Since today is National Memorial Day in the USA and 29 May 2024 is the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, we have prepared a list of recommendations on American imperialism.

National Day honours all the US military personnel that died while serving the US Armed Forces. International Day of UN Peacekeepers honours the personnels that have contributed to the UN Peacekeeping forces. Unfortunately over 70 years of the US meddling in third world countries and the UN allowing such crimes to take place has had a catastrophic impact on the nations who have been victims of American-led Western imperialism.

Please click below to see the recommended books.

Children’s Storytelling Day with Bushra Hussain: My Islam A-Z

Join us for an exciting day of storytelling and arts & crafts activities with author and illustrator, Bushra Hussain. Bushra will be spending a full day at the IHRC Bookshop to deliver engaging readings of her book, My Islam A-Z, and fun activities for families and children of all ages!

WHEN: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
WHERE: IHRC Bookshop (202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA)

TICKETS:
Session One (11am to 12.30pm. For ages 3-6): BOOK HERE
Session Two (2pm to 4pm. For ages 7 and up): BOOK HERE

About the book:

My Islam A-Z is an ABC book that introduces the core beliefs of the Islamic faith for people of all faiths and ages. It has beautiful, diverse images which represent the diversity and beauty of Islam, focusing on showing Allah’s love and mercy. For those learning their English alphabet, they will know that A is for Allah (and not apple!).

About the author:

Bushra Taslim Hussain is the author and illustrator of My Islam A-Z – a children’s ABC picture book teaching children that A is for Allah (and not apple!). In addition to writing she hosts art workshops for people of all ages and abilities and welcomes those who haven’t held a paintbrush for many years to take part and get creative! You can find out more at www.islamicbeginnings.com and on social media @islamicbeginnings.

Justice Denied: The Case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui with Clive Stafford Smith

Join us for a discussion with Clive Stafford Smith, lawyer and founder of the Justice League, to examine the injustice that followed Pakistani neuroscientist, Dr. Aafia Siddique.

This event will be chaired by Raza Kazim.

WHEN: Thursday, 13 June 2024, 6.30pm BST
WHERE: IHRC Bookshop (202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA) or watch live on YouTube, Facebook, and IHRC.TV.
TICKETS: book your seats here

FREE EVENT
Refreshments provided
Prayer facilities available

Please contact events@ihrc.org with any queries.

THROWBACK: Author Evening with Saied R. Ameli and Saeed A. Khan, for their book: What’s Going on Here?

On 14 December 2021, IHRC hosted an online author evening with Saied Reza Ameli and Dr Saeed Khan for their work ‘What’s Going on Here?: US Experiences of Islamophobia Between Obama and Trump’ which was published by IHRC. Click below to watch the recording of the event.

Saied Reza Ameli is a professor of communication at the University of Tehran. He is currently a member of Department of Communications and the director of the UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture, and Cyberspace Policy Research Center, Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran.

Dr. Saeed A. Khan is Senior Lecturer Near East & Asian and Global Studies at Wayne State University, as well as Research Fellow at its Center for the Study of Citizenship and Honorary Fellow at Australian Catholic University. He is also Cofounder and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding.

Other books on American Imperialism published by IHRC include:
The New Colonialism: the American Model of Human Rights – Edited by Arzu Merali & Faisal Bodi
Once Upon a Hatred: Anti-Muslim Experiences in the USA – S.R. Ameli, E.M. Ahooei & Arzu Merali
Political Islamophobia at American Policy Institutes: Battling the Power of Islamic Resistance – Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria

Eid around the Corner

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, is fast approaching, offering a time of reflection, charity, and community for Muslims around the world.

Donate Your Qurbani and Help the Oppressed

Please support and help alleviate the sufferings of fellow Muslims in Yemen, Nigeria or the Rohingya in Bangladesh. For more information and to donate, click on the donate link below. The deadline for qurbani is 29 June.

DONATE

As you prepare for this significant celebration, consider enhancing your home or gifting loved ones with unique artwork from the IHRC. IHRC Bookshop offers a variety of artworks and prints that blend tradition with modern activism. Below are a few examples of art that we have available for purchase.

As you prepare for this significant celebration, consider enhancing your home or gifting loved ones with unique artwork from the IHRC. IHRC Bookshop offers a variety of artworks and prints that blend tradition with modern activism. Below are a few examples of art that we have available for purchase.

What Hussain Did

Part of the Intifada Street Journey of Love Exhibition. A limited edition print in portrait. A certificate of authenticity from the artist will be forwarded with the purchase.

Delivery of print may take take 5-7 working days.

This is the white variant of the artwork. IHRC also has the pink variant. To purchase the latter, click here.

*Framed prints may be available on request. Please contact us if you would like a print framed. These will incur additional charges and make take longer for delivery. 

Malcolm X – American Dream?

Part of artist Mohammad Hamza’s Intifada Street.

Only 6 will be available in a special Limited Edition run.

Please note this item may take up to 4 weeks to deliver and may incur additional postage costs (we will contact you before dispatching if that is the case).

Please note, we cannot ship framed prints outside the UK.  Please order an unframed print if you live outside the UK.  Thank you.

What If All You Had Was a Slingshot…? 

Done in Cuban revolutionary poster style. Orientation portrait. Signed by artist. This stunning print from Dignidad Rebelde of California, is the last print available for sale in this Limited Edition.

Dignidad Rebelde is a graphic arts collaboration between Oakland-based artist-activists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes.  They believe that art can be an empowering reflection of community struggles, dreams and visions.

Following principles of Xicanisma and Zapatismo, they create work that translates people’s stories into art that can be put back into the hands of the communities who inspire it.

Below are recommended books related to American Imperialism and Eid al-Adha that are available at IHRC Bookshop:

Age of Folly: America Abandons Its Democracy – Lewis H. Lapham

In office as President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is undoubtedly a menace, but he isn’t a surprise. He embodies the spirit of an age of folly abandoned to conspicuous consumption of vanity and greed. A self-glorifying photo-op, Trump is made to the measure of an infotainment media in which presidential candidates are game show contestants brought to judgment on election day before the throne of cameras by whom and for whom they are produced.

To regard Trump as an amazement beyond belief is to give him credit where none is due, to mistake a symptom for the cause. Trump’s presence in the White House follows from an American regime change over the last twenty-five years during which a weakened but still operational democracy gave way to a stupefied and dysfunctional plutocracy. The history of that change is a hedge against the despair of the present, making possible the revolt against what G. K. Chesterton called ‘the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.’

Prophetic Grace: The Qur’anic Merits of the Prophet Muhammad – Shaykh Ahmad bin ‘Ajiba

Renowned for its unique style, Ibn ‘Ajiba’s commentary of the Qur’an, Al-Bahr al-Madid  (The Vast Ocean) combines traditional exegesis with spiritual contemplation, exploring the inner meanings of the sacred text. The genius of his work is especially clear in his commentary of the Qur’anic verses which highlight the nobility and exalted rank of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In these selected commentaries, the reader can begin to appreciate both the depth of divine revelation and the grace and countless merits of the Messengers.

Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America – Clive Stafford Smith

In 1986, Kris Maharaj, a British businessman living in Miami, was arrested for the brutal murder of two ex-business associates. His lawyer did not present a strong alibi; Kris was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair. It wasn’t until a young lawyer working for nothing, Clive Stafford Smith, took on his case that strong evidence began to emerge that the state of Florida had got the wrong man on Death Row.

So far, so good – except that, as Stafford Smith argues here so compellingly, the American justice system is actually designed to ignore innocence. Twenty-six years later, Maharaj is still in jail. Step by step, Stafford Smith untangles the Maharaj case and the system that makes disasters like this inevitable. His conclusions will act as a wake-up call for those who condone legislation which threatens basic human rights and, at the same time, the personal story he tells demonstrates that determination can challenge the institutions that surreptitiously threaten our freedom.

An Enjoyable Eid – Hanis Hanani Tahir

‘An Enjoyable Eid’ by Hanis Hanani Tahir is a delightful children’s book that vividly captures the spirit and joy of Eid celebrations. Through engaging storytelling and vibrant illustrations, Tahir introduces young readers to the cultural and religious significance of Eid in an accessible and heartwarming way.

 

 

Culture of Terrorism – Noam Chomsky

Chomsky ends his preface to Culture of Terrorism with the words, as the latest inheritors of a grim tradition, we should at least have the integrity to look in the mirror without evasion. The tradition to which he is referring is none other than the Western imperial project and in encouraging Americans to pursue integrity, he dissects the events of just one year 1986 at the height of the Reagan Era and describes American involvement in acts of supreme state terror, both open and clandestine, to present a case study which has great relevance today and whose lessons must never be forgotten.

A Handbook of Accepted Prayers – Ibn Daud

700 years ago, a diligent Muslim scholar told of a cost-free universal psychotherapeutic cure, writing: “Happiness comes with sincere du’a.” He was Al-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah (RA); his teacher was Ibn Taymiyyah (RA). Riding on the coattails of our pious predecessors, we too seek routes to accepted prayers and eternal reward within the tradition of the Holy Qur’an and authentic ahadith (Prophetic sayings).

This book builds on the debut A Handbook of Spiritual Medicine and isn’t simply a compilation of recommended du’as. Instead, it is a carefully considered framework that aligns our emotions with the most beautiful du’as, all of which have a profound constructive purpose: the aim is to transport us smilingly and with the noblest etiquette towards the ma’arifat (higher knowledge of Allah SWT) and istiqamah (steadfastness) that every Muslim seeks, deep down. This is the perfect Islamic book if you want your du’as to become accepted.

The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine – Andrew Cockburn

Andrew Cockburn brilliantly dissects the intentions behind Washington’s martial appetites. The American war machine can only be understood in terms of the “private passions” and “interests” of those who control it – principally a passionate interest in money. Thus, as he witheringly reports, Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer’s urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash and prostitutes; senior marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017 “because it will do us good at budget time.” Based on years of wide-ranging research, Cockburn lays bare the ugly reality of the largest military machine in history: squalid, and at the same time terrifyingly dangerous.