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 Peruvian President Alan Garcia in Colombia in March 2011
May 2nd, 2011
06:39 PM ET
Peruvian president calls bin Laden killing miracle from Pope John Paul II(CNN) - While many world leaders praised the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden, the president of Peru went a step further on Monday, calling the development the first miracle of Pope John Paul II since he was beatified last weekend. “I have said that his first miracle has been to remove from the Earth this demonic incarnation of crime, evil and hatred,” Peruvian president Alan Garcia said, according to CNN affiliate America TV in Peru.
May 2nd, 2011
06:31 PM ET
Administration clarifies bin Laden's sea burial(CNN) - Many Muslims around the world expressed confusion Monday after a senior U.S. official - without elaboration -– said that Osama bin Laden’s body had been buried at sea “in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.” “That made me curious, because there is no such tradition that requires a man who dies on land to be taken out and buried to the sea,” said Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic Studies at American University. It is common for a Muslim who dies at sea to be buried at sea because one of the main fundamentals of Islamic burials is that the body must be buried within 24 hours before it starts to decompose, Ahmed said. If a land burial isn’t realistic within that timeframe, a sea burial must take place. But he had never heard of someone dying on land and being buried at sea. Later Monday, one of President Obama’s key advisers clarified the administration’s decision, saying that even though bin Laden died on land, there was no land to bury him on.  Afghans watch television coverage announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden at an electronics store in Kabul, Afghanistan.
May 2nd, 2011
04:59 PM ET
Muslim world had soured on bin Laden since 9/11By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - Though large swaths of the Muslim world cheered Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there has been relatively little sympathy expressed for him from those quarters since his killing Sunday - a testament to the dramatic falloff in global Muslim support for the al Qaeda leader in the last decade. While the spontaneous street celebrations that broke out in American cities like New York and Washington over the news of bin Laden’s killing by U.S. Special Forces have not been repeated in the Muslim world, there has been praise for his death from some Muslim political leaders. In Yemen, which has been racked by unrest in recent months as hundreds of thousands have demanded the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, bin Laden’s killing has yielded a rare moment of political unity, with both Saleh’s government and the opposition praising the development.
May 2nd, 2011
04:48 PM ET
My Take: Burial at sea shows compassion of Islamic law
By Khalid Latif, Special to CNN I was sitting in a KFC in Brooklyn on Sunday night (halal for those who are worried) with two of my students when my phone started to buzz like crazy as friends, colleagues and family let me know that Osama bin Laden was dead. As we drove back to Manhattan, President Obama began his address and we watched it on an iPhone and played the audio from 1010 WINS-AM radio. The students then went to their dorm, and I drove around Manhattan. I found groups gathering here and there, including a larger one in Times Square, but I made sure to make downtown my final destination. I knew I would find something there that my eyes had wanted to see for a long time.  Thousands celebrated at Times Square in New York City early Monday after Osama bin Laden's death was announced.
May 2nd, 2011
04:11 PM ET
Is it morally right to celebrate bin Laden's death?By John Blake, CNN (CNN) - Festive crowds gathered to cheer his assassination. One newspaper headline eulogy read, “Rot in Hell.” Televised chants echoed: Americans spilled into the streets for spontaneous celebrations after news spread that Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, had been assassinated. Yet another reaction took place in more sober moments as people of faith watched the giddy celebrations with a tangled mix of emotions. Is it morally wrong to celebrate the assassination of bin Laden in such a festive, patriotic way?
May 2nd, 2011
12:44 PM ET
U.S. Muslims hope bin Laden death will ease pressureBy Richard Allen Greene, CNN (CNN) - Asma Hasan, an American Muslim lawyer in Denver, was having dinner with her family when they heard that Osama bin Laden was dead. Within moments, her phone buzzed. "A Muslim relative of mine texted and said, 'This is great news, what a relief.' It wasn't celebratory, but 'wow,'" she explained.
May 2nd, 2011
12:40 PM ET
Opinion: For Muslims, a reason to rejoice
By Arsalan Iftikhar, Special to CNN Although there has not been much cause for celebration for our global village over the past decade, the world was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the announcement by President Barack Obama of the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. special operations forces at a mansion on the outskirts of Abbottabad, Pakistan. In addition to the vast majority of Americans who are relieved by his death, there are more than 1 billion Muslims around the world who salute the fact that bin Laden's ungodly terrorist mischief has finally come to an end. Simply put, there has been no single person in nearly a millennium and a half of Muslim history who has ever hijacked our beloved religion of Islam more than bin Laden. Read the full story
May 2nd, 2011
08:49 AM ET
My Take: Burying bin Laden at sea an elegant solution
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN As I watched news reports of the death of Osama bin Laden late Sunday night and into the morning, I worried about one thing: What would be done with his body? One of the perverse promises of Islamic terrorism is that it can transform ordinary people into martyrs for Allah. So I did not want to see bin Laden’s burial place turned into an Al Qaeda Mecca — a pilgrimage site for Muslim extremists and an assembly line for martyrs to come. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's note: Imam Khalid Latif is a chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of the school's 
Editor's note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and global managing editor for The Crescent Post in Washington.
Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.
