Tag: Places of Worship

Navigating Israeli Restrictions, Many Palestinians Find It Hard to Reach Al Aqsa

As the sermon about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan sounded over the speakers from Al Aqsa Mosque, 13-year-old Yousef al-Sideeq sat on a bench outside the compound’s gates. “Most Fridays they prevent me from getting in, for no reason,” the young Jerusalem resident said, referring to the Israeli police. Every Friday, Yousef visits Jerusalem’s […]

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Lights! Camera! Modi! It’s a One-Man Show on Indian Television.

The people streaming into the holy town came on an intimate quest: to be among the first to seek the blessings of a beloved god they said was returning home after 500 years. These Hindu devotees took leaves of absence from work. They ate with fellow pilgrims, slept in the cold and sipped tea at […]

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Why India’s New Ram Temple Is So Important

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a gigantic new temple in the Indian city of Ayodhya on Monday, the conclusion of a mostly 20th-century odyssey in which Hindu nationalists eventually tore down a centuries-old mosque that has now been replaced with a structure devoted to the Hindu deity Ram. Leading up to the temple’s consecration, […]

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