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.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – Former Fiji Military ruler Fran Bainimarama swept to victory and in the Septeber 2014 general elections with over 65% people voting for his party Fiji First Party. Here in San Francisco Monday September 29 more than 300 Fiji Americans of gave Mr. Bainimarama a rousing welcome […]
By Katrin Elger, Hasnain Kazim, Christoph Reuter and Holger Stark spiegel.de Islim Ali is dragging a torn trash bag behind her, clothes spilling out of the growing holes. Twenty-two years […]
MAKKAH: HANI HAZAIMEH Published — Sunday 5 October 2014 Makkah’s state-of-the-art metro will have transported nearly one million pilgrims by the end of this Haj season, said a top official. […]
MINA: SIRAJ WAHAB Published — Sunday 5 October 2014 Some stories are too strange to be believed. One such is that of a 46-year-old pilgrim from Aurangabad in India’s Maharashtra state. It is a story of sacrifice and love for another human being. Yusuf Khan was married to Parveen Jahan […]
Philip Weiss on September 27, 2014 In The Nation, Barbara Crossette interviews Lakhdar Brahimi, 80, the Algerian who served as a leading diplomat for the United Nations over a couple […]
Israel’s brutalization of Palestinians through exercises like “mowing the lawn” will persist without a change in U.S. policy. BY NOAM CHOMSKY For a century, the Zionist colonization of Palestine has proceeded primarily on the pragmatic principle of the quiet establishment of facts on the ground, which the world was to […]
Wyss said during the February vote some people had been stirring up ‘imaginary fears’ about Switzerland’s future Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss says he would be prepared to finance an initiative […]
BY RAMI G. KHOURI, THE DAILY STAR, LEBANON SUMMARY One of the most significant common factors that has characterized the Arab world in recent years has been the birth and spread of non-state actors – organizations, parties, militias – that have assumed the role of traditional governments in many countries. […]
Russia is vital in dealing with regional challenges in the Middle East and without Russia, the region “would be a lot worse off” King Abdullah II of Jordan underlined as he sat down for a one-on-one with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s Kremlin, on Thursday. King Abdullah attended the meeting […]
Allah the Almighty preferred some months to others, some days to others and some nights to others and selected specific times in the year to be seasons of worship and […]
MINA: Pilgrims stoned the devil on Saturday in the last major ritual of this year’s Haj in Makkah, and Muslims around the world began celebrating Eid Al-Adha, the feast of […]
255. Commandment to say the right word [33:71] O ye who believe! fear Allah, and say the right word. [33:72] He will bless your works for you and forgive you your sins. And whoso obeys Allah and His Messenger, shall surely attain a mighty success. [4:10] And let those fear […]
On Saturday, pilgrims set off for Muzdalifah, where they gather pebbles for the stoning of the devil AFPPublished: 16:41 October 3, 2014 Gulf News “I am now a newborn baby and I don’t have any sin,” Nigerian pilgrim Taofik Odunewu said, standing at the foot of Mount Mercy on the […]
(Reuters) – U.S. employers ramped up hiring in September and the jobless rate fell to a six-year low, bolstering bets the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in mid-2015. Friday’s report on employment is the most significant gauge of the economy’s health ahead of Nov. 4 congressional elections. While President […]
Among the intake of students at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) this semester is a unique group from Angola. These young adults fought tough competition to secure places […]
Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum| The Daily Star The global financial crisis taught the world how profoundly interdependent our economies have become. In today’s crisis of extremism, we must recognize that […]
JEDDAH: P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR A French pilgrim who recently converted to Islam and drove 7,000 km in his car with his wife to perform Umrah is now in Makkah as […]
JEDDAH: P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR Published — Friday 3 October 2014 Saudi authorities are planning to introduce a barcode system for Mina tents to help stranded pilgrims identify their tents with the assistance of Google maps. “A technology has been already developed for this purpose,” said Mohammed Al-Ruwaished, head of the […]
MINA: HANI HAZAIMEH & SIRAJ WAHAB Published — Friday 3 October 2014 In scenes of devotion seen nowhere else on the planet, over two million pilgrims, wrapped in seamless white […]
Ambika KandasamyOctober 2, 2014 00:30 This Swiss diplomat says it’s time to rethink how we protect people in war. Thousands of Syrian refugees are streaming over the Turkish border this week after their towns were overrun by Islamic State militants. And millions more are enduring a brutally violent civil war, […]