More: Islam
Whither Muslim solidarity and moderation?
Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki AlFaisal Al Saud must have gotten his tenses mixed up when he asserted in a recently published memoir...
South Asia replaces the Middle East as the epicentre of Muslim religious ultra-conservatism
As Middle Eastern states attempt to manage their political and security differences, Muslim-majority countries are regrouping along a fault line that separates proponents of...
How much is religious soft power worth? Jokowi searches for answers in Abu Dhabi
An Indonesian promise to work with the United Arab Emirates to promote ‘moderate’ Islam raises questions of what constitutes moderation and how it can...
Ultraconservative triumph puts Pakistan at risk
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan may have averted for now further violence by caving in to demands of a militant, supremacist religious group. But...
Religious ultra-conservatism has a field day in Pakistan. It puts Saudi Arabia on the Spot
Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism is having a field day.
Barely three months after the Taliban claimed victory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim-majority state,...
Reducing Middle East tensions potentially lessens sectarianism and opens doors for women
Two separate developments involving improved relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and women’s sporting rights demonstrate major shifts in how rivalry for leadership of...
The new direction of the Middle East Cold War
Authors: Muhammad Fuad Tingai and Nabiila Azzahro*
Iran and Saudi Arabia, two hegemonic countries in the Middle East, can be said to be the Soviet...
Afghanistan highlights link between religious soft power and Gulf security
When Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani this week described the Taliban’s repressive policies towards women and brutal administration of justice as “very...
The Role and Place of the Taliban on the Global Map of Islam: Challenges and Threats
The rise to power of the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) in August 2021 has raised a number of questions about how...
The Battle for the Soul of Islam: Will the real reformer of the faith stand up?
Saudi and Emirati efforts to define ‘moderate’ Islam as socially more liberal while being subservient to an autocratic ruler is as much an endeavour...