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Islam in power - change from within
There's some challenging and fascinating reading for you in NI issue #426 on Islam in Power. Misperceptions about the nature of Islam - from both within Muslim communities and outside of them - can mean that complex issues are boiled down into binary Us vs Them rhetoric. And often the boundaries between Islamic doctrine and authoritarianism, tribalism, nepotism, militarism or Big Oil are blurred.

In a not-to-be-missed article, Ziauddin Sardar argues that the idea of an 'Islamic state' is totally un-Islamic and has no precedence in Islamic history: "Indeed, the term itself is self-contradictory: Islam is uncompromisingly universal; state is unquestionably parochial. An Islamic state with fixed boundaries and allegiance to a single, particular interpretation of Islam undermines both the universality of Islam and the diversity of Islam and Muslims. Moreover, by turning religion, politics, law and morality into a single, monolithic entity, the very idea of an Islamic state becomes intrinsically authoritarian. Not surprisingly, wherever an Islamic state has been established, and sharia has been imposed, authoritarianism rules and medieval punishments and social conditions have been the major product. This is why it is now increasingly rejected by Muslim scholars throughout the world."

If you don't currently receive the New Internationalist magazine, please do subscribe now to receive this important magazine, which also includes articles by a Saudi feminist, an Iranian Jewish woman and a gay Iraqi Muslim activist.

Please tell a friend about it too. It's vital that myths and misperceptions about Islam are cleared up, to give us more hope of peaceful, pluralistic and democratic societies in the future.

Greening the law
In a special feature - also in this issue #426 - we examine new developments in environmental activism. In September 2008, Ecuadorians voted in a new constitution with the potential to radically reorder environmental protection regimes across the world - by giving legally enforceable rights to nature itself. This is already being used by indigenous groups seeking to declare proposed mining operations in the country unconstitutional. At the same time, campaigners around the world are increasingly using the law to fight sustainability battles.

So, while the streets are the traditional home of environmental activism, could campaigners soon be just as at home in the courtroom? This important trend will be examined in a special feature in the October edition of the New Internationalist magazine. Don't miss it!

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