The most resilient falsehood circulating across Muslim discourse today is the claim that American military bases in the GCC represent foreign occupation, submission to Western imperialism, or a betrayal of Islamic sovereignty. This narrative — advanced most vocally by Tehran and amplified uncritically across emotionally-driven platforms — conveniently omits one foundational and historically verifiable fact: between 1980 and 1990 alone, Iranian state militias and IRGC-backed networks executed offensive terror operations across GCC territory — coups, coordinated bombings, missile strikes, hijackings, and assassination attempts — years before any American soldier, Patriot battery or THAAD installation existed on Arabian soil. The American…
Author: Afreen Baig
Dr. Muhammad Umer Chapra is widely recognized as a leading architect of modern Islamic economics. Through his pioneering scholarship and decades of senior institutional service in Saudi Arabia, he has played a central role in shaping contemporary Islamic economic thought and the evolution of the Kingdom’s financial governance. Born in 1933 in Bombay (British India), Dr. Chapra later moved with his family to Karachi, where he completed his early education. Dr. Chapra earned his Bachelor of Commerce (1954) and Master of Commerce (1956) degrees from the University of Karachi before completing his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Minnesota…