The Moral Maturity of Two-Year-Olds: The Reward and Punishment Mentality Among Muslims



No wonder the ummah is in the state it is in! We keep ourselves morally at the age of two-year-olds and destroy relationships between one another with legalism, literalism, and self-centeredness. And we wonder why our rulers are so bad? We wonder why we can't get ahead? We wonder why the world doesn’t look to Islam for guidance. It should be obvious.

Progressive Music for Progressive Muslims? How Radiohead and Others Are Blurring the Line Between Music and Politics



But as bad as things seem to get, there always remains a glimmer of hope. There are still quite a few bands out there that are saying something that matters, creating what can actually be termed “art.” Art which makes you think, reflect, question, sometimes even hope and dream.

Why I Am Leaving This Country: Daniel Pipes and the Failure of Democracy in America



Continuing to teach in the US is no longer an option for me, particularly since I will have no chance to clear my name before Congress. So I am moving to Canada in a few days where I will apply for citizenship and try to rebuild my 20-year university career in a functioning democracy.

Letters from Palestine: Babies and Blockades



Discussions are numerous, fierce, and very funny. Humor peppers all political discussion. However, it seems it is only me who laughs.

Play-In for Peace



Laura Weil called me as the bombing of Iraq raged on. She had been touched by our Hug-a-Jew series and wanted to organize a baby picnic. She called it a children’s play-in for peace. People in Iraq were getting blown up into bits, and Laura wanted to participate in something positive where she could bring her baby child. The downtown marches had been fun till the bombing started, but now the crackdown on marchers and mischief -makers was starting to get ugly.

Why Turks Rock



In Egypt, the followers of Hasan al-Banna ask: "What professional organization will we stack out and take over next before the upcoming elections when Uncle Husni throws us in jail to secure his 99.9996% majority?" In Pakistan, the followers of Sayyid Maududi ask: "What clause of the constitution will we islamize next while we still have a military dictatorship to suck up to?". In Indonesia, the followers of Abdullah Sungkar ask: "Which nightclub shall we bomb next?" In Turkey, the followers of Esad Cosan and Said Nursi and Fethullah Gulen and every other Islamic activist-scholar ask: "When am I going to make my next million??"

War Criminal to Head Islamic Conference? Bangladeshis Oppose Chowdhury Nomination



In spite of two war crimes cases, and witnesses who charge him with forming death squads in 1971, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury is a rehabilitated and powerful man. Alleged to be a “crime godfather” with a private paramilitary, Chowdhury is now the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Affairs Advisor. But the startling news is that Bangladesh has nominated him to be Secretary General of the OIC.

Letters from Palestine: A Canadian Comes Home to Hebron



I made it to Palestine on Tuesday, May 28 after a brief but painful stay in Jordan. I was held at the airport for five hours and my passport was taken away. I was given a piece of paper and told to go to a certain government agency within 48 hours to get my passport from there. It was a nightmare.

'We Have to Believe the Worst': Indonesia's War in Aceh



In the small province of Aceh, the Indonesian military (TNI), one of the most brutal armies in the world, has begun its largest military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and many are fearing the worst.

Hug Joan Sekler



During the whole controversy, the media was concentrating on the hanging chads and butterfly ballots. But that was never part of the Republican plan in Florida. The real story is how they systematically suppressed the African American vote.

Apartheid Israel: A South African's Perspective



While in the South African context there existed theses which classified apartheid as ‘internal colonialism’, there never was in South Africa a comparable situation to the colonialism in the West Bank and Gaza. Furthermore, the objective of the Zionist project as far as the Occupied Territory is concerned is the realisation of the Zionist myth that ‘Palestine is a land without a people for a people without a land’. Ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population of the OPT has always been on the Zionist political agenda.

Happy 4th of July: According to Frederick Douglass



This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice. I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?

Midnight All These Years: Anwar, Mahathir, and the Search for Daylight in Malaysia



Nearly five years after Anwar’s sacking and subsequent jailing, many things still look the same in this country. The ruling party and the opposition are still engaged in a project of mutual excoriation as infidels. The Malaysian government is still pursuing its aggressive and authoritarian policy of modernization. The Islamist opposition is still denouncing all of these efforts as “un-Islamic”. Public debate is still couched in language that appeases the country’s Malay and Muslim sensitivities. Some things have changed, though. But what, exactly?