LATEST ARTICLES
Radical Islamism and Jihad
Surely it’s time to recall how appeasing terrorism culminated in the
horrific disaster of 2007. That’s when Islamabad became a battlefield above
which thick smoke filled the sky for days....
Islamic World News
Sunni Waqf Board May Also Form A Trust on The Lines of Shree Ram
Teerth Kshetra Trust, To Facilitate Construction of Mosque
With Lal Masjid Standoff Unresolved, Prayer Leader At
Masjid-E-Shuhada Occupies State-Owned Mosque In Islamabad
The CEO Of Ryanair Said Muslim Men Are More Likely to Be 'Bombers'
And Should Be Profiled at Airports
Trump to Call for Pak-India Talks, Peace Along LoC
Al-Qaeda And Islamic State Groups Are Working Together In West
Africa To Grab Large Swaths Of Territory
Alarm in Holy Land, Jerusalem's Church Of The Holy Sepulchre And
The Cave Of The Patriarchs In The Occupied West Bank After Visit By Pilgrims
With Coronavirus
U.S., Taliban Start Weeklong Partial Truce in Effort to End Afghan
War
Time for Muslim Leaders To Stand Up For Their Colleagues: Islamic
Affairs Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa
Grave of Slain Iraq Commander, A New Anti-US Magnet
Compiled
By New Age Islam News Bureau
For Details And More News From
All Regions, Please Click, ‘Read More'
Islam, Women and Feminism
Demanding Repeal of The Citizenship Law,1,000 Jafrabad Women Block
Delhi Road Over CAA, Back Bhim Army's Strike Call
Saudi Arabia’s Reform Drive Empowering Women, Morgan Ortigas, US
Diplomat Says
Rising Divorces, A Sign of Justice, Not Arrogance
Compiled
By New Age Islam News Bureau
Islamic Ideology
Noted for his intellectual
depth and spiritual orientation, Hassan al-Basri promoted a version of Islam
that pressed for the need to rid society of all the social ills through personal
spiritual endeavour....
Islamic World News
• Another
Sex Worker of Daulatia Brothel Gets Islamic Funeral In Bangladesh
• Shaheen
Bagh: Protesters OK With Opposite Carriageway Opening
• Lal
Masjid’s Shuhada Foundation Moves IHC to Reopen Mosque
• Trump
Plans to Raise Issue Of Religious Freedom With Indian PM Modi
• Hanau
Shooting: 'This Would Be A Top News Story If The Shooter Was Muslim'
• Global
Watchdog FATF Places Iran On Terrorism Financing Blacklist
• Libyan
National Army’s Haftar Says Ready for Ceasefire with Conditions
• UN
Says Fears ‘Bloodbath’ In Syria, Urges Halt To Fighting
Compiled
By New Age Islam News Bureau
For
Details And More News From All Regions, Please Click, ‘Read More'
Islam, Women and Feminism
• Muslim
Women come out to Join Anti-CAA Protests at Ludhiana’s Shaheen Bagh
• Amritsar:
Takht Jathedar Meets Pakistan Sikh Girl's Family
• Bengaluru:
Woman Held For 'Kashmir, Dalit, Muslim Mukti' Placard Sent To 14-Day Judicial
Custody
• Ensuring
Women-Owned Business Stand A Chance
• Theatrical
Performance Highlights Violence against Women
• Japan
Gives Egypt $US 83,708 Grant To Support Women’s Empowerment
Compiled
By New Age Islam News Bureau
The War Within Islam
Saudi Arabia has jealously guarded its claim to being the “guardian of
Islam” by being the undisputed leader in donating humanitarian aid to the Muslim
world, with foreign aid contributions exceeding $90 billion – or 3.7 percent of
its annual gross domestic product in thirty years spanning 1975 to 2005....
The War Within Islam
When we asked Arabs what their foreign policy priorities were for the
region, far and away their top choices are investing more of the region’s
wealth and expertise in creating a more prosperous and stable Arab World and
promoting greater political unity among the Arab states....
Islam and Sectarianism
Since Pakistan’s independence in 1947, until the mid-1970s, the
Pakistani government was largely secular. But on 26 March 1971, Eastern
Pakistan was declared the independent state of Bangladesh, and most of the
Pakistani Hindus (who lived in Bangladesh) separated from Pakistan...
Islam and the West
More significant perhaps is the fact that Trump’s plan was condemned by
107 Democrats in the US Congress, who warned that “the plan threatens to renew
violence in Israel and the occupied territories, as well as the peace treaties
between Israel and Jordan and Egypt...
BEST OF BEFORE ARTICLES
Books and Documents
Barren
sandy desert, extremely hot climate, and scarcity of water resources made the
heartland of the Arabian Peninsula an inhospitable abode for man
since ancient times. Its original people were pagans, except for some
Unitarians (ahnaf) who contemplated on the Oneness of God. In the post
Judeo-Christian era, pockets of wet fertile land attracted Jewish and Christian
settlers from the adjoining regions, and became isolated centres of trade and
commerce. However, the vast stretches of the desert heartland that only
sustained a nomadic life, remained in a primitive state until the advent of
Islam. The nomadic tribes had preserved their ancestral paganism, with each
tribe having its own idol; and the Ka‘ba, a cubical shrine at the heart of an
ancient sanctuary (Haram) in Mecca, was the centre of idol worship. The
nomadic Arabs were largely unlettered, had no notion of central state or
kingdom, and their social and moral norms were based on traditions (Sunnah) and
dictated by the struggle for survival. .....
Islam and Politics
Kejriwal certainly knew and tapped the insecurity gripping the Muslims.
It was as if he did not need their votes, but Muslims needed to vote for him. …
This certainly is not new for Muslims; they have voted for the Congress and
other regional parties by the same logic. But this is also a reminder that
Muslim political representation needs to chart out a new course. A course in
which they are able to decide whom to vote for based on some concrete agenda
which helps the community….
Radical Islamism and Jihad
The clergy is required to counter
the exclusivist Jihadi theology of violence and supremacism which is primarily
based on the traditional Islamic theology of consensus of all schools of
thought. This has to be done through a counter-narrative based on a new
inclusivist theology of peace and pluralism. But to do that the clergy will
have to work towards evolving a new theology that is different from the
traditional theology taught in madrasas. It is this age-old theology that is
used by Jihadis to propagate their message.
It cannot be stressed enough that
the reason Jihadis have been able to capture the imagination of thousands of
our youth the world over is that they are not saying anything new. They are
simply showing a way to practice what the ulema (religious scholars) have been
preaching. The Jihadi narrative is the traditional Islamic theological
narrative of Islam domination over all other religious beliefs, and eradication
of what it considers the biggest crimes humanity can commit, particularly shirk,
polytheism or idol worship, and kufr, rejection of the prophethood of
Hazrat Mohammad (pbuh). All the most eminent scholars of Islam from Imam
Ghazali (11th-12th century) to Imam Ibn-e-Taimiya (13th-14th
century), Mujaddid Alf-e-Saani Sheikh Sirhindi (16th-17th
century), Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlavi (18th century) have shown
a vision of political Islam that was finally given a more definite form in the
20th century by Maulana Syed Abul A’la Maududi, Hassan al-Banna, and
Syed Qutb. The Jihadi ideologues of the 21st century may be
stressing some parts of this traditional narrative more vigorously and
downplaying some other aspects. But they are not saying anything that is
entirely new or radically different.
Jihadi literature has not dropped
from the sky all of a sudden. This is not the creation of Osama bin Laden or
so-called “Khalifa” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Their narrative of world domination,
fighting those who do not accept the message of Islam is basically what is
taught in all our madrasas. The definition of Jihad as fighting those who do
not accept the oneness of God and prophethood of Mohammad (pbuh) is found in
books of every school of Sunni fiqh (jurisprudence), be it Hanafi,
Malaki, Shafei or Hanbali. Indeed, even Shia theology does not differ much with
Sunnis in matters of political Islam. They too want world domination for Islam
and desire to subdue all non-Muslims.
Islam and Politics
Why does the Board feel that it is its duty to represent Indian Muslims?
Has the Muslim community ever elected them to this responsible position? Do
they even have the mandate to speak on behalf of Muslim community which
constitutes a diverse array of opinions and even religious orientations? Do
they have the right to speak on behalf of thousands of Muslim women and men who
want to reform such personal law within their community? Certainly not. Then
why is that the highest court of this country entertains them as if they are
the custodians of Indian Muslims?...
Radical Islamism and Jihad
A War on Terror
has been raging for 17 years now but we are no closer to defeating Islamist
terror. Jihadism continues to attract Muslim youth. This is because the world
has not paid enough attention to the ideology of Islamism and Jihadism.
Mainstream
Muslims have considered Islam a spiritual path to salvation, one of the many.
Islam aims at reforming society for a peaceful, harmonious, pluralist
existence. However, due to certain historical factors, the theology and
jurisprudence of Islam that evolved in the 8th and 9th
centuries (CE), present Islam as a political, totalitarian ideology of
supremacism, xenophobia, intolerance and gender discrimination. It is this
theology of violence, exclusivism and world-domination that is taught in
madrasas and sustains Islamism. But despite the Islamist violence against
peaceful Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the community is still not focussed on
the need for evolving a counternarrative of Islam.
It is imperative that Muslim countries that
have signed the UN Charter look into the issue urgently and work towards
developing a new theology of peace, pluralism and gender justice. While several
countries like Morocco and now Saudi Arabia appear to be moving in this
direction, the one country that has made a solid contribution is Turkey. In a
decade-long exercise 100 Turkish scholars have managed to limit the number of
authentic ahadith to just 1600, out of over 10,000, and provide each hadith
with context and suitable interpretation. This book of authentic Hadith has been
provided to all mosques in Turkey but I hope it is made available to the global
Muslim community in their own languages as soon as possible.
Allama Iqbal, a
poet-philosopher of the South Asian sub-continent had called for the
reconstruction of religious thought in Islam almost a hundred years ago. Let us
at least start working on it now....
Islamic Ideology
The violence, sectarianism and terrorism in the name of religion can
only be fought once religious texts and different schools of thought are
engaged critically and reinterpreted in the changed circumstances. Sufism
offers a range of discourses that can help in reining the vices like terrorism
and violence....
Islam,Terrorism and Jihad
Facing the brutalities of Islamist terror, while President Obama will not go beyond calling it violent extremism, the head of Sunni Islam's oldest seat of learning, Jamia al-Azhar admitted in a counter-terrorism conference in Mecca that extremism was caused by “corrupt interpretations of Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad”, and Islamic curriculums needed to change.
This call for reform, coming from Jamia Al-Azhar, is gratifying. But a half-hearted approach to reform will not work. The problems Muslims face are very basic and cannot be solved with mere tinkering with text-books. The global Muslim community will have to introspect. One question repeatedly asked, for instance, is about the contextual verses of the holy Quran that are utilised by Jihadists to brainwash our youth. Jihadists present these contextual verses as an eternal guide for Muslims.
One would imagine that the followers of Islam who believe, and many certainly do, that Islam is a religion of spirituality, peace, coexistence and tolerance, would be up in arms against the Islamic State. But while routine denunciations from some sections do come occasionally, there is no outrage visible in the Muslim society. The world cannot help noticing that while tens of thousands of Muslims come out on streets to demonstrate the moment there is an allegation of so-called blasphemy against any one, hardly any Muslim would protest at the myriad brutalities perpetrated by Islamist terrorists.
Clearly there is something wrong, some disconnect, some deeper and more complex phenomenon at work than what can be understood from a superficial look at the issue. Instead of expressing outrage, we find thousands of Muslim young men and women running from their comfortable homes, private schools and cushy jobs to fight and join in the brutalities of the so-called Islamic State. Some 12,000 Muslim young men and women are said to have joined so far from 80 countries……
Islam and Politics
It is the bravery and the far-sightedness of these protests that they
have not allowed any religious cleric to come near them. What also needs to be
underlined is that the established Muslim leaders of different political
parties have not been allowed to make political speeches. The beauty of the
movement is that it is acephalous wherein young people are refusing to be cowed
down despite brutal repression at some places....
Islamic Society
Interestingly out of the
two different displays of “Islamic conduct” what was being supposed has been
proved wrong. The Jihadist ideology was trying to brainwash Muslims to fight
‘Jihad’ for their religion and eliminate the “Kufr-system” of democracy. But
the protesting Muslims have rejected the jihadist ideology, exclusion and
supremacism. Instead they have proven with their peaceful protests that they
will die remaining, though as a minority part of the Indian democracy, but will
never walk on the path of violence, nor on the path that leads to ‘detention
centres’....
Islam and Spiritualism
Social responsibility is accorded the highest importance in Islam. Its
scope extends to all of humanity, Muslims and non-Muslims alike...