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.
Source: Jakarta Globe: Sanya, China. It was billed as China’s Dubai: a cluster of sail-shaped skyscrapers on a man made island surrounded by tropical sea, the epitome of an unprecedented property boom that transformed skylines across the country. But prices on Phoenix Island, off the palm-tree lined streets of the […]
PRZEMYSL: Poland, for Zaida Saleh, like for many observant Muslim women, manicures have long posed a religious problem. With prayers five times a day, and the pre-prayer ritual of “wudhu” […]
Source: Jakarta Globe: Pope Benedict XVI waves from the altar during his last weekly audience at St Peter’s Square on Feb. 27, 2013. (AFP Photo) Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday admitted “stormy waters” during his pontificate as he held his last audience in St Peter’s Square before tens […]
Middle East Report N°13825 Feb 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS With war a frightening prospect and fruitful negotiations a still-distant dream, sanctions have become the West’s instrument of choice vis-à-vis Iran. They are everywhere: in the financial arena, barring habitual commercial relations; in the oil sector, choking off Tehran’s principal […]
US lawmakers plan to tighten economic sanctions against Tehran over the country’s nuclear energy program as Iran and the group of six major world powers continue their talks in Kazakhstan. Reuters reported that a bill, slated to be introduced in the Congress on Wednesday, would enable US President Barack Obama […]
AFP | Feb 27, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES LONDON — Former British prime minister Tony Blair admitted on Tuesday that the situation in Iraq is “not nearly” what he hoped […]
by Frédéric Burnand, Geneva, swissinfo.ch European states are subcontracting an increasing number of tasks to private military companies to cut their armies’ sizes and budgets. These mainly US firms cost them dearly, however, says military expert Alexandre Vautravers. Since the 1990s, the United States Armed Forces and particularly also the […]
PARIS – The Obama administration, in coordination with some European allies, is for the first time considering supplying direct assistance to elements of the Free Syrian Army as they seek to ramp up pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and end nearly two years of brutal and […]
JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS Wednesday 27 February 2013 The first phase of the project to expand mataf in the Grand Mosque in Makkah is scheduled to end before Ramadan. Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques, yesterday inspected progress of work on the project, which […]
GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS STAFF Monday 25 February 2013 Many people may ask how a Christian preacher or priest can ever praise Islam and commend Qur’anic verses, especially […]
Waqas Khalid eludes Hazat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. (Koya) Local view: Islam and U.S. eclaration of Independence proclaim equality Actor Denzel Washington uttered some pretty famous words in “Remember the Titans,” one of the best sports movies of our era. “I don’t […]
What history can teach us about Islam and democracy By Nader Hashemi, Special to CNN Editor’s note: Nader Hashemi is director of the Center for Middle East Studies at University of […]
Courtesy: The Daily Star War crimes accused Ghulam Azam at a meeting at Rawalpindi in Pakistan 18 days before the Victory justified the attack on Bangalees saying it was his duty. “We [Azam and the organisations under his control] have assisted the Pakistan Government in taking measures against the […]
A new report has revealed that Saudi Arabia has supplied foreign-backed militants in Syria with large cargos of infantry and heavy weapons through Jordan. (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Citing anonymous American and Western officials, The New York Times newspaper reported on Monday that “the weapons began reaching rebels in […]
A municipality in the Swedish capital of Stockholm has allowed the recitation of adhan, the call to prayer, through minaret speakers, in an unprecedented move. (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – […]
Thousands of Palestinians – among them masked gunmen – took to the streets of the West Bank for the funeral of a prisoner who died in an Israeli jail. His family says he was tortured while Israel claims it was a heart attack in what threatens to becomes a new […]
As protests grow in the West Bank over the death of a Palestinian inside an Israeli prison, we speak to a pair of Israeli and Palestinian fathers who’ve responded to personal tragedies with activism for peace. Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan united after the killings of their daughters — Aramin’s […]
A Swiss laboratory discovered traces of pork in seven out of twenty tests carried out on kebabs sold in several of the country’s cities, say shocked local Muslim authorities “Sample […]
Source: UK Channel 4 Dispatches. Following is a documentary created by UK Channel 4 on War crimes in Bangladesh in 1971 .
Source: Asia Times: The Australian Security Intelligence Organization contributed to the suicide in 2010 in Israeli custody of Australian-born Mossad operative Ben Zygier, known as Prisoner X, say Israeli defense correspondents. By tipping off the media to Zygier’s spying, the ASIO alerted Mossad superiors to risks he might divulge information, […]