Islam

Whether by necessity or choice, a quarter of Americans take at least one vacation by themselves each year. Some solo travelers are single. Some have partners who dislike travel or have different interests or can't get away. Some just crave freedom. But all face the same question: What's the best trip for the person traveling alone? "The key is to know yourself," said Beth Whitman, author of a guide for women traveling alone and founder of Wanderlustandlipstick.com , a website devoted to advice and tours for women on the go. "There are times when you just need to get away, to recuperate.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - For the second day in a row, a bomb blast killed and maimed participants at a campaign rally being held by one of Pakistan's Islamist religious parties, indicating a broadening of targets in the violence that has primarily taken aim at secular parties competing in parliamentary elections scheduled for Saturday. Two bombings Tuesday killed at least 15 people and injured more than 40 at campaign rallies in northwestern Pakistan, including one being held by a religious party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, authorities said.

Thousands of Muslims, prostrating themselves in prayer, gathered just feet from the Capitol on Friday for "A Day of Islamic Unity," an event intended to showcase what organizers called the "peace, beauty and solidarity" of Islam. Hassen Abdellah, a lawyer and president of the Dar-ul-Islam Mosque in Elizabeth, N.J., said he was inspired to organize the event by President Obama's attempt to reach out to Muslims in his inaugural address. "We should also extend our hand," Abdellah said.

Security in the Forbidden City across the street from the Great Hall of the People was tight last month when Li Keqiang was installed as premier of China. But the uniformed guards weren't armed with automatic weapons. Instead, they were equipped with fire extinguishers to prevent would-be protesters from self-immolating. China these days is consumed with concerns about domestic stability. Notwithstanding this internal preoccupation, the Middle Kingdom's increasing appetite for Persian Gulf oil has sparked unprecedented Chinese interest in the Middle East.

It's a drumbeat on the right: The Obama administration is in deliberate denial about the existence of "Islamic terrorism." A conservative columnist recently complained that two federal reports described terrorism and violent extremism but didn't mention "radical Islam as a motivator." Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent senator from Connecticut, has chided the administration for failing to identify "violent Islamist extremism" as the enemy. There is some truth in this criticism.

From the state that brought you the notion that Thomas Jefferson wasn't an important Founding Father, and that the interning of 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II had nothing to do with racism, comes another attempt to insert personal prejudice into public school textbooks. This time, the Texas Board of Education is trying to limit references to Islam. Textbooks nationwide have been twisted, dumbed down and flattened into such boring tomes that it's no wonder most students can't abide them.

"They say we are at war with Islam. This is the whispered line of the extremist who has nothing to offer in this battle of ideas but blame. ... We are not at war with Islam. But too often since 9/11, the extremists have defined us. ... When I am president, that will change." -- Barack Obama, August 2007 -- When President Obama addresses the Turkish parliament on Monday, he will have the chance to fulfill a campaign promise.

Nomad From Islam to America Ayaan Hirsi Ali Free Press: 278 pp., $27

Re "Bush Scenario: Oh, If Only Lee Were Here!" by Christopher Buckley, Opinion, Feb. 9: Buckley demonstrated his ignorance and insensitivity to Islam. He wrote ". . . and hang that sumbitch's ass from the tallest minaret." If he had written "the tallest building," I would not protest, but using the minaret, which is a clear inference to Islam, is a direct attack on my religion. Keep Islam out of your political fight. MAHMOUD ELSAYESS Westminster

Re "Islam and Democracy," editorial, Sept. 29: The issue between Islam and the West is not about values. Almost all religions profess the same values. The issue is how to organize society to achieve those values. Islam proposes a way of life wherein religion and politics are united; God is Caesar. In the West, religion and politics are separate; God is not Caesar nor is Caesar God. Islam in its pure form and Western civilization are incompatible and have been antagonists for 1,400 years.

Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was identified by a foreign government as a "follower of radical Islam and a strong believer" whose personality had changed drastically in just a year, according to the FBI. As investigators considered possible motives for Monday's fatal bombings, U.S. authorities acknowledged that an unnamed government had contacted the FBI to say the 26-year-old ethnic Chechen “had changed drastically” since...

CAIRO - The Mass was celebrated as if from centuries past: A bearded priest veiled in incense chanted for grace in a church along the Nile, near the spot where Christians believe Jesus and his mother sought refuge in an earlier age of bloodshed and uncertainty. Marianne Samir knelt and prayed for the Coptic Christians killed in a spasm of sectarian violence that has further shaken a nation engulfed in economic and political anxieties. "I feel unsafe," said Samir, a high school philosophy teacher with a cross tattooed on her wrist.

PARIS - Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, sits calmly behind a desk in a large, messy office with no sign outside indicating the name of his publication. True, there is a riot police car stationed in the street, but basically, he says, he doesn't see what all the fuss is about. "It just so happens I'm more likely to get run over by a bicycle in Paris than get assassinated," says Charb, the soft-spoken editor of Charlie Hebdo, a left-leaning French satirical weekly, which since 2006 has been sued, threatened and firebombed for its sporadic publication of cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

AL QASR, Lebanon - Each evening, Ali Jamal and other men in this border town grab their Kalashnikov assault rifles, jump on their motorbikes and ride across the irrigation canal into Syria to protect their homes. The enemies are Sunni rebel "terrorists," he says, who target Jamal and his neighbors because they are Shiite Muslims. "Imagine, these people used to be our neighbors," said the 40-year-old farmer, perplexed by the transformation. "Now they want to kidnap and kill us. " Tensions gripping the villages along the border here between northeastern Lebanon and Syria illustrate the increasingly sectarian nature of the 2-year-old Syrian conflict and the risks it poses for the entire region.

BAKERSFIELD - Fernando Jara is something of a star in Kern County - and a mystery. From humble beginnings, Jara founded a program to rehabilitate drug addicts and felons on a five-acre farm. He is completing a master's degree at Claremont School of Theology and will soon begin work on a doctorate and a law degree. The energetic 37-year-old and his wife, a Kern County supervisor and rising political star, attended President Obama's inauguration in January at the invitation of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

WASHINGTON - The CIA has stepped up secret contingency planning to protect the United States and its allies as the turmoil expands in Syria, including collecting intelligence on Islamic extremists for the first time for possible lethal drone strikes, according to current and former U.S. officials. President Obama has not authorized drone missile strikes in Syria, however, and none are under consideration. The Counterterrorism Center, which runs the CIA's covert drone killing program in Pakistan and Yemen, recently shifted several targeting officers to improve intelligence collection on militants in Syria who could pose a terrorist threat, the officials said.

Attitudes regarding the Islamic faith and Muslims are in a process of change in America. More and more, people are showing an interest in learning the basic teachings of Islam. The Times (Dec. 13) presented two disparate answers to the question "what is Islam?" One a positive portrayal of a Muslim who is living his faith, the other a confused and bitter attack against the Islamic world view. First, there was the article ("Sermons on the Island: Muslim Chaplain Gives Guidance to All Faiths at Prison")

I have read the whole section about Islam in the textbook published by Houghton Mifflin that was mentioned in your article ("Making New Maps for the Labyrinth of Learning," Metro, Jan. 31). In this regard, I would like to say that there are more schools in the United States than any other country in the world; there are more libraries in the United States than any other country in the world; there are more books in the United States than any other country in the world, and yet there is more ignorance about Islam in the United States than any other country in the world.

VATICAN CITY - With the terrifying grandeur of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" looming over them, senior leaders of the Roman Catholic Church will begin casting their ballots inside the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years. No one campaigns for the papacy, at least overtly; the surest way for a candidate to disqualify himself for the job is to let it be known that he wants it. But various names crop up repeatedly in discreet conversations as the 115 prelates eligible to vote try to figure out who among them is best placed to lead a historic but troubled institution that claims the allegiance of 1.2 billion people.

NEW DELHI - The Thai government agreed Thursday to hold its first formal talks with Muslim rebels operating along the country's southern border, a potential breakthrough in a conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since 2004. Analysts reacted to the development with some optimism but cautioned that various previous peace efforts had failed. “It looks like good news,” said Kraisak Choonhavan, an ex-lawmaker and the son of former Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.