by Patricia Sullivan Washington Post Laurent Murawiec, 58, a think-tank geostrategist who stirred an outcry in 2002 by contending that Saudi Arabia was the "kernel of evil" in the Muslim world and that its oil fields should be seized if it didn't do more to fight terrorism, died Oct. 7 of multiple myeloma at his home in Washington. Mr. Murawiec told the Defense Policy Board … [Read more...]

Al-Jazeera: The Riz Khan Show Panel: Jennifer Turner, Laila al-Marayati, Raymond Ibrahim Riz Khan "Hello and welcome. Can a Muslim donate money without raising suspicion? It's a question that the 7 million or so Muslims living in the USA are asking now as the holy month of Ramadan gets underway. It's a particularly auspicious time in the Islamic calendar, and one where … [Read more...]

by Cathy Lynn Grossman USA Today Do you follow the rules of your religion? All of them? Here's why I ask. Last week I wrote about the Islamic injunction to give zakat, translated as charity, to the poor and needy, a faithful mandate that often peaks during Ramadan, the month of prayer and fasting that began last weekend. Now Raymond Ibrahim, the Middle East Forum scholar, … [Read more...]

by Cathy Lynn Grossman USA Today Zakat, a mandate to be charitable, is one of the five pillars of Islam, and who doesn't think that's a good thing? Raymond Ibrahim, for one. The scholar at the Middle East Forum unloads on The Dark Side of Zakat: Muslim "Charity" in Context at the forum's website. While he acknowledges there are eight categories where faithful Muslims might … [Read more...]

by Cathy Lynn Grossman USA Today Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer, begins at sunset Saturday, and many believers are already planning a key observance: zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam. Often translated as "charity," it requires believers to give 2.5% of their cash assets (even including the value of their jewelry or stocks) to the Muslim needy and … [Read more...]