AJAM Appearance | How “Islamic” is ISIL?

Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in the 2012 Primary – The Takeaway. While political mud-slinging is de riguer in primary races, 2012 has brought several not-so-thinly-veiled anti-Muslim soundbytes from its frontrunning candidates. Last week, Newt Gingrich said that he would not support a Muslim president unless they would “commit in public to giv[ing] up Sharia.” Rick Santorum also expressed his thoughts on Islam, saying that the concept of equality “doesn’t come from Islam” or “Eastern Religions.” Instead, he said, “it comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Chronicle of a Debate (II) | ctxt.es. Yet the depth of hostility towards Muslims has left some educators in despair. For Hussein Rashid, Trump’s rhetoric is profoundly disturbing: “His desire to ban immigrants from a country of immigrants; his comparison of dying children to poison; and his use of anti-Semitic imagery should all be called out during the debates. It is not just Islamophobia, but racism writ large”. He admits that he is losing hope. “What we’ve seen in New York this year is men being shot, women being stabbed, and women being lit on fire. I am not sure…

Muslims’ mixed response to new Mohammed cover – CNN.com. “My initial thought is that the cover is a near perfect response to the tragedy,” said Hussein Rashid, a professor of Islamic thought at Hofstra University in New York.   “They are not backing down from the depiction of Mohammed, exercising their free speech rights. At the same time, the message is conciliatory, humble, and will hopefully reduce the anger directed to the Muslim communities of France.”   Rashid noted that the cover’s central message — forgiveness — resonates not only throughout Islam but through other world religions as well, embracing all in…