Introduction The restrictions placed on intellectuals' freedom of expression in the Arab world and the death threats from Islamists are hampering the activities of reformist, secular, and moderate Arab intellectuals. Many of them have found asylum in Western countries, and are attempting to impact Arab and international public opinion from there. Some have stopped writing; others have been forced to request protection from the authorities. 1 Recently, several reformist intellectuals have faced ...
The widespread rioting in France sparked a wave of reactions in the Arab and Muslim world. Many columnists attributed the rioting to discrimination against and deprivation of the Arab and Muslim minority in France, while others blamed the immigrant communities, which, they claimed, were making no attempt to integrate into French society and thus improve their lot. The Union of French Islamic Organizations issued a fatwa stating that participation in the rioting was forbidden by Islam, while the ...
The widespread rioting in France sparked a wave of reactions in the Arab and Muslim world. Many columnists attributed the rioting to discrimination against and deprivation of the Arab and Muslim minority in France, while others blamed the immigrant communities, which, they claimed, were making no attempt to integrate into French society and thus improve their lot. The Union of French Islamic Organizations issued a fatwa stating that participation in the rioting was forbidden by Islam, while the ...
In advance of Iran's Jerusalem Day, which was established by Ayatollah Khomeini and is marked annually on the fourth Friday of the month of Ramadan, the "World without Zionism" conference was held in Tehran. At the conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, members of the Society for the Defense of the Palestinian Nation, and members of the Islamic Students Union, and an audience of hundreds of students. In his speech, he described ...
In recent years, a number of critical events have driven home to the ruling Saudi family the need for structural reforms in the political, social, educational, cultural and economic domains. Among the most critical of these was the large number of Saudis who took part in the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11), economic decline and high unemployment, the war in Iraq that made the U.S. a de facto neighbor, the upsurge in terrorism inside the Kingdom, including the capital Riyadh and the holy ...
The following are excerpts from a speech by the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. The speech was published in audio form on the Internet and downloaded by MEMRI from the website of Al-Qaeda's Jihad Media Battalion ( www.k-j-i.tk ) on September 14, 2005. TO LISTEN TO THIS CLIP: http://memritv.org/clip/en/853.htm . Al-Zarqawi: "Days go by, and events follow one after the other. The battles are many, and the names used are varied. But the goal is one: a Crusader-Rafidite 1 war ...
In the past two years a religious dispute has developed between Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and his spiritual mentor Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi. 1 It has focused on the question of the legitimacy of certain Jihad operations in Iraq, and in particular on the question of the religious legitimacy of attacking Muslims, of attacking Shiites, and of attacking non-combatant non-Muslims. The dispute began with Al-Maqdisi criticizing certain methods of Jihad in Iraq. In a July 2004 ...
On June 17, 2005, the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an interview with Fatihah Mohammed Al-Taher Hosni, the wife of Moroccan Al-Qaeda member Abdel Karim Al-Tuhami Al-Majati, who was responsible for the May 2003 bombings in Riyadh and was killed last April by Saudi security forces. Fatiha herself was arrested along with one of her sons in an eye clinic in Saudi Arabia in March 2003. 1 In the interview, Fatiha, also a Moroccan, revealed how she influenced her husband to ...
Nese Duzel, of the center-left, liberal Turkish daily Radikal, interviewed Turkish professor, former Turkish intelligence officer, and newspaper columnist Mahir Kaynak 1 on the subject of Al-Qaeda's global terrorism. 2 Kaynak claimed that the U.S. government was behind both 9/11 and the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. The interview was also quoted at length by columnists from other Turkish newspapers. The following are excerpts from the interview: There is No Al-Qaeda; It's a Code ...
