Category Archives: Islamic Rituals

A Muslim in the House and Praying

Film and Video, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islamic Rituals


U.S. Rep. David Price, left, meets with Duke Muslim chaplain Abdullah Antepli, his wife Asuman, and U.S. House chaplain Rev. Daniel P. Coughlin

Antepli Delivers Opening Prayer at US House

Duke Muslim chaplain begins Wednesday session (video)

Duke University Press Release, Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Durham, NC — Duke Muslim chaplain Abdullah T. Antepli delivered the opening prayer for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., this morning. Antepli served as guest chaplain at the invitation of Congressman David Price, D-N.C.

Antepli, who joined Duke in July 2008, is one of only a handful of full-time Muslim chaplains at U.S. colleges and universities. He is the founder and executive board member of the Muslim Chaplains Association and a member of the National Association of College and University Chaplains. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Duke Divinity School and Duke Islamic Studies Center, where he teaches courses on Islam.

Following the prayer, Rep. Price took to the floor for a short address praising Antepli as a leader who helps to bridges faiths across the campus. Video of the session is embedded below: (The prayer begins five seconds into the video; Price’s comments immediately follow the Pledge of Allegiance.)

To see the video on the Duke site, click here. Continue reading A Muslim in the House and Praying →

Islamic Folk Astronomy #3

Folklore and Proverbs, Islamic Rituals, Islamic Sciences


Mohammed at the Kaaba. Miniature from the Ottoman Empire, c. 1595. Source: The Topkapi Museum, Istanbul

Folk Astronomy and Islamic Ritual

Astronomy was relevant to Muslims in large part because of several of the ritual duties proscribed in the Quran and Islamic tradition. The three most important of these are determining the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadân, reckoning the times for the five daily prayers, and determining the proper direction of the qibla or sacred direction toward Mecca. While Muslim astronomers later worked out mathematical solutions to some of these problems, correct timing and orientation could be achieved by those untrained in astronomy and with virtually no computation skills beyond simple arithmetic (King 1985:194). Continue reading Islamic Folk Astronomy #3 →

Ibn Taymiyya on Snake Oil

Islam and Christianity, Islamic Rituals, Scholars, Shi'a

[Webshaykh’s Note: The Muslim World has made some of their articles available, perhaps only for a limited time, to non-subscribers. In the latest issue (Volume 99, Issue 1, Pages 1-20, 2009) there is an interesting article by Yahya Michot (“Between Entertainment and Religion: Ibn Taymiyya’s Views on Superstition”). I attach here a brief excerpt from the article.]

One day, Ibn Taymiyya was asked to answer the following questions in a fetwa: “Are there, in this community, virtuous persons whom God keeps absent to people’s eyes? They are only seen by those by who they want to be seen. Even if they are among people, they are, in the state which is theirs, veiled to these people’s eyes. And also, are there, on Mount Lebanon, forty men absent to the eyes of those who look there? Every time one of them dies, they take somebody else among the people, who absents himself with them just as they are absent. All those, the earth hides them. They perform the pilgrimage. They accomplish in an hour distant trips that would normally take a month or a year. There are some among them who fly like birds, speak of hidden things before they happen, eat bones and clay and find this nourishing and sweet, etc.”27 Continue reading Ibn Taymiyya on Snake Oil →

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri Dies

Iran, Islamic Rituals, Scholars, Shi'a


Image of the Ayatollah from his Persian website

One of the most vocal opponents of the hardliners in the Islamic Revolution and of the recent election fixing by President Ahmadinejad was the Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who has died at the age of 87. Reports of the funeral in Qum are based on eyewitnesses, since the government of Iran has forbidden journalists to cover the burial. The New York Times has a lengthy article by Robert Wirth with the following general information:

Ayatollah Montazeri was widely regarded as the most knowledgeable religious scholar in Iran, and that gave his criticisms special potency, analysts say. His religious credentials also prevented the authorities from silencing or jailing him. Last month, he stunned many in Iran and abroad by apologizing for his role in the 1979 takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran, which he called a mistake. Iran’s leaders celebrate the takeover every year as a foundational event of the Islamic revolution. Continue reading Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri Dies →

Just Rain?

Islam and Christianity, Islamic Rituals, Journalism and Media, Saudi Arabia, Travel


Flooding in Mecca in 1941, in which the circumambulation had to be swum

In many parts of the Middle East, where water is not an easily accessible resource, rain is baraka. The Arabic term baraka is only vaguely understood in the English sense of “blessing,” the lexical translation. Context makes this heaven-sent product a blessing some times and a curse other times. Pilgrims to Mecca this year have witnessed torrential rain, dampening the make-shift hotel tents and ihram garb, but perhaps not the enthusiasm of the hajjis and hajjiyyas. An article on today’s Al-Jazeera website notes that about three million Muslims are performing the pilgrimage; as for the number of umbrellas being used, Allahu a’lama. Normally, extra rain in the arid environs of Mecca and Medina would seem something to evoke al-hamdillah from the faithful, but in this case timing is a problem. Some 50 people have already been killed due to these rains, and the fear of spreading disease during an already concurrent high flu season is no doubt troubling to the health officials. The H1N1 flu has already claimed four pilgrims and some 67 have been diagnosed with the virus. Perhaps the Egyptian government missed a few of those dangerous swine of the Christian Zabbalin.

So if one assumes that this ordained ritual is important in the eyes of Allah, an old and nagging question arises: why does the rain fall on the just as well as the unjust. This ethical dilemma played out on the monotheistic stage has a long history. In the Gospels Jesus reminded his followers that God is an equal opportunity Creator: Continue reading Just Rain? →

Ramadan Around the Globe

Islamic Rituals, Photography


A vendor of headscarfs waits for customers in the 4th day of Ramadan at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 25, 2009. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)

The Boston Globe published a series of excellent photographs of Muslims around the world as they prepared for Ramadan this year. There is a total of 39 photographs and these are well worth looking at. Click here to go to the website.

Ramadan Greetings from the Oval Office

Film and Video, Islam in America, Islamic Rituals, Obama Administration


President Barack Obama

Ramadan Kareem
Posted by Rashad Hussain, The Official White House Website, August 21, 2009

As the new crescent moon ushers in Ramadan, the President extends his best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world.

Each Ramadan, the ninth month on the lunar calendar, Muslims fast daily from dawn to sunset for 29 or 30 days. Fasting is a tradition in many religious faiths and is meant to increase spirituality, discipline, thankfulness, and consciousness of God’s mercy. Ramadan is also a time of giving and reaching out to those less fortunate, and this summer, American Muslims have joined their fellow citizens in serving communities across the country. Over the course of the month, we will highlight the perspectives of various faiths on fasting and profile faith-based organizations making real impacts in American cities and towns. Continue reading Ramadan Greetings from the Oval Office →