The violence of Islamism has emerged as a subject of anxious concern throughout the world, especially the Muslim world. In the United States, the Islamic resistance to Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan and such incidents as the alleged plot to blow up the International Trade Center in New York City, have aided the media and oth […].
Emerging Civil Society in Iran
In recent years the issue of civil society has taken on new salience among students of international affairs. The emergence of civil society as a vehicle for democratization in Eastern Europe and Latin America has led to increasing scholarly attention to the role of non-state actors in promoting political and economic reform In recent years the issue of […].
Letter to a Young Muslim, by Tariq Ali
Dear friend Remember when you approached me after the big antiwar meeting in November 2001 (I think it was Glasgow) and asked whether I was a believer? Dear friend Remember when you approached me after the big antiwar meeting in November 2001 (I think it was Glasgow) and asked whether I was a believer? I have not forgotten the shock you registered when […].
Re-colonizing Iraq
On 15 February 2003, over eight million people marched on the streets of five continents against a war that had not yet begun. This first truly global mobilization—unprecedented in size, scope or scale—sought to head off the occupation of Iraq being plotted in the Pentagon On 15 February 2003, over eight million people marched on the streets of five cont […].
Globalized Islam
In 2002, after years of work on political Islam, French scholar Olivier Roy published a major book on “globalized Islam” *. A revised and updated version of this work has now been published in English. According to Roy’s analysis, contemporary Islamic projects are becoming increasingly disconnected from a particular territory, partly as a consequence of […].
The experience and doctrine of love in Ibn Arabî
By God, I feel so much love that it seems as though the skies would be rent asunder, the stars fall and the mountains move away if I burdened them with it: such is my experience of love…”
Shoul Physicians Prescribe Religious Activities ?
There is increasing interest among the general public and the medical community in the role of religion in medicine. Polls indicate that the U.S. population is highly religious; most people believe in heaven and hell, the healing power of prayer, and the capacity of faith to aid in the recovery from disease. There is increasing interest among the general […].
Whither Political Islam?
Thinking of modern jihad as simply a cultural extension of Islam is a common, and unfortunate, mistake. Two new books by Gilles Kepel and Olivier Roy offer better historical and sociological explanations, but they are only a start. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West. By Gilles Kepel. Cambridge: Belknap, 2004, 336 pp. $23.95. Globalized Islam: […].
Give us back our democracy
In a speech in the Senate on 19 March, the first day of war against Iraq, Robert Byrd, the Democrat Senator from West Virginia, asked: ’What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our […].
Beyond Jihad Vs. McWorld
The terrorist attacks of September 11 did without a doubt change the world forever, but they failed to change the ideological viewpoint of either the left or the right in any significant way. The terrorist attacks of September 11 did without a doubt change the world forever, but they failed to change the ideological viewpoint of either the left or the ri […].
The freedom of thought and religion in Islam -III-
The critical review of the deniers of freedom of thought and religion would require a long time and can not be paid to just in this article. In the time that we have among the various judgments we would pay to three famous judgments that deal with freedom of religion and thought and we believe that these three are the most important concerning this area. […].
The freedom of thought and religion in Islam -II-
In this section we are to first present the religious proof of the freedom of religion and thought in religion and second critic the mentioned evidence of the deniers of the freedom of religion and thought. Before paying to this important subject we would first answer this introductory question that if freedom is the base in religion and thought and denyi […].
The freedom of thought and religion in Islam – I-
One of the assumptions in the dialogue of the civilizations is accepting the variety of ideas and religions. The civilizations are based on different cultures and different cultures have been found on the basis of various schools of thought and religions. Dialogue of civilizations and cultures is not possible without freedom of religion and thought. Firs […].
The Call for Islamic Protestantism
Dr. Hashem Aghajari, a University of Hamedan history lecturer, journalist, and active member of the reformist Islamic Revolution’s Mujahideen Organization (IRMO), is a disabled veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. In June 2002, Aghajari delivered an address commemorating the 25th anniversary of the death of Dr. ’Ali Shari’ati, a prominent intellectual and one of […].
The Clash of civilizations.
This article does not argue that civilization identities will replace all other identities, that nation states will disappear, that each civilization will become a single coherent political entity, that groups within a civilization will not conflict with and even fight each other. THE NEXT PATTERN OF CONFLICT World politics is entering a new phase, and […].
Cultures in the 21st Century: Conflicts and Convergences.
Delivered at Colorado College February 4, 1999. Introduction I am greatly honored by and deeply grateful for the opportunity to address this important assembly concerned with the role of culture in the coming century. Let me begin by congratulating Dean Fuller, Professor Carter, and their associates on two points. First, I congratulate them on the 125th […].
Global Crisis
A SMALL news item reported that Prince Walid Ibn Talal of Saudi Arabia had donated $10m to the American University of Cairo to establish a centre of American studies. The young billionaire had offered an unsolicited $10m to New York City soon after 11 September 2001, with a letter that described the gift as a tribute to New York and suggested that the Uni […].
Islamic Civil Society.
We can certainly move the present as well as the future generation towards the new Islamic civilization through setting our eyes on horizons farther away, being together with understanding and helping each other as brothers. For this to become a reality, all of us must dedicate ourselves to the realization of the “Islamic civil society in our respective co […].
