Mawlid in Africa
The Mawlid celebrations in Africa are quite different from those celebrated in the Middle East or Asia. Even the name of the celebrations differs according to the country or region of the continent. For instance, in Sudan the Mawlid celebrations are called Havliye, in Mali it is Donba (as "The Big Day"), in Nigeria it is Gani-gani-rite de passages, in Togo fête des couteaux. (1) In many African co...

Mawlid in Europe
Every year the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is celebrated with a variety of different activities in parts of Europe. In nearly every country of Europe, Muslim populations come together to meet on this blessed night, to pray and celebrate together. For instance, in recent years, women organizations in the UK have marked the occasion of the Mawlid. Commonly held in community centers, these pr...

Mawlid in Asia
Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the largest nations with a majority-Muslim population in Asia. Religion is very important in Indonesia, and this can be understood from the first principle of the state: "Pancasila", which means "belief in the one and only God." Although there are many religions that are practiced in the country, Islam has the highest percentage, with 86% of the population.1 For this ...

Mawlid all over the World
The twelfth night of the month of Rabi al-Awwal is a night of the blessed memory of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) throughout the Islamic world. In every corner of the world countless Muslims wait for this night, praying, re-reading his biography and celebrating his auspicious birth with different rituals, customs and ceremonies, unique to every culture and society. These celebrations, no matter what...

Religion in the Virtual World
The internet has become an indispensable and necessary part of our lives. Whereas communication without the internet has become nearly impossible, encyclopedias are now almost nostalgic items in the library, with search engines have been declared king, crowned by their ability to achieve "search results" in seconds. As the internet has dominated almost every dimension of our lives, it is not poss...

A New Form of Activism: Message Bombardment in Web Forums
The integration of the Islamic way of thinking and living with modern communication and the Internet has created a new aspect to the socialization process for Muslims and a new form of communication for people from different religions and cultures. Mail groups and online forums established by the participation of hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of people, Muslim and non-Muslim, find an opport...

I Bet I Can Find
Facebook is one of those spheres where feelings towards Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), positive or negative, can be expressed in the most exaggerated way. Far from reflecting academic currents, Facebook groups establish an important trend to follow, allowing us to discover what the actual disputes about the Prophet are. For instance, while the group "I bet I can find more than 10,000,000,000,000,000,00...

The Question of Online Fatwas
Together with the increasing use of the Internet by Muslim community, the online fatwas, or religious decrees have also become popular. In fact, they have become the new, easily accessible alternative for the Muslim community in the place of mosques and other such conventional religious centers. Muslims log on to the internet to present their problems and receive immediate detailed responses. No ...

Islamic Devices on Sale: “ADD TO CART”
  With dazzling speed, electronic and digital Islamic products have started to stretch beyond the boundaries of the imagination; they are now mobilizing the markets as well as helping people carry out their religious duties. Today we can listen to electronic Qurans, remember the time of the prayers with the help of adhan readers and use electronic devices to keep track of our supererogatory praye...

From a Trustworthy Prophet to Islam
Reyyan Kılıç is a former pharmacist from the Philippines. She is married and has young sons. In her free time, she enjoys reading books, magazines and emails friends and spending time with her family. How did you decide to embrace Islam? Is there any one incident you can specify? For years I believed what I was told and just followed blindly. Whereas most of the people I knew were Catholics and ...

"More People Converting to Islam in Denmark after the Cartoon Cr
We interviewed Gonca Şenler, an active member of the Islamic community in Denmark, about the repercussions of the cartoon crisis, as well as what the rates of conversion to Islam in Denmark were and the reasons for such conversions. According to official figures, the number of Muslim Danish citizens in 2005 was 2,500, whereas this number increased to 4,000 in 2007. Danish citizen Abdul Wahid Pede...

Reasons for Opposition to Hadith
The word "hadith" is the name of an infinitive meaning "to explain, inform, the thing explained/informed about, news, and words." The word was taken from this broad dictionary meaning and began to be used for some special news. Thus, in time this particular meaning developed which relates to news about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This news includes everything about the Prophe...