Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
At the very moment when secularism is on the ropes in India, its defenders appear to have abandoned it.
Shia and Sunni endowments have gone different ways since Saddam Hussein's fall, and the Iraqi state is poised to take advantage where it can.
We need to better understand Islam and its current circumstances, practices and demographic outlook, and this is not just important for fighting terrorism.
The Syrian civil war has reshaped Sunni Islamic identity in the country. As a result, the regime will struggle to use religion to enhance its own power and legitimacy.
Although local clerics have helped the Syrian state reassert control, the regime is centralizing religious authority away from communities. Their future relationship is hard to predict.
Though the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran share ideological commonalities and points of political convergence, several impediments stand in the way of deeper ties between them.
Iraq’s Sunni community is currently facing a crisis of authority and identity.
Morocco’s security-oriented approach to countering violent extremism leaves little room for rehabilitation efforts.
Though Christians are indigenous to the Arab world, their numbers have steadily declined in the Middle East.
Some religious institutions have gained influence since the Syrian uprising began. Yet they have paid a price, as the regime has used them to advance its own interests.