Islam
Islam, reform and the battle of narratives
Is a wind of change blowing in the Arab world and bringing Muslims and Jews closer together? Ed Husain made…
Islam’s reformation: an Arab-Israeli alliance is taking shape in the Middle East
When Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman in 2018 in a gesture of goodwill to Israel’s neighbours, the welcome was not universal.…
The chilling stories from inside China’s Muslim internment camps
Vegetable-seller Kairat Samarkhan didn’t know why he had been summoned to the police station. ‘I had to empty my pockets…
The appalling vanity of Western feminists who think Margaret Atwood writes about them
Imagine a country where women have no jobs, no rights and are valued only for reproductive success. Imagine a country…
Revealed: the press regulator’s leaked guidelines on Islamophobia
If truthful reporting risks increasing tension between communities, should it still be published? Do journalists have a social duty to…
The press regulator must not turn into a religious thought police
Next year I will begin my fifth decade as a working journalist. As a writer, as an executive — and…
Is there anything that can’t be put down to a ‘condition’?
I suppose it is overstating the case to suggest that dyslexia is simply a term coined to assuage the disappointment…
Why was a finals student disqualified for criticising halal meat?
We have to talk about the schoolgirl who was disqualified from a GCSE exam on the grounds that she had…
The curious reaction to a niqab-wearing homophobe
Are we allowed to criticise the niqab yet? This question crossed my mind as I watched that viral clip of…
What does the Muslim Council of Britain have against Muslims like me?
Have you ever wondered why there are so few moderate Muslim voices in the press? It’s not because they don’t…
Billy Connolly and the death of free speech
I hope readers will forgive me for returning to a subject I addressed here recently. It was a reflection on the…
How Rwanda became an oasis of liberal Islam
Kigali, Rwanda To most outsiders, Rwanda is still synonymous with genocide. Nearly a million killed in 100 days; almost three…
We condemned the ideology behind Christchurch. Why didn’t we do the same after Sri Lanka?
The carnage in Sri Lanka which left more than 300 dead may have been carried out by ‘Buddhists’, according to…
An exceptional dystopia that’s made for TV: The Phlebotomist reviewed
The Phlebotomist by Ella Road explores the future of genetics. Suppose a simple blood test were able to tell us…
Angels through the ages
A good question for your upcoming Lent quiz: where are angels mentioned in the Nicene Creed? I asked this at…
Zoë Ball has the voice and warmth but not so much the chat
Whether by accident or design, Zoë Ball took over the coveted early-morning slot on Radio 2 this week just as…
The lost joy of swearing
Upon discovering that Sinéad O’Connor has converted to Islam, I was about as shocked as a Yuletide shopper hearing the…
The true face of Islam won’t be found in mosques or Muslim schools, but at the British Museum
In Britain today, Islam in its original essence is not to be found in mosques or Muslim schools, but on…
Why I’m a Muslim
When Muslims make headlines, it’s invariably for the wrong reasons. The fuss over Boris Johnson’s burka joke is a case…
The problem with British mosques
My earliest memory of a mosque is being with my father in London’s Brick Lane Mosque. He was a member…
Is it ok for Muslim parents to stop their kids having non-Muslim pals?
Is it all right for the Muslim parents of children at British state schools to prevent their sons and daughters…
Letters: An extra 3 per cent won’t fix the NHS
What the NHS needs Sir: James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson are right (‘The great Tory health splurge,’ 26 May): an…
Britain and Islam – the real special relationship
In all the agonising about Islamism, and what to do about it, it would be a mistake to forget a…
When will the West take a stand on the persecution of Muslims?
Anti-Christian persecution, for so long a great untold story, has started to gain the world’s attention. But the suffering of…
How a 14th-century Arab thinker influenced Ronald Reagan’s fiscal policy
At a press conference in October 1981, Ronald Reagan quoted Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) in support of what is known…
