Kambaiz Rafi, UCL and Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham In late August 2021, the US completed its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year occupation. The Taliban retook the country with shocking speed. The Islamic fundamentalist political group was … Continue reading What’s next for Afghanistan? Two experts make predictions
Execution for a Facebook post? Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University ( @prof_ahmetkuru ) Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer in Pakistan, had been imprisoned for six years when he was sentenced to death in December 2019. The charge: blasphemy, … Continue reading Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries
Hossam Metwally case: how exorcism can become a cover for domestic abuse Helen Hall, Nottingham Trent University The sentencing of Hossam Metwally for poisoning his partner, Kelly Wilson, in a series of “exorcisms” was always likely to attract attention. The former … Continue reading How exorcism can become a cover for domestic abuse
How social media – aided by bots – amplifies Islamophobia online Saif Shahin, American University In August 2021, a Facebook ad campaign criticizing Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the United States’ first Muslim congresswomen, came under intense scrutiny. Critics charged that the ads linked the congresswomen with terrorism, and some faith leaders condemned the campaign as “Islamophobic” – that is, spreading fear of Islam and hatred against Muslims. This was hardly the first time the pair faced Islamophobic or racist abuse, especially on the internet. As a communications professor who studies the politics of race and identity online, I have seen … Continue reading How social media amplifies hatred against Muslims
The purported Taliban intention to hold talks with the government and the government’s desire to bring the talks to some logical conclusion have fallen flat owing to mismanagement and lack of trust between both the parties. The inevitability of the lack of trust cannot be argued about any further. The frustration of Chaudhry Nisar with the Taliban’s committee for its flip flop method of working out a peace deal has revealed the absence of common areas of interest between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Whatever has been done to appease the TTP by the government such as releasing its … Continue reading TTP’s ambiguities
While government negotiators distance themselves from talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a high-level meeting on Monday morning, chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, agreed to formalise an agenda for a final push in talks with the terrorists, even as a series of attacks in Karachi and other parts of the country over the last two days left several people dead. An explosion killed three peace committee members in Landikotal on Sunday, while a small bomb exploded inside a Karachi seminary on Monday, killing three children. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar reportedly told the meeting that either the talks needed … Continue reading Waiting Game
The battle of Armageddon The nineteenth century reformer, Jamal ad-Din Afghani (1838-1897), wrote, “Every Muslim is sick, and his only remedy is the Quran.” But to some writers in the west, notably the Irish politician, historian and academic Conor Cruise O’Brien (1917-2008), “the sickness gets worse the more the remedy is taken…Muslim society looks profoundly repulsive…It looks repulsive because it is repulsive…A Westerner who claims to admire Muslim society, while still adhering to Western values, is either a hypocrite or an ignoramus or a bit of both.” On his death he was acclaimed by The Guardian as “probably … Continue reading The Viagra of Mullahs, Rabbis & Pastors – Armageddon
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq suggested on Friday that army officials should be included in the peace process so that talks between the government and Taliban could be fruitful. Haq said that the both negotiating committees have no empowerment and they were working as messengers. The government and the army should give authority to the committees, he said, adding the failure (of the talks) will be a failure for Pakistan. Haq also said that there was no other option except peace talks with Taliban for restoring peace and eliminating terrorism from Pakistan. He said that the national economy has been destroyed and … Continue reading Pakistan Army should be part of peace talks with TTP
by BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT (Photo: Roadcrusher)In the course of his long career Pastor John Hagee has been chasing the end of times, beating a muscular pro-Israeli drum, establishing the world’s largest pro-Israel organization, and accumulating extraordinary wealth. Now, with Blood Moons rising, his End Times war chest is bubbling over. “I believe that the heavens are God’s billboard, that He has been sending signals to planet Earth, and we just haven’t been picking them up.” – Pastor John Hagee Harold Camping, the Oakland, California-based preacher who wrongly prophesized the coming of the End Times is now gone, … Continue reading A John Hagee Fairytale: “Blood Moons” and The End of Times
Only three days after Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan informed the nation that the ‘peace talks’ with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) were about to enter a “comprehensive” phase, the TTP has announced that it will not be extending the ceasefire. Considering how much time and effort the good minister spends defending terrorists before the people they routinely kill, they really ought to be more considerate towards him. He says that Islamabad is a safe city, and they bomb the capital within a week. He claims that the peace talks are about to enter the next level, and they decide against … Continue reading Taliban Ceasefire Over!
Mohammed Abbasi 