[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating about Islam and reflects a wide variety of opinions and approaches. It does not reflect the views of the Critical Currents in Islam page or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to cci@jadaliyya.com by Saturday night of every week.]
Sacred Spaces
Constructing Sacred Space: An Architectural History of Mashhad’s Imam Reza Shrine Ajam Media Collective explores how different governments claiming suzerainty over Mashhad left their mark on the architecture and urban space.
Qur’an
Russian court bans Qur`an translation Daniel Kalder reports that an edition of the Muslim holy book joins two thousand publications banned over the last decade, as city of Novorossiysk blacklists an "extremist" Russian version.
Youth
In Iran, Muslim youth are `even more excited about Christmas than Christians` Christians make up less than one percent of Iran’s population. And yet the storefronts in Iran’s cities are full of Christmas decorations.
`Unmosqued` Debate: Muslim Millennials Explore The Problem With American Mosques Muslim millennials joined host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani on Huff Post Live to discuss the exclusivity of many American mosques, as captured in the upcoming film UnMosqued by Ahmed Eid.
Political Islam
The Muslim Brotherhood, Back in a Fight to Survive Karim Faheem explains that rather than crack and disintegrate under the pressure, members say, the group has fallen back on the organizational structure that sustained it for decades as a banned and secretive movement.
Al Jazeera faces criticism in Egypt over its coverage of Muslim Brotherhood Paul Farhi writes that ever since the military’s ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in July, Al Jazeera, the pioneering Arab-language news broadcaster, hasn’t shrunk from calling his removal something the American government won’t: a coup.
Whither political Islam? Khalil Al-Anani argues that Islamists have proven to be quite resilient in the face of existential threats.
The Battle for a Syrian Caliphate Stephen Starr explains how the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) capitalizes on the chaos.
Political Islam: A movement in motion B.C. writes that if Maulana Moudoodi, one of two or three people who gave birth to modern political Islam, were to travel through the Muslim world now, he would find some mildly pleasant and very unpleasant surprises.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood submits claim to ICC over army crackdown Muslim Brotherhood lawyers stated they have submitted a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the military’s alleged crimes against humanity in Egypt.
Muslim Minorities
Meet America`s first openly gay Imam He’s been condemned by other Muslim leaders, and some local imams have even refused to greet him. But Imam Daayiee Abdullah–believed to be the only openly gay imam in the Americas–is proud of his story.
How Tarek Mehanna Went to Prison for a Thought Crime Amna Akbar comments that as the government embraces a “counter-radicalization” approach to counterterrorism, prosecutors are turning radical beliefs into criminal acts.
First Look at the New Ms. Marvel, a 16-Year-Old Muslim Superhero Late last year, Marvel Comics announced that it would reboot Ms. Marvel in February and put an all-new superheroine at the helm: Kamala Khan, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who lives in New Jersey.
Metro Detroit Muslim documentary by `Detropia` filmmakers debuts on HBO “The Education of Mohammad Hussein” is a thirty-eight-minute film that delves into the lives of young students at the Al-Ikhlas Training Academy, described as one of more than a dozen traditional Islamic schools in metro Detroit.