Isolation in some cultures, ethics and moro-social values is taken as a curse whereas, some take it as privacy. Isolation in certain conditions and times is may be very good and results exceedingly positive, but it may not be always the same. Any nation, group or individual left in isolation dies so

Many people wonder what relevance shari'a–Islamic principles– has in the modern world. In Morocco it has influenced national laws, especially the civil code and family law, primarily in a positive sense. Coupled with the country’s tradition of tolerance and openness, this has provided the Moroccan g

A new year begins, but last year’s “1Malaysia” campaign, which promotes multiculturalism and understanding between religious and ethnic communities throughout Malaysia, is still going strong.
The mere need for this kind of public campaign for unity and the recent violence marking the beginning of t

At a time when many have despaired of hope for Jewish-Muslim understanding due to the ongoing impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nearly 200 Muslims and Jews gathered in Paris recently to say: “Now is the time to build ties of friendship and understanding between our faiths for the sake of

Muslims and Christians together constitute over 50 percent of the world. If they lived in peace, we would be halfway to world peace. One small step we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonisation.
I propose to remind

A previously divided region has a new symbol of hope: the recently reopened train line between Sarajevo and Belgrade. Many young Serbs, Croats and Bosnians who don't remember the Bosnian war of the early 1990s hope to travel on this train, which serves as a physical link between Serbia and Bosnia.

Recent surge of violence in both parts of contentious state of Jammu and Kashmir has fuelled the concerns about the expansion of Taliban network in the Himalayan region. Despite significant increase of terrorist operations in India and Pakistan during the last few years, Jammu and Kashmir remained r

Jerusalem is a central point of reference for the three great monotheist faiths. King David made the city the political and religious capital of Israel, creating a centre for Judaism within and beyond the region. Jerusalem is a holy city for Christians as the place of Jesus of Nazareth’s teaching, c

What keeps Pakistan afloat? How—despite its seemingly precarious political existence and the gloom and doom spread by the highly politicised media, as well as the horrendous bomb blasts—does the country manage to survive?
The immense reserves of resilience the people have are striking. In the fore

Atop a mountain in the Syrian heartland lies a monastery where the message of Christian-Muslim unity is alive and well.
Cooled by eastern-blowing winds from the mountains dividing Lebanon and Syria, Deir Mar Musa is perhaps an unlikely place to find the seed of intercultural and inter-religious und

In recent years, Morocco, Egypt, and Turkey have trained and appointed a new group to the ranks of religious guides: women. Women religious guides, referred to as murshidat in Arabic, reach a demographic that might otherwise not be available–or receptive – to male imams, such as women and children,

The Islamic state is a controversial issue in the West, as recent news confirms. Last October, an imam was killed and six men arrested by the FBI in Detroit for allegedly conspiring to establish an Islamic state in the United States. In the United Kingdom, government officials worry that extremist g

As this new decade begins, many are still scratching their heads and wondering how US President Barack Obama, who has just escalated a distant war that quite possibly cannot be won, can have merited the esteemed Nobel Prize for peace. But if Obama can begin to lead the world into a new era of the Go

On 1 December 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon–the agreement reforming European Union institutions–was ratified, making the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (ECFR), a document that lays out the entire range of civil, political, economic and social rights of EU citizens and residents, legally binding.

Whenever terrorism strikes in Pakistan and innocent lives are lost, people wonder which Islamic injunctions the perpetrators abused to justify their acts. The North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, where I reside, has been particularly volatile recently, and people are increasingly appalled by th