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...

Ayatullah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, called on Wednesday for a serious campaign against terrorism, and said that US officials’ definitions of terrorism are unacceptable.

The indecent haste with which the rulers of Pakistan have surrendered to US demands in the new crusade against Islam reflects the deep divide between the rulers and the Pakistani masses.

Sudan is cosying up to Uncle Sam to the extent of providing the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with information on Osama bin Ladin, and offering Washington bases on its own territory to be used as airfields during the ‘war against terrorism’, according to reports citing American sources in Khartoum.

The attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre on September 11 have caused a wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hatred, bigotry and intolerance all over the Western world. Particularly hard-hit are American Muslim and Arab communities, as well as other dark-skinned groups.