Articles

The Najdi Bedouins’ (aka Bani Saud or the House of Saud) hold on power has always been tenuous. It has become even more precarious because of recent developments in the region. Things are not working out as they had hoped for and their ill-conceived and totally destructive policies have constrained their options even further.

The ballot papers were all printed and arranged in neat piles in each polling station. The ballot boxes duly locked were also delivered to the appropriate polling stations. There were even election officials present — a remarkable achievement in a country where the bureaucracy is notorious for its lethargy.

The US and its allies in the P5+1 group of countries appear to be dragging their feet in fulfilling their part of the bargain while demanding Iran comply with all its conditions in the nuclear deal. On October 21, the Rahbar, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani pointing this out saying the Islamic Republic’s concessions on the nuclear file were conditional on the other side, especially the US, lifting all sanctions.

Canadians in overwhelming numbers rejected the hateful and Islamophobic policies of Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, in the October 19 federal election. He was booted out of office in one of the most divisive campaigns that he and his gang of racists and bigots led in Canadian history.

Canada has just lived through a fairytale decade, complete with evil jinn and youthful hero. Think of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” starring youthful naif, Justin Trudeau, and the giant raining evil down on Canadaland from the clouds, Stephen Harper.

Imagine if there were no toilets in the whole of North America, that is, the US and Canada. A total of 354 million people would be without toilets and forced to defecate in the open. It would be a pretty horrific, not to mention stinking experience.

Some commentators have described Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington (October 21–23) as a huge mistake. It is not difficult to see why. Smoke signals from the capital of the great Satan clearly indicated trouble ahead and it came aplenty so the question is, why did the “Lion of Punjab” (Mian Sahib to his buddies and admirers) still undertake the trip?

The politics of takfir (excommunication) in the contemporary Muslim world is at its peak because of the subtle sophisticated promotion of the phenomenon by external forces. This does not mean that takfir has not been known in Islamic history; it existed and still does in all major religions.

I performed Hajj this year accompanied by my elderly mother and wife. It was not a pleasant experience. We were shocked by what we saw. We were lucky to survive the stampede at Mina. We had planned to go for the Jamarat a little later because of my elderly mother. A number of my friends witnessed the stampede firsthand although they were not in the middle of the crowd or they too would have perished.

It is clear that the Zionists plan to demolish al-Masjid al-Aqsa and build in its place their mythical “third temple.” Gun-toting Zionist squatters are provided armed protection by the occupation forces and allowed to storm the sacred sanctuary desecrating its precincts as well as assaulting Muslims who try to protect the sacred site