Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with 2.8 billion and 1.9 billion adherents, respectively. Both religions are considered as Abrahamic, and are monotheistic, originating in the Middle East.
Hamza Yusuf is an American Islamic neo-traditionalist, Islamic scholar, and co-founder of Zaytuna College. He is a proponent of classical learning in Islam and has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world.
Jizya is a tax historically levied on dhimmis, that is, protected non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without specifying its rate or amount, and the application of jizya varied in the course of Islamic history. However, scholars largely agree that early Muslim rulers adapted existing systems of taxation and tribute that were established under previous rulers of the conquered lands, such as those of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires.
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.
Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian activist and scholar. A professor of Islamic studies, she is currently the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Mattson is a former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and was described as "Perhaps the most noticed figure among American Muslim women" in a 2010 New York Times article.
Mustafa Cerić is a Bosnian imam who served as the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993 to 2012, and is currently president of the World Bosniak Congress. In the 2014 general election, he ran for a seat in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Bosniak member, but was not elected.
Islam is the largest religion in Morocco, with more than 99% of the population adhering to it. The largest subset of Muslims in Morocco are Maliki Sunni; other numerous groups include practitioners of Zahirism and non-denominational Muslims. Islam is the nation's state religion. Blasphemy against Islam is a punishable offense.
The persecution of Copts and discrimination against Coptic Orthodox Christians are historic and widespread issues in Egypt. Their treatment is indicative of the poor status of Christians in the Middle East more widely, despite the fact that the religion is native to the Middle East, and that Christianity in Egypt dates back to the Roman era. Copts are the indigenous Christians in Egypt, usually Oriental Orthodox, who currently make up 10% of the population—the largest religious minority of that country. Copts have cited instances of persecution throughout their history and Human Rights Watch has noted "growing religious intolerance" and sectarian violence against Coptic Christians in recent years, as well as a failure by the Egyptian government to effectively investigate properly and prosecute those responsible. However, as political violence is common many churches believe that the attacks against the church are not religious statements, instead political statements. Since 2011, hundreds of Egyptian Copts have been killed in sectarian clashes, and many homes, churches and businesses have been destroyed. In just one province (Minya), 77 cases of sectarian attacks on Copts between 2011 and 2016 have been documented by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The abduction and disappearance of Coptic Christian women and girls also remains a serious ongoing problem.
This list of Arabic exonyms includes names that are significantly different from the names of the same places in other languages, as well as names of Arabic origin in countries where Arabic is no longer spoken. Some of these exonyms are no longer in use, these are marked by italics.
Wright Mahdi Bray, is a Muslim American civil and human rights activist and currently the National Director of the American Muslim Alliance and formerly served as executive director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation based in Washington, DC. The foundation supported Muslim activists and religious leaders who have been arrested.
Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia.
The main religion in Morocco is Sunni Islam, which is also the state religion of the country. Officially, 99% of the population are Muslim, and virtually all of those are Sunni. The second-largest religion in the country is Christianity, but most Christians in Morocco are foreigners. There is a community of the Baháʼí Faith. Only a fraction of the former number of Maghrebi Jews have remained in the country, many having moved to Israel.
The 2011 Imbaba church attacks were a series of attacks that took place in Egypt on 7 May 2011 against Coptic Christian churches in the poor working-class neighborhood of Imbaba in Giza, near Cairo. The attacks were blamed on Salafi Muslims, and the attacks began when the Muslims attacked the Coptic Orthodox church of Saint Mina, where they alleged a Christian woman was being held against her will because she wanted to convert to Islam. The attacks resulted in the burning of 3 Coptic Orthodox churches, and the destruction of many Christian-owned houses and businesses. In addition, 15 people were killed in the attacks, and about 232 injured. Among those killed were four Christians and six Muslims, while two other bodies were still unidentified. Imbaba has been known to be a stronghold of Muslim fundamentalists since the 1970s, but also comprises a significant number of Coptic Christians.
Ahmadiyya in Israel is a small Ahmadi community in Israel. The Community was first established in the region in the 1920s, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Ahmadi branch can be openly practiced. As such, Kababir, a neighbourhood on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, acts as the Middle East headquarters of the Community. It is unknown how many Israeli Ahmadis there are, although it is estimated there are about 2,200 Ahmadis in Kababir alone.
Muhammad Said Ramadan Al-Bouti was a renowned Sunni Muslim scholar, writer, and professor from Syria, where he was vice dean in Damascus University and served as imam of the Umayyad Mosque.
Mohamed Talbi, was a Tunisian author, professor, and Islamologist.
Sherif Gaber Abdelazim Bakr, is an Egyptian political activist and blogger who was arrested on October 27, 2013, for professing atheism, contempt of religion relating to activities on campus and atheist statements online.
Sa'ad bin Ateeq bin Misfer Al Ateeq, is an Islamic preacher, religious scholar, thinker and university professor from Saudi Arabia. He is considered controversial by some for the topic of the religious sermons he has delivered and his connections to governments of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, particularly the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, The Daily Beast, and Foreign Policy magazine have run articles about Al-Ateeq, expressing concerns about his alleged fanaticism and fundamentalist hard-line views. Foreign Policy has even compiled extensive documentation of his government-sponsored activities.
Relations between the Catholic Church and Islam deals with the current attitude of the Catholic Church towards Islam, as well as the attitude of Islam towards the Catholic Church and Catholics, and notable changes in the relationship since the 20th century.
The Muqarrab is a major spiritual stage (maqām) that the murids and saliks reach in their ascetic quest within Islamic Sufism.
