Islam’s ability to empower is a magnet to black British youths...
A seminar was hosted last month by Christians Together in England to consider ways to “stem the flight of black British youths to Islam and radicalisation”. In an unprecedented move, Muslims were invited to attend – and they did. Together, both faith groups discussed the reasons why a growing number of young black people are choosing Islam in preference to Christianity. According to this morning’s BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, one in nine black Christian men are converting to Islam. Following in my father’s footsteps, I was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Sunday mass regularly as a child. I also attended a Roman Catholic secondary school – initially a cultural shock as I found myself the only black...
The problem in the Middle East is authoritarianism, not Islam...
August 20, 2013 12:15 AMBy Dani Rodrik Is Islam fundamentally incompatible with democracy? Time and again events compel us to ask this question. And yet it is a question that obscures more than it illuminates. Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia are very different countries, but one thing that they share are Islamist governments (at least until recently in Egypt’s case). To varying degrees, these governments have undermined their democratic credentials by failing to protect civil and human rights and employing heavy-handed tactics against their opponents. Despite repeated assurances, Islamist leaders have shown little interest in democracy beyond winning at the ballot box. So those who believe that the removal of Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi’s government was justified have a point. As the Muslim Brotherhood’s...
Islam’s Antidote to Extremism
Islam addresses the topic of extremism much more than many people think. What’s interesting about the Islamic approach is that it solves the problem at its roots instead of attempting to solve the symptoms. My motivation for writing this piece is two fold. First is to counter what has become a fact in the minds of many non-Muslims that Islam is synonymous to extremism. Second and more importantly is to address some relatively recent examples of Muslim extremism and the fact that this goes against the very essence of Islam. The Qurʾān does use the word Ghulow which can fairly be translated as extremism. In an address to the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians, it says: “Oh...
Swedish women don headscarves after assault on Muslim...
Swedish women have been posting photos of themselves in traditional Muslim headscarves in solidarity with a woman attacked apparently for wearing a veil. Among the protesters from various faiths were politicians and TV hosts. The “hijab outcry” campaigners urged the government to “ensure that Swedish Muslim women are guaranteed the right to… religious freedom”. The victim was taken to hospital after the attacker tore off her hijab and hit her head against a car on Saturday. The assailant also shouted racist insults at the woman – who was pregnant – during the attack on Saturday in a Stockholm suburb, the victim’s friends told Sweden’s media. Police are now investigating the incident. ‘March of...
Islam is the last concern for extremists...
Last Update: Monday, 22 July 2013 KSA 10:58 – GMT 07:58 Several days ago in New York, an American journalist, who is also a friend, asked me about extremism in Islam and about some extremist fighters who became famed as terrorists. He specifically wanted to know what makes a group of people in the Muslim world raise arms against another Muslim group. We were talking about Afghanistan, Pakistan and the unsettled Iraq, where around 2,500 people lost their lives during the past four months in a wave of sectarian and religious violence and the struggle over power. We were talking about the young girls who were brutally killed in Pakistan on their way to school and about the...
US, Canadian imams issue fatwa against honor killings...
Over 30 American imams signed a fatwa Saturday condemning honor killings, after a Canada court convicted Afghan immigrants for murdering four female relatives accused of damaging the family’s reputation. “There is no justification for honor killings, domestic violence and misogyny in Islam,” according to the religious order issued by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada (ISCC) and signed by 34 imams from Canada and the United States. Such violence, including spousal abuse and child abuse in all forms, is “forbidden,” it said. “The relationship between the husband and wife is based upon mutual love and kindness.” Imam Syed Soharwardy, the ISCC’s founder, said the group put out the fatwa “because of the Shafia trial, because it has...
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