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.
Editor’s Note: Please excuse the grammar, ‘google translate’ being used: Last year the Catholic Church in Germany lost almost 180,000 people, significantly more than in 2012; reason for this may […]
CAIRO: Egypt renewed its call for a truce to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Friday as the overall Palestinian death toll since July 8 to 285, including 44 killed on Friday as Israel pressed a major ground offensive in the coastal enclave.An Israeli soldier was […]
Summary Iran and six world powers on Friday agreed to a four-month extension of negotiations on a long-term nuclear deal that would gradually end sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, diplomats close to the talks said. The talks are taking place because of a preliminary […]
Summary Israel has been successful at portraying its actions in the Gaza strip as a war against the Hamas movement; the simple fact is that it is a war against Palestinians. The Israelis have expended considerable effort, as they always do, in generating a wall of propaganda about their actions, […]
The Swiss foreign ministry is holding exploratory talks for an international conference on the respect of humanitarian law in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian authorities. The ministry confirmed it received a letter from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, urging Switzerland as a depository state of the Geneva Conventions […]
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ youngest son Tareq told the New York Times on Tuesday that he believes peace talks with Israel are futile and that the one-state solution is the only peaceful way to resolve the conflict. Like many Palestinians, Tareq objects to extending the US-led peace talks, and […]
Source: NY Times UNITED NATIONS — The United States on Friday ramped up its suspicions that pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine felled a Malaysian jetliner, asserting there was “credible evidence” that a Russian-built antiaircraft system in a rebel-held location had fired the missile that destroyed it, killing all 298 people […]
PNN’s correspondent in Gaza, Hassan Dohan, reports that the Israeli Occupation Forces raided several border areas last night, entering the Strip from the eastern and northern borders. The Israeli army attacked Gaza by land , sea and air. They targeted several residential areas, killing 30 Palestinians and injuring dozens. In […]
Source Stratfor: We ate breakfast to the news that an airliner had crashed in Ukraine. We had lunch to the news that Israel had invaded Gaza. An airliner crashing is perhaps more impactful than an invasion. We have all wondered, when we hear of a crash, or even in quiet moments […]
The Swiss chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called for an impartial investigation into the circumstances of Thursday’s crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane […]
By ANDREW HIGGINS Updated Jan. 24, 2009 Editor’s Note: This article dates back to 2009, but we feel today’s readers should be reminded. Moshav Tekuma, Israel Surveying the wreckage of […]
175. The Holy Quran is a clear Sign, so you may take heed [68:53] Nay, it is naught but a source of honour for all the worlds. [36:70] And We have not taught him poetry, nor does that suit it (the Qur’an). It is but a Reminder and a Qur’an […]
177. Warn through the Holy Quran [6:20] Say, ‘What thing is most weighty as a witness?’ Say, ‘Allah is a Witness between me and you. And this Qur’an has been revealed to me so that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches. What! do you really bear […]
179. When His Signs are recited to them they increase their faith [8:3] True believers are only those whose hearts tremble when the name of Allah is mentioned, and when His Signs are recited to them they increase their faith, and who put their trust in their Lord,
178. So admonish, by means of the Qur’an, him who fears My warning [50:46] We know best what they say; and thou hast not been appointed to compel them in any way. So admonish, by means of the Qur’an, him who fears My warning. [17:42] We have explained the truth […]
BAGHDAD — An explosion claimed as a suicide bombing by the Islamic State killed three people on Thursday in the heart of Baghdad and another suicide bomber killed six people just outside the Iraqi capital, police and medics said. Three people were killed in central Baghdad when a roadside bomb […]
Gregg Carlstrom ALJAZEERA Israeli tanks entered Gaza on Thursday night after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a ground invasion, a major escalation in a ten-day offensive that has already killed more than 230 Palestinians. Witnesses in Gaza reported heavy bombing from jets, warships and artillery stationed along the border, with […]
by Robert Fisk, The Independent In an unprecedented criticism of the Israeli siege of Gaza, a senior official in the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) humanitarian charity has described his organisation’s work among the 1.8 million besieged Palestinian refugees as akin to being “in an open-air prison to patch up prisoners […]
Credit: USA Today A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 295 people aboard crashed Thursday in Ukraine near the Russian border after reportedly being hit by a missile, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry. Malaysia […]
Source: NY Times: MOSCOW — Malaysia Airlines reported Thursday it had lost contact with a flight bound from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine. More: