Answer Dear Brohter, it’s haram to do masturbation by your hands (only masturbation with wife hands is allowed) see the following fatwas The prohibition of masturbation (shafi school) Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed Since contemporary physicians say that masturbation is not harmful to the body, and since things are originally permissible, what is the wisdom behind prohibiting masturbation? Is there a spiritual harm in it? Masturbation with one’s own hand, rather than the hand of one’s wife, is unlawful. As Imam ash-Shafi‘i noted, the evidence for the prohibition of masturbation is the word of Allah Most High: “ …those who … Continue reading Every Sperm is Sacred!

By Daan Bauwens ANKARA – A political initiative to eliminate discrimination against the Alevi, Turkey’s main religious minority, risks being stymied by the Diyanet, the country’s powerful religious body that does not recognize anything but Sunni Islam. Between June 2009 and January 2010, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) organized seven different workshops to discuss a roadmap towards equal citizenship for the Alevis. Dede Ali Yaman, who attended a workshop in January, told Inter Press Service (IPS) that the theologians of the directorate of religious affairs were still resisting Alevi demands. “I have the impression that the AKP government … Continue reading Turkey’s Alevi strive for recognition

By Zorawar Daulet Singh The international system, we were told after the 2008 blowback on Wall Street, had entered a “new era”. The Eastern hemisphere would henceforth dictate the terms of high politics and geo-economics. Asia’s rise was now all but inevitable. While this belief has resonated widely in the international policy community, it was the Chinese leaders who might have taken their great power status a little too seriously. On the other side of the equation, it appears that the strategic community in the United States overstated its relative decline – a result of the geopolitical woes emanating from … Continue reading China takes a step back

By Sergei Blagov Russia has repeatedly pledged to expand its trade with China, as the Kremlin appeared to view these commercial ties as an important indicator of what was officially described as a bilateral strategic partnership. Although bilateral trade was adversely affected by the global economic downturn, Moscow also achieved a sizable surplus in its trade with China in 2009. Last year, bilateral trade between Russia and China declined 32% to US$38.8 billion, according to Russian and Chinese statistics. Chinese exports to Russia fell 47% in the year to $17.5 billion, according to Russia’s trade representative in Beijing, Sergei // … Continue reading Russia moves into trade surplus with China

By Dmitry Shlapentokh While Iran is more usually in the news over claims that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons, recent success in the nation’s nascent space program stands as testament to cosmic ambitions. Iranian authorities described the February 3 launch of a Kavoshgar-3 rocket as part of a space research project. A manned mission would follow the experimental capsule – which contained a mouse, a turtle and worms – into orbit, they said. “[Iranian] scientists will be sent into space and they will observe the universe from there,” President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said on February 3 as he unveiled … Continue reading Mullahs In Space! – Iran’s echoes of another cosmic plan

By Spengler The fact that Ha’aretz, Israel’s left-leaning daily, found it necessary on February 17 to warn the Benjamin Netanyahu government not to attack Iran [1] strongly suggests that the option is on the table. It seems clear that the administration of US President Barack Obama never will use force against Iran, despite the Iranian regime’s open contempt for Washington and the international community. US Secretary of State Clinton this week responded with a direct “no” – not “all options are on the table” – when asked if America was planning a military strike. During a February 16 visit to … Continue reading The case for an Israeli strike against Iran

By Kamran Bokhari, Peter Zeihan and Nathan Hughes On February 13, some 6,000 United States Marines, soldiers and Afghan National Army troops launched a sustained assault on the town of Marjah in Helmand province. Until this latest offensive, the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) effort in Afghanistan had been constrained by other considerations, most notably Iraq. Western forces viewed the Afghan conflict as a matter of holding the line or pursuing targets of opportunity. But now, armed with larger forces and a new strategy, the war – the real war – has begun. The most recent offensive – … Continue reading The meaning of Marjah?