One ordinary spectator said, “I just came today to say welcome to our home… Iran helped to rebuild Lebanon, and most of all, they helped in building a strong resistance, the first to defeat Israel, the strongest army in the region.”

“The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State… The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of rubber.

True, there is no shortage of armchair warriors in Washington insisting that the US cannot cut and run, or that President Barack Obama does not have the spine for a fight.

Early last month, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Rahbar (Leader) of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, issued a fatwa of far-reaching importance for the unity and solidarity of the Ummah. It was immediately welcomed by leading scholars in the Muslim world.

"Only they shall tend to the masjids of Allah that make a firm commitment to Him..." (9:18–19) Pondering over the above ayaat, it appears as if they were revealed specifically to describe the behaviour of the present rulers in the Arabian Peninsula.

Turkey has always been an important player in the Muslim world. During Ottoman rule, it was the leading edge of the Islamic world. Its armies marched triumphantly into Europe reaching the gates of Vienna in 1683.

It was exactly nine years ago that US-led western forces invaded and occupied Afghanistan. The ostensible reason was to avenge the attacks of 9/11.

This writer has never had the privilege of performing Hajj. It may be many years before I am able to do so, although I hope and pray to have the opportunity before the end of my time on this earth, insha’allah.

There are two aspects to every act of ‘ibadah in Islam: its physical (ritualistic) form, and its higher spiritual, communal, social, and moral purpose. The salah, for instance, is performed in a certain way but its true import lies in the fact that it is our direct link (sila) with Allah (swt).

The city of Istanbul is among the world’s most popular destinations among Muslims, largely because of the legacy of the Ottoman period and the numerous mosques and other monuments that survive there, through which Muslims can relate to a golden period of Islamic culture.

Deep down inside the recesses of the Islamic movement there is what one may call a dichotomy — two mutually exclusive subclasses of the worldwide Islamic movement. One of them is centered on Islamic Iran and the other around what is today called “Saudi” Arabia.

Each new session of the United General Assembly in September opens with much fanfare. Not much is achieved at the UN except that leaders of different countries get an opportunity to talk about their pet subject. Few people, whether inside or outside the assembly chambers, pay the slightest attention.

There is no clearer example of this than the deafening silence and paralysis inflicting the Muslims of the world when it comes to defending oppressed Muslims of Africa, and in particular Sub-Saharan Africa, or “Black Africa”.

A Palestinian-American, Ghassan Elashi was one of the founders and then chairman of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF)

A fresh development in this schizophrenic saga is the return of Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf to the political arena

At the other end of the country, violence has periodically erupted between different ethnic and political groups in Karachi

Nine years and tens of thousands of deaths later, it is the Americans that are begging the Taliban for talks

True to their aggressive nature, the Zionists resumed illegal construction on Palestinian lands as soon as their own declared deadline of September 26 expired. Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu had the temerity to say that

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the frail neuroscientist kidnapped in Pakistan and tortured and brutalized for many years in Kabul’s notorious Bagram prison, was sentenced to 86 years by a US court in New York on September 23.

This theatrical palace drama started when Bandar accompanied by a number of hangers-on went to Syria last year. He traveled under an assumed name using a false passport and carrying millions of dollars in cash, arrived in Damascus

No matter what the exact outcome of recent events in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, one thing is clear: Islamic revival in the former Soviet Union is gaining momentum.

Publicly acknowledged divisions by pro-independence forces in the North Caucasus may completely bury the last remaining traces of the movement once known as the Chechen resistance.

On September 22, the UN Fact-Finding Mission finally released its report about Israel’s May 31 attack on the peaceful Turkish aid flotilla bound for Gaza. The report confirmed that the Israelis had “executed” Turkish peace activists

There was a crucial National Security Council meeting due to take place in Ankara that day. When he was informed about the incident, Mr. He collected some of the fragments while listening to testimonies from people in the mosque

Maksud Djavadov, researcher and analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), visited Sarajevo in August 2010 to conduct field research and examine the current situation of Islamic revival there.

The garbage of history is a term used for painfully reconstructing the past through the remnants and remains — but this sheds a neon-colored light on how history itself can be rendered as garbage.

Tribal roots, obscurantist ideology The Aal Sauds from Dar’iyyah, a backward tribal outpost north of Riyadh, were one of many clans that dotted the desert landscape.

“To fight and kill is worth three months without sex. Maybe it sounds idiotic but it is better than sex… When you are on the field it is you or the enemy. And when you see the ‘red mist’ [blood spurt from the sniper victim]… it is indescribable.

In President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad’s recent visit to the United Nations in late September, he easily became the most-watched head of state. In his various speeches, he took the UN and US to task for presiding over the wars on Afghanistan

Who exactly is Feisal Abdul Rauf? This is the question countless people are asking themselves, in the wake of the Park 51 founder’s skyrocketing national profile. The din over the Ground Zero Mosque has somewhat subsided but the Islamophobic hysteria that it produced remains radioactive.

Tortured endlessly, deprived of sleep for 21 days, attacked by dogs and threatened with rape, Omar Khadr, now 24, was handed one last piece of vigilante justice: guilty plea to all charges because confessions extracted under torture

Sport has become a popular means to project a country’s image. Wannabes are quick to jump on the opportunity. India is one of the emerging wannabes but as its lack of preparation for the Commonwealth games shows, it does not belong in the big leagues.