“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again”, said Hillary Rodham Clinton to Hina Rabbani Khar on a telephone call, and Pakistan reopens its border to NATO supply convoys into Afghanistan after a seven-month blockade since […]

It was a sunny day on 12th February 1949 when the leader of Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al Banna was invited for a meeting with an Egyptian government minister in Cairo. At the venue, the minister never appeared and hence the brotherhood’s leader had to leave. While he was on the street to get a taxi, […]

The instinctual problem that arises with democracy is the belief that democracy originated in the west. The history of democracy is therefore presented as troublesome. The Ancient Greeks, who are told to be the founders of “democracy”, would probably be shocked and be dismissive of modern democracies. As modern representative governments are radically different in […]

Islam is very democratic in its application of things. After all, in its truest essence, democracy is not only elections, but a variety of things. These include pluralism, free speech, freedom of association, basic human rights and so on. Islam encourages all of these within its own framework. As far as the objection that in […]

Is there anything wrong with the idea that people should have the right to rule? Many people argue that there actually is something unacceptable and Islam does not permit such a thing; a blasphemy, maybe.  To say that the people have the right to rule, they argue, is to give away a right reserved for God alone […]

It is true that while Islam may not be a proponent of liberal western democracy as we know it, but in its very essence Islam is quite democratic. “Consultation” is a fundamental concept in Islam. If anything, the Islamic ideal is nearest to a constitutionally restricted democracy whereas democratic principles are ordained under, within and […]

OK! so you wish to study abroad, and do not have the fortunes to pursue your dreams? Well, it’s not the end of the world for you. When there is a will, there is a way and the way is to get scholarships. Universities around the world are waiting for scholars to do research but […]

Thanks to a Manchester Masjid’s fund raising in the UK, the children now have shoes footballs, table tennis kits, new tracksuits for the boys and the father. The girls have a new abaya each. The mothers are given tapestry and sewing materials to teach the girls the beloved Palestinian artistry of sewing. The family has […]

I, a stranger here in Beit Hanoun, walk down this road at dusk. Every window with a face in offers me ‘Salam.’ The doorway of the sole shop has a family sitting in it, I wave. ‘Assalamu Alaykum’, they shout at me – cheerily. Yes cheerily, I feel the lump in my throat that I […]

I write this from a freezing, dark hostel room in the centre of Gaza. This area is now in a twelve hour blackout, so there will be no hot water to shower with this morning and no internet. After three days here, I feel, dirty, tired and emotionally wrung out. Yet, I know that in […]