After an August break, the Sightings column from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School is back.
This week's focus is how Muslim immigrants are remaking western Europe -- a review of Christopher Caldwell's book, "Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West." Read the column at the jump.
Halal markets around the world are stocking extra dates in advance of the holy month of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins Saturday. Muslims traditionally break the fast with dates, a practice believed followed by the prophet Muhammad.
But growers of the most sought-after dates -- medjools -- in southern California are dealing with a wrinkle caused by the holiday's earlier arrival, according to the LA Times:
It will be the first time in a decade that Ramadan starts before the harvest season in September. ... This means that most dates will come from last year's crop, stored in freezers. Some fear a date shortage, or at least a scarcity of the most popular varieties.
More Ramadan news: Religion News Service reports on Muslims lobbying to have the two Eid holidays designated as days off of school.
UPDATE: Michael Jackson's public memorial is planned for Tuesday.
I'm keeping my ears open for details about Michael Jackson's funeral. I'll post an update when the news breaks.
Some have wondered whether MJ arranged for a Muslim burial. He reportedly converted to Islam last year but never publicly confirmed this. His brother Jermaine said at a press conference Friday, "May Allah be with you Michael, always."
In the meantime, don't miss this first-person account by MJ on why he loved the Sabbath.
It was his day for "pioneering" -- the term used for the missionary work that Jehovah's Witnesses do: "In my world, the Sabbath was the day I was able to step away from my unique life and glimpse the everyday," Jackson wrote.
Heads up: PBS is airing the documentary Jerusalem: Center of the World 9 p.m. tonight on WITF-TV, looking at the founding of the city and the birth and convergence of the three major monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). (The next viewer-friendly time is 1 p.m. Sunday.)
Directed by Andrew Goldberg and Oregon Public Television and hosted by Ray Suarez of "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," PBS says it's "the first documentary to delve into the historical facts and religious beliefs that have led so many thousands to live and die for this city."
It also leaves the city to follow the paths taken by Abraham, David, Jesus and Mohammed, among others.
I have been meaning to post this Gallup survey about the opinions of Muslim Americans.
Among the findings is the conclusion that Muslims in the United States are far more likely than people in Muslim countries to see themselves as thriving.
The Gallup study is a big deal because it's the first to examine a randomly selected sample of U.S. Muslims -- previous studies attempted to locate self-identified Muslims by searching for them based on surnames, mosque attendance or geography.
Read on for more findings:
The U.S. airline AirTran apologized Friday to nine Muslim-American passengers from the Washington area who were removed from a flight out of Reagan National Airport on New Year's Day, but a Muslim civil rights group said it intends to press a discrimination complaint against the airline for its treatment of the passengers, the Washington Post reports.
Wajahat Ali, associate editor of AltMuslim, has an essay about the incident. Listen to an interview on NPR with one of Muslims taken off the plane.
In the same "Meet the Press" appearance where he endorsed Obama, Colin Powell questioned some Republican Party tactics this election and asked why it would be a big deal if Obama were Muslim.
Powell, an Episcopalian, is among the first major public figures to publicly question why it's a slur to call a candidate Muslim:
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America.
Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe notes that the false rumor that Obama is a Muslim is considered damaging to the campaign because of the animus toward Islam among the voting public.
A poll last year by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 45 percent of Americans said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who was Muslim.
Read Powell's full comment at the jump.
