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.
HANOVER: ARAB NEWS Tuesday 9 April 2013 Studies are under way to set up 60,000 fireproof tents in Arafat at a cost of SR 2 billion, and expand Mina to house seven million pilgrims as part of government’s efforts to improve services to the guests of God. Interior Minister Prince […]
Source: The Economist: WHAT is the tenth most widely followed religion in the world? According to http://www.adherents.com, a site which gathers data on faith from many sources, that honour goes to juche, the national ideology of North Korea, which is credited with 19m followers. As the site’s editors explain, “from a […]
The Long View: This exhibition of the work of the first Palestinian photographer helps fulfil the Palestinian narrative, but it also shows a country that will never return. Jerusalem lies there in 1933, the slopes below al-Aqsa empty of roads, the view across the Mount of Olives containing scarcely four […]
Source: Aljazeera Hundreds of thousands of people have held protests in Bangladesh to demand that the government introduce an anti-blasphemy law that would include the death penalty for bloggers who insult Islam. Protest organisers called Saturday’s rally the “long march”, with many travelling from remote villages to the capital, Dhaka’s […]
Source: The Daily Star Sheikh Hasina speaks to the BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan during an exclusive interview in Dhaka. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, has firmly rejected the demand for […]
Source: ET However, separate voter lists are prepared for Ahmadis. “They are singled out on the basis of religion,” said Rizvi, adding that all other minorities, such as Hindus and Christians, are included in the general lists. The majority of Ahmadis have always boycotted elections. They refuse to be declared […]
Source: The Daily Beast: De Waal, an Emory University primatologist, has spent his career uncovering the surprising social behaviors of various primate species like chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, and—perhaps most famously—those peacemaking, enthusiastic … known as bonobos. In his more-than-a-dozen books, he has thoughtfully mined the goings-on of the ape world […]
Source: Te Daily Beast via Wasim Srroya Rafia Zakaria is one of Pakistan’s most readable columnists. She’s writing a book on Karachi, the port city to the south that, having once served as Pakistan’s first capital, is now paralysed by sectarian bloodletting. Anyone with an interest in Pakistan should read […]
April 7, 2013 – 14:04 As tension ratchets up in the Korean peninsula, Switzerland has made it clear to the parties involved that it is ready to host talks between them, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday. “Switzerland is always ready to support the search for a solution, should […]
by Matthew Allen, swissinfo.ch April 7, 2013 – 11:00 The rising influx of foreign students to Swiss universities is bringing more international talent to the country. But the debate on who foots the bill for welcoming such bright young minds is tying academics and legislators in knots. Switzerland prides itself […]
Courtesy: The Daily Beast You Mean It’s Not Really that Much of a Meritocracy? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/07/you-mean-it-s-not-really-that-much-of-a-meritocracy.html
AFP | Apr 06, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES ALEPPO, Syria — A newborn baby abandoned on the street in the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo has been named “Gift from God” by the family who adopted her even at the cost of an extra mouth to feed. In a city […]
Story Summary The election of Argentine Pope Francis, the 266th Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church, deserves both our congratulations and our reflection for the future of Muslim-Christian coexistence and dialogue. Pope Francis may find in his two immediate predecessors important lessons that could guide his […]
Rfi: Disgraced French Budget Minister Jérôme Cahuzac had 15 million euros salted away in his secret Swiss bank account, a Swiss reporter claimed Sunday. And Cahuzac provided a fake tax certificate when he transferred the money to Singapore, reports say. More:
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star Story Summary One of the most annoying aspects of spending time in the United States, as I have just done during a month’s working visit there, is to follow news coverage of Iran in the mainstream American media. Iran only exists for most […]
JANADRIYAH: ALI BLUWI ARABNEWS Sunday 7 April 2013 A symposium was held at the Janadriyah Cultural Festival on the emergence of Islamic political movements in the last few years in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring.” A series of speakers agreed that the Arab Spring, which brought political Islam to […]
JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS Sunday 7 April 2013 Facebook had a negative effect on the academic performance of 78 percent of Saudi secondary school students, said a recent survey conducted by Musaed bin Hamdan Al-Sharari, a Saudi student of Jordan’s Yarmouk University. “About 67 percent of Saudi students do not use […]
by Taylor Luck | Apr 06, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES AMMAN/MAFRAQ — A Jordanian university student was killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebel forces on Friday, Islamist and Syrian sources said Saturday. According to Mousa Abdullat, representative of the Jordanian Salafist movement, 22-year-old University of Jordan student Walid Othman was […]
Source: The Daily Beast: Saudi women attend the Gulf youth conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 28, 2012. (Hassan Ammar/AP) The Kingdom’s government is reportedly allowing women to ride bicycles now. How nice—but what about actually doing something to end the country’s gender apartheid, asks David Keyes. More: […]
Source: The Daily Beast: First, evangelicals have had a genuine biblical conversion to how God wants us to respond to “the stranger” and especially when Jesus says how we treat them is how we treat him. Second, evangelicals have had a relational conversion as immigrant families, including the undocumented, have […]