A myriad of affiliations abound in the life of a Muslim. Some people identify with their country, some with their favorite sports club. Others identify with their ethnicity or tribal loyalties, still others with their career or preferred musical genre.

In the second year of the Hijrah, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله وسلمset out on the 8th of Ramadan with three hundred and five of his Sahabah mounted on seventy camels. ‘Amr ibn Umm Maktum was assigned to lead the prayer while Abu Lubabah was left in charge of Madinah.

While the Obama administration continues to affirm its intention to withdraw US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the US’ military presence in the Muslim world is actually expanding and this is exacerbating tensions and inflaming animosities.

With the latest in-your-face act of the Facebook, the issue is once again attracting headlines. Should Muslims react? How should they react? Where do they stand on the philosophical issue underlying all this?

Afierce controversy is raging in the United States over plans to build an Islamic community and outreach centre, including a mosque, in Lower Manhattan, several blocks from “Ground Zero” – the site where the World Trade Centre stood when it was attacked on September 11, 2001.The controversy started when the Cordoba Initiative, led by Imam […]

Hungry and thirsty, the survivors of the Pakistan floods wait in sodden tents for aid to get through, struggling to come to terms with the events of recent days.

In the days since whistleblower website Wikileaks released more than 90,000 military reports chronicling the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009, journalists and commentators have written extensively about the deteriorating security situation they describe.

History is about to take a monumental turn in the rugged, desolate hills and dales of Afghanistan where the world’s sole superpower leads an alliance facing defeat at the hands of the nameless resistance fighters of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

In contrast to World War II and Desert Storm — which had clear goals, even though those of the latter were limited — the war in Afghanistan resembles the Spanish-American War and the Vietnam War.

The growing rift between the American regime and military became evident with the upset of General McChrystal but more importantly, it reminded us of something bigger: the American war strategy in Afghanistan has largely failed and American military is fast losing its confidence in the Afghan war. Indeed, for war experts and strategists, it was […]