October 2009
Issue No. 426
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Islam in power
Hadani Ditmars calls for a return to Islam’s spirit of democracy and pluralism.
From the edge
A gay Iraqi, a Jewish Iranian and a Saudi feminist tell their stories
ISLAM - people and politics
The facts and figures of Islam
Travesty
Where did the controversial idea of the ‘Islamic state’ come from? Ziauddin Sardar traces its origins.
Al-'ilm Nur (Knowledge is Light)
Syed Tajammul Hussain’s artful approach to Qur’anic verses.
Our terrorists
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed on the spooky complicity between Western intelligence agencies and Islamist extremism.
More information on Islam
Books and websites for further reading on Islam.
News, views, and & voices
SPECIAL FEATURE
Greening the law
The streets have traditionally been the home of environmental activism. But could campaigners be just as at home in the courtroom? Olly Zanetti considers the evidence.
Letter from Cairo
Permission denied
Maria Golia recalls why part of her Egyptian education involved learning how to break the rules.
Currents
Vulture culture
Time to close down the investment companies that feed off the living
Named and shamed
Countries across the globe that are flouting international law and violating refugees’ rights.
The road to recovery
A decade after independence, Timor-Leste’s people are still struggling to get justice
Regime thumbs its nose at the world
The largest forced relocation since 1996-98
Last frontier
Local communities fight mineral exploration and eviction in the Andes
Best of the NI web
Favourites from the New Internationalist blog
Big Bad World
Big Bad World 426
Money talks in Polyp’s cartoon.
Making Waves
Emmanuel Jal
Emmanuel Jal, celebrity rapper and ex-child soldier, talks to Rowenna Davis about why he is championing African education.
Southern Exposure
Motlhalefi Mahlabe
Motlhalefi Mahlabe photographs slums in a South African township.
Mixed Media - Film
Birdwatchers
The reality of indigenous life in the Amazon. Directed and co-written by Marco Bechis
Fish Tank
A film that gets inside the mind and feelings of a young person deeply at odds with the world. Written and directed by Andrea Arnold.
Mixed Media - Books
Natural Selection
Szperling's short, punchy novel paints a vivid pen-portrait of the savage and amoral nature of this stratum of Argentinean society.
Thursday Night Widows
Nominally a thriller, Thursday Night Widows is less concerned with the 'whodunnit' aspects of plotting than with a psychological dissection of a social class obsessed with bickering and petty jealousies as the pillars of their world dissolve.
Mixed Media - Music
Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast
Guitars blast, synthesizers go mad and a group of gospel harmonizers strain for the heavens as sitar strings twang. By Cornershop
Rishte
An album with a range of references stretching from a lazy Delta blues to the yearnings of Urdu devotionals. By Najma Akhtar and Gary Lucas.
View from Kolkata
A century of voluntary hunger
Anthony Dias ponders the purpose of the hunger strike.
Essay
Toxic planet
Our profligate use of deadly chemicals is coming back to haunt us, writes Zoe Cormier.
Country Profile
Guinea
Facts, figures and a brief history of life in Guinea.
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR
‘Islam in power’ is a contradiction in terms, said contributor Ziauddin Sardar, when I first mentioned this issue’s title to him.
The foundation for Muslim democracy, he maintains, lies in egalitarianism not in authoritarian theocracies. In fact, he contends, the whole idea of the Islamic state is un-Islamic, since the faith is a universalist not a nationalist movement. Grassroots decision making is much more in line with Islamic tradition than authoritarianism.
I was thinking about this the other day while attending a service at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. The sermon was about the need for community consultation and consensus, whose Islamic equivalents are met in the concepts of shura and ijma. Later there was discussion about how to re-invigorate the church and make it relevant in the modern world. Issues around women bishops and gay rights were the elephants in the room.
I was reminded of issues the ‘Islamic world’ is contending with – ones that we explore this month. With dispatches from a Saudi feminist, an Iranian Jewish woman and a gay Iraqi Muslim activist, we hope to expand the concept of the larger ummah or community. And with a feature by Nafeez Ahmed on the connections between Western intelligence agencies and Islamist extremists, we offer a peek at realpolitik.
On the way back from the service at Christ Church, I crossed paths with a Muslim man coming back from his isha prayers at the mosque. Ramadan mubarak, I told him, and he nodded back. Acknowledgement and inclusion of the other are pan-Abrahamic traditions that need to be revived on all sides.
And our special feature this month on green law is all about acknowledging the rights of the earth itself.
Here’s to the fine art of mutual respect.
Hadani Ditmars for the
New Internationalist Co-operative
