The Deafening Silence of Muslim Nations
Crisis is defined as a time of intense difficulty or danger, something which does not discriminate by gender and is not measured by race or religion. Land grabs, displacement, carnage and killings. So many people the world over are suffering in the midst of crisis, many of whom we rarely see or hear about. Puzzled about why I so fervently follow the country, people often ask me where it was and when it was that my interest in the Central African Republic came about. But witnessing the images of devastation and scenes of violence, just over two years ago, how…
How do we deal with difficulty and loss?
As loss, deprivation and suicide are once again brought back into the spotlight, journalist Yasmin Khatun recalls her interview with Yasmin Mogahed and how one deals with difficulties of the dunya. Loss, deprivation, worries, we all face them. There's no escaping them. They are part and parcel of this world and the experiences that make us human. As I write this piece, I am thinking the world over and all of the different images that I, that we, are faced with on a day to day basis. Universal difficulties that we see around us, poverty, disease and the ones we…
Operation Selective Conflict
“Without a policy to defeat IS in Syria any approach in Iraq is doomed to failure.” Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European council on Foreign Relations. So, should we assume that a vibrant course of action will now be taken? President Assad wasn’t quite enough but ISIS/IS should do the trick. With the killing of civilian reporter, James Foley in Iraq in response to US air strikes, Prime Minister David Cameron forgot to iron his shirt let alone ponder over whether he needed to go back to the office. This was of course a response in stark contrast to that which…
Will it stop if we look away? #Gaza #CAR
Stay up-to-date on what's happening in Gaza: Gaza Under Siege - Updates Yasmin Khatun shares her thoughts after her visit to Chad to interview refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) for a documentary As Gazan children under fire are deemed invisible to unmoved eyes, Syrian stomachs turn cold under torn shreds of rubble. We remember the pains of Srebrenica as Muslims in the Central African Republic have no route to escape. There are currently 50 million refugees in the world, the largest number on record since the Second World War. A bulk of these, Syrians fleeing Assad’s regime and 1.7 million…
The Slave Industry: A year on from Rana Plaza
Note- A new documentary will air on the Islam Channel today (24th of April 2014 at 9pm) 'Slave Industry: A year on from Rana Plaza', A year ago today, with my sight set upon uncovering the ins and outs of Bangladesh’s so-called “International Crimes Tribunal”, I was thrown by a disaster of a different kind. I cannot call it an accident, as it has never seemed like one to me. On the 24th of April 2013 a large garment manufacturing unit located in Savar, on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, collapsed. The grounds upon which the eight-storey commercial building…
The Struggle for Justice #ReleaseMoazzam
“The struggle for reason and justice is clearly a longer one than I once imagined.” Moazzam Begg. The concept of struggle is something in Islām which is very clear; struggle and difficulty enveloped in ease - everything we endure is through His Will and everything that approaches us only does so through His Permission. Now, as I write on in this piece the struggle Muslims are undertaking throughout the world is not something to be consumed by or be entirely afraid of but a reminder to act and strive for justice. Those of us watching, reading or possibly writing the news,…