Articles

The historic roots of the alliance between Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and the House of Saud in 1746 will not be analysed here. A brief reference to it, however, is necessary to understand its contemporary repercussions...

Muslims have always been loyal to the country and were in the forefront of the struggle — resisting foreign invaders, winning back the lost freedom and consolidating the freedom won...

Many observers find it difficult to get an accurate fix on Iran-Russia relations. At times it appears as if Russia and Iran are strategic partners while at others they appear to be at odds. The confusion stems from a lack of proper understanding of either party...

In the rest of the Muslim world, barring Islamic Iran, the ruling elites have accepted defeat and humiliation as their permanent condition. One can find striking lessons of such behaviour related to Bani Israel described in the noble Qur’an.

Several anniversaries fall in the month of March, both local and international but it is difficult to say anything positive about them. Let us review them. In March 1924, Mustafa Kemal abolished the khilafah, breaking the last organic link with the Islamic State established by the noble Messenger of Allah (s) in Madinah nearly 1,400 years ago.

There is much concern in Western capitals about what would happen in Egypt when the aging Pharaoh, Husni Mubarak dies. He is in his mid-eighties and not in good health. He has ruled Egypt with an iron fist since he became president in October 1981 after his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was executed by his own soldiers during a military parade. Mubarak has ruled Egypt through a state of emergency that is renewed every six months.

(Paper presented at the Islami Wahdat Conference, Tehran) The unity is one of the most important value not only of Islam but of all other religions as well as of man-made secular ideologies. It is considered as a fundamental building block in human and social relations without which no higher purpose or lofty goal can be achieved. This is recognized and acknowledged by all of humankind.

Zafar Bangah, director of the ICIT, reviews Saeed Malik’s A Perspective on the Signs of Al-Qur’an: Through the Prism of the Heart, 278 pages, Pbk: $18.99, (published in 2009 and available at www.amazon.com and www.booksurge.com).

The Muslim Institute emerged from talks in 1972-73 among a group of young Muslims in London led by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui. Its foundation proper can be dated to the publication of the Draft Prospectus of the Muslim Institute, its foundation document, in 1974.

In an age before the Internet, therefore, the key instrument of this work was the Crescent International newsmagazine, published from Toronto.