Author Archives
Zia H Shah
He is a physician practicing in Upstate New York. He is the Chief Editor of the Muslim Times, which has more than 43,000 followers in Twitter. He is also Chair of Religion and Science for the Muslim Sunrise, the oldest Muslim publication in North America. He has authored more than 400 articles on Islam, Christianity, Secularism and Religion & Science. Follow in Twitter: @The_MuslimTimes
A US helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan has killed 31 US special forces
Source / Courtesy: BBC The helicopter was taking the personnel back to their base after an operation. It is not clear how the crash happened but the Taliban said they shot the helicopter down. The incident is believed to be the biggest single loss of life for US forces in […]
European asylum seekers in the Ottoman Empire
Christmas celebration in present day Istanbul During those troubled decades, the empire also became a haven for the religiously oppressed. In the mid seventeenth century, for example, a cluster of Hugenots, forced into exile from France, resided in Istanbul, and several Anglican clergymen who had fled commonwealth England, Quakers, Anabaptists, […]
Renaissance travelers on tolerance in the Ottoman Empire
Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew leads a group of believers, nuns, and priests into the St. George patriarchal cathedral for the Epiphany day mass in Istanbul January 6, 2007. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas Islam … tolerated Christians and Jews as constituting religious communities “of the Book”: the Qur’an did not allow forced […]
The Flag of Bilal (7): Dollar crash will lead to social chaos and the cancellation of the US Constitution
May God bless Ron Paul for his bold warnings and suggestions. In the end I think it will be only Ahmadiyyat that can prevent the erosion of the noble US Constitution, or restore it after is has been abolished by the ignorance of the American people. Ahmadis all over the […]
Fasting a commonality among religions
Source: The Times of Malta: By Laiq Ahmed Atif: From Archives: When we study the history of religions we find plenty of commonalities among different religions of the world. One commonality is fasting for the sake of the Almighty God, the Creator and Lord of the entire universe. Remembrance of […]
The pursuit of profits and morality?
Courtesy / Source: The Express Tribune By Dr Asad Zaman Throughout history, men have been honoured for wisdom, courage, honesty, generosity and nobility, but not for mere possession of money. Early in the 20th century, some sought to construct a brave new world by reversing these traditional values. One group argued that […]
America’s fiscal isolationism
Source/Credit: The Malta Independent 05 August, 2011: Consider “the long war,” a bold concept embraced a few years ago to describe the continuing struggle against terrorism, the grudging progress that could realistically be achieved, and the enormous financial burden that it would impose for years to come. It was also […]
“Ancient prejudices”? “Incurably Islamophobic”? by Karen Armstrong
This short article is no longer available on the Guardian UK website, so I am reproducing it here for the benefit of the posterity. After the Pope made some irresponsible remarks about Islam, Karen Armstrong wrote a short article for the British newspaper, the Guardian, on 18th September 2006 titled, […]
Nader: ‘Almost 100 percent’ chance of a Democratic primary challenger to Obama
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and perennial third-party presidential candidate, announced last month that he would work to find a Democrat to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012. Nader now says that a primary challenge is a near certainty. “What [Obama] did this week is just going to energize that […]
British MP’s Call Indonesia to Uphold Human Rights
Source: Jakarta Globe In the latest wave of international condemnation over the ‘lenient sentences’ handed out to a extremist mob, British MPs are calling for Indonesia to uphold human rights and squash religious intolerance. British MP Siobhain Mcdonagh, who is also chair of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for […]
Ghazali’s view of the Holy Quran
Credit / Courtesy: Dawn.com By Nilofar Ahmed JUST as there is a growing global demand for enlightening modern commentaries of the Quran, there is a persisting dearth of exegetical scholarship, even as the overall body of literature on Islam increases. In this scenario, it is rewarding to look at Imam […]
From Jesus to Christ — the First Christians: A four hour PBS documentary
Epigraph: From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17) Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the […]
Cue the curtain on Pakistani minorities
Source: Dawn On 28 May 2010, two Ahmadi “places of worship” were attacked simultaneously during Friday prayers in Lahore. As the siege went on for hours, news channels across the board were strewn with live footage from the scene of attack. For the first time in Pakistani history, Ahmadi community, […]
Kingdom of David: Four hour PBS documentary about Jewish history
Very interesting documentary. First episode: Kingdom of David: Rivers of Babylon: http://video.pbs.org/video/1354541084/ Watch all four parts in Youtube Wikipedia has a page about the Documentary: Kingdom of David was a part of the Empire Series of history documentaries for the [Public Broadcasting Service] (PBS) Public television stations produced by Oregon […]
Malta: Priests found guilty of child abuse
Credit/Source: The Times of Malta: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 Two priests have been sentenced to six years and five years, respectively, after being convicted of sexually abusing boys at St Joseph Home in Hamrun. They have given notice of appeal. Fr Charles Pulis was sentenced to six years in jail after nine cases […]
Whither the Church in Malta?
Source: The Times of Malta: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 , by Louise Cilia The message the letter by Fr Renè Camilleri (July 23) titled Country (And Church) That Never Grow Up conveys is of topical interest to us in Malta, especially in the light of the recent divorce referendum result. Fr […]
What did really fail in Norway?
Source/Credit: The Times of Malta: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 , by Dominique Moisi Japan in March 2011 and Norway in July 2011: any comparison between the madness of nature and the pure madness of man in Norway may sound artificial. Yet, confronted with their respective tragedies, Japan and Norway displayed a […]
Italians move to ban burka
Credit/Source: The Times of Malta: August 03, 2011 An Italian parliamentary commission yesterday approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public. The draft passed by the constitutional affairs commission would prohibit women from wearing a burka, naqib or any other garb that covers […]
God on Trial: A movie about holocaust
God on Trial is a movie and a World War II drama about a group of Auschwitz prisoners who decide to put God on trial. The tale is based on anecdotal reports of an actual band of concentration camp inmates who convened a rabbinical court to determine how such evil could […]