-
Kurds in the Hydro-Politics of the Region
“We made every living thing from water.” The Holy Qur’an (sura XXI, ayat 30)[1] Credits: The Smithsonian Magazine Euphrates and Tigris – the two famous rivers of the Ancient Mesopotamia “have seen the rise of ancient civilizations and the early development of irrigation practices dating back to the Sumerian and Akkadian periods (4000-5000 BC),” as noted by Marwa Daoudy.[2] Their political, environmental, cultural and economic importance remains clear to any historian of the region. Access to water in the Middle…
-
London by night . . .
I guess nobody ever really does mean to fall in love. But it happens, and love brands itself on your brain. It’s like a new street appearing overnight in the city you’ve lived in your whole life. The street is one way only and you can’t turn around and get off it, and it curves up ahead so that you can only see far enough to know that you’re heading into the unknown. “I often think the night is more…
-
Individual Thinking and the Shari’ah Based System of Governance
“I am a human being; if I order you to do something regarding your religion you must comply. But if I order you to do something on the basis of my opinion, well I am just a human being. You know better in matters concerning your worldly affairs.”[1] – Prophet Muhammad Radical Islamist movements frequently argue that “Islam is the solution” to all the Muslim predicaments and that the “Qur’an is the [only] constitution.”[2] Following this line of argument, Sayyid Qutb often…
-
Does Hobbes give the sovereign too much power?
“For by art is created that great Leviathan called a Commonwealth, or State (in Latin, Civitas), which is but an artificial man, though of greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in which the sovereignty is an artificial soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body (…).”[1] Thomas Hobbes is certainly one of the most controversial and frequently contested political philosophers of modern times. Although Hobbes is sometimes called…
-
‘Banlieues de l’Islam’ in the context of Copenhagen School of Security
“The world of Islam may do more to define and shape Europe in the twenty-first century than the United States, Russia, or even the European Union.”[1] Timothy M. Savage Islam has always played a very distinctive role in shaping relations between Français de souche[2] and the Arab migrant population. The last thirty years of French history clearly indicate Islam’s strong impact on both the security and domestic policy of the republic. This essay examines the current existence of Islamic population in France…
-
World AIDS Day 2009
— World AIDS Day 2009 — This week I’d like to remember all the millions of people that died of AIDS. This truly dramatic pandemic spread across all levels of societies all across the globe. We may, indeed, be lucky to live in the Western World, where HIV drugs are normally widely available. But we cannot forget that millions of young kids and babies die every minute in Sub-Saharan Africa. I really truly hope that all the…
-
Reason and Knowledge in Islam
— Reason and Knowledge in Islam — Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) numerously spoke of human knowledge with extremely high respect. One may, indeed, conclude that the attainment of knowledge became even a religious requirement for his followers. The following hadiths could certainly serve as a justification of such a claim: “The word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer, so wherever he finds it he has a better right to it.” (Tirmidhi 39:19) “The seeking of knowledge is obligatory…
-
Women of Allah. Veils, Words and Guns: Gender and the Media Coverage of Islam
‘Islam’ defines a relatively small proportion of what actually takes place in the Islamic world, which numbers a billion of people, and includes dozens of countries, societies, traditions, languages, and, of course, an infinite number of different experiences.[1] Edward Said Credits: Shirin Neshat Islam is by far the most politicised religion of the current times. Literary history, centuries of colonisation, contemporary media coverage, as well as the neo-Orientalist jargon of the ongoing ‘War on Terror’; all imply a fundamental divide and a…
-
Salman Rushdie and the freedom…
Watching a documentary on this incredible affair that arose after the publication of Satanic Verses brought up couple of rather distressing dilemmas. Should we allow a book like this ever see the light? Or should we rather be more ‘careful’ and ‘respectful’? Should we allow Geert Wilders enter the United Kingdom knowing that he would definitely stir up a lot of public distress? Or shall we put ‘the public safety and security’ above the freedom of expressing opinion? And finally,…
-
Radical Islamism & its roots
‘(…) a response to the impact of modernity, Western encroachment, misrule by the national elite, and a whole series of massive economic and social dislocations. The result was a crisis of identity and a search for authenticity’. David Zeidan Radical Islamism has recently become a truly global phenomenon, somehow intrinsic to Middle Eastern political arena of the late 20th and the 21st century. This distinctive political ideology is, however, very often misunderstood and misused. The horrifying extent to which Islamic…
