Dr Reza Pankhurst critiques the podcast with Dr. Yasir Qadhi, arguing that real change for the Muslim ummah cannot come from within the current world order, which serves Western interests. The establishment of an Islamic state (Khilafa) is deemed crucial for defending and uniting Muslims, contrasting YQ's view of it as a low-priority, idealistic goal.
Rebellion and Islam - when the appointment of the Islamic rulers became akin to a hereditary process, was rebellion the natural outcome? And did restricting rebellion restrict the choice of the umma?
The reality is that the hegemony of Western governments and values is being disputed more openly as time passes. As re-emerging powers such as Russia, China and India all assert themselves regionally and internationally, demands to adopt the political values and philosophy of Western European and American governments are less relevant to those involved. This is particularly the case as aforementioned values and philosophy lie largely discredited even in the heart of the West itself
(The following is a section reproduced with minor edits from an article originally published in the academic journal Political Theology 11.6 (2010) 826-845) "Muslim secularists" - or the subset within them of "Caliphate deniers", being those who profess a Muslim belief but consider that Islam has nothing to say about the State, that any conception … Continue reading The Caliphate Deniers
Dr. Ovamir Anjum's recent piece for the Yaqeen Institute entitled "Who wants the Caliphate?" is certainly worth a read. It is a fairly substantial long-read for an internet article, so to summarise just a few of the points I found interesting; please note there is much more in the article than what I mention below, … Continue reading A Brief Response to Dr. Ovamir Anjum’s “Who Wants the Caliphate?”
Given the many varieties and claims to democracy today and throughout history, it is important to have a clearly defined understanding of what the core differentiating characteristic of democracy is, if the word is to have any meaning - i.e. what defines it distinctively from other potential forms of government. Our objective here is to … Continue reading Democratic Theory (1): What makes a democracy ‘democratic’?
Numerous well known scholars have become interlocutors for the current regimes across the Middle East and Muslim countries, forsaking leadership of the oppressed in the name of a wisdom they claim monopoly over, promoting a perversion of normative Islamic thought under the guise of a traditional Islam that they have ceased to represent, if they ever did.