MUSIC NEWS: “Iranian Rapper Faces Death Threats Over ‘Blasphemous’ Rap Song’
From The Guardian Newspaper (UK) by Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 May 2012 13.43 EDT Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi. A death sentence was issued against the rap artist after he released a controversial song called Naqi Photograph: Ay Collection/Sipa/Rex Features An Iranian rapper has become “the Salman Rushdie of music” after clerics in the Islamic republic...
NEWSPAPER: “Texas Imam in Strip Mall Mosque Stresses Social Services”
From Houston Chronicle Standing behind the pulpit, addressing his modest 25-member congregation, Imam Khalis Rashaad preaches about time management, nutrition and economic empowerment at his new mosque in Houston’s Third Ward – a largely uncharted territory for Islamic centers. The rhetoric there is different from the more abstract spiritual sermons of its counterparts – the dozens of long-established...
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “Lady Gaga Not Welcome in Indonesia, says Muslim Group”
From Wall Street Journal By Ahmad Pathoni JAKARTA – Indonesia may be home to many Little Monsters, as fans of Lady Gaga are called, but a hard line Muslim group said Monday that the American pop star is not welcome in the country, accusing her of promoting devil worship. As the economies of many countries...
JAKARTA POST: “Muslims Rethink Sex in New Book”
From The Jakarta Post The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 05/05/2012 10:00 AM The Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI) has taken an unusual step to promote population control by releasing a book exploring the Koran’s position on sexual issues. The book, launched on Friday in Jakarta, was titled Fiqh Seksualitas, (Islamic Sexual Jurisprudence), and was...
EXCLUSIVE: “The Day Osama Died: My Daughter Was Born”
By Rizwan Qureshi Exclusive | The Crescent Post One year ago today, most people in this country were celebrating an amazingly heroic achievement by our American military, the assassination of one of the most despised men in history, Osama bin Laden. Like the assassination of President Kennedy almost fifty years ago, our younger generation will...
CNN: “Muslim and Jewish College Students Join Together To Celebrate Art”
From CNN Art on display at the interfaith art gala hosted by Muslim and Jewish student organizations at Emory University. By Summer Suleiman, CNN ATLANTA (CNN) - Canvases with bold colors and Arabic letters lined the walls of the rooms. Downstairs, students rapped about Islam and Judaism to their own version of the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” melody,...
AP: “Egyptian Comedian Found Guilty of Offending Islam”
From Associated Press By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press CAIRO April 24, 2012 (AP) An Egyptian court on Tuesday upheld a conviction against one of the Arab world’s most famous comedians, sentencing him to jail for offending Islam in some of his most popular films. The case against Adel Imam and others like it have raised...
NY TIMES: “Comedian Aasif Mandvi on Food, Islam and Women”
From The New York Times It’s perhaps one of the most sumptuous paeans to Indian cuisine ever made. In the foodie flick “Today’s Special,” the masalas and chutneys serenade the senses as they make the journey from pot to plate, a symphony of colors and textures and almost — just almost — tastes, captured vividly on...
WORLD NEWS: “Bollywood Actress Murdered & Beheaded By Two Fellow Actors”
From Global Post Meenakshi Thapar. (Screengrab) It could have been the plot of a sick and twisted horror flick, but it wasn’t. This was real life — sick and twisted as it gets. According to news reports, 26-year-old Meenakshi Thapar, the Bollywood actress who appeared in last year’s thriller “404,” was recently kidnapped and murdered...
