Islamism

Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was locked up by the Sudanese authorities for allowing her class to call a teddy bear Muhammad, said of her experience: “The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience.” She also expressed hope that news of her experience would not stop westerners from going to Sudan. She’s certainly right on the first account, and not being too unrealistic on the second. After all it’s the Sudanese people — the vast majority not fundamentalist bigots, not rich and not powerful — who have the most to fear from...

Eve Garrard has circulated the following on the activists' e-list of the lecturers' union UCU (first published here 22/11/07) . Our union is affiliated to the Stop the War Coalition, which is holding a conference on December 1st. One of the speakers it has invited to this conference is Ibrahim Mousawi, the editor of al-Manar TV, Hizbullah's broadcasting network. Al-Manar has circulated rumours that the attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11 was a Zionist conspiracy, and has also broadcast soap opera episodes showing Jews killing Christian children in order to use their blood for ritual food...

Eve Garrard has circulated the following on the activists’ e-list of the lecturers’ union UCU. “Our union is affiliated to the Stop the War Coalition, which is holding a conference on 1 December. One of the speakers it has invited to this conference is Ibrahim Mousawi, the editor of al-Manar TV, Hizbullah’s broadcasting network. Al-Manar has circulated rumours that the attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11 was a Zionist conspiracy, and has also broadcast soap opera episodes showing Jews killing Christian children in order to use their blood for ritual food. That is, it has been responsible...

Review of The Islamist, by Ed Husain “The Islamist does not flatter the people, is not courteous to the authorities or care for other people’s customs and traditions, and does not give any attention to whether people will accept him or not. Rather, he must adhere to the ideology alone.” Taqiuddin al-Nabhani,founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir “Islam is a revolutionary doctrine and system that overthrows governments. It seeks to overturn the whole universal social order.” Abdul Ala Mawdudi, founder of Jamat-e-Islami The publication of The Islamist earlier this year prompted both criticism and praise...

This article will attempt to explain and define Islamic feminism, positioning the emergence of Islamic feminism within a wider political context and finally raising some questions which might help us to consider how we, as socialist feminists, might think about/ relate to Islamic feminism. First of all it is necessary to just reiterate the distinction between Muslim feminists — women who either come from Muslim backgrounds or continue to be practising Muslims, and who also consider themselves feminists — and Islamic feminists. They might both critique traditional Islam from a women’s rights...