Muslim Woman Ruler

(CNN) — Countless streets across the Islamic world are currently alight with ornate festive lanterns. Part of a tradition dating back over 800 years, the Ramadan lanterns, or “fanoos,” have become one of the most popular and enduring symbols of the month-long festival. Believed to have originated in Egypt — where the lanterns are most prevalent — it is almost impossible to know how the tradition began. Legends are numerous and varied, but one of the most popular features Egyptian Al Hakim Bi-Amr Illah who ruled over the North African Shiite Moslem Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century. He was…

A tweet feat: Quran goes on Twitter for Ramadan – USATODAY.com. Ramadan, which begins with a sunup-to-sundown fast Monday, calls on the Muslim faithful to immerse themselves in scripture — ideally by reading the entire Quran.   In 2009, Hussein Rashid, a professor of Islamic Studies at Virginia Theological Seminary, noticed rabbis using Twitter to highlight snippets of Torah text to celebrate Shavuot, when Jews say Moses received God’s word at Mount Sinai.  “I saw they were creating a virtual way to pray and study together, and I thought it would be fun to invite a few friends to tweet…

An Interview with Haroon Moghul, Author, Academic, and Associate Editor at Religion Dispatches « The Future of Islam In the Age of New Media. “My name is Haroon Moghul and I’m the Executive Director of The Maydan Institute. I think that the Internet is going to be a very destabilizing force among Muslim communities worldwide. The reason I say that is because in the Muslim world right now, the biggest problem we have, and I’m speaking of the Muslim world in terms of communities in every part of the planet—the problem we have, is an absence of voices that are…