Articles

In the year 61 AH, 680 AD the martyrdom of Imam Husain [AS], grandson of the Prophet [sAW] and the third among the Imams [AS], took place. It was plain from the narrative elements that this was an extremely tragic event. In part it is the extremity of the atrocious death to which Imam Husain [AS], his companions and relatives were subjected that has anchored Karbala and the memory of Imam Husain [AS] in the Shi’i consciousness. Of course from one point of view it might be said that all of the Imams insofar as they had the quality of Imam are equal and no distinction is to be made among them, in the same way that the Quran tells us that an article of Islamic belief is not to make distinction among any of the messengers – to accept all of them with respect to their quality of Prophethood – not to affirm for one and deny for the other.

THE TRIAL OF HENRY KISSINGER by Christopher Hitchens. Pub: Verso, New York, USA, 2001. Pp. 159. Hbk. US$22.00.​​​​​​​

More than two weeks after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre, the initial shock has worn off and the prevalent mood has changed to nervous anticipation as the world waits to see what the US will do next.

Clashes occur within or between societies when ideological differences emerge. The pre-Islamic Makkan society was based on idol-worship; into this environment was introduced the message of tawheed, the Oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, embodied in the kalimah.

The inseparability of the various aspects and facets of the Islamic movement was demonstrated at the ICIT’s International Seerah Conference in Pretoria from September 21-23. The conference’s main purpose was the discussion of the Seerah “from a power perspective” is part of the ICIT’s Seerah research project launched in line with the ideas of the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui...

Palestinian ‘president’ Yasser Arafat and Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres shook hands —briefly and sullenly — on a new agreement for a ceasefire and confidence-building measures towards a restoration of the ‘peace process’ at Ghazzah Airport on September 26, two days before Palestinians were planning massive protests to mark the first anniversary of the intifada.

The process of political reform in Syria initiated by president Bashar al-Asad after he took office in July 2000 has met its most serious setback. On September 12 Syrian authorities arrested two opposition activists, Habib ‘Issa, a lawyer, and Fawwaz Tello, an engineer.

Afghanistan once again finds itself threatened with war and destruction, this time by the Americans. For nearly 25 years its people have known nothing but suffering.

A few days after Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, had declared that Russian troops would never leave Chechnya, Chechen mujahideen killed 10 members of the Russian General Staff, comprising two generals and eight colonels, and at the same time attacked Gudermes, the republic’s second largest city.

The Eritrean people and their leaders, who demonstrated a remarkable capacity for unity during a long and difficult struggle for independence, are beginning to show signs of restiveness at their president’s increasingly autocratic rule...