Reports showing increases in the number of religiously motivated attacks and discrimination in Indonesia against religious minorities, though troubling, don’t show the whole picture of the moderate and peaceful majority of citizens in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

Oleg Grabar, a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study who died on January 8, had a “profound and far-reaching influence” on the study of Islamic art and architecture during his sixty years of study.

Imagine a mosque that left gender segregation at its door, allowed women in leadership positions, and adapted to the culture of its host community. Then consider that Canada’s first mosque, the Al-Rashid mosque in Edmonton, Alberta, did all these things and more over seven decades ago.

In the aftermath of last week’s bombing of the St. Mark and St. Peter’s Church in Alexandria, Egypt, which left 23 dead, Muslims can show their solidarity with Christians by taking a political stance against the Egyptian government’s divide-and-rule tactics, which only serves to breed dissent.

Mohamed Mohamud had never been to Afghanistan or Pakistan, and he had never spent time with any real life terrorists; his aspirations were shaped by what he saw on TV and on the internet, and his plan was conceived with the help of the FBI.

The existence of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws institutionalises the persecution of religious minorities and allows anyone wishing to target them an avenue through which all manner of personal or political vendettas can be avenged