Mr. Saied, now an executive at a Florida environmental-testing firm, underwent a conversion to a less orthodox form of Islam in 1998.

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These behaviors were selected precisely because they constitute observable and measurable practices of an orthodox form of Islam, as opposed to internalized, non-observable articles of faith.

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Around that time Mrs Erdogan, friends say, converted from Shafi'ism (an orthodox version of Sunni Islam which forbids all physical contact between men and women unless they are married) to the more liberal Hanafi school, followed by most Turks, so she could shake hands with men and non-Muslim women.

ECONOMIST: A delicate balancing act has wider implications for Turkey

Its senior Orthodox prelate, Archbishop Anastasios, a scholarly figure with a deep knowledge of Islam, has been raising money from western churches to help the Kosovo refugees, and will use this weekend's Orthodox Christian Easter celebrations to pray for all victims of ethnic hatred.

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And to those who don't agree with that I would say that Albanians are 27% Orthodox, 15% Catholic (approximate figures) and the rest are Muslim (who converted from Christianity to Islam under the Ottoman empire).

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Although it is proud of having converted Cat Stevens, a British folk-rocker now known as Yusuf Islam, to the faith, Tablighi has no ledgers, no office holders, no funds and no orthodox means of public relations, claims Malik Mumtaz, one of its elders.

ECONOMIST: A little-noticed Muslim gathering