Minaret of Freedom Weblog

Category: Guest blog

  • What’s Next in the Middle East?

    If Obama’s speech in Cairo signals a continuation of the Bush doctrine of supporting elections while rejecting their outcomes, the entire Arab world will conclude that that the democracy Obama offers is the Egyptian model.

  • Encourage Nonviolence Through Accountability

    ENCOURAGE NONVIOLENCE THROUGH ACCOUNTABILITY [This guest blog was submitted by Ashraf Nubani after the Washington Post, the New York  Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times all declined to publish an earlier version.] There has been much criticism of the Palestinian response to Israeli occupation — especially the use of violence against civilian…

  • Freedom of Expression in Egypt, the Fountainhead of Reform

    After moving to a new, more modern campus (plastered with USAID stickers and heavily gated), the American University in Cairo (AUC) held its inauguration ceremony last Saturday. In keeping with the grandeur expected of such Egyptian ceremonies, the First Lady made an appearance. ‘Mama Suzanne,’ as she is fondly called, lathered on the requisite public…

  • War on Gaza: Old Questions in Need of New Answers

    War on Gaza: Old Questions in Need of New Answers By Omar Sha’ban PalThink for Strategic Studies Despite the fragility of the cease fire declared unilaterally by Israel on Saturday morning, people of Gaza Strip in general, and those who live in Gaza City in particular, were able after 22 days to get out from…

  • Averroes Would Be Appalled

    [Charles Butterworth, a member of the Minaret of Freedom Institute Board of Advisors,  submitted the following letter to the Washington Post, which it did not publish. We present it here as a guest blog.] July 5, 2008 Letters to the Editor The Washington Post 1150 15th St. NW Washington, D.C. 20071 letters@washpost.com To the Editor,…

  • What the Headscarf Ban Means

    What the Headscarf Ban Means by Merve Kavakci, Ph.D. Member of Parliament-Turkey (1999) Currently-Professor of International Affairs George Washington University kavakci@gwu.edu In a column published in the Washington Post on April 1, 2008 (“What a Headscarf Can Mean”) Anne Applebaum makes a common mistake of Westerners. She passes judgment on a matter pertaining to other…

  • Background for Sudan’s Baffling Teddy Bear Storm

    [Western Muslims have been embarrassed by Sudan’s explosive reaction to a teacher who allowed her children to name a teddy bear “Muhammad.” Prof. Peter Bechtold provides us with background information to make sense out of the bizarre developments.] Last Thursday night, the BBC World Service led off its international program by reporting the trial of…

  • Break an Unjust Law when Necessary; Never Commit Treason

    [On Thursday, Nov. 8, Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar will be sentenced for refusing to testify before a grand jury and thus acquiesce in an unconscionable effort to use the American justice system into a tool of Israeli occupation.. In Dr. Ashqar’s reply to the government’s sentencing memorandum, which makes the unprecedented request that Dr. Ashqar be…

  • Blinkered Politics: The U.S. Attitude to Arabs and Muslims

    by Charles E. Butterworth, Unversity of Maryland Abstract Much like a draft horse of a bygone era, prevented by fixed blinkers from sideward glances, the US trudges through current crises in the Middle East its attention fixed in one direction. Pulling a cart laden with the policies and prejudices of a single country and people,…

  • Martyr or Murderer? [Guest blog by Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan]

    The question for Muslim observers around the world regarding the successful targeted killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is how should we view this individual (according to Qur’an and Sunnah) — as a revered martyr or a reviled murderer? In this brief commentary I will share my own humble view. Any informed and objective analysis of…

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