Common Ground News Service

A collection of 63 posts

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Faith leaders must talk about violence

By Reverend Chloe Breyer and Sarah Sayeed For those who loved Shaima Alawadi, the Iraqi-born mother of five and California resident, the recent media storm around her case likely provides very little solace. Speculation about the motivation behind her murder has become a topic of discussion across the country and

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What can we learn from Byzantium?

By Mehnaz M. Afridi As I wandered into New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the exhibit “Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition”, I began to think about the turbulent revolutionary events of the Arab Spring which have captured the world’s attention over the past year.

Canadian Muslims

Did the Pulitzer Prize miss the season of change in the Middle East?

By Muqtedar Khan A few days ago, I was in Ankara having a conversation with a senior advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. As we were talking, I heard a loud bang outside his office window, as if someone had fired a gun nearby. Needless to say, I

arctic mosque

Canada's Midnight Sun Mosque

The fascinating story of the world’s northernmost mosque, The Midnight Sun Mosque, is inspiring Canadian filmmakers to turn it into a documentary. “When we heard about the story of the mosque project, we immediately thought it was unusual and would definitely make a great story for a documentary,” filmmaker

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Transcending America’s faith divide to address social injustice

By Altaf Husain As Americans pause on 4 April, the anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, it is worthwhile to reflect on the culture of service and social justice that were part of his teachings. While the values King espoused could be internalised by anyone who is

Common Ground News Service

New languages democratising social media

By Nada Akl On 6 March micro-blogging service Twitter announced the launch of its Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu versions. It all started with the grassroots #LetsTweetInArabic campaign by a handful of users who wanted Twitter to be available in more languages. While many communities are still disadvantaged when it

Canadian Muslims

When it comes to sharia, can knowledge trump fear?

By Dr Julie Macfarlane Recently, Florida’s House of Representatives passed a bill (which later died in the state Senate) to ban the use of “foreign law” in domestic courtrooms. Such a bill may seem innocuous but according to the Miami Herald, flyers have circulated in Senate offices describing sharia

Asghar Farhadi

Hollywood recognizes Iran’s “glorious culture”

By Persheng Vaziri If you could climb over the mountain of threats and political posturing that are part of the language used by the United States, Europe and Iran and look out, you might see the light of a movie screen. If you set aside the loud clamour in the

Canadian Muslims

Decades later, Malcolm X’s legacy lives on

By Muqtedar Khan In February, Americans celebrate Black History Month. It is also during this month in 1965 that Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister and civil rights activist, died. His legacy is important for Muslims and non-Muslims alike – and one that has influenced many Muslim Americans, including myself.

Canadian Muslims

British Museum exhibit offers visitors a chance to experience Muslim pilgrimage

By Shelina Zahra Janmohamed (January 26, 2012) – Qaisra Khan and I are standing in the Round Reading Room of the world-renowned British Museum in London. Around us people are busy installing historic artefacts from the Muslim world relating to the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca – a principal religious obligation of

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Walking in MLK’s shoes

By Anya Cordell (January 17, 2012) – Martin Luther King, Jr., the renowned American civil rights activist, said, “Men hate each other because they fear each other, they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from

Canadian Muslims

First mosque part of the heritage of all Canadians

by Daood Hamdani (January 12, 2012) – This May, as Muslims mark the twentieth anniversary of the induction of Al-Rashid mosque in Fort Edmonton Park, the country’s largest living history museum, the spotlight will be on the leadership role of Muslim women in this historic event. Fifty years after they

Common Ground News Service

Muslims and Christians: if you don´t communicate, you don´t exist

By Safia Aoude (October 31, 2011) – “We can write anything now!” said an editor of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram to some visiting Danish participants in Cairo as a part of a recent Alexandria-based conference called “Media´s Role for Changing Society and Democracy”. The Egyptian revolution has certainly become a

Canadian Muslims

A victim of terrorism speaks out

(July 1, 2011) – When I recall my life – which I once thought would be normal, as most people assume theirs will be – I tend to divide it into three stages. One of those is the most traumatic, leaving deep wounds that have never ceased to cause me pain and suffering:

Canadian Muslims

The women of the Arab spring: from protesters to parliamentarians?

By Natana J. DeLong-Bas (June 17, 2011) – What do Asmaa Mahfouz, Munira Fakhro and Tawakul Karman all have in common? They are all strong, capable women defying the popular Western image of the oppressed, repressed, suppressed Muslim woman hidden behind a black chador or blue burqa, helplessly waiting for Western

Canadian Muslims

A terrorist victim isn’t always someone else

By Tahir Wadood Malik (April 27, 2011) – Terrorism was something that happened to others. Upon seeing news of another terrorist attack, I would simply change the channel. That is, until 5 October 2009, when I received a phone call that would change my life forever. The caller said that there

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Religious peace between Jews and Muslims

By Talya Ezrahi (April 14, 2011) – In this interview with Talya Ezrahi, editor at Search for Common Ground, Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, founder of the Wasatia movement and Professor of Political Science at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, talks about an interfaith event in February that brought together 150 Jews, Muslims

Interfaith.

MENA activists bring hope online

By Farah I. Abdel Sater (April 6, 2011) – Hope just got a boost online. From photos of youth in Saudi Arabia rebuilding after recent floods, to blog posts about solidarity in peaceful protests in Tahrir Square, to a video about women working together to overcome stereotypes, the new social networking

Canadian Muslims

Embracing uncertainty in Pakistan and cricket

By Salman Ahmad (March 30, 2011) – Both cricket and life are unpredictable. Pakistan’s journey – from yesterday’s “no-hopers” to today’s semi-finalists against World Cup favourites India – has been a startling revelation to many pundits, experts and fans. The team’s World Cup transformation reflects the mercurial strength and

Canadian Muslims

My vote counted: a last-minute trip for Egypt’s referendum

By Hoda Osman (March 25. 2011) –  I got excited as the plane approached the tarmac. A wide smile overtook my face. I felt more confident about my last-minute decision to travel from New York to Cairo to vote in Egypt’s constitutional referendum. I was anxious to get out of

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Does the pulpit speak for Saudi Arabia?

By Sabria Jawhar (February 18, 2011) – Following the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, some Saudi imams during Friday sermons have increasingly directed their anger toward non-Muslims, singling out Jews and Christians as responsible for the destruction resulting from these wars. It hasn’t been a conscious effort to demonise people

Canadian Muslims

Signs of hope in Egypt

By Laurna Strikwerda (February 8, 2011) –  Protestors in Egypt continue to fill Tahrir (Liberation) Square by the tens of thousands, building on two weeks of massive demonstrations calling for President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation. Though the protests have been mostly peaceful, the demonstrations have not been free from violence. Pro-government

Canadian Muslims

A new youth-led dawn in the Middle East?

By Farah I. Abdel Sater (February 1, 2011) – “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day!” When Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse wrote their 1965 song “Feeling Good”, odds were pretty close to zero that the couple could imagine that this is what young Arab citizens 46 years

Al-Rashid

Canada’s first mosque a model for Canadian mosques today?

By Daood Hamdani Visitors to the history park in Edmonton, Canada often pause in front of a small, red brick building wondering about its identity. Its long and narrow rectangular shape and onion-like domes suggest that it might be an Eastern Orthodox church. While the minarets rising from either side

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Egypt’s Copts channeling anger into civic engagement

By Lina Attalah In April 2006, hundreds of Egypt’s Alexandrian Christians gathered to mourn the death of 78-year-old Nushi Girgis, a Christian who was stabbed at St. Mark and St. Peter’s Church during one of a series of attacks on churches in the city that year. As the