Strangers in our Midst
Abdullah Quilliam titled ‘Shaykh-ul-Islam of the British Isles’ by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, was a 19th century convert of English descent, and was also the Turkish Consul and Persian Vice- Consul to Liverpool by the Shah. A solicitor by trade, he had travelled across the Muslim world learning about Islam and striving to call people to the truth while seeking unity between the ummah. During the British Empire’s attempt to colonialise the entire Muslim world, Quilliam stood up in defence of Jihad, the Khilafah and opposition to Western colonialism, to the extent that he wrote (in a letter):…
Islam and the Problems of Modernity
Modernity is the frame that has recently come to dominate discussions in the social sciences. It is a paradigm that is not only shaping the views and ideas of the academic world, but also, in a slightly watered down version, informing the analysis presented in mainstream media. Any discussion of the Muslim population in the West gravitates around issues of a secular modernity and an entrenched parochialism. Such discussions often showcase certain Muslims as exemplary subjects who have integrated with the former and (almost always) a silent band of others stubbornly aligning themselves to the latter. Rarely do we…
Questioning Christianity
Christianity has billions of followers around the world (1 billion in fact are Roman Catholic), and it can be true to assume each Christian may have a slight variation in matters regarding their religion. Some preach love, some preach happiness. However, recently, the Pope in another attempt of provocation attempted to further irritate Muslims by publicly baptising a former ‘Muslim’ which was kept secret until just before the Easter vigil Mass. Currently, the Vatican is attempting to repair relations with Muslims, so why make such a statement? Mr Islam Magdi Allam, the convert to Roman Catholicism could easily have been…
Moderate Islam: the Growing Sentiment Against Liberalism
Increasingly, Muslims nationwide are bombarded with the media’s adaptation of Islam and its principles. Consequently, the West is fed a misrepresentation of what a moderate Muslim should be. However, is it the West or Muslims themselves who hold control over the definition of ‘moderate’ Islam? Is Islam an autonomous entity free from the clutches of the West, or have we once again been subjugated to colonialisation and deceived into believing that the West ultimately knows what is best for us? The aim of this article is to redefine the Western notion of Islamic ‘moderatism’, and analyse the methods by which…
Life!
A poem on the fleeting life of this world.
The fires of the past: Israel
Her implication that whatever solution is brokered would have to be enduring is in and of itself a clearing of Israel from blame in the present state of affairs. Moreover, the insistence of other commentators – echoing Rice – that one cannot tolerate a return to the ‘status quo anti’ where a militant group could at anytime launch rockets into Israel, again skewers the origins of the conflict. The origin debate however is a pedantic wrangling over details, which at present are too clouded to deliver any decisive result, while any result that does come forward would merely add to…