Must Read Posts: Understanding what is Sharia, The succession bomb, pahlavi, media watch

Given the importance of Sharia in the lives of millions of Muslims, it is critical that the term be correctly understood. Explaining this term, Dr Gamal Solaiman, a notable Egyptian scholar educated at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, observes that ‘the word ‘sharia’ literally means a way leading to a watering place where people have access to indispensable life ingredients’.
He refers to Surah 21:31 which states: ‘We made out of water every living thing.’ As water is the essence of all living things, so Sharia represents what is essential for a human being’s spiritual and social development. Dr Solaiman has pointed out that the word is used in the Quran in three places. One reference is in Surah 42:13 which states: ‘In matters of Sharia, He (God) has ordained for you that which He had enjoined upon Noah — and into which We gave thee (O Muhammad) insight through revelation — as well as that which We had enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus: Steadfastly uphold the (true) faith, and do not break up your unity therein.’

With reference to the Sharia, Dr Osman has stated: ‘God’s laws are meant to remove difficulties and inconveniences and not create them…. Whenever certain circumstances make the implementation of a rule of Sharia result in mass difficulties or inconvenient pressures, the general principle of ‘God does not want to place you in a difficulty’ (Surah 5:6; Surah 22:78) and ‘God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear’ … would apply to stop the public difficulty or to respond to the public necessity or need, and in such a case any legal detail can be suspended for the sake of maintaining the general goals and principles of Sharia.’ Understanding what is Sharia By Dr Riffat Hassan


Zardari caught between insistent Americans and our recalcitrant generals yet again — so far, a familiar story. But here’s the twist: ‘In November [Kayani] completes the second year of his three-year term. During his final year, the jockeying will begin for his succession and deals may be offered to him or to others in the higher command by the current appointing authority [Zardari].’ ...and quoting Asif Shuja - ‘[In] a move that would allow the regional commanders greater freedom of action, they should all be four-star generals and appointed by the same authority that currently appoints the COAS and the CJCS. The political spin-off benefit of such a move would be the elimination of the all-powerful position of one person, the COAS, and the division of power among the regional commanders, while making the chairman of the JCSC the principal military advisor to the government of Pakistan … It would also eliminate the possibility of a single person effecting a coup d’état in the future, since the power of the army will be divided among three to six commanders, none of whom owes his job to the COAS or even the chairman of the JCSC.’ The succession bomb


When a federal judge ordered 17 Chinese Uighurs, detained at Guantanamo Bay, released into the United States last October, he took to its logical conclusion the judiciary's increasingly bold effort to supervise the president and Congress. Justifying his ruling in the face of Congress' exclusive constitutional power over when, which, and how foreign nationals may enter the United States, Judge Ricardo Urbina reasoned that "our system of checks and balances is designed to preserve the fundamental right of liberty." He saw his order as necessary to that end. But if he's right, then the judiciary itself is the unchecked branch of government. And while judges have expanded their power before in our history, never have the claims to supremacy of some of them been so extreme. Today's unprecedented expansion of judicial powers.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you see a split among the clerics in Iran?
Pahlavi: Absolutely. Government clerics who enter the holy city of Ghom and its seminaries backed by money and not-so-hidden coercive powers of the state are a thorn in the side of independent clerics who are more interested in faith and morality than power. In the younger, more popular days of this theocracy the schism was not obvious. Now, with masses of people on the streets, crushed by the orders of the head government cleric, the rift is wide open. The grand ayatollahs can no longer keep quiet about rape and torture in jails in the name of Islam. Unlike government mullahs, these senior clerics get their support from the people, so they can never be far away from popular feelings Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi: 'Iran Is My True and only Home'

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