Imam Sayyid ‘Ali Khamenei addressed the inaugural session of the First International Conference on Islamic Awakening, held in Tehran on 9-17 and 9-18-2011. Below is a translation of his remarks.
Every June, ceremonies are held to commemorate the passing away of Imam Khomeini in 1989. This year, these ceremonies gain added significance in view of the uprisings underway in the Muslim East. Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, compares the Imam’s leadership with the near-leaderless movements in the Muslim East.
In Part 1 of his analysis of the Islamic political and decision-making apparatus, Dr. Perwez Shafi, a director of ICIT stationed in Pakistan, offers some thoughts on the question of legitimacy and its relationship to political and social change brought about by a revolutionary Islamic movement.
"In Azerbaijan the government has never arrested leaders of secular political parties. However, the IPA leadership was imprisoned on numerous occasions without any legal basis."
In the month of Rabi‘ al-Awwal, Muslims worldwide celebrate the birthday of the noble Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Lectures are delivered highlighting aspects of his great personality and the miracles he performed. Would it not be more appropriate to express our love for him by reviewing his life-struggle and the pain he endured in order to achieve the supremacy of Islam by establishing the Islamic State? Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Islamic Thought, discusses some of these issues.
As a symbol of Islamic unity and honour and the emblem of monotheism and spirituality, the sacred Ka‘bah, during the Hajj season, is host to the ardent and hopeful hearts, who come hurrying from all over the world to the birthplace of Islam in response to the call of the Glorified Lord.
Applying secular perspectives, derived from the Western notion of party politics, on measuring the power of the Islamic movement will never produce accurate results. Just like applying secular methods of pure party politics will never bring a desired result for an Islamic movement.
By the 1990s, the civil war had ended. Hizbullah was better able to focus its energies on expelling the Zionist Israelis from the South.
At first glance there appears nothing unusual about the ruling party's "landslide victory" in the March 1 parliamentary elections in Tajikistan. All authoritarian regimes, in Central Asia as elsewhere, use "elections" as an administrative tool to formalize their grip on power.
Muslim political thought needs to be realigned to the Sunnah and Sirah of the Prophet (s). In Part II of his essay, Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, looks at the consolidation of the Islamic power base in Madinah and the ideological, socio-political, and economic challenges it had to survive and ultimately overcome...
Muslim political thought seems to have drifted from the teachings of the Qur’an, and the Sunnah and Sirah of the noble Messenger of Allah (s). In Part I of this essay, Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Isla-mic Thought, places it back in the Sirah to enable the Islamic movement to transform wayward Muslim societies.
Imam Ruhullah Musawi al-Khomeini (September 24, 1902 to June 3, 1989) is among those iconic figures of history about whom everybody thinks they know much more than they actually do.This month, to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini, Crescent International and the Islamic Books Trust, Kuala Lumpur, have published a book of essays on the Imam’s life and thought. Here we present an abridged version of the introduction to that volume, written by former Crescent editor Iqbal Siddiqui.
Muslim scholars, Islamic movement activists and even ordinary Muslims agree that the only natural habitat for Muslims is the Islamic State.Warning about the pitfalls of operating in a secular imposed order, Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, argues that the Islamic movement must be clear about its goals as well as methods in bringing about change in Muslim societies.
There is also another definition of the Ummah: that of the aggregate power of the political culture of Islam. Today this is virtually non-existent because Muslims are not in control of their destiny. At this level, we cannot speak of the Muslim Ummah per se because its power is fragmented into nation-states ruled by elites and political systems that are the product of colonialism.
Hundreds of delegates from around the world participated in the Fourth International Conference in Tehran (March 4–6, 2009) in Support of Palestine: the Model of Resistance, and Ghazzah: the Victim of War Crimes. The following is the address by the Rahbar, IMAM SEYYED ALI KHAMENEI on 6th of Rabi‘ al-Awwal, 1430 AH.
What or who constitutes the Muslim Ummah and what problems does it face? In Part I, ZAFAR BANGASH, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, offers some reflections on the issue.
Once again the Land of Revelation has gathered legions of committed servants for its annual banquet. In the birthplace of Islam and the Holy Qur’an, eager hearts from throughout the world are now engaged in such rites which indeed show a sign of the eternal lesson of Islam and the Holy Qur’an to mankind: symbolic steps for implementing and applying such a lesson.
To mark the cccasion of Yaum al-Quds this year, Crescent International in South Africa published a booklet analysing the rise of Hamas and the current state of the Palestinian struggle. Here we publish an abridged version of this booklet. The full version is available on the website of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought.
This year, the month of September coincides with the holy month of Ramadan. In the Seerah of the Prophet and throughout Muslim history, this has been a month of jihad and activism. Yet in the modernworld., it has become one of passivity and personal piety. FAHAD ANSARI explores this paradox.
The last few years have been a period of exceptional turbulence in the Muslim world, even by the standards of an Ummah that has become accustomed to the buffets of history during the period of colonialist imperialism. In this extended essay, ZAFAR BANGASH, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), reflects upon the nature of social change and lessons for Muslims today.
