Saudi Arabia: It’s time to catch falcons
Hammad desert is the most sought-after location for falcon hunters in the Kingdom and Gulf countries. The hunters make a beeline for the desert located 100 km west of Arar […]
Author Archives
Rafiq A. Tschannen
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.
Mormon church admits founder Joseph Smith was a polygamist who married a 14-year-old – but says many of his marriages ‘may not have involved sex’
– Church acknowledges for the first time Joseph Smith had many wives – Number unknown but has been estimated between 27 and 50 – New essay published by Mormon leaders […]
Qur’an lesson for today: 274. Commandment to not take pride because of that which He has given to you
274. Commandment to not take pride because of that which He has given to you [57:24] That you may not grieve over what is lost to you nor exult because of that which He has given to you. And Allah loves not any self conceited boaster, [28:77] Verily, Korah was […]
The Battle for Aleppo: A Decisive Fight for ISIS, Assad, and the USA
Source: The daily Beast: The Syrian rebel forces the Obama administration hopes to use against ISIS may soon be destroyed by Assad in the country’s second largest city. GAZIANTEP, Turkey — A battle is taking shape that could decide the fate of the Obama administration’s strategy for defeating ISIS, and […]
ISIS is the latest of many Islamisms
Rami G. Khouri| The Daily Star The frightening rise and expansion of ISIS, which has now triggered yet another round of American-led foreign military attacks in the Levant, continues to confound many in the region and around the world. Many ask: Where did these killers come from and where do […]
The rule of law triumphs, sort of, in the U.S.
by Rami G. Khouri, The Daily Star, Lebanon Summary The conviction in a Washington court Wednesday of four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards for their roles in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and 17 other wounded is a small, symbolic and perhaps significant act […]
Quetta mayhem
Source: ET Mourners gather around the coffins of their community members killed in an attack by gunmen on a passenger mini bus in Quetta on October 23, 2014. PHOTO: BANARAS KHAN/EXPRESS Once again, there has been a mass murder of Hazaras on the outskirts of Quetta. They were all Shia […]
Islamist head says ‘Tunisia model’ way to defeat IS
TUNIS — Tunisia’s transition to democracy serves as an example of how to defeat extremists such as the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, the leader of the country’s powerful Islamist movement said. “The success of the Tunisian experience is in the international interest, especially in the fight against extremism and […]
Artistry of Allah in the spider’s web
HARUN YAHYA ARABNEWS.COM Published — Friday 24 October 2014 The best-known things about spiders are their webs. However, there are miraculous details hidden both in the web and in the […]
Kaaba key keeper dies
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Taha Al-Sheibi, who held the traditional key to the Kaaba, died in Makkah on Thursday. He was 74. The Al-Sheibi family has been holding the position of […]
IS now ‘richest terror group’
WASHINGTON: The Islamic State has become the world’s wealthiest terror group, generating tens of millions of dollars a month from black market oil sales, ransoms and extortion, officials said Thursday. […]
Lebanon: Cash aid for refugees succeeds despite donors’ doubts
BEIRUT: For decades, aid groups have assumed they know what’s best for refugees and the poor; a growing body of evidence suggests they’re wrong. Both academic research and practical experience, […]
Residents should throw a street party and mix with immigrant neighbours, councils told
Jane Merrick political editor THE INDEPENDENT Councils should offer their local residents cash to hold street parties with their new immigrant neighbours to foster friendship and integration, a new report […]
‘Dead’ hearts transplanted into living patients in world first,
Source: The Guardian In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted “dead” hearts into patients at Sydney’s St Vincent’s hospital. The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a “paradigm shift” that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation. […]
Isis ascent in Syria and Iraq weakening Pakistani Taliban
Source: The Guardian The dramatic rise of Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq is helping to tear apart the Pakistani Taliban, the beleaguered militant group beset by infighting and splits. Once the country’s largest and most feared militant coalition, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been on the ropes since […]
ISIS ‘School of Jihad’ trains small children how to behead, torture and use AK-47s
Source: TOI LONDON: Forced viewings of beheadings and torture, training with weapons almost as big as they are and daily lessons in extremist theology: if you’re a boy growing up in ISIS-controlled territory across Syria and Iraq, the word education means something very different to the rest of the world. […]
Pope Francis blasts life sentences as ‘hidden death penalty’
Source: The Guardian Pope Francis has branded life-long prison terms “a hidden death sentence” in an attack on “penal populism” that included severe criticism of countries that facilitate torture. In a wide-ranging speech to a delegation from the International Association of Penal Law, the pontiff said believers should oppose life-long […]
How ISIS’s Colorado Girls Were Caught
Source: Daily Beast. The Farah girls, aged 17 and 15, told their father they were too sick to go to school on Friday morning. So the father, 68-year-old Ali Farah, let them stay home as he set off for work from the family’s apartment in Arapahoe County in Colorado. At […]
Seismic shift in Rome.
Source: CNN CNN) — It was described as a “dramatic shift” and a “bombshell.” One writer dubbed it a “stunning change.” Even the Human Rights Campaign, the LGBT advocacy organization, announced a “seismic shift in Rome.” So it was all the more disheartening that the Catholic Church’s Synod of Bishops […]
EUROPE – As Islamists Seek to Fill Ranks, More Western Women Answer Their Call
By STEVEN ERLANGEROCT. 23, 2014 LONDON — The young Western Muslims trying to join radical Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq now include increasing numbers of young women who are seeking to fight or to become the wives of fighters. It is a new twist on a recruitment effort that […]