IslamicLawBlog

Press TV has conducted an interview with L. Ali Khan, a professor at the Washburn University from Kansas, to ask for his insight into the impact of political change in Myanmar on the fate of the country's Rohingya Muslims. Watch the Interview The following is a rough transcription of the interview. Press TV : It’s quite clear that Myanmar’s path towards democracy isn’t as democratic as many would like it to be. Khan : That’s very true. I think the National League for Democracy, which is the political party of the Nobel laureate has won landslide more than 70 percent of the seats in both houses; so, one would hope that the situation of Rohingyas will change, but I would suggest that there should be two international pressures that should be brought on the government of Myanmar. One is through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the other is through the Human Rights Council. Now, we know that in the Human Rights Council, there’s a special rapporteur, who is mo...

Sick overreactions to Islamic terrorism are becoming archetypical. The first overreaction advocates pitiless counterism (a term designed to be broader than counter-terrorism). The second overreaction is the looming mistreatment of Muslim diaspora. The third overreaction maligns the faith of Islam. I will argue below that these overreactions foster lawlessness, fail to prevent terrorism, and inject poison into relations with the Muslim world.  Let me clarify Islamic terrorism, a tag whose appropriateness, for good reasons, has been questioned in academic literature. I use Islamic terrorism to mean acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims. For example, the recent Paris attacks (11/13/15) constitute Islamic terrorism since they were allegedly committed by Muslims. That the suspects belong to a militant organization, such as the ISIS, adds fervor to calling it Islamic terrorism. That the perpetrators are Sunni, Shia, Wahabi, or even non-practicing Muslims, though noteworthy, matter...

Listening is an apothegmatic skill set for learning law. Contrary to popular presumption, listening is not a naturally occurring competence. Listening is an expertise that must be cultivated and refined. Hearing is not listening and wholesome ears, though assistive, do no guarantee effective listening ability. Listening is a deliberate cognitive undertaking that requires attention, curiosity, contextual knowledge, comprehension, and remembrance. Sophisticated Listening . Good lawyers are sophisticated listeners as their listening ability is fully functional and fine-tuned. They listen to clients, witnesses, associates, partners, opposing attorneys, and judges. They listen through ears and through eyes for listening is a bi-sensory skill set of hearing and seeing at the same time. Sophisticated listeners understand that speech cannot be torn apart from nonverbal communications and gestures cannot be comprehended without reading facial expressions. Even boring and ineffective speaker...