Day 6 of our Understanding Islam series. Sharia constitutes a broad set of rules that guide Muslims on how to lead an ethical life. The way Sharia is interpreted depends on who is using it and why.
There are many different understandings of shariah law in the Muslim world – the Taliban’s is a particularly hard-line one that is unlikely to change radically.
Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty Images
A scholar of religion explains what those who fast for health and fitness can learn from religious traditions for a sustained, deeper and lifelong practice.
Muslim women in India protesting against the use of Sharia as a tool for oppression.
anjay Purkait/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Sharia is often portrayed as being brutal and barbaric. However, in many parts of the world, women are using Sharia to stop oppressive practices.
Muslims pray at the Mihrab, a niche in a wall indicating the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, at the Foundation Stone, located under the Dome of the Rock in the Al- Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images
Ken Chitwood, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The Masjid al-Aqsa of Jerusalem is linked in the Quran to the story of the night journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and has deep religious meaning for Muslims across the world.
Muslim women say they are having an easier time wearing the niqab during pandemic times.
hjrivas/Pixabay
Muslims throughout the world will celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, beginning at sundown on July 30, but the coronavirus has changed many things.
A Muslim man prepares for prayer by doing a ritual washing.
mustafagull/Getty Images
Islamic law requires Muslims to ritually clean their body before praying. This guidance has particular relevance at a time when hand-washing is important to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Our cult of youth continues into the afterlife.
Denis Simonov/Shutterstock.com
Millions of Muslims will convene in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 9. The annual five-day pilgrimage, known as the hajj, is required of all Muslims who can physically and financially make the journey.
Muslim women wear the hijab as a statement of fashion and identity.
from www.shutterstock.com
Muslim women are often perceived as oppressed and self-segregated, but many contemporary Muslim women reinterpret Islam to express their sense of style and fashion.
This term ‘jihad’ can include various forms of nonviolent struggles: for instance, the struggle to become a better person.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Violent radicals are often described as jihadists. A scholar explains what the word means and why those using the word to justify terrorism are often misrepresenting their sources.
Muslim women at a prayer service at a mosque in Redmond, Washington, to mark the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid-al-Fitr in 2016.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Ken Chitwood, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Muslims throughout the world will celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a celebration at the end of Ramadan. Here’s an introduction to this important feast and its partner, Eid al-Adha.
A delegate in traditional Uighur dress listens to a speaker during a meeting with delegates from China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in Beijing,
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Muslims came to China in the 13th century and played an influential role. Tensions have escalated since 9/11, and the global community is largely silent.
Halima Aden, the first Muslim model to wear a hijab and burkini on the cover of the swimsuit edition of the Sports Illustrated.
Yu Tsai
Hijab-wearing model Halima Aden will be featured in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit edition. Here’s why her success needs to be viewed in context of a long history of black Muslim women’s fashions.
Women pray at a mosque during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on May 6 in Bali, Indonesia.
AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati
Last Friday, Muslims were killed while praying at two mosques in New Zealand. For Muslims, Friday is the day of gathering, the most important prayer day of the week.
A student on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, trying out the hijab on World Hijab Day, 2017.
AP Photo/Russell Contreras
For Muslim women, the hijab is not simply about religion. They may wear it for a variety of reasons. On World Hijab Day. women – Muslim and non-Muslim, are invited to experience this head covering.
For many Muslim women, a hijab is a way of expressing resistance.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, Religion and Civic Culture Center, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University