Articles

Looking around, it was difficult for me to see any cause for concern. The stony hill-country of Jebel-Amil in South Lebanon seems an idyllic place; most of the flat-roofed houses have olives, figs and almonds, or at least grapes, growing on trellises over their yards.

The optimism generated by Eritrea’s acceptance of a three-part accord proposed by the Organization of African Unity to end the costly 17-month Ethio-Eritrean war has given way to a mood of pessimism after Addis Ababa rejected the final part.

Kazakhstan lifted the ban on Russian rocket launches from the launching-pad at Baikonur on September 1, ending a two-month stand-off between the two countries.

When, like Kyrgyzstan, you are a small land-locked country in a volatile region, with a poorly-equipped army, you do not engage in battle highly-motivated groups that even mighty Russia is not confident of defeating and that are not targeting you.

Black activist Al Sharpton, who organised a vigil at the site of the shooting on February 9, asked at a forum on police brutality on the night of the shooting, ‘Are we talking about policing or are we talking about a firing squad?’ He pointed out that Amadou must have fallen to the ground after being hit twice or thrice.

People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), a Muslim organization based in Cape Town in South Africa, where crime and drugs are a growing threat to everyone, has had a particularly bad press in South Africa.

The men who surround Nawaz Sharif, with hard looks, bulging bellies and overflowing bank accounts, are casting nervous glances over their shoulders these days. The prime minister of the ‘heavy mandate’ suddenly appears clueless and out of his depth.

Sister Safa Merve Kavakci’s hijab battle dominated the political debate in Turkey about the functioning of democratic norms and secularism until it was buried by the August earthquake. While the secular Kemalist government got egg on its face for its poor handling of the rescue efforts, the hijab issue is still being debated.

Liberalism and human rights are two of the major ideological sticks the west uses to beat Islam. They represent, we are constantly told, universal values based on humanity’s collective experiences and mature rationality.

The Uthmaniyyah sultanate, which claimed the legitimacy of khilafah, was as corrupt and rotten as any monarchy in Muslim history. This was a massive contributory factor in its decline and ultimate collapse.