Author Archives: Abu Faris

Another Al-Q supporting Islamist hate-preacher linked to UCL

By Abu Faris | Published: January 11, 2010
Shaykh Khalid Yasin  is a U.S.-born Muslim convert, based in Atlanta, Georgia, who has been a popular guest speaker at Muslim Students Association (MSA) events on college campuses across the United States for some time. Yasin has also lived in Britain from time to time. In the past, he has lectured with Omar Bakri Mohammed (the [...]
Posted in Islamism | 2 Comments

Qutb Praised by Contender for MB’s “Supreme Guide” Role

By Abu Faris | Published: January 5, 2010
Hard on the heels of the recent internal coup-d’etat inside Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood comes the division of the spoils. The hard-liners, having rigged the elections to MB’s leading Guidance Bureau, have now to decide amongst themselves which one of them will be MB’s new Supreme Guide. Leading contenders include Hussein Ibrahim (head of the MB parliamentary [...]
Posted in Islamism, Politics, Terrorism | 2 Comments

Muslim Brotherhood Rig Their Own Elections

By Abu Faris | Published: January 5, 2010
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood are having a hard time of late, much to the delight of their many political opponents inside Egypt. On Tuesday, 22nd December 2009, MB announced the results of the first elections held in 15 years to its leading Guidance Bureau. Unfortunately for the Brothers, the results of the election were strongly [...]
Posted in Democracy, Islamism | 2 Comments

Of Qadhi and Detroit 253

By Abu Faris | Published: January 1, 2010
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Detroit 253 bomber, has come under understandable scrutiny of late both here on The Spittoon and on Harry’s Place, as elsewhere.  Here, on The Spittoon, Effendi has written of Adbdulmutallab’s links to the East London Mosque. On Harry’s Place, Habibi has drawn our attention to Abdulmutallab’s previously made public declarations on [...]
Posted in Islamism, Terrorism | 2 Comments

For With G-d Nothing Shall Be Impossible

By Abu Faris | Published: December 27, 2009
About 15 million Christians continue to live in the Middle East, the biggest non-Muslim minority left in the Muslim-majority countries of the region. Yet every year, more and more leave their homelands for overseas; pressurised into flight by systematic economic and social discrimination on the basis of their faith. Of course, the Christians of the Middle [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Haiku for Yusuf

By Abu Faris | Published: December 23, 2009
It being nearly Christmas (in the Western Church) and not so nearly Christmas (for the Orthodox Faithful), I thought I would share this haiku sent to me by my poetry-obsessed mother: O Joseph! Your love For a pregnant girl has brought Wise men to their knees. Laurence Smith
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The hope that is the music of Nizar Rohana

By Abu Faris | Published: December 22, 2009
Nizar Rohana is a Palestinian oud player of the highest standards. His mastery of the Arab lute is phenomenal. His grasp of the intricacies of traditional Arab forms is masterful. When one hear his re-tuning of his often too delicate instrument in the middle of a performance, one feels it as part of the song [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Date Line Khartoum

By Abu Faris | Published: December 22, 2009
Christmas at 30C +, stuck in the middle of the Sahara Desert may not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, in the best traditions of the Stiff-Upper-Lip, one makes the best of things. The situation is greatly ameliorated by the discovery of vast lakes of the local tipple, a spirit derived from dates (and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The People’s Ayatollah

By Abu Faris | Published: December 21, 2009
A useful obituary of Grand Ayatollah Houssein Ali Montazeri, written by Muhammad Sahimi, has appeared on the Tehran Bureau website. Montazeri was a leading light in the 1979 Revolution. Initially named as Khomeini’s successor, Montazeri soon turned against the regime, becoming one of its bravest and most consistent critics from within the Shi’a clerical elite. He [...]
Posted in International Affairs, Politics | 5 Comments

Copts Complain of Islamic Leaders’ Double-Standards Over Minarets Vote

By Abu Faris | Published: December 20, 2009
Whilst leading Muslim clerics complained of the Swiss decision to ban the building of further minarets, there was not a word from the same for the continued denial of the right to worship freely for religious minorities across the Muslim-majority world. In Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox Christian minority make up some 10% of the population; yet [...]
Posted in Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, Interfaith, Sectarianism | 7 Comments