Most modern states are in a bind when it comes to the morality of war, because at some point in their existence they have legitimised the mass killing of civilians as a means of achieving their objectives. Ever since the introduction of the aeroplane as a weapon of war, so-called civilised nations have found ways …
At moments like this, I find myself echoing the angels. And recall when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth generations of man.” They said, “Will You place upon it those who cause corruption therein and shed blood, while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection?” He said, …
It is not that hard to unequivocally condemn a terrorist atrocity. You just need to say, “Killing civilians is unequivocally prohibited in our religion.” There, you did it. No need for an extra, “Yeah but.” No need to waver on, “Where’s your evidence?” No need to add, “But, look, there’s context.” Just state the facts …
And when it is said to them: “Make not mischief on the earth,” they say: “Why, we are only peacemakers!” Verily, they are the ones who make mischief, but they perceive not. Quran 2:11-2
I don’t know if I am normal. I don’t know if my brain functions the same way as everyone else’s. I don’t know whether my emotional empathy is appropriate, or veers widely off course. These thoughts stirred by another of those encounters, repeated throughout my life: a complete stranger yelling at me at the top …
The more you look into international affairs, the more nauseous you become. The reason my focus is forever on the grassroots and not on the state is because at the macro level politics is an extremely unsavoury business. Up there, at the top, they are subservient to every possible malignant industry from arms manufacturing to …
Following a calamitous catastrophe, you could have occupied the moral high ground. You could have said, “We don’t want any other to go through what we’ve been through, or any other to suffer as we have suffered.” But instead you decided that you would respond to barbarism with more barbarism, multiplied over and over. Driven …
While many of my brethren seem to be lurching to the right, knocked off course by the so-called culture war and post-modern gender issues, I feel that society as a whole could do with a little socialism. Young people leaving school could do with a steer into valuable careers. How else are we going to …
Thank goodness for Channel 4 News.
It is a tragedy that we ourselves have become an obstacle to people believing. Daily we present such an odious caricature of faith that instead of inviting them, we push people away. Gone the notion that ours is a path of reform for all. In its place, nothing but a rallying cry for a chosen …
Day and night, we are reminded of the wisdom of our founding principles. After permitting taking up arms as a means of repelling aggression, we are reminded: “But do not transgress the limits.” After allowing those being fought to fight back, we are told: “If they incline to peace, likewise incline to peace.” Warfare is …
It’s a shame that movements which started life as a reaction to imperialism, intent on preserving indigenous culture and mores, ended up as tools of imperialism, serving the foreign policy objectives of faraway states.
Prominent voices in the government of Israel have long considered Hamas an asset. Having directly funded the nascent movement in the 1980s as a means of undermining the PLO, its subsequent evolution into a designated terrorist organisation has often been considered an advantage by right wing hawks in the administration. For whereas the Palestinian Authority …
Whenever I say that Egypt should open its borders immediately to enable the persecuted masses to flee to safety, I am offered this rebuttal: “But if they leave, they will lose their lands forever.” A demand asked of no other people on earth. When the Rohingya fled Myanmar, the masses demanded Bangladesh open its borders, …
