Islamic Focus

Be sure to check out the new Islamic newspaper called Islamic Focus. Islamic Focus caught my eye because it’s an Islamic newspaper not controlled by radicals; it’s actually produced in association with the much respected Centre for International Political Studies (CIPS). Professor Hussein Solomon from CIPS (who also lectures at the department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria) is the Editor-in-Chief.

For me the most interesting part of the publication so far has been the three part series on a lesser known form of Islam known as Sufism. (See issues 1, 2, and 3).

Issue three contains a letter from a Jewish reader appealing for dialogue and improved relations between the local Jewish and Muslim communities.

Issue three also has an interesting interview with Muslim MP Moulana R Shah who is a member of South Africa's official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance.

An excerpt from the interview…

Islamic Focus (IF): What made you choose the Democratic Alliance (DA) as your political home? MOULANA SHAH: My religious principles and moral conscience obliged me to support the struggle for liberation, for the establishment of a just political and socio-economic order and for a democratic system that would guarantee human rights. In the process I paid the price of suffering exile for over a decade, for which I have no regrets whatsoever. However, within a decade of earning these various hard won freedoms, the government represented by the ANC, wittingly or unwittingly embarked on a course to undermine democracy in ways that are too numerous to enumerate in detail here. Clean and good governance and the rule of law are vital for the promotion and protection of a sound democracy. These very two pillars were being made vulnerable under the ANC government. Furthermore, the effi cient use of our resources, fair distribution of our national income, the eradication of poverty, the satisfaction of basic needs, health care, education, the conquest of crime, corruption and nepotism and fi ghting the HIV/ AIDS pandemic which continuously threatens the very security of the State, should have been the central issues of political and public debate. Instead of dealing squarely with these issues and opening itself to vigorous debate on these matters, both in public and in Parliament, the ANC government chose to go on the defensive, to the shameful extent of questioning the sincere motives and sense of patriotism of its critics both inside and outside of Parliament. Speaking plainly, the ANC government took much more from the people than it has delivered; its unfi nished projects and broken promises litter the national landscape. Above all, they continue to fail in drawing a line and making a distinction between Party and State. In the midst of all of this a whole range of scandals began to unfold in civil society, the civil service, Government and Parliament, from Armsgate, Oilgate to Travelgate - every gate but the moral gate. In such circumstances, what were my options? Remain disillusioned by disengaging from the politics of the country, just like the thousands of South African citizens who refuse to go to the polls for the same reasons, or commit myself to holding the government and its executives accountable? I chose the latter. The principles which informed my decision to support the struggle did not change. The very same principles now propelled me to participate actively in the political life of this country. In order to do this, I needed a political platform within the corridors of power. Hence my search for a new political home began. I saw the DA as a Party that could offer an alternative; an alternative that would strengthen, not undermine democracy, an alternative which places the needs of all South Africans at the forefront of its agenda: a party that could take on the might of an arrogant and self-serving government. The least I could do was to help strengthen the opposition in Parliament, which is vital for a functional and healthy democracy. This might sound absurd but it is the truth: THANKS TO THE ANC I AM IN THE DA.

Comments

[Michelle]

Great aricle from the DA MP.

Hmmm...you now linking to publications sporuting zapiro toons?