As we are approaching the end of Muharram, holy month of Shia Muslims, let’s mark the end by talking Iranian paradoxes. While mourning the martyrdom of an Imam who lived more than 1000 years ago seems to some outsiders outdated and too traditional, in Iran there is always a way to fuse the old fashions to modernity. When I was growing up in Iran, the only way of commemorating this religious holiday was watching the marching bands which passed the streets on the 10th and 11th of Muharram. The marchers held large banners displaying Quranic verses or religious poetry which mourned the loss of Imam Hussein and his 72 soldiers. Loud music would fill the streets as a group of religious, bearded men and young boys (some even barefoot) beat their chests with heavy chains. However, Islam, as other religions and traditions, has undergone changes….changes that reflect society. One no longer needs to be strictly devout to perform the Islamic rituals. Thanks to different interpretations of Islam, now, any one could. Just ask yourself in a country where 70% of the people are under the ages of 30, how religious traditions could appeal to the youth? Well, I have found you a picture that sums it all up: This French car, a Peugeot, is a common middle-to-upper class luxury possession in Iran. Here it has been decorated in the most traditional costume of Muharram to show the mournful martyrdom of Imam Hussein. That’s right, now even cars can be Islamic.

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Converting Cars

LOS ANGELES — Lowe’s Home Improvement has found itself facing a backlash after the retail giant pulled ads from a reality show about American Muslims. The retail giant stopped advertising on TLC’s “All-American Muslim” after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” Read full article > >

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Home improvement giant Lowe’s threatened with boycott for yanking ads from show about Muslims

In recent weeks, Republican presidential candidates have nearly exhausted the list of synonyms for “weak” to describe President Obama’s foreign policy. He’s thrown allies such as Israel “under the bus,” in the words of Mitt Romney. He’s indecisive in confronting Iran over its nuclear program, according to Newt Gingrich, who called this week for “regime replacement” in the Islamic Republic. Read full article > >

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Obama fires back at Romney for his “appeasement” comment

PARIS — European nations, aroused by a mob attack on the British Embassy in Tehran, stiffened their sanctions against Iran on Thursday but stopped short of halting oil purchases from the increasingly isolated Islamic government. The new sanctions targeted additional members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and businesses controlled by its members, according to an announcement after a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. In addition, the E.U. banned doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. Read full article > >

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Europeans stiffen sanctions on Iran after embassy attack

TEHRAN — Student hard-liners stormed the British Embassy compound on Tuesday to protest tough new sanctions against Iran, replacing the Union Jack with an Islamic flag and chanting “Death to England” as they hurled satellite dishes from the roof of a security building to the ground below. Student representatives of the paramilitary Basij organization set fires on the grounds of the compound and scattered papers that they found, waving banners emblazoned with Islamic slogans. Read full article > >

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Iranian students storm British Embassy, residential compound

The women waved flags, sang and cried alongside their husbands, fathers and sons because they felt an unprecedented sense of ownership in this revolution. Few would dispute Libyan women’s role in the overthrow of Gaddafi and his loyalists, but even fewer can say whether or not these female revolutionaries will find what they now seek: a safe state guided by Islamic principles that recognizes women as valuable peacemakers in post-war reconstruction.

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Libyan Women: Peacemakers in a post-war nation

After eight years of renovations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has 15 new galleries for more than 1,200 works of Islamic culture going back more than a millennium.

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Art Review: The Met’s New Islamic Galleries – Review

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya’s top leader declared the country officially “liberated” Sunday from the four-decade rule of Moammar Gaddafi , pledging to replace his dictatorship with a more democratic but also a more strictly Islamic system. In a speech to a cheering, flag-waving crowd, Mustafa Abdel Ja­lil, head of the Transitional National Council, promised to ban interest on housing loans and scrap other laws that didn’t conform to Islamic jurisprudence. Read full article > >

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Libya declares liberation with an Islamic tone

CAIRO — Al-Qaeda’s new leader is calling on Libyan fighters who overthrew Moammar Gaddafi to set up an Islamic state and urges Algerians to revolt against their longtime leader in remarks in a new Internet video. Ayman al-Zawahiri warns Libyan revolutionaries to protect their gains against “Western plots,” claiming NATO will demand that Libyans give up their Islamic faith. Read full article > >

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Al-Qaeda chief calls on anti-Gaddafi fighters to set up Islamic state, Algerians to revolt

To denounce Islamic militants al Shabab.

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Somalis Hold Rare Rally

Many Islamic political activists say struggles between puritanical and liberal Islamists may now be more important than their battles against secularists.

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Arab Debate Pits Islamists Against Themselves

TEHRAN — An intense, two-year effort to free two American hikers from prison in Iran involved diplomats, lawyers and leaders from several countries, but no direct participation from U.S. officials. The back story on how Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal were released Wednesday from Evin prison in Tehran, met by the Swiss ambassador and flown out of Iran on a private plane to the tiny sultanate of Oman highlighted the U.S. government’s limited leverage with the Islamic Republic. Read full article > >

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Hikers’ case shows lack of U.S. leverage with Iran

An Israeli air strike kills a Palestinian militant commander from Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

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Israel kills Gaza militant leader

The danger of Islamic radicalization in U.S. prisons “remains real and present,” said Rep. Peter King. But others said few cases have been linked to terrorism.

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Do prisons spur jihadist radicalization?

Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born Chicago businessman, has been found guilty of supporting an Islamic militant group blamed for the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai that killed 166. He was not found guilty of the more serious charge of plotting the…

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Chicago Man Guilty in Terror Trial