This Blog is intended for use by students in the Islamic Middle East course at Northfield Mount Hermon School and guest students and teachers from other participating schools.
Increasingly, the Islamist agenda of HAMAS, the ruling party in Gaza, is being challenged by Palestinian youth with more Western and secular tastes.
See: Michael Kimmelman, “Watching ‘Friends’ in Gaza: A Culture Clash,” New York Times, Sept. 6, 2008
IME Course Study Guide on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Lebanon’s Hizbullah has opened a shrine in Nabatiye to its recently deceased commander Imad Mughniyah. Mughniyah, a high ranking member of Hizbullah, died on February 12 in a car bomb attack in Damascus that Hizbullah blamed on Israeli agents. Mughniyah was implicated in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner which was diverted to Beirut [...]
Gunmen in Pakistan opened fire on a car carrying the nation’s Prime Minister Raza Gilani, who was not hurt (and may not have even been in the car). The Pakistani government has recently become more aggressive in combating Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in the northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Story from BBC
Yesterday marked the first day in the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, holiest of all months because it was during Ramadan about the year 610 C.E. that Muhammad began receiving the Qur’an, Islam’s sacred text sent down from God in revelations through the Angel Gabriel (Jibril in Arabic) over the course of the following twenty-two [...]
Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization has witnessed a series of high profile dissents from the party line. One of the most prominent is Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, who goes by the nom de guerre of “Dr. Fadl.”
See: Britta Sandberg, “Turning Their Backs on Jihad,” Spiegel Online International, July 14, 2008
More on Al-Qaeda
IME course study guide on [...]
Pankaj Mishra, in an Op-Ed piece in today’s New YorkTimes writes:
“Over the last two decades, most ordinary Kashmiri Muslims have wavered between active insurrection and sullen rage. They fear, justifiably or not, the possibility of Israeli-style settlements by Hindus; reports two months ago of a government move to grant 92 acres of Kashmiri land to [...]
See:
Carlotta Gall, “Taliban Gain New Foothold in Afghan City After Attack, New York Times, August 26, 2008
More on Afghanistan
More on Taliban
The Taliban launched its most severe attack yet against a Pakistani government installation: a munitions factory in the town of Wah.
Story at the New York Times
In yesterday’s (Sunday) New York Times Magazine, one will find excerpts from an interview Deborah Solomon conducted with Lebanese born Christian writer Brigitte Gabriel. Gabriel emigrated to the United States. She is a vociferous critic of radical Islam.
Go to Article
Conservative Islamist clerics and tribal chieftains in Yemen, a country where the reach of state power is limited, are pushing for stronger regulation of public morality.
Story from the BBC
BBC Middle East