In a span of just over a month two incidents rocked my city of Jacksonville, Florida, garnering wall-to-wall coverage in local media: the first was my nomination to the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission (JHRC), whose mission is to promote fair treatment and equal opportunity for all people regard

After years of stymied efforts, reform in Saudi Arabia is focused on women’s rights. A recent survey by the Researchers Center for Women’s Studies in Riyadh examining Saudi newspapers and websites showed that from mid-January to mid-February 2010 some 40 per cent of articles in print media and 58 pe

I will be the first to defend anyone's right to express their opinion, no matter how offensive it may be to me. Our nation has prospered because Americans value and respect diversity. But freedom of expression does not create an obligation to offend or to show disrespect for the religious beliefs or

Discriminatory practices against religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries are an ongoing issue. For example, in Saudi Arabia non-Muslims cannot build places of worship, nor can they bring their religious scriptures into the country without having them confiscated by Saudi customs. And in so

When we speak of ‘Minority Images in the Indian Print Media’ there are two broad areas to be addressed. The first is the coverage in print -- and images on television and the electronic media – of minorities and how these images have contributed to a process that has strengthened negative stereotyp

It is well conventional fact that no nation can steps forward without education . People can not get privileged skills and guidance without education . Pakistan has the lowly literacy velocity in the world; it is not more than 26% . The governments have been provided that funds but these allocations

In late March, global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum and Egypt's pyramids all stood in darkness, along with more than 4,000 cities in 128 countries that officially switched off their electricity to pledg

Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of a highly successful comic series that is published in eight different languages and will soon appear on television screens all over the United States, has been ranked one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan. He has wo

"Reason is a light which is certainly needed to illuminate the darkness, but it can also be useful in full daylight." - Mohammed Abed al-Jabri (27 December 1936 – 3 May 2010)

Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, who was born in Figuig, Morocco on 27 December 1936 and died on 3 May 2010, was without doubt on

In Bethlehem’s Manger Square, under a full moon, two lovers recite Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish’s words of affection and longing. Where they stand, shadows cast on the stones of Christ’s birthplace unite and then the scene shifts to a meeting at a sports club. Debate flares over which g

Most of the media coverage surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict focuses on stories of violence and despair. Little is known about the growing Palestinian-led non-violent movement that has united rival Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, and encouraged hundreds of Israelis to cro

It is undoubtedly exotic in its looks, but to the naive passerby the only thing that may seem truly extraordinary about this building in Palembang, the capital city of the Indonesian province South Sumatra, is its colourful architecture. The structure, which resembles a temple, is painted in deep re

When confronted with free speech as an act of self-expression, authoritarian powers throughout history have tried to assert their legitimacy and remove threats to their rule through censorship. To achieve this, the censor has had to be quicker than the pen.
This task was relatively easy in the day

It was around a decade ago that I first met Maulana Waris Mazhari or Waris-ji as I now call him) when I was researching for a book on madrasa education in India. Winding my way through the warren of clogged, narrow lanes in the congested Muslim ghetto of Batla House in New Delhi, I chanced upon a b

Mothers are an asset, they radiate purest form of love from their heavenly existence, their faces reflect love and only love, their smiles can heal wounds and the warmth of their hands can set everything right. Mothers are angels on earth, their presence among us signifies how much God loves and car