A viral photo showing Muslim men standing in front of a Catholic church in Egypt, protecting its congregants while they attend mass, serves as juxtaposition to recent reports indicating the growing attacks on Christians by Muslims in the North African country.

The photo, which has been circulated around the internet, shows over 20 Islamic men, wearing traditional Islamic dress, holding hands in a line in front of a large Catholic cathedral. The men are reportedly protecting the Catholic Church from vandalism and attacks while Christian congregants attend mass inside.
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The picture has gained a wide amount of media attention after it was tweeted by the Rev. James Martin, S.J., a Jesuit priest and the author and editor-at-large of America, a national Catholic magazine.

Despite the image, many Twitter users remained skeptical of the situation in Egypt, arguing that Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been reported to have attacked dozens of other churches in recent weeks. “The peaceful actions of some do not cancel the violent actions of others,” one user tweeted.

Tensions between Christians and Muslim Brotherhood supporters have run high and grown violent following the ousting of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi earlier in July. Some Islamist militants have blamed the minority Christian population for supporting the ousting of Morsi, and have called on Morsi’s supporters to gain revenge and attack their Christian counterparts.   »»» Christian Post

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Photographing the daily life of Muslims in Paris is a challenge. I discovered this by throwing myself into the project, which rapidly became a story of failed encounters, rejection and disappointment. Among the people I met, the fear of prejudice towards the Muslim world was intense, as was the worry that cliches about the community could be fueled or spread by images.

I tried to use Ramadan as an opportunity to take photographs inside a mosque of men praying, but I was forbidden. And yet, I am Muslim, I speak Arabic. I thought that this cultural and religious proximity would have made an exchange easier. I was wrong. Stereotypes and prejudices are strong and there is a real fear of images. What will you do with them? How will you use them? To what ends? Everyone I met was worried about the image and its propagation. In the age of social media, there is a fear of misinformation. I wanted to fight cliches, but how can you start when no one will open their door to you? This subject needs time, patience, perseverance and willpower. Even with all that, you’re not guaranteed success.   »»» Photographers Blog

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Oklahoma’s attorney general is reviewing the decision of a U.S. judge that bars the state from adopting a measure that would ban its state courts from considering Sharia law under any circumstances.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ruled on Thursday that the measure, contained in an amendment to the Oklahoma state constitution, violated the freedom of religion provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Sharia law is based on Muslim principles.

Gadeir Abbas, staff attorney for the Council, said that dozens of similarly discriminatory and unconstitutional bills had been introduced in other state legislatures.

“It is our hope that, in finding this anti-Islam law unconstitutional, lawmakers in other states will think twice about proposing anti-Muslim laws of their own,” said Abbas.

Defenders of the amendment have said they want to prevent foreign laws in general, and Islamic Sharia law in particular, from overriding state or U.S. laws.   »»» FaithWorld

U.S. Court decisions involving criminal law have NEVER taken foreign laws into account. It is only in civil law cases that U.S. Courts apply the provisions of foreign contracts but even then only those provisions that are not contrary to U.S. federal and state laws concerning public order and morals. Thus there is no legal reasons whatsoever to have laws that specifically ban references to foreign laws in contract disputes (including marriage and adoption cases). The principle is settled law: No one may, in a private undertaking, do anything that is contrary to public law and public order. These anti-shari’ah laws would make it impossible for two business men to stipulate that a breach of contract would be subject to shari’ah principles or to the laws of the place where the contract was signed if that country’s legal system was based on shari’ah law.

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Sixteen human rights groups are warning that more violence is about to erupt against Egypt’s Christians.

Isalmists in the southern part of the country are stirring up anger against the Christian community with charges that its leaders helped engineer President Mohammed Morsi’s downfall.

On Tuesday, 10,000 Muslims in the city of Assiut marched through a Christian neighborhood chanting pro-Islamist slogans.

They also defaced churches with spray-painted messages, including one calling Coptic Pope Tawdros “a dog.”   »»» CBN.com

Sadly, Egypt is descending into chaos, and there is enough blame to go around to everyone. During Egypt’s Arab spring, Coptic Christians joined Muslims in Tahrir Square to calling for Mubarak’s ouster. During the months preceding the election of Morsi, representatives of the Copts and the Muslim Brotherhood signed a sort of “entente cordiale” calling on freedom and protection for all Egyptians. There were some attacks against Copts and the Muslim Brotherhood organized guards for some Copt churches. Sadly, when the former Coptic Pope died, he was replaced by Pope Tawdros, a less open and less charitable man. The official Coptic line then became anti-Morsi and the new constitution was attacked by the Copts although it gave them much for freedom than the old Mubarak constitution. Then Morsi was betrayed by the secularists, who would not even give him a chance to finish his mandate and stand for new elections. They made the great error of accepting a military takeover, so that now Morsi is in jail, his supporters are being massacred in the hundreds by the army and the secularists who abandoned Egypt’s fledgling democracy to the army have not yet understood what they have done. Some Muslim Brotherhood supporters (as might be expected) are looking for a scapegoat, and they have found an easy target: the Copts. And now the Copts are criticizing the army, claiming the proposed interim constitution is worse than Morsi’s (which was better than Mubarak’s). All factions have fallen behind, except one: the army, which is tightening its dictatorial grip of Egypt and re-taking the power and influence it lost after allowing Mubarak’s ouster.

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While the issue of the mistreatment Rohingya Muslim minority has most involved Burma, it has roiled politics throughout Southeast Asia. Buddhist extremists have persecuted the Rohingya in Burma. In retaliation, a Buddhist monastery in Jakarta was attacked. And, Thailand now stands accused of winking at or being involved in human trafficking of the refugee minority.   »»» Informed Comment

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It would be hard not to like Wadjda, a new film from Saudi Arabia and the first to be directed by a woman in the male-dominated kingdom. A rare cinematic glimpse of a barely known country, the film tells the story of an independent-minded, cheeky young girl, Wadjda, who wants to buy a bike so she can race with her neighbour, Abdullah (who she shouldn’t be playing with).

Some of Saudi’s multiple, choking, all-encompassing controls over women are thereby exposed: the prohibition on women driving or mixing with men; the taboos over laughing or talking in public, or riding bicycles as these might defile virginity. However, the women in Wadjda – and the titular hero especially – are not depicted as wholly passive victims, but rather come across as striving, enterprising and possessing some agency within the constraints imposed upon them.

It has brought Saudi Arabia into the spotlight at a time when there are mixed reports about the country’s emerging social changes, or lack of them. In January, the Saudi monarchy announced that women would for the first time be appointed to the Shura council (the country’s closest thing to a parliament) and soon be given the vote in municipal elections. Last year, Saudi female athletes took part in the Olympics for the first time. Earlier this year, the kingdom lifted a ban on women working on supermarket checkouts, in lingerie stores and on cosmetics counters.    »»» theguardian.com

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Muslims mark the first day of the Eid al-Fitr, a festival of feasting and celebration to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It begins after the sighting of the new crescent moon. Go to the article to see the complete slide show.   »»» theguardian.com

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About 300 people in a restive northern region of Algeria have joined a public lunch during Ramadan to protest against what they say is persecution of people who refuse to observe the religious fast.

The lunch on Saturday was highly unusual for North Africa, where people can be arrested for not fasting during the Muslim holy month.

It was held as a demonstration against the decision of security forces to question three young people who were eating outside last week in the Kabylie region during the 18-hour daily fasting period.

“We called this gathering to denounce the inquisition and persecution of citizens who, because of their beliefs, refuse to observe the fast,” said Bouaziz Ait Chebib, head of the local Kabylie Autonomy Movement.   »»» Al Jazeera English

Allah gives us his divine commandment in the Qur’an (2:256):

لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ

Let there be no compulsion in religion.

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Islam did not invent the idea of fasting, which was once a major ritual in both Judaism and Christianity. One might argue that contemporary Catholic Lent is a watered-down version, playing fast and loose with the more rigorous traditions of the past. In Islam fasting is one of the so-called five pillars, a ritual that most Muslims believe is essential for the believer. The Quran is quite clear on this:

Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye will be grateful. (Qur’an 2:185)

The fact that there are exceptions (while traveling, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding or menstruating, taking necessary medicine, etc.) indicates that there has always been flexibility built into the ritual. In these cases the rule is that the fast be made up at another time in the year. Some individuals (a child before puberty, or someone who is insane or even a person who has a terminal illness) are not obliged to fast at all, nor to make up any fasting days.

But how much flexibility? What if a Muslim chooses not to fast for a reason other than those laid out in centuries of Islamic fiqh? The issue then arises of whether or not a Muslim who does not fast should be persecuted, beaten or arrested. There are ways in which penance can be made for deliberately violating the fast.

There are many Muslims who do not rigorously observe fasting, nor follow all the rules to the letter of medieval law, but still reserve the right to practice their faith. Lost in the legalism is consideration of why one should fast at all. Is it really the case that the purpose is simply to conform to a rule? Reading between the legalistic lines, it should be clear that intention plays a major role. The “best” Muslim may be the one who follows the rules to the best of his or her ability and is also an upright, caring and loving person; ritual duty blends with the proper moral intention. But who is a “better” Muslim? One who is thankful, not greedy, helps out the poor and chooses not to fast by all the rules or one who is meticulous in following the rules but is greedy, unthankful and cheats his or her neighbor?

My point is not to speak against fasting in Ramadan, which millions of Muslims find spiritually as well as physically rewarding when done for the right reasons. But, as many Muslim clerics have noted, the spirit of Ramadan is not served when it is commercialized or devoid of spiritual jihad, just as Christmas can become little more than tinsel and glitter if not a time to reflect on the moral principles that Jesus proposed. So, if your brother or sister decides not to fast, this is not your problem, nor are you the best judge of that person’s faith. When the urge arise to punish another, just remember “not so fast.”    »»» tabsir.net

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In a demonstration of what the Vatican spokesman called Pope Francis’ “particular attention to relations with the Muslim world,” the pope on Friday personally signed the Holy See message for Muslims at the end of Ramadan, calling for “mutual respect through education” between Christianity and Islam.

“We are called to respect the religion of the other, its teachings, its symbols, its values,” Francis wrote in a statement distributed by the Holy See.

“We have to bring up our young people to think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers,” said the message, which stressed the enhanced role that education must play in building respect for different religions and the need “to avoid ridiculing or denigrating their convictions and practices.”

“As an expression of esteem and friendship for all Muslims,” Francis decided to personally sign his good wishes to Muslims worldwide on the feast of Id al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, a month of prayer and fasting. Historically, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has delivered the message on behalf of the Holy See. The last pope to send a personal message to Muslims was John Paul II in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

“It’s not the first time that a pontiff has signed the message by his own hand,” the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said. “But it certainly shows Francis’ particular attention to relations with the Muslim world.”    »»» NYTimes.com

The official catechism of the Roman Catholic Church says:

“841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation
also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place
amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of
Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God,
mankind’s judge on the last day’.”

Source:

That teaching was proclaimed during the Vatican II Council in the 1960s. That Council also declared the following:

“The Church regards with respect the Muslims, who worship the One,
Living, Subsistent, Merciful, Almighty God who created the heavens and
the earth, who spoke to men. They strive to submit wholeheartedly to
God’s commandments…even as Abraham submitted himself to God, whose
obedience is often recalled in the Islamic religion. Although they do
not recognize Jesus as God, they do venerate him as a prophet and they
honour his virgin mother, Mary…. They await the Day of Judgment, when
God will reward all those risen from the dead. They hold in high regard
the moral life and worship God,particularly by prayer, charity and
fasting.”

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