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I've read several books on Islam's Sunni-Shia split, with each having provided informative insights on this ancient schism steeped in both theology and politics. The latter is the primary...
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April 23, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed There is a common assumption that the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategic thinking and foreign policy are fundamentally different from those of the pre-revolution era. The theocratic government's worldview...
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March 26, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed After Qatar reconciled with its Gulf neighbours at the start of this year, chief among them Saudi Arabia, an almost four-year blockade came to an end. It was perhaps...
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March 10, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed The historic visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Iraq was intended to promote interfaith dialogue and help in uplifting the country as it deals with an...
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February 14, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed Known as the "Forgotten Uprising", the largely peaceful pro-democracy protests erupted across the tiny island Kingdom of Bahrain ten years ago, only to be faced with a brutal crackdown...
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February 9, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed Michael Christopher Low's book Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj is a fascinating account of the Hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city of Makkah ("Mecca") during...
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January 19, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed Last week, the outgoing US Secretary of State and former head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, announced a flurry of last-minute sanctions against rivals and foes China, Cuba and...
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January 6, 2021 |
Omar Ahmed Kahlil Gibran is regarded as the third-best-selling poet of all time after Lao Tzu and William Shakespeare, largely because of his book The Prophet. First published in 1923 it...
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December 22, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi announced the formation of a new unity government on Friday, just over a year after the power-sharing agreement was signed with the...
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December 11, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The single main story of the year has without a doubt been the coronavirus pandemic which has thus far claimed over 1.5 million lives around the world amid encouraging...
Published in:
Article,
Asia & Americas,
Bahrain,
Iran,
Iraq,
Israel,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Palestine,
UAE,
US -
November 28, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed If the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition's war on Yemen was known as "the forgotten war", the 2011 anti-government protests in Bahrain soon became "the forgotten uprising". Forgotten in the sense...
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November 14, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed According to most accounts, Taha Hussein, one of Egypt's most esteemed writers and intellectuals and a giant in modern Arabic literature, was born on 14 November, 1889, in the...
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October 30, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Recent events in France have once again pushed the notion of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West onto centre stage. Last month the satirical magazine Charlie...
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October 20, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The 13-year arms embargo imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council expired on Sunday in accordance with Resolution 2231 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly...
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Israeli actress Gal Gadot confirmed yesterday that she will be playing the role of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra
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October 8, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has the propensity to draw in regional powers such as Iran, Russia and Turkey, and thus become a...
Published in:
Armenia,
Article,
Azerbaijan,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Israel,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Palestine,
Russia,
Turkey -
September 30, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Although the Arabic phrase literally means “God willing” it is also popularly used in an informal way across the Middle East to denote something that is unlikely to happen.
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September 28, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Whilst literature on Israel's state violence against Palestinian children is nothing new, there are apparent limitations on the current discourse which tends not to extend beyond theories of childhood...
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September 16, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The world's largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran is found in neighbouring Pakistan where they account for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. Although...
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September 14, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Most people would agree that it is important for parents to instil a sense of national and cultural identity in their children in order to preserve their heritage for...
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September 10, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The recent meeting in Beirut between Hamas and Hezbollah leadership where the threats to the Palestinian cause and normalisation between Israel and Arab states were discussed is the latest...
Published in:
Africa,
Article,
Bahrain,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Iraq,
Israel,
Lebanon,
Libya,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Palestine,
Syria,
Turkey,
UAE -
August 24, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish full diplomatic relations in exchange for the suspension (or from Israel's point of view, merely the postponement) of...
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August 16, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed When one thinks of contemporary political Shia Islam the Islamic Republic of Iran tends to spring to mind, a theocracy which those familiar with the subject know is based...
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July 30, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The Hagia Sofia Grand Mosque was opened for public worship last Friday for the first time in 86 years following a top court's ruling that the historic building, originally...
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July 20, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed In the year 751 CE, the largely Arab-Persian army of the Abbasid Caliphate met the Chinese imperial forces of the Tang Dynasty on the banks of the River Talas...
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July 10, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State is likely to announce today the restoration of the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque reversing an 86-year-old decree...
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June 29, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Israel's involvement in the Yemen war throughout its five year duration is an open secret. In 2015, when the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the capital Sanaa was seized by...
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June 19, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Turkey achieved a strategic success in breaking the year-long siege on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. With Turkish support, the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) pushed back the forces...
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June 8, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Sectarianism is a salient feature of contemporary warfare in the Middle East, especially in multi-religious societies. The ongoing conflict in Syria is no exception. The rapid online spread of...
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A prominent Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem, has come under fire on Twitter over his response to a question posed to him by a user regarding the permissibility of...
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June 1, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The scenario is all too familiar: the almost casual murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed African American citizen — say his name: George Floyd —by police officers has sparked...
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May 29, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed Last Friday, 22 May, was Unity Day in Yemen, a national holiday marking the unification of the North and South which took place on that date in 1990. The...
I've read several books on Islam's Sunni-Shia split, with each having provided informative insights on this ancient schism steeped in both theology and politics. The latter is the primary...
There is a common assumption that the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategic thinking and foreign policy are fundamentally different from those of the pre-revolution era. The theocratic government's worldview...![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) meets King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz (R) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 14 February 2017. [Kayhan Özer/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Erdogan_Saudi_King-3-e1487103359906.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
After Qatar reconciled with its Gulf neighbours at the start of this year, chief among them Saudi Arabia, an almost four-year blockade came to an end. It was perhaps...![Pope Francis holds a mass at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Arbil, on March 7, 2021, in the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region [SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1231576790-scaled-e1615392010933.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The historic visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Iraq was intended to promote interfaith dialogue and help in uplifting the country as it deals with an...![Bahraini anti-government protesters place concrete roadblocks on the highway leading to Pearl Square in Manama on 14 March 2011. [JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-110118818.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Known as the "Forgotten Uprising", the largely peaceful pro-democracy protests erupted across the tiny island Kingdom of Bahrain ten years ago, only to be faced with a brutal crackdown...![Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj [cover]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/41W1CK73W0L.jpg?resize=333%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Michael Christopher Low's book Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj is a fascinating account of the Hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city of Makkah ("Mecca") during...
Last week, the outgoing US Secretary of State and former head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, announced a flurry of last-minute sanctions against rivals and foes China, Cuba and...![Kahlil Gibran [Wikipedia]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/khalil.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Kahlil Gibran is regarded as the third-best-selling poet of all time after Lao Tzu and William Shakespeare, largely because of his book The Prophet. First published in 1923 it...![Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, President of Yemen [United Nations Developmen/Paulo Filgueras/Flickr]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2012_9-25-Yemen-President-Abd-al-Rab-Mansur-al-Hadi.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi announced the formation of a new unity government on Friday, just over a year after the power-sharing agreement was signed with the...
The single main story of the year has without a doubt been the coronavirus pandemic which has thus far claimed over 1.5 million lives around the world amid encouraging...![Bahraini women take part in an anti-regime protest Manama, Bahrain on 27 August 2013 [MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protest-in-Bahrain-.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
If the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition's war on Yemen was known as "the forgotten war", the 2011 anti-government protests in Bahrain soon became "the forgotten uprising". Forgotten in the sense...![Taha Hussein, one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals [Wikpedia]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Taha-Hussein.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
According to most accounts, Taha Hussein, one of Egypt's most esteemed writers and intellectuals and a giant in modern Arabic literature, was born on 14 November, 1889, in the...
Recent events in France have once again pushed the notion of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West onto centre stage. Last month the satirical magazine Charlie...![Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanch speaks to reporters after the US Secretary of State urged members of the UN Security Council to restore sanctions against Iran following meetings at UN headquarters in New York, on 20 August 2020. [MIKE SEGAR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228127973.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The 13-year arms embargo imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council expired on Sunday in accordance with Resolution 2231 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly...![Gal Gadot speaking at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego USA on 11 July, 2015 [Gage Skidmore/FlickR]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2015_07_11-Gal-Gadot-speaking-at-the-2015-San-Diego-Comic-Con-International19737795705_fc4145df07_b-.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Israeli actress Gal Gadot confirmed yesterday that she will be playing the role of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra![Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with former Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on 23 April 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel. [Amos Ben Gershom GPO via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-167275091-e1602146587401.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has the propensity to draw in regional powers such as Iran, Russia and Turkey, and thus become a...
Although the Arabic phrase literally means “God willing” it is also popularly used in an informal way across the Middle East to denote something that is unlikely to happen.
Whilst literature on Israel's state violence against Palestinian children is nothing new, there are apparent limitations on the current discourse which tends not to extend beyond theories of childhood...![Pakistani Shiite women mourn after an attack on a shia mosque in Karachi, Pakistan on 17 October 2016 [ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Pakistani-Shiite-Muslim.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The world's largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran is found in neighbouring Pakistan where they account for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. Although...
Most people would agree that it is important for parents to instil a sense of national and cultural identity in their children in order to preserve their heritage for...![Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh (3rd L) and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah (4th R) meet in Beirut, Lebanon on 6 September 2020. [Hezbollah Press Office / Handout - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20200906_2_44221822_57940394.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The recent meeting in Beirut between Hamas and Hezbollah leadership where the threats to the Palestinian cause and normalisation between Israel and Arab states were discussed is the latest...![Iranian students gather outside the United Arab Emirates' embassy in Tehran, Iran to protest a deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel to normalize ties, on 15 August 2020. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200816_2_43913893_57459704.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish full diplomatic relations in exchange for the suspension (or from Israel's point of view, merely the postponement) of...
When one thinks of contemporary political Shia Islam the Islamic Republic of Iran tends to spring to mind, a theocracy which those familiar with the subject know is based...![President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) salutes public after a visit to inspect Hagia Sophia Mosque which will be opened on 24th of July for worship after 86 years with Friday prayer, in Istanbul, Turkey on 19 July 2020. [TUR Presidency Murat Cetinmuhurdar - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20200719_2_43516532_56821790.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The Hagia Sofia Grand Mosque was opened for public worship last Friday for the first time in 86 years following a top court's ruling that the historic building, originally...![Demonstrators hold Uyghur flags as they take part in a demonstration in support of Uyghur Turks against human rights violations of China, in Berlin, Germany on 27 December 2019. [Abdulhamid Hoşbaş - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/20191227_2_40054487_50735152.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
In the year 751 CE, the largely Arab-Persian army of the Abbasid Caliphate met the Chinese imperial forces of the Tang Dynasty on the banks of the River Talas...![A general view of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey on 2 July 2020 [Onur Çoban/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hagia-Sophia-.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State is likely to announce today the restoration of the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque reversing an 86-year-old decree...![An old man holds flags of Turkey and Libya during a demonstration against eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, who is based in the east of the country, and in support of the UN-recognised government of national accord (GNA) at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli on 10 January 2020. [Hazem Turkia - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200110_2_40267074_51088394.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey achieved a strategic success in breaking the year-long siege on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. With Turkish support, the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) pushed back the forces...![The tomb of Umayyad Caliph Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz was burnt and destroyed by militias in Syria 28 May 2020 [Sa'na Agency/Twitter]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Caliph-Tomb-destroyed.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Sectarianism is a salient feature of contemporary warfare in the Middle East, especially in multi-religious societies. The ongoing conflict in Syria is no exception. The rapid online spread of...![Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem [Youtube]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Assim-Al-Hakeem-e1591011698656.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
A prominent Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem, has come under fire on Twitter over his response to a question posed to him by a user regarding the permissibility of...![People gather during a protest held against police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in New York, United States on 1 June 2020. [Mostafa Bassim - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200601_2_42731287_55513811.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The scenario is all too familiar: the almost casual murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed African American citizen — say his name: George Floyd —by police officers has sparked...![MA'RIB, YEMEN - 3 NOVEMBER: Supporters of Legal Government hold the portraits of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi during a protest against the Yemen peace plan proposed by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Ma'rib, Yemen on 3 November, 2016. [Ali Owidha/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/20161103_2_19929938_15675839.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Last Friday, 22 May, was Unity Day in Yemen, a national holiday marking the unification of the North and South which took place on that date in 1990. The...