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.
SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 LATEST UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 04:15 PM Does Islam, 15 years after the fall of the New Order, remain a powerful force in Indonesian politics? It is safe to say that political Islam is weakening, but the faith itself, as it appears, still plays an influential role […]
September 1, 2013 – 14:19 As the conflict in Syria worsens, Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga wants Switzerland to take in a limited number of those fleeing the fighting, and to reintroduce the so-called quota system to Swiss refugee policy. The NZZ am Sonntag newspaper quotes “well-informed” sources as saying […]
by Muath Freij | Sep 01, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES AMMAN — Several Syrians in Jordan expressed their support for the likely military action led by Washington against the Syrian regime over alleged chemical weapon attacks. Syrians interviewed by The Jordan Times said that despite being against any Western intervention […]
By Robert Fisk, The Independent Watershed. It’s the only word for it. Once Lebanon and Syria and Egypt trembled when Washington spoke. Now they laugh. It’s not just a question of what happened to the statesmen of the past. No one believed that Cameron was Churchill or that the silly […]
JEDDAH: ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWS STAFF Published — Monday 2 September 2013 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved a $200 million (SR750 million) program for the resistance of Palestinian cities, Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister Prince Mansour bin Miteb announced Sunday. Prince Mansour made this […]
MAKKAH: SULTAN AL-TAMIMI | ARAB NEWS STAFF Published — Monday 2 September 2013 MAKKAH: Immediate deportation to imprisonment for at least a year await violators of Haj regulations, the authorities said on Sunday at the launch of a campaign to keep the number of pilgrims to a minimum level in […]
Source: CNN (CNN) — Barack Obama came to Washington to end wars. Not to start them. That much was crystal clear only three months ago when Obama gave a keynote speech on May 23 at the National Defense University in Washington in which he called for an end to the […]
By Zubair Khan Alhamdolillah 47th Jalsa Salana UK concluded very successfully. Above 31 thousands participated. Extremely inspirational as well (Jalali) address of Hazure Aqdas (May God be his helper) was the hall mark of the concluding session. Hope masses of Pakistan can draw lessons from his address. Being participant, watched […]
Source:BBC Ghana’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the opposition to annul President John Mahama’s narrow victory in last year’s disputed election. The NPP had alleged that Mr Mahama won the election fraudulently, a charge his NDC party denied. NPP leader Nana Akufo-Addo told the BBC he was disappointed […]
Source: NY Times: BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democratic rival, Peer Steinbrück, fought each other to a virtual draw in their sole television debate of the German election campaign on Sunday night. The face-off was a mostly decorous 90-minute affair that commentators had cast as Mr. Steinbrück’s […]
Source: ET ISLAMABAD: The ministry of information technology was upbeat about lifting the ban on video sharing website YouTube after having finally acquired the ‘missing’ filters to block blasphemous content within days but it seems that the matter will consume more time. On August 22, State Minister for Information Technology Anusha […]
Brussels | 1 Sep 2013 Assuming the U.S. Congress authorises them, Washington (together with some allies) soon will launch military strikes against Syrian regime targets. If so, it will have taken such action for reasons largely divorced from the interests of the Syrian people. The administration has cited the need […]
Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, says Israel may have conducted ‘false flag’ operation. Describes its government as inept and Netanyahu as ‘clueless.’ West of Eden by Chemi Shalev HAARETZ ISRAEL Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who once served as Secretary of State […]
In Islamic sciences, all knowledge of the religion comes back to two sources: the Quran and the sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ – the hadith. The Quran […]
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis and Jordan’s King Abdullah II reaffirmed that dialogue is the “only option” to end the conflict in Syria, just as the United States and its […]
Source: CNN Author: Jeffrey Weiss Sunni and Shia Muslims are killing each other in several nations, most notably in Syria’s escalating civil war. Coptic Christians churches are being torched in Egypt. In Israel, what passes for peace talks has restarted after years of murder and brutality. Religion is a common thread in each conflict. But why? […]
PATRICK COCKBURN Sunday 1 September 2013 The discredited justifications that preceded the invasion of Iraq still dominate British and American perception of military intervention in Syria. In a similar way in the 1930s, popular revulsion at the lies and exaggerations of First World War propaganda meant that the first accounts […]
Lisa Kaaki, ARABNEWS Islam with a 1.5 billion Muslims, constituting one-fifth of humanity, is poised to exert an enduring influence during this century. Unlike other religions, Islam does not […]
Source: ET Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Friday that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government is a game for another month or two, Express News reported. He further stated that if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued to rule K-P for another month or two, the province might not be a […]
Source NY Times: WASHINGTON — President Obama abruptly changed course on Saturday and postponed a military strike against the Syrian government in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack so he could seek authorization first from a deeply skeptical Congress. More: