• February 16, 2015 | Al Jazeera

    When Islamophobia turns deadly

    “Vaccinate” against Sharia; demands to “publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws”; and Islam “is a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out” are a few recent statements by US political leaders pointing to the level of toxicity and bigotry directed at Muslims in the country. As American Muslims mourn the loss of…

    Islamophobia Muslims in America
  • February 7, 2015 | Al Jazeera

    Fighting for Palestine

    “After 40 years, my time in the US has come to an end.” This was the opening line of Professor Sami Al-Arian’s letter to supporters and the Muslim American community as he was finally deported from the United States on February 5, 2015. Al-Arian’s deportation brings an end to a painful and torturous episode in…

    Muslims in America Palestine
  • January 15, 2015 | Al Jazeera

    The freedom to take offence

    In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo murders, Ahmed Merabet’s brother Malek correctly declared: “My brother was Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by two false Muslims … Islam is a religion of peace and love. As far as my brother’s death is concerned it was a waste. He was very proud of…

    Islam Islamophobia
  • December 14, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    Revisiting the British conquest of Jerusalem

    “…The Ottoman Government, in order to safeguard the religious places from ruin and destruction, has withdrawn its forces from the city and has commissioned officials to take care of the religious places like the Holy Sepulcher and the Aqsa Mosque. Hoping that your treatment will also be similar…” (Isa al-Safari, Filstin al-Arabiyah) On December 11,…

    Colonialism De-Colonial Palestine
  • November 25, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    Michael Brown, racism and America’s open casket

    “He was a black skin boy. So he was born to die,” goes Bob Dylan’s song, The Death of Emmett Till. The lyrics are as timely today as when they were first written and performed because “black skin” remains a threat and the cause of death of far too many in the United States and…

    Race/Racism
  • October 18, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    An intellectual giant: Ali Mazrui (1933-2014)

    For the past 50 years, Ali Mazrui dominated the field of African Studies through 26 internationally acclaimed books and hundreds of articles, essays, interviews, and appearances on radio and television programmes. On October 13, the world lost an intellectual giant who helped shape academic and scholarly understandings of Africa during a critical period for not…

  • August 7, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    Power to the people: Extending the Israel boycott

    In April 1960, after the New York City Seafarers’ International Union and the International Longshoremen’s Association picketed an Egyptian vessel named Cleopatra for 22 days, an official US State Department memo documented a phone conversation between Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Raymond Hare and the AFL-CIO President George Meany. “I told Mr…

    Palestine
  • April 14, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    Latent and manifest Islamophobia: An inception of ideas

    Christopher Nolan’s 2010 movie “Inception” engaged the world of dreams and the complexity around the sources and materials that produce feelings and experiences in the mind. The lead character, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), is a master at penetrating the inner human subconscious, the dream world, and mining it for valuable ideas that are available for purchase…

    Islamophobia
  • February 16, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    Drones: The dark side of power

    In “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”, Anakin Skywalker’s defection to the Dark Side is a critical moment of personal weakness and the political abandonment of the Jedi Order. In order to save his ailing wife but tricked into believing that the Jedi Knights are corrupt, Skywalker kneels before Darth Sidious and pledges…

  • January 31, 2014 | Al Jazeera

    On constitutions, Sharia and Muslim political thought

    In the Arab Spring’s aftermath, and the catastrophic divisions and violence in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia – not to forget ongoing debates in almost every Muslim majority country concerning citizenship, rights, responsibilities of citizens and the constitutional contestations in the modern nation state – Muslim political parties across the region are facing textual, interpretational and…

    Islam Islamic Politics