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.
Africa January 18, 2016 People gathered at a cemetery in Cape Town on Sunday to mark the 130th anniversary of a Muslim uprising sparked by a ban on burials. The Tana Baru cemetery uprising – considered the most significant form of civil disobedience by South African Muslims in the 19th […]
By HAMZA HENDAWI1 hour ago . View photo In this Dec. 5, 2015, photo, Syrian refugee Nayef speaks to The Associated Press during an interview in southeast Turkey. Under the Islamic State group, “justice has been erratic,” said Nayef, who hails from the Islamic State group-held eastern Syrian town of […]
By Reuters – Jan 18,2016 – JORDAN TIMES OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel bristled on Sunday at the lifting of international sanctions on Iran and vowed to flag up any violations of its archfoe’s nuclear restrictions while drawing on US defence aid to prepare for a possible military face-off in […]
. View photo A general view taken from a helicopter shows the Baghdad clock tower in Harthiya Sqaure in the west of the Iraqi capital on September 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski) Baghdad (AFP) – US and local authorities are searching for three American citizens who were reportedly kidnapped in […]
Jan 17,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Nidhal Guessoum The Muslim world’s past contributions to science and education were extraordinary. The Islamic “golden age” — during which scholarship and learning flourished across the Muslim world — lasted many centuries and included the establishment of the world’s first universities. Today, however, Muslim-majority countries […]
Jan 17,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – EDITORIAL The sight of hungry, emaciated Syrians drew attention to the fact that the warring parties in this Arab country resort to starvation as a weapon of war. The UN Security Council acted against this, at last, recently adopting a resolution calling on all […]
Analysis: Iran has escaped years of isolation and the threat of war without sustaining much damage Patrick Cockburn @indyworld Sunday 17 January 2016 21:03 BST The war in Syria may end up weakening Iran’s regional rivals more than Iran itself Reuters Iran is politically and economically stronger because of the agreement […]
The world’s richest are getting richer while the wealth of the poorest is being spread more thinly Jon Stone @joncstone Sunday 17 January 2016 Slums in Colombia, one of the world’s most unequal countries Rex features Wealth inequality has grown to the stage where 62 of the world’s richest people […]
Voices As a strange development in an age when developers have probably destroyed as many old Beirut houses as the civil war did Robert Fisk @indyvoices All pictures copyright: Tom Young Tom Young Just when you thought the heritage of the Middle East was being destroyed, here’s a tale to prove […]
Studies actually show immigrants seem less likely to commit crime than native populations, despite tending to have lower incomes and live in deprived areas Ian Birrell @ianbirrell Police use pepper spray to control supporters of Pegida, Hogesa (Hooligans against Salafists) and other right-wing populist groups as they protest against the […]
The writer is travelling through the region by bicycle – trying to understand what lies beyond the bloody headlines The writer on the top of the Prokletije range on the Albania-Montenegro border. All photographs: Rebecca Lowe Rebecca Lowe Friday 15 January 2016 11.58 GMTLast modified on Saturday 16 January 201612.36 GMT […]
© Provided by IBNLive In his final state of the Union address, US President, Barack Obama mentioned that the ISIS does not pose a threat to the US. This comes at a time when we have witnessed two back to back attacks, one in Istanbul and another in Jakarta. […]
© Provided by AFP Pakistan Information minister Pervez Rashid told AFP Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (pictured) Sharif would travel to Riyadh on Monday and Tehran on TuesdayPakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will lead a high-level delegation to Saudi Arabia and Iran this week to try to ease tension between the […]
Iraqi security forces clear the Soufiya neighborhood of Daesh fighters in central Ramadi, 115 kilometers west of Baghdad, on Jan. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed SUSANNAH GEORGE | AP Published — Sunday 17 January 2016 BAGHDAD: A United Nations report published Saturday said that the ongoing battle for the […]
“O our Lord, You have not created this without meaning and purpose. Limitless art You in Your glory…” (Qur’an, 3:190-191) IMAM KAMIL MUFTI Published — Friday 15 January 2016 What is the meaning and purpose of life?’ Throughout the ages, philosophers have considered it to be the most fundamental question. […]
Brahamdagh Bugti AGENCIES Published — Sunday 17 January 2016 KARACHI: Citing sources in Switzerland, a private local broadcaster said that a request by the self-exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti for political asylum had been turned down by Swiss authorities, a claim which local sources did not corroborate. Sources confirmed that […]
TOM ESSLEMONT | REUTERS Published — Sunday 17 January 2016 LONDON: A $15 billion shortfall in global humanitarian aid could be addressed by tapping into innovative sources of finance, such as smartphone apps, the football industry and wealthy Islamic donors, a United Nations panel of experts said on Sunday. Despite […]
By Suzanna Goussous – Jan 16,2016 -JORDAN TIMES A view of Rmeimeen town north of Amman on Friday where a mosque stands next to a church in the mixed Muslim-Christian community (Petra photo) AMMAN — Church bells rang in Balqa’s Rmeimeen town on Friday in celebration of the opening […]
Jan 17,2016 -JORDAN TIMES His Majesty King Abdullah drew a distinction between Daesh and khawarej (outlaws of Islam), making clear that the former, called by most of the West ISIS in Syria and Iraq, “can be defeated fairly quickly”, but the latter, “what I call the third world war by […]
By Mohammad Ghazal – Jan 16,2016 -JORDAN TIMES AMMAN — A cartoon published by Her Majesty Queen Rania in response to the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s mocking of the three-year-old Syrian boy found dead on a Turkish beach last year went viral over the weekend. On her Facebook […]