Ihsan Alkhatib

Shaykh Ahmad Al Aseer                                     Not the sharpest tools in the shed There is a stereotype about Muslim clergy. The stereotype is that they are not the sharpest tools in the shed. In a country like Lebanon the thinking is that it is not the smartest students who aspire to be shaykhs but the weakest students. The smartest students want to go to engineering school or medical school were their intelligence can pay off financially. One of the top students I went to school with graduated with distinction from the American University of Beirut and went to study in the United States where he earned a masters in Math. Then he went to study at the Al Azhar in Lebanon to become a Shaykh. I remember the reaction was: What a waste of talent?        ...

Flag of the Republic of Lebanon Two Lebanese citizens were able to get "married" civilly. In Lebanon. The legal way for the Lebanese to get married civilly was and is to travel outside the country and marry civilly.  The Minister of the Interior Marwan Charbel  has questioned the legality of this marriage and raised the key question of the legal vacuum that the couple would face had their marriage been a valid legal marriage under the laws of Lebanon. The news of the "first civil marriage in Lebanon" was received with irrational exuberance as if this were the be all end all of all Lebanese agony. The supporters of civil marriage have it as an article of faith that needs no proof that civil marriage strengthens the national identity of the Lebanese. There was no consideration of the implications of such a marriage if it were legal. Family law goes beyond the issue of the marriage itself. There are numerous related issues- birth and registration o...

In Tripoli Minister Faisal Omar Karami’s envoy was subject to an armed attack by unknown assailants.  The attack got a lot of government and media attention- a nearby protest did not get the attention it needed. The attack coincided with a gathering of Sunni Muslim Islamists and their supporters protesting the detention of Sunni Islamists in the military prison in Roumieh. The families and supporters of the detainees were not protesting the innocence of the detainees or asking for their immediate release. They were protesting the unjust reality that in the democratic Republic of Lebanon one hundred eighty Sunni Islamists, Lebanese citizens, are detained without charges awaiting an appearance before a judge. They have been languishing in poor prison conditions awaiting an initial appearance in court. Why the more than five years of detention without charges or trials? The reasoning given by the Lebanese government is that this delay is due to the lack of proper courtroom...