Conspiracy: Not a Theory But History

Written by Husain Al-Qadi

One of the enduring perceptions of Arabs and Muslims in the West is that of a people who fall easy victim to conspiracy theories. Books are written on how the worldview of Muslims is influenced by conspiracy theories and we are often caricatured in fiction and folktales in the West as paranoid reactionaries. As a consequence of this, whenever a Muslim mentions the word "conspiracy", eyes roll even before he is able to finish his sentence and you can almost hear the collective groan of "oh-no-not-that again" echo around the room. This reaction has become so insidious that one can even find Muslims reacting in a similar manner, as I saw among the responses we received to last week's JumahPulse.

Tariq Ramadan and the Oxford Haskalah Attempt

Written by Husain Al-Qadi

At a time when momentous events are taking place in the Muslim world, it may puzzle some that we at UmmahPulse are harping on about Haskala and reformation. Well, the truth is that the two are linked in more ways than meet the eye, something that I will come back to later.

The PM's Speech

Written by Karima Hamdan

While alcohol-slurred chants of "E – E – EDL" and anti-Muslim hate speech too foul to reprint here could be heard up and down Luton's town centre streets, another more urbane voice added its plum tones to the cacophony. This weekend British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a landmark speech setting out his vision for British Muslims.