Although America prides itself as a open-minded and inclusive society, its policies towards the Muslim world are in fact deeply imbued with imperialist attitudes. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses the American legacy of hate.
“We now live in a world in which the United States is the only superpower. We must recast our foreign policy to cope with this radically new situation.” Thus wrote Richard Nixon in his book Seize the Moment (1992). Nixon was surely neither the first nor the last American leader to dream of a unipolar world dominated by the US, but his book provides interesting insights into the making of post-1989 American policies on the premise that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US was the only superpower. The end of the Cold War, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, was also taken by US policy-makers as the beginning of a new phase in world history in which all other civilizations would adopt the three idols of Western civilization—democracy, freedom, and the free market economy—as their gods as well.
The compatibility or incompatibility of Western and Muslim societies are often debated. WAHEEDA VALLIANTE, a family counsellor and national vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, suggests an alternative to the “clash of civilizations” thesis.
Education is a central part of the West’s agenda for re-shaping the Muslim world along its own lines. As such, it plays a prominent role in the many institution as and programs by which the West aims to persuade Muslims to acquiese to their own Westernization, writes YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ.
The problem of the Eurocentric nature of most modern education is now widely accepted, and there are numerous efforts to try to address it by developing indigenous forms of knowledge. But this is only one of many problems in contemporary Western academic discourse. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses.
After the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini began the practice of addressing an annual message to the Ummah as they athered for the Hajj. IMAM SAYYID ALI KHAMENEI has maintained the tradition since becoming Rahbar. Here we publish his message to the hujjaj issued as Iranian hujjaj prepared to leave for the Haramain.
The academic disciplines through which most people study and understand modern life are almost entirely based on Western historical experiences and the needs opf western societies. They thus remain replete with cultural and political implications that few understand. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses efforts to criticaly redefine these disciplines.
As Muslims around the world prepare for Ramadan, there is also increasing awareness among non-Muslims of the effects of the sort of diet promoted by profit-seeking Western multinationals. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ examines the recent movie 'Super Size Me'
Clothing must be among the most important but least analyzed sites of colonization. The works that examine the connection between colonization and clothing concentrate almost entirely on the material dimension of dress...
The need for ‘development’ in Muslim countries has become a given in economic and political discourse. However, its implications are little understood. Here we publish a paper by the late Egyptian scholar, ADIL HUSSEIN, discussing this crucial issue...
Even as it acts more and more aggressively against Muslims around the world, the US has launched a massive propaganda campaign in the Muslim world...
Television has now become the primary mode of entertainment and information for millions of people worldwide...
An increasing proportion of popular entertainment in Muslim countries now comes from the West, particularly the US. YUSUF KHABBAZ discusses whether such entertainment is proper for Muslim families and societies.
Materialist consumerism has become one of the defining characteristics of western/modern societies. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses how the problem can be addressed by Islam’s ethical and moral framework.
YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ argues that the impact of modern technological society on the lives of individual human beings has been such as to create a “crisis of humanity” in modern societies, and discusses ways it can be countered by Muslims.
The tyrannical rulers in the Arab world who, be they monarchist or "Republican", stifle any and every activity in their countries that dare raise its head without their explicit bidding, even from their allies among the secular elites, have in recent years been giving free scope to one and only one activity: feminist propaganda and activism...
In his jum’a khutbah on November 14, IMAM SAYYID ALI KHAMENEI discusses the US’s policies in the Middle East. Here we report his comments.
YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses modern and traditional Islamic ways of understanding culture, with particular reference to the challenges facing Muslims in today’s global, multicultural and West-dominated society.
1This is the second part of a paper (read Part One here) presented by ARZU MERALI at the Islamic Human Rights Commission’s one-day conference on ‘Islamic and Western Perceptions of Human Rights’ in London on September 12, 2003. In the first part of the paper, published in the October 2003 issue of Crescent, she provided a detailed critique of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Western assumptions of universality underpinning it. In this concluding section, she discusses the Islamic attitude to human rights.
1The study of the Seerah of the Prophet (saw) to learn lessons relevant to the contemporary Islamic movement is a major project of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought. Here, IMAM MUHAMMAD AL-'ASI, of Washington DC, discusses the centrality of Makkah in the strategy of the Prophet’s Seerah, and its implications for Muslims today.