Dear friends,

Assalamo Alaikum wa Rahmatullah,

While we believe that the American colonial adventures in Iraq are highly illegal and unethical, nevertheless, we need to ring a note of caution for calling the resistance a Jihad activity. In the recent issue of futureislam.com we argued:

"True, imperialism of any sort must be resisted but in order to support and strengthen the resistance we need not twist religious dicta. For tomorrow if the final outcome is different from the one expected of a Jihad , and this is very likely in the Iraqi case as it once happened in the Mujahedeen's Afghanistan , it will only add further disillusionment to the Islamist's camp. The neo-Wahabi Ulemaa who have recently issued a fatwa declaring Resistance in Iraq a purely Islamic Jihad, a religious obligation on the faithful, have gone a bit too far in their love for Iraq."

(The Death of a Discourse, editorial, www.futureislam.com Nov. /Dec. 2004) 

The Muslim mind is painfully muddled as the unmindful deployment of religious vocabulary for nationalist or communitarian cause has left no scope for a fresh enquiry. Sincere Muslims across the world are trapped in between the external military aggression and the internal intellectual crises. A lack of direction and critical investigation of what is happening around us have brought the Ummah to a dead-end.

At futureislam.com we have humbly tried to break this dead-lock in Muslim thought by urging people to go back to the Qur'an for a fresh start. Based on the Qur'anic dictum: 'O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you' we have also kept the forum open or God-fearing thinking people of other faith communities. So far, those who have kindly responded to this initiative include:

* Hans Küng (Germany) * Francis Robinson (U.K.) * Iqbal A. Ansari (India) * Sayyed Nadeem Kazmi (U.K.) * Mary Evelyn Tucker (U.S.) * Rashid Shaz (India) * Omid Safi (U.S.) * Asmer Beg (India) * Lord Carey of Clifton (U.K.) * Khurshid Ahmad (Pakistan) * M. Nijatullah Siddiqi (Saudi Arabia) * John Hull (U.K.) * Ali A. Mazrui (USA/ Kenya) * Abdulaziz Sachedina (USA/ Iran) * Glen T. Martin (USA) * M. Darrol Bryant (Canada) * Jack Miles (USA) * Irfan Ahmed (USA/India)* Jamal Harwood (U.K.) * S. Nadeem Kazmi * Sohail Inayatullah (U.K.).

The journal is being published on the net in three languages; English, Urdu and Arabic. Hence you may consider your submission in any of the three languages. While you can browse the English and Urdu versions, the Arabic interface is all set to be launched soon. The idea is to make the debate truly global.

We thank all those brothers and sisters who have rendered tremendous support to this initiative and are writing for the subsequent issues of the journal. Please enjoy visiting our site and feel free to let us know of your opinion. We again look forward for your participation in whatever way possible.


Your brother,

Rashid Shaz
Editor,
[futureislam.com]