Pakistan struggles to get a grip on militancy and ultra-conservatism

Seventy years after its birth, Pakistan is struggling to get a grip on Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism and its militant offshoots that were aided and abetted by successive governments as well as Saudi Arabia and at times the United States. The stakes for Pakistan are high as it confronts mounting international pressure that includes China, its closest ally, to crackdown on militancy.

The FRONTLINE Interview: Vali Nasr

In this interview for the FRONTLINE documentary “Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia,” Middle East scholar Vali Nasr talks about the history driving today’s wars in the Middle East, whether these conflicts can be solved, and the parallels between ISIS and the nightwalkers from “Game of Thrones.”

The February 2018 PBS documentary ‘Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia’, for which this interview was conducted, can be accessed here.

DYNTRAN Symposium: Paris 2018

Symposium of the DYNTRAN Project (ANR-DFG): Dynamics of Transmission: Families, Authority and Knowledge in the Early Modern Middle East (15th-17th centuries) 7-9 March 2018 Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 Maison de la Recherche, 4 rue des Irlandais, 75005 Paris Salle Athéna Following the three previous workshops held in Marburg (2015), Cairo (2016) and Naples …

Interactions between Twelver Shiites and Christians: history, theology, literature

International conference with the participation of Rudi Matthee (University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware) and Francis Richard (CNRS, Paris), in Paris, France, Wednesday, April 11, through Friday, April 13, 2018 The interactions and exchanges between Twelver Shiites and Christians, Catholics as well as Protestants, have rarely been studied in detail.However, there were intensive mutual contacts, as indicated by numerous travelogues, missionary reports, theological and polemical works, diplomatic correspondence, etc.

How the Houthis Became “Shi’a” | Middle East Research and Information Project

The second, larger problem with discursively equating the Zaydi faith with Twelver Shi’ism is that it paints a picture of “natural” or “primordial” ties between the Houthis and Iran. President Hadi has emulated his predecessor Salih in asserting these ties, as have his Saudi and Emirati allies, who have regarded Iran as an implacable foe since the 1979 revolution that toppled the Shah and installed the Islamic Republic.

Asri attacks missing Amri, says Shia Islam threatens ‘national security’

The Perlis mufti admits to being part of a 20-member team who had gone to the activist’s house in 2015. SEPANG: Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin today launched an attack on Amri Che Mat, a day after the missing activist’s wife named his state fatwa office and Islamic authorities as among those she suspected of involvement in her husband’s disappearance.

Summer Courses on Shi’a Studies – alhikmah institute

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Bahrain arrests 47, charges 290 in mass crackdown

DUBAI: Bahraini police said Sunday they had arrested 47 people on charges linked to terrorism, including plots to assassinate “public figures,” as well as filing charges against another 290. The government accuses Tehran of training “terrorist cells” in the tiny island state. Iran denies involvement.

Le shaykhisme à la période qajare

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Pakistani politics risk aggravating problems and heightening regional tension

Credit: Balochistan Police Self-serving Pakistani politics threaten to aggravate the country’s myriad problems that have strained its relations with the United States and could heighten tension in the restless, key geo-strategic region of Balochistan, a vital node bordering Iran in China’s Belt and Road initiative and the earmarked home for the People’s Republic’s second foreign military base.