Young recruits to radical Islam “don’t have the knowledge base to fend off manipulation of the religion that these groups are doing to convince them this is the way they can be the best Muslims they can be,” says security studies professor Mia Bloom. More →

March 6, 2015

American Muslims are not going to let their faith be defined by ISIS, says Hoda Elshishtawy, national policy analyst for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. “Islam is about life, human rights, dignity, justice. Muslims are taking back that narrative.” More →

February 27, 2015

“I think Egyptians just rose up and said we don’t like the direction Egypt is going in. It’s not because we don’t love Muslims – most of us are Muslims – but we don’t like the idea of an Islamist Egypt,” says Kate Seelye, senior vice president of the non-partisan Middle East Institute. More →

July 12, 2013

Watch more of our interview with Tony Blair, who says faith can provide strength and spiritual consolation, but “it can’t tell you the right answer. You’ve got to work that out, in a sense, on your own. It can’t determine your policy, because life’s not like that, I’m afraid.” More →

August 24, 2012

“We don’t want a religious state,” says Muslim Brotherhood member of parliament Ossama Yassin. “We want a modern, civil, democratic state belonging to the people.” More →

February 10, 2012

Egypt’s recent parliamentary elections have raised concerns about the imposition of an Islamist agenda by Islamist groups and parties, but Middle East expert Kate Seelye says “the hope is that once in office they will move more to the center and that won’t be the case.” More →

January 27, 2012

“If there is a new state, presumably there will more religious tolerance,” says Middle East author and analyst Geneive Abdo. “We can only hope so.” More →

February 11, 2011

During decades of civil war in Sudan, says John Ashworth of Catholic Relief Services, the church was the only institution on the ground with the people, and because of that it gained huge moral authority. Now South Sudan is voting in a referendum for independence from the Muslim-majority national government in Khartoum. More →

January 14, 2011

  FRED DE SAM LAZARO, correspondent: Jakarta looks like any other modern Asian capital, but here, alongside the glittering office towers, you’ll also find imposing houses of worship. At the Istiqlal mosque recently, about 10,000 worshipers gathered for Friday noon … More →

September 11, 2009