Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Iran built a corridor of influence extending up to the Mediterranean when the US left Iraq in 2011 and left the field open for its archfoe and helped Tehran keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria and support Hezbollah in Lebanon
The reputation of Iraq's ayatollahs has been in sharp contrast to those in neighbouring Iran, who have since Ayatollah Khomeini-led 1979 revolution personified bogeymen in the US and Europe
A tapering gateway of inscriptions and geometric themes now leads to Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities which survived the Mongol onslaught, floods, and manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries
Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, and Christians continued living cheek by jowl rebuffing the toxic mix of religion and politics inside the warrens of Bab al-Sheikh, drawing inspiration from the 12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, whose final resting place is located there
Nahdlatul Ulama has cited ISIS’s attempt to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria and argued it will inevitably be disastrous and contrary to the basic purposes of Sharia—the protection of religion, human life, sound reasoning, family, and property
In 1963, crown prince Faisal told US ambassador Parker T Hart that 'after Allah, we trust America' while Saudis were involved in a confrontation with Egypt over Yemen, highlighting the depth of their relationship that has endured
Scholar Abdallah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah crafted the legal framework that inspired the declaration connecting early Islamic sources and the Prophet Muhammad's Charter of Medina with international human rights law for a model of equal, contractual citizenship as an Islamic principle
Regime change has been a recurring theme in Iranian discourse. It has had resonance since 1951 when the West removed democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh (1880-1967) from power for keeping his poll promise of nationalizing oil to invest its profits for the welfare of the poor
