Shia mosque burnt in Brussels

You may have heard about the Imam al-Ridha mosque in Brussels which was burnt last month by a Salafi terrorist. The arson attack led to the tragic death of the imam, Sheikh Abdullah Dadou, a father-of-four from Morocco. A delegation from London travelled to Brussels to pay their respects to his family and the community. [...]

Living in a topsy-turvy world

It really is a sign of just how skewed our priorities are when a couple of Twitter postings about the Prophet (PBUH) cause more of a stir than the killing of innocent people. Or, as a friend of mine Tweeted “killing an innocent in the name of my religion is 1000 times more offensive than [...]

There is no panacea for Iraq’s problems

Thank God for Leslie Gelb, who after an entire three hours back in 2006 found the panacea that would solve Iraq’s problems; federalism. In an article by Gelb published a couple of weeks ago, he suggests that because “Shiites, Sunni and Kurds have been at  each other’s throats for centuries”, federalism that “provides ethno-religious groups [...]

EID 2150

Ahmed stared longingly up at the vast ceiling of the biosphere. The mesmerising array of perspecoid panels was a sight in itself, a gleaming barrier between the lush safety of London and the desolate wasteland beyond. Yet it hid the boundless bejewelled night sky that Ahmed could only dream about. He imagined how Muslims centuries [...]

Bin Laden’s Burial

There seems to be some controversy over how Osama’s body was disposed of. Chucking it in the sea apparently is offensive to some Muslims. By some Muslims, I mean some rather important ones. For example, “The Grand Imam, Dr Ahmed El-Tayeb, the sheikh of Al-Azhar condemned the reports, if true, of the throwing of the [...]

Hijab is Sexist and Degrading

After thinking about this for a long time, I have come to terms with the idea that hijab is sexist and degrading. In fact, it should have died a well-deserved death in the 20th century, along with other forms of dehumanising objectification. Hijab and the subjugation that it symbolises is rooted in the male domination [...]

Madressas and my hijacked memories

  ‘Madressa’. Sunny days. Primary school fun. Occasional boredom. Running around the playground. Slightly fresh textbook cartoons. Tedious homework last minute on a Friday evening. Madressa. Hardly a term I thought would be plastered on my English TV screen in 2011. Certainly not when I was a wee little 4 year old learning my alif baa’ [...]

Baghdad – part.4

I did not mean for my last post to be so depressing, and I would not have posted it had I known it was going to be this long until I posted again. But internet is not widely available in Iraq. Most communications between government institutions take place through memos/letters and people running around town [...]

Najaf and Karbala

Putting these two cities together in one post is in itself problematic. There are very significant differences in population, economics, culture, that make it impossible to do them justice in this short post. But I do it nonetheless, particularly because for most people in Baghdad (where I’m based), its all part of one and the [...]

Why should I serve my community? I hate them

I was having a discussion with a friend on the reasoning behind public service, the reasons for taking up occupations that involve being paid relatively less (than say the private sector), but helping others in the process besides the partners of the firm. Why waste so much of your time being involved in voluntary community [...]