

Given the amount of violence and instability in countries with Muslim majorities, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, some people mistakenly assume the violence stems from Islamic teachings, when in fact Islam does not condone such actions. The media does not help the matter, often focusing on the activit

Interfaith dialogue is criticised by some religious leaders as a conspiracy designed to merge all religions into one. Certain individuals and communities fear the loss or weakening of their religious identities as a result of engaging in dialogue and interacting with followers of other faiths.
The

Abdelkader Haidara is a man who answers his emails quickly. But alongside his connections to the modern world, he is also at home in an entirely different epoch: the centuries when his hometown of Timbuktu was a stronghold of Islamic scholarship.
Some 100,000 ancient manuscripts testify to this epo

Like many other European countries, Spain is grappling with the issue of its diverse immigrant communities. However, unlike most of its neighbours, Spain has a rich diverse heritage that it can draw lessons from.
“There are currently 192 nationalities living in Spain. However, there is a general fe

Last Thursday, on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I found myself thinking back to my first hiking trip to New York’s Bear Mountain. I was six years old. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York, I thought the entire world was a sea of concrete buildings. But that trip changed my reality. I remember

Scholarly men and women strive to achieve great knowledge by attending college and working towards a degree. Many students know exactly what field of study they want to excel in and they have high expectations of becoming a creative, productive human being. Choosing to achieve excellence is wise but

As we focus on our vocation as workers during this Workers Day, which is also celebrated as the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, it is time for us to reflect on the apostolate of labour. This also invites us to reflect in worker that was present in Jesus Christ the Worker. Jesus Christ started his wo

‘JIHAD’, with its imbued wrong meaning, became a notorious word in the West after 9/11. Terror now has an overwhelming presence in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan , Afghanistan and Iraq . Violence there seems at times to be out of control as it is Muslims themselves who are targeted by

With the twin goals of student development and promoting knowledge and understanding vis- à-vis the Arab world, the Model Arab League (MAL) draws around 2,000 American students to 14 annual conferences nationwide. Megan Geissler, the MAL Programme Coordinator who engineers these conferences, says th

Science fiction fans may remember how humans and aliens communicated with one another using a five-tone musical motif in the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The movie was also one of the first to portray space aliens as friendly – albeit different – neighbours, rather than enemy invade

The arts profoundly reach our common core, transcend cultural barriers and link us together for a greater good. These are the reasons why Genesis at the Crossroads, a Chicago-based non-governmental organisation dedicated to bridging cultures through the arts, created The Saffron Caravan Quartet, a m

Contrasting with the general pessimism regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 77-year-old former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah continues to believe in harmonious Christian-Muslim coexistence in Palestine and shared his thoughts with reporter Laurent Grzybowski.
What is the si

Mike Abel is the author of this work and retains all rights in this work
When you have personal victory in any situation, your spirit lifts and you feel good about yourself and about nearly everyone around you. When you have private pain, you need the time and the space to cope and work through the