Modern Middle East History

https://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/maryland-marine-files-lawsuit-against-public-schools-islamic-indoctrination/

I stumbled on this article that is growing attention in Maryland Public Schools as well as rising through the Judicial ranks. Parents are suing this school that is requiring students to learn about the Islam culture, and Muslim religion. Some of the main problems are that it is a public school, the teacher will not let students take home the textbook to share with their parents, parents are not permitted into the school, and students are required to repeat the Muslim religion conversion statement or else they receive a grade of zero. I would highly recommend looking further into this because I have a feeling that it may grow to a national level.

-Casey Ryan

I have been reading up on the reasoning behind Ramadan and this is what I have found.

Once a child hits puberty and is in good health, they are required to fast during Ramadan. Travelers, sick people, and pregnant women are all exempt from participating in fasting for obvious reasons.

An if-tar is the meal that breaks the fast at the end of the day and what usually is eaten first are dates, which are pictured below.

After Ramadan is over, it concludes with Id-al Fitr, The Feast of Fastbreaking, and it continues for three days. Starting with the Clinton administration, the White House now holds the Id-al Fitr celebration. Hopefully this tradition continues with future presidents as well.

Between April and June of 1979 Ugandan Muslims were persecuted and murdered, in addition to nine mosques and 45 houses being burnt down. Recently the Ugandan government announced that it would launch a deeper investigation into the affair based off the claims of victims and relatives of victims of the 1979 attack. It is believed that the majority of the attackers were Protestants who accused the Muslims of voting for president Amim, who notoriously executed hundreds of Ugandans. What strikes me as peculiar is that the team investigating these claims are currently given three weeks to investigate and make decisions on individual cases, but with over sixty deaths and an unknown amount of cases to be investigated, 21 days seems like too short an amount of time.

Link to the UK Muslim News article: http://muslimnews.co.uk/news/human-rights/uganda-agrees-to-fresh-probe-into-1979-muslim-massacre/

Link to details about the 1979 Massacre: http://campusjournal.ug/index.php/special-report/investigation/534-a-detailed-account-the-1979-massacre-of-muslims-in-western-uganda

I saw this on Facebook. It’s a piece on Donald Trump possibl it being banned from the UK. A petition was brought to parliament, it had over 500,000 signatures. It makes you think. 

This is a documentary about the Sabra and Shatila massacres. These massacres occurred in 1982 during the civil war in Lebanon. The Lebanese Phalangists massacred Palestinians in these cities, and the IDF was complicit in the massacres, because Israeli soldiers under Sharon were not ordered to stop the atrocities.

Even though this is not a comprehensive list, I often see misappropriation when it comes to types of head coverings, so I wanted to post this list because it helps readers make basic distinctions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-peterson/know-your-veils_b_812944.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-lebanon-idUKKBN0NS0SV20150507

In the past week, the Syrian army has bombed the mountainous region on the border with Lebanon and killed insurgents while regaining territory Hezbollah had conquered in alliance with Assad.

The Lighthouse at Alexandria was one of the original Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. The Supreme Antiquities Council in Egypt recently approved the rebuilding of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. It was the world’s tallest man-made structure for several hundred years, and 137 meters, and was originally built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Egypt to ‘Rebuild’ the Lighthouse of Alexandria, One of the Seven Ancient World Wonders

I like this documentary because it is a comprehensive documentation of the Prophet Muhammad’s life and also Rageh Omaar, the journalist who’s hosting the show is a Muslim himself.

Rageh Omaar