Islam is a diverse religion with sects ranging from liberal to ultra-conservative. The media often roughly divides Muslims in those who follow a so-called ‘moderate Islam’ from those who condone, promote and/or engage in acts of violence and terrorism on behalf of Islam.
Like other religions Islam also has cults — movements whose teachings violate one or more of the essential tenets of Islam.
The vast majority of Muslims are people who have been born into the religion. Leaving Islam — in favor of another religion or of atheism — is difficult, as those who do so usually are rejected by family, friends and the larger community. In Islam, apostasy is punishable by imprisonment or death.
• Research resources on Islam
Wednesday January 31, 2007
Islam: Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, has banned bloodletting during Ashoura, even for adults. Clerics in mainly Shiite Iran forbid it as well, saying the practice is un-Islamic because it harms the body.
Islam • Soldiers of Heaven / Supporters of Mahdi: Accounts of the bloody battle near Najaf have produced more questions than answers, raising doubts about Iraqi security forces’ performance and concern over tensions within the majority Shiite community.
Islam: There are growing suspicions in Iraq that the official story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication. The heavy casualties may be evidence of an unpremeditated massacre.
Tuesday January 30, 2007
Islam • Soldiers of Heaven / Supporters of Mahdi: In an era beset by war and confusion, a purported messiah rises from the sands of the desert promising to deliver the end of time. On the outskirts of a holy city, he gathers his fighters for the apocalypse. But his plan is betrayed. By dawn, government forces surround the messiah and his followers, killing him and hundreds of others.
Islam • Soldiers of Heaven / Supporters of Mahdi: Women and children with the fighters of the Soldiers of Heaven outside Najaf were believed to be among those killed after coming under sustained fire from warplanes, helicopter gunships and tanks.
Islam: A row has erupted over Muslim-only washrooms at an Australian university that can be accessed only with a secret push-button code.
Hizb ut Tahrir • Islam: The radical Islamists of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) who met in Lakemba to cheer speakers calling for a global Islamic state, which somehow did not include Australia, raised a number of issues.
Monday January 29, 2007
Islam • Soldiers of Heaven / Supporters of Mahdi: The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle on Sunday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq’s national security minister said on Monday.
Islam: Isambard Wilkinson in Multan, Pakistan, hears the extraordinary story of an illiterate peasant woman who took on her village as well as the state.
Hizb ut Tahrir • Islam: Prime Minister John Howard and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock have refused to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose controversial push to drum up support among Australian Muslims to create an Islamic superstate has sparked outrage from the NSW Government.
Hizb ut Tahrir • Islam: An unlikely alliance of radical Muslims and the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has rejected Morris Iemma’s call to ban the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Islam • Soldiers of Heaven / Supporters of Mahdi: United States and Iraqi forces killed 250 gunmen from an apocalyptic Muslim cult whose followers wore headbands declaring themselves a Soldier of Heaven.
Sunday January 28, 2007
Hizb ut Tahrir • Islam: A radical Muslim cleric has urged hundreds of supporters meeting in Sydney’s south-west to join a global push to create an Islamic utopia.
Saturday January 27, 2007
Islam: The controversy in Europe over face veils worn by Muslim women could spread to other countries, but Canada’s immigration ministry has no clear departmental policy on the issue, warns a confidential briefing note prepared for former Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg.
Friday January 26, 2007
Islam: A parent in England has begun legal action against his daughter’s school because it will not allow her to wear a veil which covers most of her face.