Quran

When reading about the Afghanistan war, many people begin to conflate all Muslims with the radicals that we hear about on a daily basis. But what about this wonderful woman and her family and friends, who use Islam as a rich resource to promote peace?

The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, "Richness does not come from having an abundance of things from the earth, but richness comes from having a richness of the soul."

Wilders promises many things in his book, above all that, "we must speak the truth." Wilders does not fulfill his promises, however, and his disregard for truth is the most astounding.

Every Islamic ritual and practice is an invitation for the believers to commit themselves to a process of increasing purity, tranquility and peace in their internal and external world.

Speaking to former Guantanamo detainee 727 was like talking to a prisoner of Azkaban, that terrible prison guarded by soul-sucking Dementors from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

I don't know how, but people say this all the time: "He cannot go to heaven because he does not believe in [insert your Prophet or God's name here]." Frankly, I would have checked out of my faith if it took such a position. Thank God (or Allah) that it doesn't.

A fresh wind is blowing through church steeples and minarets. It's got the archbishops, pastors, rabbis and imams of Old Time Religion in a reactionary rage. And no wonder.

How can we proactively prepare ourselves for this holy month of Islam in these coming eight weeks? How can we bring ourselves to be in a state of mind and heart that is ready to receive the very many rich blessings of this sacred time?

* Remarks start controversy at conference on Islam * Row already brewing over Salafists handing out Koran * Germany home...

America, which has been a safe heaven for persecuted believers since the Mayflower, keeps up with its heritage by welcoming Muslim believers as well. It should not give into the fear-mongering of a handful of anti-Islamic propagandists.

I may pull the Quran down from the topmost shelf, and sit in silent recitation, but if the Quran cannot be read in the movement of my limbs, the angle of my chin, the way I walk, sit and hold someone's hand, it is as if it had never been written at all.

The main reason for Muslims to say insha'Allah is to recognise that an event in the future will happen only if God wills it.

The Quran, Islam's foundational text regarded by Muslims as the literal word of God, articulates several significant principles regarding inter-religious harmony, peaceful co-existence and religious pluralistic success.

The Muslim Hajj, while commanded by God, truly became a symbol of unity and brotherhood by the call of Prophet Muhammad. Trayvon's death is an opportunity for white church leaders to make it their calling.

For some, Mansur al-Hallaj was a magician, a heretic and a lunatic, who publicly claimed to be one with the One and deserved to be executed for heresy. But to his sympathizers he was a Sufi saint, who was martyred 1,100 years ago for his ecstatic utterance.

In polarizing debates and campaign rhetoric, legitimate differences of opinion become the occasion for demonization of opponents. An undercurrent of fear stokes the accusations hurled back and forth.

By my rough estimation, we spend perhaps 50 percent or more of our waking hours in storytelling. Humans make stories but, in some sense, we are also made by our stories.

The most frequent question I get asked by my fellow Americans is to explain how Muslims believe in God. "Who or what is Allah?" they ask.

Critics incorrectly allege that Islam command's husband's to beat their wives, often citing the Quran verse 4:34. Unfortunately, like any Muslim man who harms his wife, critics miss the keen wisdom of the verse, which actively pre-empts domestic violence.

My teacher knew a cardinal rule of moral instruction: Never take yourself too seriously. That master of pedagogy, the great poet-saint Rumi, reminds us that "the true teacher knocks down the idol the student makes of him."

The Quran acknowledges many of the prophets in the Torah and Bible, and it made it acceptable for Muslims to dine with Jews and Christians, demonstrating that the Quran unequivocally establishes a special bond between the three monotheistic religions.

For any Muslim who believes the sacredness of the Quran as God's final revelation to humanity, that very same Quran condemns and rejects such anarchy in many of her verses and teachings.