Rafiq A. Tschannen is a Swiss national. He converted to Islam and joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the age of 16 after reading the German translation of the Holy Qur'an. He worked in 15 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, first as Finance Director in the private industry and later as Chief Executive Officer of NGOs and International Governmental Organizations. He is now devoting his time to The Muslim Times as Editor for Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Switzerland and as Associate Chief Editor.
by: Jeannie Miller Jeannie Miller, an assistant professor in the department of near & Middle Eastern civilizations, is working on a manuscript examining The Book of Animals by al-Jahiz, a ninth-century Arabic writer and polymath. Al-Jahiz saw himself as a theologian and natural scientist, but is often miscast because of […]
Reuters International FEB 24, 2017 – FILE PHOTO: Gambian President Yahya Jammeh addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Andrew Burton/Pool/File Photo (reuters_tickers) By Edward McAllister and Emma Farge DAKAR (Reuters) – Funds from a dollar bank account in the […]
By Saeb Rawashdeh – Feb 23,2017 – JORDAN TIMES Francois Burgat AMMAN — “Never in our recent history [has] the gap between the politically correct discourse about political Islam in France and in the Arab world been so profound,” said Francois Burgat. A French political scientist, Arabist and senior […]
Feb 23,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – Jonathan Power Eleven hundred years ago, Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Cordoba, in Spain, which was Muslim. The Middle East was much further ahead, still absorbing the intellectual delights and challenges of Greek science, medicine and architecture that Europeans […]
Reuters International FEB 25, 2017 – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters ride their vehicles in northern Raqqa province, Syria February 6, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said (reuters_tickers) By Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s push against Islamic State in Syria could present him with an […]
Reuters International FEB 25, 2017 – Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim addresses a crowd in Oberhausen, Germany, February 18, 2017, to promote Turkey’s constitution referendum on April 16, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (reuters_tickers) By Ercan Gurses ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s prime minister called on the public on Saturday to back constitutional […]
Bloomberg FEB 24, 2017 – (Bloomberg) — The number of wealthy people granted investor visas to live in the U.K. fell by more than 80 percent last year from the peak in 2014, a sign that luxury home sales in the capital may slump further. While so-called Tier 1 […]
by Dr. Juergen Todenhoefer Syria Conflict : How the democratic protests became a merciless war in which everyone fights against each other When the history of the Syrian War will be re-written it will not have much in common with today’s media coverage. The Syrian drama ran in three acts.: The first act […]
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad – Khalifatul Masih V(aba) Address by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmadaba, Khalifatul Masih V, Head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, at the Bait-ur-Rasheed Mosque in Hamburg, Germany, On 5th December 2012 a VIP reception was held at the Bait-ur-Rasheed Mosque in Hamburg, Germany, in which Hazrat […]
by Danny Wicentowski February 23, 2017 Photo by Danny Wicentowksi The Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery was packed with volunteers on Wednesday. Despite the crush of reporters and volunteers filling the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery Wednesday afternoon, Marc Daniels managed to slide through a gap in the crowd — and suddenly, there […]
BOOK EXCERPT Historian Audrey Truschke’s new book examines one of the convenient myths imposed by India’s colonial rules. Audrey Truschke Hindu and Jain temples dotted the landscape of Aurangzeb’s kingdom. These religious institutions were entitled to Mughal state protection, and Aurangzeb generally endeavoured to ensure their well-being. By […]
My first film job at the age of 14 – Steven Spielberg’s Munich – featured me as an Islamic terrorist’s son. When I complained about racial profiling to a director, I was told that I was lucky I could ‘use my ethnicity as a playing card’ in an industry […]
John B. West Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288) was an Arab physician who made several important contributions to the early knowledge of the pulmonary circulation. He was the first person to challenge the long-held contention of the Galen School that blood could pass through the cardiac interventricular septum, and in keeping with […]
Veiled women can be denied Swiss state assistance The southern Swiss canton of Ticino has a burka ban in place since July 2016 The Swiss cabinet has clarified that women wearing burkas or niqabs can be denied social aid or unemployment insurance, as face coverings can result in identification issues […]
By Renat Kuenzi FEB 23, 2017 Opponents of Turkish president Erdogan demonstrate in front of the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva. They call for the release from prison of PKK leader Öcalan. The Turkish authorities for their part want Switzerland to punish people who insult Erdogan (Keystone) […]
The National Front leader thought that Lebanon, burdened with a million Syrian refugees, should send them home as soon as the war is over. She clearly did not know that tens of thousands of Lebanese are actually related to Syrians Robert Fisk Beirut @indyvoices Marine Le Pen has been doing a […]
The Algerian police Wednesday announced the arrest of 12 members of Ahmadiyya religious community accused by authorities for promoting the outlawed movement. The men were arrested at Chlef, north of the country, the national police announced in a statement aired on radio. “Members of this movement were in possession of […]
US aid reform in 2017 and global health security: This week in development news By Michael Igoe @AlterIgoe U.S. foreign aid reforms begin to take shape, U.N. agencies combine forces for an urgent funding appeal, while Bill Gates and Bono make the case for development to a national security crowd. […]
Ah, it was a time of bustling cities and pressing obligations! After a time, I grew weary of the pace and needed a respite, a quiet time in which to gather my inner peace again. So I took the barest necessities and went into the desert, to be alone in […]
Good day! My name is Nasruddin. I was born in Amritsar in the Punjab, in India. Or…it was so long ago… it may have been in Cairo, in Egypt. In fact, I think it was Newark, New Jersey, though my uncle claims it was Turkey, and my birth certificate […]