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.
Omar Sy, the star of “Chocolat.” Photo: AFP Published: 18 Apr 2016 A new movie about the life of France’s first black celebrity is challenging audiences to consider whether Hollywood’s notorious diversity problem is also an issue in France. Born in Cuba to African slaves, Rafael Padilla battled racism to […]
Could not one of those dead children among the five hundred souls on the sinking Mediterranean boat become a ‘superstar’? Robert Fisk @indyvoices Has something gone adrift within the moral […]
April 23, 2016 President Obama’s foreign policy legacy will have a lasting impact on the U.S. international security in general and the Middle East in particular for years to come. Obama opines that warmongering is no longer an option and the U.S. is better off coming to grips with realities […]
RELIGIONS AND BELIEFS Swiss revealed to be a spiritual nation APR 22, 2016 – 11:00 Not so many people are going to church. but the Swiss still remain spiritual (Keystone) Although traditional places of worship are emptying, religious practices and beliefs continue to be upheld in Switzerland. Almost one in […]
MUFTI TAQI USMANI Published — Friday 22 April 2016 Rajab is the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar. This month was regarded as one of the sacred months (Al-Ashhur Al-Hurum) in which battles were prohibited in the days of the Holy Prophet. It is also a prelude to […]
By AFP – Apr 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES Photo courtesy of ecologikol.com WASHINGTON — Global warming could make the planet far hotter than currently projected because today’s scientific models do not correctly account for the influence of clouds, researchers recently said. The study in the journal Science was […]
The ancient al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez, founded in 859 by a woman, is the oldest working library in the world, holding ancient manuscripts that date as far back as 12 centuries and will reopen in May after a major renovation. World Bulletin / News Desk The Moroccan Ministry of Culture […]
Apr 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – DAOUD KUTTAB The cycle of violence in Palestine is so predictable that almost anyone following the news can easily forecast what happens next. This ability to anticipate what happens if the cycle of violence is not broken is perhaps the most concrete proof that […]
Apr 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – JONATHAN POWER President Barack Obama observed: “ISIL [Daesh] is a direct outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion — which is an example of unintended consequences — which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.” Many of […]
An America which can stomach the anger of its Arab allies is in no mood to suffer the humiliations of Israel either Robert Fisk @indyvoices Edward Said, 13 years dead but intellectually un-buriable, used to say that there was only one “last taboo” in the United States. You could talk […]
By Reuters – Apr 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES President Barack Obama, with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman (right), speaks after a Gulf Cooperation Council session at the Diriyah Palace during the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday (AP photo) RIYADH — The United States will deter and […]
Israel PM wants to send Russia a message that it will not be forced into peace talks with Syria A UN peacekeeper holds a position near the border with Syria in Golan Heights.Image Credit: AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) poses with ministers.Image Credit: AFP ( 1 of 2 […]
The information came from a Daesh defector who handed over some 11,000 personnel files to US television network NBC Image Credit: AP Thousands of apparent Daesh registration documents were leaked in January to a Syrian opposition news website and in March German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Published: 12:20 April 20, 2016 […]
Interview Conducted by Maximilian Popp AFP A bombed out building in Diyarbakir, a Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey. Kurdish opposition leader Selahattin Demirtas, 43, says that his HDP party wants a cease-fire in the ongoing battle between Turkish troops and Kurds in southeastern Turkey. But, he says, Turkish President Erdogan […]
BY MICHAEL LIPKA AND ANGELINA E. THEODOROU What you wear can say a lot about who you are and what you believe. In Israel, for instance, the type of kippa – or lack thereof – worn by an Israeli Jewish man often is strongly correlated with his religious identity as […]
APR 20, 2016 – swissinfo.ch The Yemeni civil war has been raging since early 2015 (Keystone) Swiss arms exports will resume to the Middle East, excluding weapons that could either be used in the Yemen conflict or by states to repress their own citizens. Wednesday’s cabinet decision partially lifts […]
COURTESY: SCIENCEANDQURAN.COM Published — Friday 15 April 2016 Allah Almighty says: “And the Moon is eclipsed, and the Sun and the Moon are fused together, on that Day man will ask: “Where can I run?” No indeed! There will be no safe place. That Day, the only resting place will […]
MARK LEONARD ARABNEWS.COM Published — Thursday 21 April 2016 We have entered the age of migration. If all the people who live outside the country of their birth united to form their own — a republic of the rootless — it would be the fifth-largest country in the world, […]
By Reuters – Apr 19,2016 – JORDAN TIMES Cars drive on a road where workers construct a section of the Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank city of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, on Monday (Reuters photo) WASHINGTON — US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday acknowledged “overwhelming frustration” […]
Apr 20,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – MICHAEL JANSEN The world cannot afford to waste time over ending the war in Syria. When US President Barack Obama leaves the White House in January, peacemaking could come to an abrupt halt. His successor, motivated by the desire to curb Russian and Iranian […]