Before the Soviet Union controlled the former republics of Central Asia, Sufi brotherhoods dominated the religious scene in Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. However, the Soviet policy toward Islam drove these Sufi groups underground for fear of persecution. In the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet bloc, legions of radical Islamists filled the gap left […]
Amid worsening tension between Paris and Algiers, former French ambassador to Algeria Xavier Driencourt offers a sharp critique of France’s long-standing diplomatic posture toward Algeria in his new book France–Algérie: le double aveuglement (“France–Algeria: The Double Blindness”). The book refers on the one hand to France’s blindness to the true nature of the Algerian regime, […]
Morocco, land of tolerance, peace and co-existence, will host January 25-27 in Marrakech an important conference on the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries. The list of attendees include eminent religious leaders from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and many other Muslim countries. The conference, which is expected to issue a […]
