policy, society and religion
CBC: Does the deep state exist? Journalist Bruce Livesey investigates
By Bruce Livesey Is Donald Trump facing impeachment because of the "deep state"? He and his supporters certainly think so, pointing to the parade of military officers, CIA personnel, former diplomats and other members of the U.S. government eager to testify against...
The Middle East Eye: By thwarting the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia shot itself in the foot
By Wael Haddara Back in March, before the untimely passing of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, I had written about his approach to foreign policy, which combined values with pragmatism and allowed for a delicate balance in the turbulent world of Middle East...
The Middle East Eye: The 89-year-old who threatened the Egyptian regime even in death
Photo: In November 2005, then Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef shows his finger, covered in ink after voting, as he walks away from a polling station a school in the populated suburb of Nasr City in Cairo (AFP) Wael Haddara is an educator, associate...
The Middle East Eye: Why terrorism is caused by much more than just religion
Photo: People flee during the terror attacks in central Paris on 13 November 2015 (AFP) Wael Haddara is an educator, associate professor of medicine at Western University, Canada, and a leader in the Canadian Muslim community. In 2012-2013, he served as senior advisor...
What is Piety?
We will consider hadith 5 and hadith 6 together. Hadith 5 is very brief – an example of the eloquence of the Prophet peace be upon him and his ability to be brief but profound. In this hadith, the Prophet peace be upon him tells us that Islam describes a definable...
All Learning is Not Created Equal
In the last post, I wrote about hadiths #2 and #3 – that Islam is built on a statement of belief, a set of physical rituals, authentic beliefs and sincerity in orienting oneself to God. But those elements are not the totality of Islam, but rather the foundation of it....
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Rabi’ Al-Awwal is the month in which the Prophet peace be upon him was born, and the month in which he made the migration to Madina. There is a misconception that the migration of the Prophet peace be upon him took place in Muharram, since that is the first month of...
What is Islam?
Our next hadiths to consider are hadith #3 and #4 together. It’s probably important to note at this point that I’m not attempting any level of comprehensive treatment of these ahadith. Rather, my objective is to highlight how these texts help us understand Islam...
Where Islam Begins and Ends
More on this theme of where Islam “begins” and “ends”. Al-Nawawi and other scholars have written that this Hadith enters into almost all actions and various scholars have elected to insert it at the beginning of their works. And so, quite appropriately, this is the...
Sincerity
In the last post, I introduced the Forty Nawawi Hadith Collection as a way to understand Islam in a holistic way. The inspiration for Al-Nawawi to compile these ahadith (42 in total) was a Prophetic tradition that exhorted people to preserve 40 hadiths for the Ummah....
The Colour of Canadian Values
Candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party are once again competing in the area of identity politics. In a move with similarities to Trump’s vetting of immigrants, one leadership contestant called for the screening of immigrants...
Interned Italian-Canadians Left Deep Holes in Communities They Were Forced to Leave Behind
It started off with a post that appeared on my Facebook timeline. A friend, who is part Italian, posted a story from the North Bay Nugget. I normally would have let the story pass, but, for whatever reasons, I read this one and it was about the City of North Bay...
Intro: Authentic & Holistic
One of my favourite books on Islam is the collection of forty hadiths (Prophetic sayings) by Imam al-Nawawi, the so-called Forty Nawawi Hadiths. I like the collection for two main reasons and a host of others. Those two main reasons are: Al-Nawawi had a deep...
Is #Violence Ever Part of a Solution? My Take on #BlackLivesMatter
Between people who care about each other – or ought to – violence is never the answer to grievances; but rather a part of the problem and a dangerous one at that. If violence fails to stem the tide of grievances there will always be those who argue that it has failed...
What Has Humanity Learned From Auschwitz And Dachau?
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY WAEL HADDARA DURING A VISIT OF DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP Many experiences change who you are and how you view the world. Yesterday Prime Minister Trudeau visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and shared a written reflection in the book of remembrance on the...
AlJazeera: Egypt’s military government endures – but at what cost?
Wael Haddara is a Canadian-Egyptian physician who served as former senior adviser to former President Mohamed Morsi. One of the great lessons for the Egyptian military from Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year reign must have been that it cannot allow executive power to wander too...
Wael Haddara and The Egyptian Presidency
Presidential Elections In 2012 Haddara went through one of the most difficult periods of his life when his mother passed away. He, his father and brother traveled to Egypt for the funeral and to be with family. While on this trip Presidential Candidate Morsi, who...
Wael Haddara and The Arab Spring
All who know Haddara would tell you that he has not forgotten the country where he came from – Egypt. He has always had an unwavering love to the country for his extended family, for it history, its language and culture. As the Arab Spring developed, Haddara was at...
Humour, Satire and power
I have been intrigued by the effects of satire and humour on public perceptions and trust. There seems to be reasonable evidence to suggest that political satire likely erodes the public’s confidence in political institutions. That’s perhaps not shocking since...
Egypt’s Public Opinion Poll 2013
The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera) conducts regular polls regarding the Egyptian domestic scene. The latest iteration of the poll was published April 7, 2013. Methodology The poll was conducted by phone, using a combination of landlines and...
The Best Foreign Policy
I recently came upon this speech by Dwight D Eisenhower before he became President. It was delivered at Columbia in 1950. I dont think Eisenhower is thought of by many as a great orator – I think most Americans (and non-Americans for that matter) think of JFK as the...
The Long (and Painful Memories) of The Digital World
Every now and then, something pops up that reminds me that in the digital era, things are now very different. Without a doubt, we all carry with us certain memories. But memories of the vivid kind have long been a purview of famous people (through museums, monuments,...
Our Foreign Policy
Our Foreign Policy needs serious overhaul. I believe the one big lesson that all countries should have learned from the Bush years is that no one nation, however powerful it may be, can “go it alone” for any significant period of time. Nations cannot advance their...
But He Speaks English Very Well
Sometimes you hear an irritating, farcical point of view but you let it go because it is so evidently farcical that you think it cant possibly get much traction. Then you hear it again. And again. By the time you start dealing with it, it has become part of the...
Priorities of The Islamic Movement and The Arab Spring
2011 has been a remarkable year. For far too long, the Arab world seemed immune to the changes sweeping the rest of the world. This year, finally, the peoples of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt managed to throw off the yokes of oppressive regimes. For those in other...
Gender Issues in The Muslim Community
Gender relations and roles are a constant focus of discussion and debate within the Muslim community. Occasionally, and increasingly, the debates are degenerating into conflicts. Although I believe, the community is maturing and my fervent hope is that the conflictual...
The Race Day | Poem
I was going though my old files and came across this – I think I wrote this in 1993… I like it (even after 20 years) because every time I have to drive into Toronto, this is what it feels like the other drivers are doing …. The Race Day Red. Fingers tighten...
The True Measure of a Civilization
Does the following story sound familiar? In a country going through rough economic times, a man steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s hungry children. He is caught and punished but the punishment seems so disproportionate to the crime. Despite this violation of...
Fear Is The Path To The Dark-Side
This is a presentation I gave at a conference on the relationship between Islam and the “West” in 2007. I generally don’t like this characterization because, as a very astute observer once pointed out, Islam is a non-geographically constrained faith whereas the “West”...
Senate Protest: Courage Or Anarchy? Poll
And now for my first poll ever…. On Friday, a young Senate page, Brigitte Depape, was fired for raising a sign that said “Stop Harper” during the GG’s Throne Speech. It was, apparently, an unprecedented act of protest. Somewhat predictably there are two points of view...
Calgary EMAAN 2011- Education Muslim Awards Achievement Night
I was honoured to be the keynote speaker at Calgary’s EMAAN 2011 (http://www.emaan.mac-cc.ca/). It was great to see the talent in the Calgary Muslim community at all levels. I was particularly impressed by the valedictorians – at both the public and high school levels...
What If We Had Done Something Different with All That Money
I intensely dislike simplistic comparisons of the “imagine what we could with the money allocated to defense spending… how many schools can a cruise missile build?” type…. I think the comparisons are simplistic for a variety of reasons. Often the reason for using...
The Day after
Election Results
So. We have a majority conservative government for the first time since 1993 and the first majority government since 2006. The numbers flashing on my screen say Cons 168; NDP 103; Lib 33; BQ 3 and Elizabeth May 1. In a democracy, the people decide. In this case,...
First Blog Post
I have long resisted blogging – much like I resisted twitter initially. Although I now have a twitter account, I cant say I tweet much. Apparently like many others (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1725/where-people-get-news-print-online-readership-cable-news-viewers) I am...
Ben Laden is dead
So Ben Laden is dead. I have to say it came as an utter surprise. I thought he was already dead. I confess that coverage of news like this always leaves me a little confused. Obama did a good job reminding everyone why Ben Laden was a “bad person”. I know there are...
I dont know what is worse, that Eric Trump thinks its ok to suggest Ivanka weighed in on a significant decision like this or that possibility it's true. For the record, I'm essentially in support of the strike - with the caveat that it's not likely anywhere near enough, nor does it change my perspective on the administration....
www.cnn.com/2017/04/11/politics/ivanka-trump-syria-strike-influence-telegraph/index.html
Eric Trump: Ivanka influenced Syria strike decision
www.cnn.com
President Donald Trump has said that the horrific images from a chemical weapons attack in Syria compelled him to authorize a missile strike against an Assad-regime airbase last week. But according to his son, Eric Trump, another key White House voice may have also influenced his decision to use mil...How can a company destroy its public image and turn customers away in one easy step? See story below. If your *core* business is getting people from point A to point B and you fail at that, it's bad enough. But when you then add to it a mini horror story ... how do you expect to stay in business?
www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/04/man_forcibly_removed_from_overbooked_united_flight.html
WATCH: Man forcibly removed from overbooked United flight
www.nj.com
Security removed the doctor after no passengers on flight from Chicago accepted the airlines' offer of $800 and a free hotel room
و يختلف الدهر حتى يبين رعاة العهود و خوانها/ و ما هو ماء و لكنه وريد الحياة و شريانها / تتمم مصر ينابيعُه كما تمم العين إنسانها #سد_النهضة https://youtu.be/2asqFfp3Ol8
Someone recently tried to draw parallels between Kais Saied’s actions and President @MuhammadMorsi ‘a November 2012 constitutional declaration. 1/ #Tunis #Egypt #Morsi