Islamic Revival

This article is written by Brother Adnan Khan What has led to the current crisis in Yemen? The US-led war against terrorism entered a new phase in December 2009 when military action switched from Afghanistan to Yemen, the US launched Cruise missiles in concert with Yemen government forces, who used tanks, helicopters and artillery to storm mountain villages suspected of harbouring Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Yemen appears to be facing multiple issues on various fronts, which the weak central government has failed to solve diplomatically and continues to use primarily military means to solve. Yemen faces civil war with it's largely Shi'ah population in the North. It faces secessionist calls in the South who are demanding a reversal of the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen. Yemen also apparently faces al-Qaeda attacks throughout the country. Yemen today is a nation that remains largely underdeveloped and is led by many different tribes, central government

The freedom to speak is an enshrined value of the Western world. Something they pride themselves on and wish to promote in the Muslim world. So when the Danish cartoons happened, it was the freedom of speech debate which took centre stage. When the film Fitnah was created it was all protected by this freedom of speech value. One should be able to criticise and debate ideas, with openness as this is what creates a society which thinks about what it believes in, and questions it. So questioning the Islamic traditions in fitnah was the freedom to question and probe. Depicting the Prophet SAW as a terrorist was all about questioning the place of Islam and the Prophet SAW. Therefore one would hope that the ability to question and debate the values embedded in the society all around us would be encouraged, urged. However the recent war on terror in Britain has set quite a different standard for Muslims, when it comes to their ability to speak and debate freely. If Muslims voice their diff

Sarkozy tells Muslims to hide their faith Nicolas Sarkozy stoked the debate over immigration today with a warning to Muslims to practise their religion discreetly or face rejection by moderate Islam in France. The President voiced sympathy for Swiss voters who opted last week to ban minarets as he tried to reassert himself in a debate over national identity which he launched last month. In a column for Le Monde, Mr Sarkozy said that the result of the Swiss referendum showed how important it was for France to define its identity. "Instead of condemning the Swiss out of hand, we should try to understand what they meant to express and what so many people in Europe feel, including people in France," he wrote. "Nothing would be worse than denial." Addressing himself to Muslims, he wrote that anything that could appear as a challenge to France's Christian heritage and republican values would "doom to failure" a moderate Islam in France. Opinion polls show