Ramadan is ending, but fasting endures

Nadeem Badshah

Eid is finally here. Long hot days made Ramadan tougher for British Muslims this year, but fasting is growing in popularity.

No food or drink for around 18 hours, waking up at 3am each morning – and all during the hottest summer in years. This has been the challenge for British Muslims over the past four weeks of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Over the next couple of days Muslims worldwide will celebrate Eid to mark the end of this period when the body and mind has been tested to its limits.

York mosque counters EDL protest with tea, biscuits and football

Ann Czernik

Demonstrators who had gathered to protest at Islamic centre accept invitation to take refreshments and open a dialogue

A York mosque dealt with a potentially volatile situation after reports that it was going to be the focus of a demonstration organised by a far-right street protest movement - by inviting those taking part in the protest in for tea and biscuits.

The spiritual but not religious likely to face mental health issues, drug use, study says

Dan Merica

Can being spiritual but not religious lead to mental health issues? The answer is yes, according to a recent study.

The study, published in the January edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry, says spiritual but not religious people, as opposed to people who are religious, agnostic or atheist, were more likely to develop a "mental disorder," "be dependent on drugs" and "have abnormal eating attitudes,” like bulimia and anorexia.

Hope at Lambeth Palace

Akbar Ahmed *

The proximity to a great spiritual master is always inspiring. And perhaps there are few masters as eminent as the archbishop of Canterbury.

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, addresses the theology think tank Theos in London on Oct. 1, 2012.  (REUTERS)

On Oct. 8, 2012, my daughter Amineh Hoti and I had been invited to participate in what was probably the last major public event of the Most Rev. Rowan Williams during his ten-year engagement with Muslims as the archbishop of Canterbury. The event was held at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s London residence. The who’s who of Britain was there including the archbishops of Wales and Ireland, several bishops and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first-ever female chairman of the Tory Party. Also present was my dear friend James Shera, MBE, a Pakistani Christian, the first Pakistani mayor of Rugby and the only Pakistani in the United Kingdom with a road named after him.