I remember reading the book (A Brief History of Time) when it was first published in 1988 and I found it fascinating and even enthralling. It inspired in me an awe towards the immenseness of the cosmos and the insignificance of human knowledge at the same time it awakened in […]
Magic Squares at the Textile Museum: God is also in the details. Initiation shirt from Burkina Faso, mid to late 20th century, a centrepiece of the exhibition “Magic Squares” at the Textiles Museum of Canada. The square is never square. Squares can even be hip. Squares embrace the greatest games. […]
Deep divisions over the future of Islam in Australia have emerged after calls for the adoption of sharia law in submissions to a federal parliamentary inquiry into multiculturalism. Citing existing Government support for Islamic banking and laws governing halal meat – and backing from the Archbishop of Canterbury – Muslim […]
We were stunned to read Jonathan Kay’s column describing Geert Wilders’ extreme polemics against Islam and Muslims (“Geert Wilders’ problem with Islam,” May 9). It contained unsupported hyperbole from the Dutch politician, such as “if you would strip the Koran of all the negative, hateful, anti-Semitic material, you would end […]
‘God wants him to be alive’: Family fights landmark battle over medical consent Sittng on a courtroom bench, son and daughter on either side, Parichehr Salasel listened to lawyers argue over who has the final say on her husband’s life – his doctors or his family. She and her family […]
In the past, the word family referred exclusively and solely to a married man and woman who preferably had a couple of children. Today, the word family carries with it far more connotations; a single parent and his or her child is a family; two people of the same gender […]
On Easter Monday, I was sent to Iraq to monitor the progress being made. I did not quite have in mind to report on the sophisticated improvement in terror. Assassination, in Baghdad, is the new fashion in violence. Apparently, variety is not only the spice of life. Once I was […]
By Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah and Dr. Zia H Shah Baitul Futuh Mosque, London With the political turmoil spreading from one Arab country to the next, during the last few weeks, several fears and demons have been reawakened. Could these changes herald development of a theocracy or establishment of Caliphate in some […]
Since 2001 a plethora of writers have made calls for an Islamic “Reformation“. Many hopes (and careers) are pinned on the idea, but there is no such thing coming. The Islamic reformation has already happened. The Muslim equivalent of nailing the 95 theses was the desecration of a graveyard and […]
A little noticed provision in the House Armed Services Committee’s National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the United States to use military force anywhere there are terrorism suspects, including within the U.S. itself, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Section 1034 was added to the bill by the […]
CIREBON, INDONESIA — Before he strapped on his suicide vest, walked into a crowded police station mosque and blew himself up last month, Muhammad Syarif was typical of the scores of angry young men who pass their days at fundamentalist mosques in this coastal Javanese city. Enlarge This Image The authorities […]
“It was not expected that Obama would criticize any of the U.S. allies, but he did so when he talked about Bahrain and called for a dialogue with the opposition while calling for the release of prisoners. Obama set a new approach toward the Middle East … opening a new […]
“I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially – especially – I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence,” Strauss-Kahn said, declaring “I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations […]
CAIRO | Thu May 19, 2011 11:32pm IST (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday invoked the killing of Osama bin Laden as a chance to recast relations with the Middle East and said the top U.S. priority was to promote democratic change. Below are some reactions to his […]
By SIRAJ WAHAB, MAHER ABBAS & GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH/DAMMAM: Saudis dismissed US President Barrack Obama’s much-anticipated “Arab Spring address” as meaningless, predictable drivel while Egyptians and other Arabs, to whom Obama offered some sops, also did not find anything new in the speech, which according to […]
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli government committee on Thursday approved the construction of more than 1,500 settler homes in East Jerusalem, as Israel’s premier prepared to leave for talks in Washington, an NGO told AFP. A spokeswoman for the Ir Amim non-governmental organisation, which calls for Palestinians and Israelis […]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama declared Thursday that the borders of Israel and a Palestinian state must be based on 1967 lines, likely setting up a new clash with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a long-awaited survey of the “Arab Spring” of revolts, Obama compared “shouts of human […]
It is being e-mailed to 40,000 subscribers! Friday sermon: Obedience to the State Delivered by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (ata) Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, on April 1, 2011: Hudhur said the Qur’an states, and this part of the verse is recited every Friday: ‘Allah…forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and transgression.’ (Al Surah […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Norwegian business ties with Brazil are rapidly expanding, especially in the areas of shipping, and the booming oil and gas industry. Norway ranks number seven on Brazil’s list of most important trading partners, and in 2010 the total trade between the two countries increased 47 […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Just six months ago the running trail was the stage of sweeping violence that gripped Rio in November last year. Now, the same dirt road drug traffickers used to escape from the police during the massive police and military operation was part of the 4,850 meter […]