Shirley Sotloff asks terror leader to "release [her] child." — -- The mother of an American writer being held hostage by ISIS pleaded directly with the leader of ...

Al-Baghdadi can keep touting himself as the new caliph, but most Muslims know enough history to recognize him for what he is - a murderous tyrant using religion as to acquire rank political power. So ...

The ‘Splainer (as in “You’ve got some ‘splaining to do”) is an occasional online feature in which Kimberly Winston and other RNS staff give you everything you need to know about current events to hold ...

After the prophet Mohammed died in 632, the Islamic community chose a caliph to lead the faithful. That institution lasted almost 1,300 years until it was abolished in 1924. Since that time, no ...

From the early seventh century, the question of succession became the thorniest, most divisive and indeed the bloodiest issue in Islamic history. Of the first four caliphs, the rulers of the faith ...