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.
Mar 06,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Amer Al Sabaileh The ceasefire agreement in Syria was imposed by a UN resolution in order to make a political settlement in Syria possible. The ceasefire will help restructure the status of various fighting groups and hopefully will put an end to the chaotic supply […]
As Stalingrad-size casualties mount in civil war Syria today, it’s worth remembering how the French and British thought they could create a ‘modern’ Syria in 1941 Robert Fisk @indyvoices Sunday 6 March 2016 36 comments As General de Gaulle set out for the Middle East in April of 1941, he famously wrote that […]
ARAB NEWS Published — Friday 4 March 2016 Tolerance in Islam, is not a mere fairytale phrase, but Muslims live it in reality. Islam urges us to be tolerant and forgive others. This is indicated in both the Qur’an and the Sunnah. One of the features of Islam […]
02/29/2016 Aparna PandeDirector, India Initiative, Hudson Institute The execution in Pakistan of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri — the bodyguard who in 2011, under influence of religious zealots, killed secular Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer — has strategically coincided with the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue taking place in Washington DC. Given Pakistan’s history […]
AFP Even as Chancellor Merkel continues pursuing a deal with Turkey, Austria and its Balkan neighbors to the south have taken things into their own hands. With fences going up across the region, Greece is in trouble and the EU can’t figure out what to do. By SPIEGEL Staff A […]
Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday. (AP) AFP Published — Saturday 5 March 2016 PARIS: United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said Friday the Syrian people, not […]
Islamic art exhibit underway at U.S. museum TEHRAN Times Art Desk TEHRAN – The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco is displaying works of Islamic art in an exhibition, which opened on February 26. The artworks are from India under the Moguls in the 16th century, Iran during the reign […]
By AFP – Mar 03,2016 – JORDAN TIMES People shelter from the gun fire outside a house in El Aouija, outside Ben Guerdane, 650km away from Tunis, Wednesday (AP photo) TUNIS — Government neglect in central Tunisia, where poverty and unemployment rates are several times the national average, risks […]
Reuters International MAR 5, 2016 – 09:16 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a late phone conversation on Friday called for a prompt start to the next round of Syria peace talks, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The […]
EU-SWITZERLAND By Urs Geiser MAR 4, 2016 – 16:14 Justice Minister Sommaruga (centre) and Economics Minister Schneider-Ammann (right) during Friday’s news conference in Bern (Keystone) The Swiss cabinet has proposed to use a unilateral safeguard clause to curb immigration if it is unable to reach agreement with the European Union […]
DR RAMZY BAROUD says that the present struggle against apartheid in Palestine is not merely similar to that of South Africa. Both struggles are extensions of the same movement, the same fight for freedom, and, in fact, against the same enemy. After concluding a talk in Durban, South Africa a […]
By Ramzy Baroud When Arab streets exploded with fury, from Tunis to Sanaa, pan-Arabism seemed, then, like a nominal notion. Neither did the so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’ use slogans that affirmed its Arab identity, nor did angry Egyptian youth raise the banner proclaiming Arab unity atop the high buildings adjacent to […]
Mar 02,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – DAOUD KUTTAB A big question is looming regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: How serious is the French initiative that aims at leading an international effort to help kick start negotiations on the two-state solution? Equally important is to figure out where exactly Washington stands on this […]
Mar 03,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – RAMI G. KHOURI Jordan gave the Arab world two reasons to be proud this week. One was the nomination of the film Theeb for an academy award, the other was the statement to the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council by HH […]
After pouring billions into rebuilding the country following successive Israeli invasions and air raids, the Saudis find that they cannot prevent the Shia from expressing their fury at Riyadh Robert Fisk Beirut @indyvoices Wednesday 2 March 2016 If you drive from Sunni Muslim Sidon to Shia Muslim southern Lebanon, you […]
Louisa GOULIAMAKIKaterina Nikolopoulou| Agence France Presse Idomeni, Greece: Stranded migrants lay with their children on rail tracks at Greece’s northern border Sunday, demanding to be allowed to continue their journey, as Athens warned the number of people “trapped” on its soil could more than triple next month. Tensions between European […]
Feb 27,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – ELIZABETH DREW Being Hillary Clinton, one of the most celebrated women in the world, holder of some of the highest offices in American politics and possibly the next president of the United States, has had more than its share of agony. Widely regarded a […]
Feb 27,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – MUSA KEILANI US President Barack Obama signed this week a law that opposes boycotting Israel. During the signing ceremony, he referred to the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, but named them as “Israeli-controlled territories”. The Israeli government has exerted relentless efforts […]
By AFP – Feb 27,2016 – JORDAN TIMES A woman carries goods she allegedly looted in Shadadi town, Hasaka countryside, Syria, on Friday (Reuters photo by Rodi Said) DAMASCUS — Fighting subsided across much of Syria on Saturday as the first major ceasefire of the devastating, five-year war […]
Feb 27,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Walid M. Sadi The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad is not shedding any tears over the exodus of millions of Syrians to neighbouring countries and beyond out of fear for their lives because of the five-year-old civil war in the country. No less than […]