May 2002
Issue No. 345
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Islam: Resistance and reform
What’s gone wrong? Why has Islam and its relation with the West become so fraught with violence and mistrust? Ziauddin Sardar takes a critical look at the current state of one of the world’s great faiths and charts a way out of a bloody impasse.

Key moments of Islamic civilization
From 570 A.D. to 2050

Islam - The basics
What does Islam really stand for?

A’ishah’s legacy
Amina Wadud seeks women’s rights in Islam – and finds them in the Qur’an.

Muslims - the facts

Do Muslims deserve democracy?
Democratic regimes are thin on the ground in the Muslim world. Abdelwahab El-Affendi explores the reasons why.

Wilful imaginings
Wild, barbaric, corrupt, fanatic and effete. Merryl Wyn Davies looks at the damage done by persistent Western images of Islam.

Good company
Islamic economics and ethical investment have much in common, argues M Iqbal Asaria.

Building bridges
Muslims have always travelled and been migrants. Ehsan Masood sees in the past lessons for today.

Action!
Books, websites and organizations.

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

‘God is gentle,’ Prophet Muhammad once said, ‘and loves gentleness in all things.’ And he added: ‘Gentleness should adorn everything; its absence leaves everything tainted.’ Islam, it seems to me, has been tainted by a serious lack of gentleness.

Muslims are very quick to blame the West for their plight. Colonialism, support for Israel and despotic regimes, double standards and misrepresentation of Islam are high on the list of grievances. There is much truth in these assertions.

But such truths do not explain, for example, why sexism is so deeply entrenched, or violence in the name of God has become so endemic. Or why semi-literate Mullahs are so venerated and blindly followed by so many. Nor does it clarify the gulf between the ideals of Islam and the reality on the ground.

As a Muslim writer, I am often asked: why are Muslims so reluctant to look at themselves? Why so hesitant to re-examine their own assumptions and prejudices, their own perceptions of themselves and ‘the West’?

Here is a stab at an answer. It’s an attempt to go beyond apologia, to start a self-reflective debate in Muslim societies, and usher an engagement between Muslims and concerned people everywhere that rises above mutual blame and suspicion.

Above all, it is a call to move forward to what Prophet Muhammad described as the main characteristics of Islam: modesty and gentleness.

Ziauddin Sardar
for the New Internationalist
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Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe

The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.

Raised Voices video:

Atossa Soltani from Brazil on the Climate Change

Desmond Desai from South Africa on Corporate Power

Iranian women speak out

3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.

Raised Voices audio:

Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power

Vinayan from India on agriculture