By ELISABETH BECKER This week, the adhan (call to prayer) can be heard throughout Germany and the Netherlands. Sometimes, it joins with the sound of church bells, an unfamiliar and evocative symphony, as religious institutions offer support not only to their constituents, but to whole, shaken societies. For the first time in history, both countries have allowed the adhan to regularly penetrate public space. ...

By Sajjad Shaukat Renowned historians agree that besides other causes, major cause of the French Revolution of 1789 was the class distinction between the privileged and the unprivileged, which rapidly increased under the reign of King Louis XVI who had continued the policy of taking out international loans, and the debt drove the country to near bankruptcy, leading to the Revolution. They opine, “The French ...

By Sajjad Shaukat The centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected French president by defeating the ultra-nationalist and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential election, held on Sunday (May 7, 2017). Macron of the independent En Marche party won 23.75 percent votes and Le Pen of France’s National Front party won 21.53 percent votes. The election victory of Macron has been ...

By Sajjad Shaukat Recall that three days before the general elections in Spain, the train bombings in Madrid on March 11, 2004, which killed more than 2000 people turned the election results in favour of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero whose Socialist Party won the elections, as he had said that Spain where the “US war has been deeply unpopular”, “would withdraw its troops.” While government led by the Prime M ...

In recent times, a great deal of controversy has centered around the burqa. In 2011, France banned the niqab and burqa. Bulgaria, Egypt and Chad, among others, also banned the burqa, with Morocco banning the sale, import and manufacture of burqas in 2017. The reasons behind the ban have been varied, with security concerns being an overriding contributor to the decision to ban the garment. However, there are ...

By Sajjad Shaukat Everyone knows that Al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban were created by the American CIA to fight against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. In this regard, former British Foreign secretary, Robin Cook stated, “Throughout the 1980s, he [Bin Laden] was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.” The then US National Security Advisor Z ...

نغمہ حبیب مسلمان سو رہا ہے اور ایک بار پھر اُس کی عزت سے کھیل لیا گیا اور توہین آمیز خاکے شائع کیے گئے اور ایسا اب کی بار فرانس کے اخبار چارلی ہیبڈو نے کیا ایسا پہلی بار نہیں ہوا کہ مسلمانوں کے جذبات سے کھیلا گیا ہو ایسے ہی خاکے پہلے ناروے میں بھی شائع ہو چکے ہیں اور نہ یہ ایک واحد انداز ہے جس سے مسلمانوں کی دل آزاری کی گئی ہو۔ نعوذبااللہ”برن دی قرآن“ جیسے باقاعدہ قسم کے پروگرام بھی بنائے اور چلائے گئے ظاہر ...

By Zaheerul Hassan  A car bomb exploded outside the French embassy in Tripoli early morning. In this blast two French guards injured and one corner of the embassy building damaged.  After the death of late Libyan leader Qaddafi, It is the first major attack on a Western target in Libya since the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghaz.  The blast destroyed part of the compound wall and shattered w ...