Egypt’s Grand Mufti Counters the Tide of Islamic Extremism - US News and World Report: “Tossing out centuries of reasoned reflection upon the meaning of sharia and discounting the importance of most schools of jurisprudence, these puritans reduce the law to selected passages from the Koran and the hadith and, as the traditionalists see it, distort the intent of sharia by taking the chaff for the wheat. ‘Their fast-food jurisprudence has led to great intolerance,’ says Suhaib Webb, a 36-year-old American convert to Islam who came to Al-Azhar University from California precisely to learn the classical traditions of jurisprudence. ‘The classical discourse dealt with reality,’ Webb says. ‘The modern discourse is utopian. Ali Gomaa is respected because he deals with reality.’

Since being appointed grand mufti by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2003, Gomaa has demonstrated that realism in scores of rulings on matters that have profound implications for the lives of Muslims. In a country where female genital mutilation is still widely practiced in the name of religion, Gomaa declared it un-Islamic and wrong. He has ruled that Muslims should not be punished for leaving the faith. Citing conflicting opinions from different religious sources, he has declared that there is no definitive edict against playing or performing music. He has said it is permissible, with some restrictions, for Muslim financial institutions to charge interest on loans. He has ruled unequivocally that women may serve as judges and hold political office. He has been equally bold in saying there should be no Islamic political parties, on the grounds that they create divisions between Muslims—a view that makes officials of Egypt’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood uneasy.”

IslamOnline.net- Mixed Marriages in Iraq

With the continuing sectarian strife in several areas of the Iraqi capital, one

might be surprised to find that the cultured Baghdadi youth remain uninfluenced when it comes to marriage. Their choices will still include of someone from a sect or ethnicity other than their own.

Beyond Oil: Reappraising the Gulf States

Further reform will be essential if one of the world’s fastest-growing regions is to seize a broader role in the global economy

Don’t slam Carter; Israel’s grip is real | ajc.com

Jewish self-righteousness is taken for granted among ourselves to such an extent that we fail to see what’s right in front of our eyes. It’s simply inconceivable that the ultimate victims, the Jews, can carry out evil deeds. Nevertheless, the state of Israel practices its own, quite violent, form of apartheid with the native Palestinian population.

Muslims “Get” Globalization, But Does It Get Them?

The last half-century has seen an unmistakable rise in income levels and life-expectancy in Muslim-majority countries, but their citizens have a negative impression of globalization. International business consultant Mehmood Kazmi attributes this antagonism to the widening chasm of misunderstanding in Muslim-Western relations. With a history of cultural domination over the West followed by resource exploitation under colonialism, the Muslim world views the liberalization of financial, trade and information flows with suspicion. Globalization of the media has allowed biased perceptions to travel rapidly to the masses, opening the way for further misunderstanding. For example, Kazmi questions why US distributors decline broadcasting English-language Al Jazeera, while Muslim countries broadcast CNN, BBC and other western news channels. While economic and social benefits can often placate the critics of globalization in many developing countries, the author argues that the burdens of cultural sensitivity and political inequity may need to be prioritized before the Muslim world welcomes globalization. For understanding and relationships to improve, the exchange of ideas must go in two directions. – YaleGlobal

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Petra seeks to become ‘world wonder’

The ancient Jordanian city of Petra has probably not seen such a buzz of activity since civilised life ended there in the 8th century AD.

Portraits Of The Balad at The Black Iris of Jordan

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Iraqis learn the art of legal “workarounds”

This depressing New York Times article
by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in
which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of
Iraqi law. We can’t even get a hanging right. With all of the world
watching, we yet again were the primary authors of a violent,
uncivilized, and primitive act which — no matter how justified in some
ultimate moral sense — was carried out in the most thuggish, wretched,
inept, and (we now learn) patently illegal manner.

Independent > Robert Fisk: He takes his secrets to the grave. Our complicity dies with him 

How the West armed Saddam, fed him intelligence on his ‘enemies’, equipped him for atrocities - and then made sure he wouldn’t squeal

What We Wanted to Tell You About Iran - New York Times

HERE is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article
we wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence
Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House
intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded
substantial deletions. Agency officials told us that they had concluded
on their own that the original draft included no classified material,
but that they had to bow to the White House.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq violence sparks exodus to Syria

On the desert border between Syria and Iraq, a group of tents clings to the shifting sands. This is a desolate place at the best of times.

Now it has become an unwanted home to more than 300 Palestinian refugees. They fled from violence in Baghdad seven months ago, only to get stuck in no-man’s land.

Telegraph | News | Democrat flunks his first intelligence test

The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hizbollah was and incorrectly described al-Qa’eda as deriving from the Shia rather than Sunni sect of Islam.

Silvestre Reyes
Silvestre Reyes: ‘Hizbollah. Uh, Hizbollah…’

Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamic groups that are the principal targets of America’s intelligence agencies.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Carter: Israeli apartheid ‘worse’

Former US President Jimmy Carter says some Israeli restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank are worse than apartheid-era South Africa.

War against Terror: “Bin Laden Will Be Back” - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer on the prospects of finding bin Laden, the outlook for al Qaeda and the risk of new terror attacks in the United States.

Saviours in a strange world - Sunday Times - Times Online

Many Jews had a lucky escape during the Holocaust - when Arabs risked their own lives to rescue them. Deirdre Fernand reports

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jordan’s king warns of civil wars

Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East unless the international community takes urgent action.

NPR : Syrian Village Hobbled by Years of Inbreeding

Deep in the northern Syrian countryside lies a tiny village with a very big problem. For more than 100 years, it has been common practice for the village of Kesten’s 5,000 inhabitants to intermarry. The tradition of marriage between first cousins in the Arab world is a way to keep property and businesses in the family. But it also keeps family in the family, and now up to 800 children in this impoverished village are living with extreme genetic defects. One schoolteacher in Kesten is taking the unprecedented step of asking the outside world for help.

Related NPR Story

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India Muslims ‘have lowest rank’

Muslims in India are even more disadvantaged than low-caste Hindus, a report commissioned by the government in Delhi suggests.

The report says India’s 138m Muslims are poorer and less educated and suffer from higher unemployment and greater mortality than other religious groups.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | The failure of Iraq’s reconstruction

…. two-and-a-half years after the handover, many Iraqis say their lives are getting worse, despite the vast sums spent on rebuilding.

SunniPath: An Online Islamic Educational Institute

Stop the Band-Aid Treatment

The Middle East is a tinderbox, with some key players on all sides waiting for every opportunity to destroy their enemies with bullets, bombs and missiles.

And Far Away » The Top Arab Brands

The Forbes Arabia Top 40 Arab Brands list looks at companies that not only have created strong brands in Arab countries, but that are gaining recognition worldwide.

MoorishGirl: Don’t Even Ask Them What A Madhab Is

What do these people have in common? Willie Hulon, head of the FBI’s
new national security branch; Rep. Terry Everett (R-Alabama), vice
chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and
tactical intelligence; and Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Virginia), who heads a
House intelligence subcommittee charged with overseeing the
C.I.A.’s performance in recruiting Muslim spies. None of them could tell Jeff Stein the difference between a Sunni and a Shia. And we’re now three years into the war in Iraq.

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Antiterrorism Bill on Detainees, Geneva Conventions - Rushing Off a Cliff - New York Times

Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jerusalem is lost in translation

Tourism officials in Israel did little to sell the city of Jerusalem as a must-see for visitors when a brochure suggested it did not exist.

The sightseeing pamphlet was translated from Hebrew and should have read: “Jerusalem - there’s no city like it!”.

But instead the slogan in English read: “Jerusalem - there’s no such city!”, reported the Israeli newspaper Maariv.