The Russian ideologue, philosopher and political scientist Alexandr Dugin has a lot to say about religions including Islam but his framework is entirely geopolitical. He totally fails to consider the moral and spiritual aspects of the deen of Islam, hence his failure to understand it
The success of the Islamic revolution in Iran exposed the secular nationalists both in Iran and the rest of the Muslim world.
Through massive propaganda, Muslims are led to believe that there deep differences between Shias and Sunnis. To advance this agenda, crises are deliberately engineered that lead to bloodshed.
3If Muslims want to learn how hadith literature has been distorted, these two books will help them in this quest.
2Using the garb of Sufism, the self-styled religious preacher, Fethullah Gulen has turned out to be a US-Zionist puppet who is prepared to advance their agenda. This is how the enemies of Islam operate.
2The Prophet’s (pbuh) Sunnah and Sirah are the two fundamental reference points after the noble Qur’an on which all Muslims agree. He is the best of exemplars (33:21) and obedience to him alongside that of Allah (swt) is obligatory upon every Muslim. It is for this reason that Muslims organize elaborate programs to celebrate the birthday of the noble Messenger (pbuh) that falls in the month of Rabi‘ al-Awwal.
Muslim unity cannot be achieved through slogans. It requires practical steps, the first being each side showing respect to the other and being sensitive about what concerns them most.
This month, Muslims all over the world should be celebrating the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, alongside other informed and conscientious people concerned for the oppressed and downtrodden of the world. But the harsh reality is that only a tiny fraction of these people will be commemorating the rise of Imam Khomeini and the success of the Iranian people in toppling the “king of kings”, the last Pahlavi shah of Iran. Nearly three decades ago, the Islamic Revolution that took place in Iran resonated among virtually all Muslims and many other of the world’s oppressed peoples.
This month, as in every June since 1989, Muslims around the world will hold prayer meetings, lectures and other events to mark the anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini, who died in Tehran on June 4, 1989, a decade after the Islamic Revolution in Iran with which he will always be associated. The usual speakers -- such as this writer -- will give the usual speeches, focusing on the usual aspects of his life and character.
All over the world, the confrontation between the forces of Islam and kufr is intensifying, with the forces of the Islamic movement taking on the kuffar – represented in the modern world by the zionist-US dominated West – in many very different ways. And all over the world, we are seeing the kuffar hitting back in one very dangerous way: the promotion of sectarianism and internal discord among Muslims.
The unity of the Muslim ummah is a reality proclaimed in the Qur’an, in the ayaat above and numerous others like them; it is one of the key strengths of the Ummah at many levels, from the cultural to the political. It is the unity of the ummah, the common understanding that all Muslims are brothers and sisters in faith, that makes Muslims feel at home wherever they may go in the Muslim world.
An acrimonious parliamentary and public debate, accompanied by a series of boycotts by several groups of parliamentary sessions, has repeatedly forced Iraq's legislature to postpone discussion of a bill to divide Iraq into autonomous regions.
Islam is a religion which makes its appearance in the history of mankind with the 'no' of Mohammad (PBUH), the heir of Abraham, the manifestation of the religion of the Unity of God and the oneness of mankind, a 'no' which beings with the cry of Unity, a cry which Islam reinitiated when confronted by aristocracy and compromise.
The Shi'ite Movement in Iraq by Faleh A. Jabar. Publisher: Saqi Books, London, 2003. Pp.: 391. Pbk: £15.99/$24.95. By Nasr Salem
Looking at the meaning of the greater occultation, the purpose that an occulted Imam [AS] may be said to fulfil. And certain peripheral modes of communication with the Imam [AS] even during the period of the greater occultation. With respect to the purpose of the Imam [AS], what purpose does he fulfil during the greater occultation? Two common metaphors are commonly adduced in explanation and justification of the greater occultation.
1Not surprisingly the greater occultation just like the lesser occultation precipitated a new crisis within the Shi’ah community, for an obvious reason that now very basic questions such as the utility - the very purpose of an Imam [AS] who is not simply inaccessible to the majority of his followers but no longer present on the physical plain, such basic questions came forward occasioning considerable doubt and hesitation both within and beyond the Shi’i community.
1The 11th Imam [AS] had an offspring who after a relatively short period disappeared from the physical plain in what is called the occultation. Before considering the life and circumstances of the 11th Imam [AS] a few additional remarks can be made concerning the immediate background, the circumstances of the Shi’ah in general, the institution of the Imamate in particular in this period, the period of the 9th, 10th and 11th Imams [AS], the period leading up to the occultation.
1The cult for respect for the twelve Imams [AS] of Shi’ism is seen to be compatible with a polemical hostility to Shi’ism itself on certain occasions and with certain personalities. As late as the 19th century, there is a sufi when he arrived in Mashhad on his way to Kurdistan from India he composed two poems one in honour of Imam Ali al-Rida [AS], and one in condemnation of the Shi’i ‘Ulema of Mashhad without seeing any contradiction between these two, a complex and interesting topic.
1The life and legacy of the 8th Imam – Imam Ali al-Rida [AS]. As was always the case, the death of the preceding Imam [AS] Imam Musa al-Kazim [AS] was accompanied with a degree of uncertainty and division within the community about the identity of the successor. On this occasion however the disagreement and confusion was relatively minor and short lived, almost the entirety of the Shi’i community came to accept Imam Ali al-Rida [AS] as the 8th Imam [AS] and as the successor to Imam Musa al-Kazim [AS].
1The assumption of the caliphate by Imam Ali [AS] took place either on the same day Uthman was assassinated or according to another source some five days later. It would be useful in order to understand what transpires during the exercise of rule by Imam Ali [AS] to go back a little to examine the nature of the opposition to Uthman because many of the factors of political disunity that were operative during the caliphate of Uthman persisted into the caliphate of Imam Ali [AS].
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