#Islamic calendar 2015 chicago series

Many Muslims across the world receive days off for the three-day Eid al-Fitr period that marks the end of Ramdan, Eid al-Adha later in the year that marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and Mawlid an Nabi, the observance of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. In total, for the first three weeks of Ramadan, it claimed 300 attacks, mostly in Iraq and Syria, according to jihadi monitoring group SITE Intelligence.īut, while there may seem to be a spike in Europe, globally there is generally no rise in political violence on public holidays, particularly during Ramadan, compared to other times of the year. It also claimed credit for attacks in Paris and Brussels, and made its first claim of responsibility for an attack in Israel. ISIS sympathizers killed eight people in London's Borough Market area, ISIS militants continued to battle Philippine forces in the southern city of Marawi, and the group's battle to hold on to Mosul and Raqqa continued to rage. This year, Ramadan was not as deadly as the last, but violent attacks were plentiful. Other assaults included an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia's Medina, one of Islam's holiest sites, and Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, the third-busiest in Europe.

#Islamic calendar 2015 chicago series

In 2015, ISIS militants struck the northern Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane with a series of attacks, the coastal Tunisian city of Sousse, and a Shia mosque in Kuwait City.Ī year later, the group's operatives and supporters killed more than 500 people, the deadliest attack being the Baghdad car bombing that left at least 292 people dead. Those who remember attack after attack in the name of ISIS during Ramadan may beg to differ. Their new study, 'Days of Action or Restraint? How the Islamic Calendar Impacts Violence,' published for the American Political Science Review, says there is notable empirical evidence to show that religious holidays result in no rise in attacks. They are in fact more peaceful, it says, with political violence repressed and no evidence to suggest a surge of violent acts.Īcademics at the University of Chicago have studied three Muslim-majority and conflict-ridden countries: Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, between the years 20. Many responded, launching deadly assaults across the world.īut are public holidays during Ramadan and other major Islamic holidays more deadly because of jihadi groups like ISIS? A new study challenges that assumption.

For the last three years, the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has targeted the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, calling for a wave of deadly attacks from its supporters.