When Gamal Abdel Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, it may surprise people that it was the Egyptian singer, Leila Murad, a Mizrahi Jew, who was chosen as the Revolution’s official singer. Murad was chosen over the much-loved Egyptian singer and darling of the Arab world, Umm Kalthoum. The fact is that Mizrahi Jews — Arab Jews — have …

Definition: Supplicating Allah by means of an intermediary, whether it be a living  person, dead person, or a name or attribute of Allah Most High. Yusuf Rifa’i: I here want to convey the position, attested to by compelling legal evidence, of the orthodox majority of Sunni Muslim on the subject of supplicating Allah through an intermidiary (tawassul), and so I …

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I’d been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women …

Liberal spaces within Europe have brought many more Muslim women out of their old confinements Europe is at risk of being ‘colonised’ by its Muslim populations, argue a number of bestselling new books, acclaimed across the political spectrum. How has such hysteria gone unchallenged? Pankaj Mishra on the ‘Eurabia-mongers’ A number of new books are promoting the idea that Europe …

Mick Napier, Chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign 21 March 2008 A Palestinian killed eight Israeli students in a settler movement training centre, in retaliation for Israel’s massacre of over a hundred Gazans, mostly civilians. Hundreds of the seminary students later chanted “Death to the Arabs” at the gates of their seat of learning.[1] This was somehow missed by …

TEHRAN (Dispatches) — UN atomic agency head Mohamed ElBaradei said here on Sunday that remaining differences between Iran and the world powers could be resolved through diplomacy after the two sides held talks in Geneva last week as he announced that UN experts will inspect Iran’s newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant on Oct. 25. “The relation between Iran and the …