by Cathy Lynn Grossman USA Today Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer, begins at sunset Saturday, and many believers are already planning a key observance: zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam. Often translated as "charity," it requires believers to give 2.5% of their cash assets (even including the value of their jewelry or stocks) to the Muslim needy and … [Read more...]
Il lato oscuro della Zakat
La "beneficenza" musulmana nel suo contesto Pezzo in lingua originale inglese: The Dark Side of Zakat Sia riguardo a ciò che viene insegnato agli scolari Americani dai loro insegnanti, che riguardo a ciò che viene raccontato agli Americani dai loro Presidenti, oggi concetti specifici unicamente dell'islàm sono quasi sempre "occidentalizzati". Che sia il risultato di … [Read more...]
The Dark Side of Zakat
Muslim "Charity" in Context Italian From what American schoolchildren are being taught by their teachers to what Americans are being told by their presidents, concepts unique to Islam are nowadays almost always "Westernized." Whether the product of naivety, arrogance, or downright disingenuousness, this phenomenon has resulted in epistemic (and thus endemic) failures, … [Read more...]
Obama’s Puzzling Approach to the Muslim World
Pajamas Media Translations of this item: French President Barack Obama and I have one thing in common shared by few Americans: we were brought up by at least one parent — biological or step is irrelevant — who was born and raised in an Islamic milieu. Intimately aware of the inevitable effects of this, I must question Obama's sincerity in his approach to the Islamic … [Read more...]
St. Francis of Assisi, Fr. Zakaria Botros, and Islam
Polish While not formally connected, two books I recently finished reading -- St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of Muslims and Defying Death: Zakaria Botross, Apostle to Islam -- complement each other very well, specifically by establishing continuity between medieval and modern Islam, and, in so doing, demonstrating that Islamic intolerance has a long pedigree. For … [Read more...]