It’s been yet another busy month for the pseudo-conservative security council that influences Malaysia’s governing body. On October 25th, the council - more formally known as the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) - will no doubt cringe as world R&B star Beyonce performs for the first-time ever in the country, albeit with altered costumes that show a lot less skin. 

Earlier this month, 155 people were arrested in Egypt for not fasting during Ramadan.
I’m as shocked as you are. 

The Middle East’s favorite powerhouse is celebrating its 79th birthday this month. Time to pop champagne! (Okay, maybe not).

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia opened the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), a multi-billion dollar graduate research institute. It not only houses the 14th largest super-computer and state-of-the-art labs, but has one of the largest endowments in the world. This has attracted 70 international professors (who were naturally offered generous salary packages) and 800 students from 61 countries who received a full scholarship, in addition to a stipend. Believe it or not though, these are not the reasons why KAUST is making headlines. 

We seriously condemn the writers behind this. A for effort and energy though!

On Friday, September 25th, 50,000 Muslims will descend upon Capitol Hill for the first-ever ”Islamic Day of Prayer.” The event, which involves the first Jummah prayer to be held on the National Mall, seems to be the next step in Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Muslim community in America.

People can’t be left to their own free will. They do all sorts of crazy things, like forget to pray on time. This is why one Saudi newspaper, Aen Hail (Hail’s Eye), decided to do the “noble” thing by closing down its website for 20 minutes during each of the five prayer times because let me tell you, news is the reason people don’t pray anymore.

On September 1st , 2009, Reza Aslan spoke at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club on the topic, “What does being Muslim in the United States mean today”.

In 2003, Saudi Arabia began waging a “war of minds” against al-Qaeda’s extremist ideology, but was faced with a hard question: how do you reach the impressionable minds of today’s youth to warn them of the evils of terrorism? Simple. You find out what’s “cool” and you make it happen. So as they set out to discover what these hip and groovy kids like, the Saudi government discovered the answer lay in three little words: Islamic summer camp. Awesome.

In light of Haraam Flu (as my friends are calling H1N1/Swine Flu), a Jordanian fatwa was issued recently to discourage people from cheek-kissing greetings for fear of transmission.  Although cheek kissing is a nice way to greet people, here are a few other benefits of sticking to handshaking: