There once was a Mullah who had a very bad temper and Muslims were becoming more and more frustrated and scared of him. Shaykh Halva’nai Khana came to learn of this Mullah and went to see him. The Shaykh gave him a bag of nails and a hammer and took him over to the fence in the side of the masjid. He told him every time he lost his temper from that day forward, he was to hammer a nail into that fence. The very first day, the Mullah had driven thirty-seven nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, … Continue reading Superman, The Mullah & The Shaykh

by Arif Anis Nokia – the world’s largest mobile company in its time, treated Android as rubbish. Yahoo – the world’s leading company, rejected the deal at the last minute – they could have brought Google. Kodak – rejected the digital camera, after all only they knew the photography business. Blockbuster – refused to buy Netflix. Rejected – the corporate landscape of the 21st century flipped and humbled the big companies.What lessons have we learned? There is nothing wrong with taking risks. You must change yourself ahead of time or change will overtake you. Change brings benefits. Reach out to … Continue reading Powerful Companies Humbled

by CGP Staff Executive Summary ■ During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coalition forces –particularly the U.S. military – acknowledged that eliminating terrorism through a military response is impossible. Moving from a kinetic military approach, strategists, policymakers, and counterterrorism experts focused on countering violent extremism (CVE) practices and the use of civil society to put those practices in motion. ■ In Pakistan – a frontline state in the war on terrorism – CVE policies and programs are still fundamentally controversial, misunderstood, and heavily criticized by local human rights groups and religious leaders. ■ Pakistani state institutions and civil society organizations … Continue reading A Critique of Countering Violent Extremism Programs in Pakistan

Britain turns to Nahdlatul Ulama to help formulate a new Indo-Pacific strategy “South and Southeast Asia are poised to emerge as independent pillars of support for the rules-based international order” LONDON, United Kingdom, July 29, 2020: KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf—General Secretary of the world’s largest Muslim organization—has joined a high-profile international commission dedicated to forging “a new approach” to the Indo-Pacific as Britain seeks to place this strategically vital region at the center of its pursuit of a renewed global role in the wake of its exit from the European Union (Brexit). Newly established by the most influential think tank … Continue reading Britain turns to Nahdlatul Ulama to help formulate a new Indo-Pacific strategy

This document contains the complete text of Master Sun Art of War. Sun Tzu lived around 2,500 years ago. Sun Tzu I: Strategic Assessments Military action is important to the nation — it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it.  Therefore measure in terms of five things, use these assessments to make comparisons, and thus find out what the conditions are. The five things are the way, the weather, the terrain, the leadership, and discipline.  The Way means inducing the people to have the same aim as … Continue reading Art Of War

Many UK shops will open on June the 15th. But always check on retailer sites when shops will open as/when in your location. Below is an updated list (as on 13th June 2020) which ones will open and links to their websites. Thanks and remember social distance measures, masks, washing hands and please stay safe. Apple Stores Apple has announced that it plans to reopen UK Apple Stores starting next week on Monday, June 15th after 464 of its stores worldwide were closed in March in response to coronavirus fears, saying today within a statement that all 32 Apple Stores in … Continue reading List of UK stores opening on june 15th and Social distancing measures

by Sir. Muhammad Iqbal PREFACE The Qur’ān is a book which emphasizes ‘deed’ rather than ‘idea’. There are, however, men to whom it is not possible organically to assimilate an alien universe by re-living, as a vital process, that special type of inner experience on which religious faith ultimately rests. Moreover, the modern man, by developing habits of concrete thought– habits which Islam itself fostered at least in the earlier stages of its cultural career– has rendered himself less capable of that experience which he further suspects because of its liability to illusion.  The more genuine schools of Sufism have, … Continue reading The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam

‘This is possibly the single largest design flaw contributing to the bad Nash equilibrium in which … many governments are stuck. Every individual high-functioning competent person knows they can’t make much difference by being one more face in that crowd.’ Eliezer Yudkowsky, AI expert, LessWrong etc. ‘[M]uch of our intellectual elite who think they have “the solutions” have actually cut themselves off from understanding the basis for much of the most important human progress.’ Michael Nielsen, physicist and one of the handful of most interesting people I’ve ever talked to. ‘People, ideas, machines — in that order.’ Colonel Boyd. ‘There … Continue reading ‘Two hands are a lot’ — we’re hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos… (by Dominic Cummings)

“The Art of War teaches us not to rely on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming , but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.” – Sun Tzu The aim of Krav Maga is to counteract a threat as quickly as possible. The goal is to dominate and immobilise an attacker quickly. The reason many learn self defence is simply to preserve their own life but they don’t learn actual techniques to defend themselves. Krav Maga along with Target … Continue reading Sun Tzu & Defending Your Self (& Loved Ones)

Author Cian O’Driscoll Professor of Politics, University of Glasgow Disclosure statement Cian O’Driscoll received funding from the Independent Social Research Foundation and Economic and Social Research Council for this work. He is the author of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War. ………………………………………………… Kurdish forces seized control of the Syrian town of Kobani in January 2015 after a four-month battle with Islamic State fighters. Footage of their triumph was relayed around the world. A global audience witnessed Kurdish troops indulge in raucous celebrations as they raised their flag on the hill that once flew the IS black banner. And so it … Continue reading Can wars no longer be won?