Related Posts

Talking some sense

Anwar Ibrahim in MWU captures my sentiments precisely: But my message to the perpetrators of these vile acts, whoever they may be, is this: In the name of God, what do you think you are fighting against and what are you fighting for? Because what you are really doing is neither war nor jihad. This is just the senseless slaughter of innocent civilians who have done no wrong. Such actions have no place in Islam and as all the scholars of the Muslim world have stated, it is simply haram. So what do you think you are doing? How are…

Karen Armstrong Interview

She talks a lot about religion and politics in this particular piece. I think her history of the Sunni-Shi’ah political divide is a bit off. Arguably the first empires fighting about this were in the 11th century (Fatimids and Abbasids), but I would argue the political division goes back to the time of the Prophet. However, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t live well together. Karen Armstrong