Afroz Ali

In 2010 at the crack of dawn, Israel raided a humanitarian flotilla of ships led by MV Mavi Marmara in the Mediterranean Seas. It was nothing like the Hollywood experience of The Pirates of the Caribbean. MV Mavi Marmara was the flagship of a flotilla of ships bringing about 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in Palestine, blockaded by Israel and
Egypt since 2007. Israeli naval commandos stormed and seized the ship whilst it was still in international waters. This Paper reviews the piracy of Israel through international law and conventions that it breached.

Recent claims made in a local newspaper opinion piece have sparked controversy by asserting that night burials lack prophetic precedent and were only practised by some groups in early history which is being replicated by some ill-informed groups of today. This paper examines these claims and provides evidence that Islamic teachings actually permit, and even encourage, prompt burial even if it occurs at night. By clarifying prophetic guidance on burials, this paper aims to address misconceptions about legitimate and recommended Islamic funerary practices.

Top artificial intelligence experts and technologists have cited ‘risks to society’ and have advocated for a six-month pause in the development of more advanced systems than OpenAI’s recently unveiled GPT-4. The doomsayers are on one extreme, and the accelerators-at-any-cost are at another extreme.

This White Paper from Human Business Intelligence seeks to offer a humanly balanced solution that is in the middle of the two extremes, advocating for the utilisation of AI systems as a sophisticated digital tool that is aligned with ethical and functional rigour so that humans can make intelligent decisions that promote human flourishing. This White Paper provides a framework towards this end, providing an AI capacity-building model for ethical self-correction.

The circus of burning books is not limited to anti-Islamists, and includes bigots from all walks of life hell-bent to preach hate in whatever form they can; for them how much they express their hate for the other is a proof of how much faith they have in “their” god. And, such flaming bigotry has not been limited to books; it has historically included libraries. Known as libricide – a term forgotten (even spell-check does not recognise it!) but not its ugly tradition - the burning and destruction of books as an assertion of self-righteousness over another religion or culture as an act of political warfare or religious repression is nothing new.

The Paper outlines why adopting cross-hemisphere lunar observations for each and every lunar month is untenable within Islamic Law. The Paper uses Australia-Malaysia example, as well as outlines the chronological history of the development of lunar observation criteria in Malaysia.

Are women inferior to men? Are there more women than men in hell? Are women deficient in and less intelligent than men?

Given many, particularly Muslim males, who make the claim that women are inferior to men and greater in number than men in hell, what does Islam say regarding the status of women, particularly in comparison to men? Whilst such a comparison might neither be appropriate nor relevant, the fact remains that such comparison is often made to assert that women are explicitly inferior to men both here in this world as well as the Hereafter.
Such an assertion offends many - in particular women - and aggrandises others, particularly many males who often quote from a particular Hadith to make such a claim.

Consequently, this Paper assesses this particular Hadith to provide evidence whether such a claim holds true.

A first-hand account in 2013 from the camps of Gaziantep, housing displaced Syrians. Their own voices - what they thought of the civil war that struck Syria - has often been ignored or distorted, particularly by extremists who often entered Syria as foreign fighters, as well as by political leaders representing their 'national interests'. This paper sheds light on the views of Syrians displaced due to the war that exploded in 2011.

The practice of female genital mutilation is unquestionably a human rights violation. This Paper discusses and explains the key difference between FGM and 'female circumcision'. 'Female circumcision' is often misunderstood (if practised legally and ethically) to be included in the illegal practice of FGM. This Paper provides a clear explanation on what 'female circumcision' is, in the context of Islamic Law.

This ebook aims to challenge the erroneous and negatively biased understanding of the head-veil worn by Muslim women. Criticism of the head-veil is not only prevalent in governmental policy, but also within academic discourse. These criticisms have been perpetuated by the media, resulting in a misrepresentation of the true nature of the Muslim woman's devotional practice. The primary argument against the head-veil is that it oppresses women or is a symbol of oppression. Additionally, there is an assertion that there is no religious requirement for Muslim women to wear the head-veil. A thorough and impartial analysis of the evidence demonstrates that these claims are unfounded. This ebook aims to identify the evidence that counters these claims, thereby clarifying the matter for those seeking factual information. Furthermore, it seeks to provide evidence against sophistic arguments, enabling Muslim women to make informed decisions about the head-veil, rather than having it imposed upon them.