THE poor will be the people of Paradise. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who was born poverty-stricken – and who lived a life of poverty out of choice – made a prayer that he would be raised amongst the poor on Resurrection Day. Of course, Islam has never scorned honourably earned[…]

IMAGES on Al-Jazeera of Egypt’s National Democratic Party’s headquarters going up in flames were of a Cairo I’d never seen before. The buzzing crowds on the corniche, trying to tip a troop carrier into the river, were not taking in the air for fun. For on most cool January winter[…]

WHEN Tunisia’s dictator of 23 years, Zine Abidine Ben Ali, scurried off into exile with over a ton of gold looted from the Banque de Tunisie worth 62 million dollars, the Arab world shook. Muammar Ghadaffi, Libya’s eccentric but oligarchic “Brother Leader” of 42 years, dispatched two fighter jets to[…]

Since 9/11 Muslims have been trying to win back the middle ground. Whilst this battle has not been helped by the spectre of extremism, significant, but unheralded, gains have been made. The post 9/11 era for many Muslims has been hallmarked by an ideological tussle between extremism and the middle[…]

WHEN I FIRST VISITED GAZA in 1997 with a tour group we caught the Israelis off guard. We did not know, but it was Shabat, the Jewish day of rest. We were dropped off at the Erez checkpoint, then an unsightly clutter of barbed wire and pre-fabricated buildings. Nobody was[…]

IT’S been a few months now, and Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool is settling into his new job as South Africa’s representative in the US. It’s a far cry from Cape Town and the raging southeaster. In windless Washington the trees are turning gold in the soft autumn sunlight. Apart from having[…]

IPSA SPRING SEMINAR 2010 I am glad that Dr Auwais Rafudien, our Spring Seminar co-ordinator, has given me – admittedly a non-academic – some room for manoeuvre in his briefing. This evocative title, “South African media coverage of Muslims since 1994: villains, heroes, or zeroes?” is an ambitious one. To[…]

WHILST I can’t say that I’m exempt from its symptoms of ignorance, the chronic lack of honesty and ‘ilm reflected by those parading as arbiters of Islam today is absolutely mind-boggling. Their from-the-holster readiness to declare religious opinion – usually negative and frequently misinformed – is a stark contrast to[…]

The Hajj, the performance of the Islamic pilgrimage in the precincts of Mecca, coincides with the festival of ‘Eid ul-Adha. This is a festival that is celebrated globally by all Muslims who are not on the Hajj. So for 1, 5 billion Muslims worldwide, there is a simultaneous convergence of[…]