Source : Eric Walberg
Middle East Online |  20 Aug 2011

Ramadan exemplifies the powerful spiritual calling of Islam. Dry fasting is more a test of the spirit, the will, proof of devotion, than just some health gimmick. And it is precisely this cultivation of mass “mind over matter” that frustrates Western secularists, so used to indulging every consumer fetish on a whim. Why are Muslims so stubborn in nurturing ancient beliefs and rituals when they fly in the face of modern capitalist society? Secular critics dismiss Islam as a harmful, even dangerous anachronism. Why disrupt one’s busy day five times to pray, slow down the whole economic order for an entire month every year, ban alcohol and interest -- the bedrock of Western society?

Source : Sheyma Buali | Arab News
London | 03 Aug 2011

Last month as part of the Shubbak Festival Professor Jack Lohman, director of the Museum of London, gave a talk on London’s historical connections to the Arab world. A good bulk of the talk, however, went into the history of the Muslim presence in this city. Today, at the beginning of Ramadan, it is great to see the vibrancy that that history has led to.

Source : James Angelos | The Wall Street Journal
OSNABRÜCK : Germany | 03 Aug 2011

Having given birth to the Protestant Reformation and the current pope, Germany is now at the fore of a broad effort to foster a European theological tradition for a relative newcomer: Islam.