(RNS) — Now a familiar way to announce the end of the fast in the Arab world, the tradition is thought to have originated in the 15th century.

(RNS) CAIRO — The university’s president withdrew the title awarded in a professor’s contract after the professor refused a donor’s demand that he advocate for Islam over other religions in his teaching and scholarship.

(RNS) — Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox community is reeling from the murder of the abbot of St. Macarius Monastery, apparently by traditionalists of his own faith, in a fourth-century center of meditation and scholarship near Cairo.

CAIRO (RNS) — The Egyptian government has banned preaching at 20,000 mosques as a precautionary measure to prevent extremist violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

CAIRO (RNS) — ‘We need to stop viewing this harassment toward us with pride and saying terrorism gives us a chance to play the same role our ancestors did like in those Sunday school stories about the torture of martyrs,’ said Bassem Al-Janoubie, an Egyptian Coptic Christian.

CAIRO (AP) — The booth in Cairo’s al-Shohada subway station is part of a push to correct misconceptions and misinterpretations of religious texts seen as fostering Islamic militancy in the country.

The blast took place as a Sunday Mass being held in the chapel was about to end and coincided with a national holiday in Egypt marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

CAIRO (RNS) A government wing that issues religious edicts released a survey in December claiming Egypt was home to exactly 866 atheists — a number deemed “a dangerous development.”

ISTANBUL (RNS) Political unrest continues to sweep Egypt and Syria, once hubs for Islamic learning, and more students are turned off by Saudi Arabia’s more literalist interpretation of Islam. This gives Turkey an opening.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican has settled a lawsuit with Benetton clothing group for using the image of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim imam in an ad campaign. By Alessandro Speciale.