While Muslims everywhere are concerned with the attacks on Islam and Muslims by our external enemies, particularly the US and its allies, far less attention is paid to the fact that Islamic history and culture are under attack from those who claim to be their guardians. ZAFAR BANGASH, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), discusses the Saudi authorities’ destruction of historical sites in the Hijaz.
1Deciding who and who not to talk to has always been a strategy used by those in power against those they seek to control. FAHAD ANSARI discusses the attempts of the British government to find or establish an acceptable leadership for the British Muslim community.
The first volume of ‘The Ascendant Qur’an’, Imam Muhammad al-Asi’s tafseer, was launched by the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Toronto on May 24. Crescent International took the opportunity to speak with Imam al-Asi about his tafseer, and his understanding of the challenges facing the global Islamic movement.
Over the last few years, Crescent International has serialised a new tafseer of the Qur’an by Imam Mohammad al-Asi. The first volume of this tafseer is now being published by the Institute ofContemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), as the ICIT’s Director ZAFAR BANGASH explains.
In the contemporary Ummah, Sufism is often associated with apolitical, pacifist Islam of the type that the West would like to promote as “true Islam” all over the Muslim world. FAHAD ANSARI looks back at the great tradition of jihadi Sufis in recent Muslim history.
This month, Muslims all over the world will mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet (saw) with elaborate functions involving na’at recitals and nasheeds. Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) asks why Muslims ignore so much of the Seerah.
This month Muslims around the world will mark the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, which shook the world and has dominated international affairs ever since. ZAFAR BANGASH, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, discusses its success.
Malcolm X, who was assassinated in New York on February 21, 1965, was a unique figure in the history of Islam in America, and a leader who has inspired generations of Muslim everywhere, particularly those living in non-Muslim countries. FAHAD ANSARI considers his legacy.
The fighting in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp outside Tripoli last year drew attention to a little-noticed phenomenon in Lebanon, the growth of salafi jihadi influence among the Sunni community. NASR SALEM discusses the background and implications of this development.
Few Muslims doubt that one of the major tasks facing us is the reversal of the impact of colonialism on our societies. However, the extent of this impact is seldom noticed. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses the need to decolonize our minds.
Some weeks after the tragedy of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, there remains widespread anger with the government of Pervez Musharraf, and disappointment with the failure of Islamic groups to offer effective opposition to it. ZAFAR BANGASH, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) considers some of the lessons of the episode for the country’s Islamic movement.
1Dr Ali Shariati, who died in London in June 1977, was among the most important figures of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which unfortunately he did not live to see; and yet, 30 years after his death, his contribution and legacy are largely forgotten. During the 1970s, his lectures and writings played a crucial role in preparing young Iranians, brought up during the secularising and “Westoxicated” policies of the Shah’s regime, for the possibility of Islamic rule. In this paper, IQBAL SIDDIQUI analyses major elements of his thought, particularly his belief that Muslims need what Dr Kalim Siddiqui would later call “an intellectual revolution” in their under-standing of Islam.
In June 2007, the Islamic Centre of England hosted a conference on “Proximity amongst Islamic schools of thought: a necessity for Muslims in the contemporary era” (see Crescent International, July 2007). This is the paper presented IQBAL SIDDIQUI, a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) and editor of Crescent International.
1As the tragedy of Iraq draws attention to the problem of sectarianism in the Muslim world, the Majma al-Taqrib in Tehran has led efforts against this problem. IQBAL SIDDIQUI discusses issues that arose during its latest conference, at the Islamic Centre of England, in London, on June 23 & 24.
On the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet (saw) last month, the Islamic State organized a number of unity conferences on the Seerah. ZAFAR BANGASH, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, attended conferences in Tehran and Istanbul.
The zionist state of Israel has existed in Palestine for nearly 60 years - more than the lifetimes of most Muslims. It is treated as an integral and permanent part of the world map in the hegemonic discourse of the modern West, and all too often by many Muslims as well. A. K. KURTHA reminds us of the Islamic obligation to defeat zionism.
As Muslims around the world rallied in defence of the Haram in al-Quds, FAHAD ANSARI was concerned by some of the attitudes he found during a protest in London.
Medical Aid & Relief for the Children of Chechnya (MARCCH) is a London-based humanitarian organisation dedicated to bringing relief to children who have been injured as a result of the conflicts in Chechnya. Their projects have included taking children to Italy to be fitted with prosthetic limbs, providing financial help to an orphanage in Chechnya, and providing syringes and vaccines to fight tuberculosis. They will shortly begin fundraising for filtration machines for hospitals in Grozny. MARCCH visit Chechnya regularly to make sure their projects are being run properly by their local contacts. HAJIRA QURESHI of Crescent International interviews Satanay Dorken, chief executive of MARCCH, who has recently returned from Chechnya.
Although the recent assassinations of Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko have failed to draw international condemnation for Russian prime minister Victor Putin, they ought to draw attention to the continuing war in Chechnya. HAJIRA QURESHI of the SCC looks forward to World Chechnya Day.
At the OIC Summit earlier this year, Muslim governments indicated a desire to counter the increasing sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shi’as. Last month they followed up with a Declaration aimed specifically at the sectarian violence in Iraq. Crescent correspondent NASR SALEM discusses the Makkah Declaration and its implications.
