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.
This is such stuff as dreams are made on, enough to banish any nightmares troubling the sleep of Egypt’s army commander, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi So Egypt is back to the age of the dictators – or, as I always call it, the Age of Magic Statistics. The Egyptian people, […]
Matthew Lee and Zeina Karam, Montreux MACAU DAILY TIMES Syrian peace talks began yesterday in Switzerland with a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad’s future. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Assad’s decision to meet peaceful dissent with brutal force had robbed him of all legitimacy while Assad’s foreign […]
Everyone knows that the Assad regime – from father Hafez onwards – has employed torture and executions to preserve the doubtful purity of the Baath party by Robert Fisk, The Independent The pictures are horrific, the torture details revolting, the numbers terrifying. And the integrity of the three former prosecutors […]
By Christoph Reuter SPIEGEL.DE Violence in Syria has been appalling in the run up to this week’s peace talks in Switzerland, where rebel and government representatives are to sit down together. Secret meetings in recent months give cause for hope. A bag filled with pieces of bread is dangling from […]
Worldwide economic inequality is looking rather bleak these days, according to a new report by relief organization Oxfam. Oxfam’s “Working For The Few” report looked at Credit Suisse’s “Global Wealth Report 2013” and Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires from 2013 to conclude that 1 percent of the global population […]
BY CRISPIAN BALMER JERUSALEM Wed Jan 22, 2014 (Reuters) – Both sides of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks risk paying a high price in losing European Union trade and aid if negotiations […]
Syria’s government and main political opposition have traded bitter accusations on the first day of a major peace conference in Switzerland. The opposition and US said President Bashar al-Assad had […]
STORY SUMMARY Pope Francis is urging delegates attending the Syria peace conference in Switzerland to do everything they can to negotiate a cease-fire and launch “decisive” steps toward reconciliation and reconstruction. Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2014/Jan-22/244908-pope-issues-peace-appeal-to-syria-conference.ashx#ixzz2r7suFgPx (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman on Tuesday announced 13 initiatives aimed at making Madinah the eternal capital of Islamic culture. He said the initiatives have won the support of […]
The bloody civil war in Syria and Iran’s efforts to come in from the diplomatic cold will drive the agenda this week as world leaders, business chiefs and celebrities gather […]
By Fidelius Schmid and Christoph Schult NATO is building a new headquarters for one billion euros. But the construction consortium is in financial difficulties and the project is at risk […]
Germany and the US appear to be edging closer to political confrontation. The Federal Prosecutor says there is sufficient evidence to open a politically explosive investigation into NSA spying on […]
By Gary F. Zeolla What do the Bible and the Book of Mormon have in common? They both claim to be the Word of God. Also, major portions of both describe supposedly historical events. The Histories The historical portions of the Old Testament in the Bible primarily focus on the […]
[19:66] He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of all that is between the two. Serve Him, therefore, and be steadfast in His service. Dost thou know any equal of His? [21:20] To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth. And those who […]
A political analyst has warned against the global Zionism’s agenda to fragment Muslim countries into small segments in an attempt to boost the US and Israel’s supremacy. “Part of the agenda is to reduce Muslim states to small ethnic or sectarian-based states, divided, powerless, so they cannot challenge the supremacy […]
World Bulletin / News Desk The Gaza government and Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Monday called for unity among adherents of the Gaza Strip’s two faiths. “Christians are an intrinsic […]
JERUSALEM POST If the pro-peace camp take on the struggle with the same messianic zeal that the settlers and the peace spoilers have displayed until now, perhaps there is still […]
The UN has withdrawn an invitation for Iran to the January 22 Geneva 2 peace conference after Syria’s main western-backed opposition group threatened to pull out of talks if the Islamic Republic attends. Earlier on Monday, the Syrian National Coalition gave the UN until 1900 GMT to withdraw the invite […]
The second day of the 27th International Islamic Unity Conference is underway in the Iranian capital, Tehran, bringing together hundreds of religious thinkers and scholars from around the world, Press TV reports. More than 300 prominent Muslim scholars and thinkers from 58 countries are taking part in the three-day event […]
A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel that could do for Palestine what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan. Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed […]