President Pervez Musharraf’s dismissal of the country’s Chief Justice last month has developed into a major political crisis. DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) in Pakistan discusses the implications of the crisis.
In the sixty years since the creation of Israel in 1947, Palestinians have repeatedly had to defend the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem against threats to it. The latest occasion was last month, when Israeli authorities demolished a ramp leading to the Meghribi gate in the compound’s western wall. RAJNAARA AKHTAR, of Friends of Al-Aqsa, explains the reasons for the Palestinians’ fears.
Muslims in America are living under increasing pressure because of the atmosphere created by the political establishment and media since September 2001. Zionist and other interest groups have joined in, but some Muslims are fighting back. TAHIR MAHMOUD reports.
Transforming Saddam Hussain from a monster to a martyr might seem an impossible feat; but that is what the Iraqi authorities have achieved by bungling his execution so appallingly. The haste with which the hanging was carried out on the day some Muslims were celebrating Eid al-Adha, the insulting taunts to which he was subjected, and Saddam’s composure just before his execution, captured on a cell phone and seen globally on the internet, have all turned one of the vilest creatures of the last century into a martyr for millions of people around the world.
Throughout history, Arab rulers have repeatedly betrayed the interests of the Ummah by aligning themselves with the enemies of Islam. Since the division of the Middle East into nation-states by the West at the turn of the last century and the installation of tribal chiefs as rulers, these rulers have done everything to undermine the Ummah. From aligning themselves with Britain to destroy the Uthmaniyyah khilafah to facilitating the implantation of Israel in Palestine, and more recently supporting the Western-backed Iraqi invasion of Islamic Iran (1980) and then joining the West’s onslaught on Iraq in 1991, they have never failed to indulge in treachery
Although representing only a minority of Iraq’s Sunni population, salafist groups have played a disproportionate role in the anti-American resistance and have been responsible for sparking a sectarian war in the country. NASR SALEM discusses the outlook, aims and objectives of Iraq’s salafist extremists...
ZAFAR BANGASH, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Toronto, visited Iran in August,for the 19th Islamic Unity Conference. He reflects on developments there, and the renewed confidence and sense of progress that he discovered there.
Despite its traditional reputation for tolerance and multiculturalism, the British government, like all colonial powers, has a long history of trying to impose meanings and leaders on Islam and Muslims. FAHAD ANSARI discusses the latest strategy being promoted in Britain, as a time when Muslims are under increasing pressure.
Although little noticed elsewhere in the Ummah, a popular Islamic movement has taken power in Somalia and is under attack from neighbouring Ethiopia, backed by the US. MAHMOUD AHMED SHAIKH reports.
Every year there is confusion in the Ummah over the correct days for marking the beginning and end of Ramadan. ZAFAR BANGASH, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, and a community leader in Toronto, Canada, explains how the issue could be resolved.
One of the most common strategies used against Islamic Iran in the Arab world is to accuse it of Persian nationalist ambitions over the Arab Middle East. This is often linked with direct or indirect sectarianism, and is known as the “Safavid enterprise”. DR MAZIN AL-NAJJAR discusses this myth.
The international arms trade is one of the largest and most profitable in the world, with developing countries spending vast amounts on Western arms. ABDAR RAHMAN KOYA discusses how the West abuses its power in this unequal and exploitative relationship.
The Hizbullah, which is now under intense attack in Lebanon from Israel, emerged as an Islamic movement representing Lebanon’s ordinary Muslims after the Israeli invasion of the country in 1982. Eighteen years later, in 2000, Hizbullah’s resistance led to a stunning victory when the Israelis were forced to withdraw from territories they had occupied in the 1980s. Here we reprint an analysis of Hizbullah’s rise and modus operandi by Khalil Osman, first published in September 2000 to mark that triumph.
The supposedly inferior position and treatment of women in Islam is often used by Westerners to attack Islam. A recent poll of Muslim women reveals very different attitudes towards their own lives, Islam and the West. WASEEM SHEHZAD reports.
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
1Since the war on Iraq ardent calls for “change” have become fashionable in Arab countries. These appeals come from various quarters. However, the variety of the demands for change betray the nature and the extent of the power-war currently unfolding in the region. While “change” apparently means all things to all people, three broad stages have emerged: the popular arena, the regimes, and the Americans and their European allies.
The construction of the world’s tallest building was disrupted in March when Asian expatriate workers rioted in protest at their working conditions. It was the latest of a series of protests. NASR SALEM discusses the plight of most foreign workers in the region.
At a time when the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has emerged as the bedrock of the US-led ‘war on terrorism' and of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington has tabled a proposal for the creation of a ‘global partnership' that will make it even more effective in implementing the US government's imperial and anti-Islamic programmes.
The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly approved a new Human Rights Council to replace the "widely discredited" Human Rights Commission; 170 of its 191 members voted in favour, four voting against and three abstaining. The vote followed a proposal for reform that was made by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, who is keen to make his dismal term seem better before he bows out at the end of this year.
On 23 February 1944 the Soviet Union set in motion the deportation of the entire Chechen and Ingush peoples to the steppes of Central Asia. In the depths of winter they were subjected to summary massacres and food shortages: it was a solution neither less final nor less brutal that the one being inflicted at the same time in Europe on the Jews.
