In The News

Still Plotting, Still Recruiting

May 26, 2004
As America and the world enters the “danger season” for terrorist attack, the British International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank asserts that the American pursuit of regime change in Iraq has strengthened the terrorist network Al-Qaeda, now even more resolute on the destruction of the United States and other western powers. Fury directed at the American-led occupation has...

Muslims: Judge Us Not By Un-Islamic Acts of Few

Parvez Ahmed May 12, 2004
In the following article, two Muslim scholars associated with the Washington based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) argue that the American led war in Iraq is becoming defined by brutality, torture and humiliation by both, American soldiers and Iraqis. According to these scholars, the humiliation and the torture of prisoners at the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison, and the subsequent...

How Far East Can Europe Go?

Shada Islam May 3, 2004
As the celebrations over the expansion of the European Union die down, debates over the next big expansion proposal are sure to heat up. Talks on Turkey's entry into the European Union, however, won't be limited to a simple discussion of the economic benefits of regional consolidation. To some, letting Turkey - an Islamic nation that has been accused of human rights abuses - into the...

Southern Carnage: Kingdom Shaken

April 29, 2004
In the country's deadliest day of violence since 1973, over 100 Muslim militants died in clashes with security forces throughout southern Thailand. The militants, many of them teenagers, carried only machetes as they attacked police outposts while screaming religious slogans. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra quickly declared victory and played down the political consequences, saying many of...

Canadians Allow Islamic Courts to Decide Disputes

DeNeen L. Brown April 28, 2004
In Ontario, Canada, Muslims can now choose to decide civil disputes under sharia, a form of Islamic law. Practitioners may agree to arbitration in tribunals separate from the Canadian judicial system, run by imams and Muslim elders. The power of these courts would be limited, and the Canadian government reserves the right to overturn decisions. The idea for establishing sharia in Canada came from...

Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam

Patrick E. Tyler April 26, 2004
As the situation in Iraq worsens, radical Muslims in Europe are stepping up their recruitment efforts. In the streets of countries such as England, France and Germany, more and more young Muslim Europeans are gathering to hear radical clerics' preaching on violence and martyrdom in the service of Islam. Ironically, it is often exactly the characters of the western societies that these...

Terrorists and Their Tools - Part I

Riaz Hassan April 23, 2004
The weapon of mass destruction that seems to be favored most by terrorists is their own lives. But, though most suicide bombers are Islamic youths, sociologist Riaz Hassan argues that there is no direct link between suicide attacks and Islamic fanaticism. Suicide attacks, Hassan says, are motivated more by politics than religion. Many terrorist groups, such as the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka,...