Ziauddin Sardar and Samia Rahman suggest that extremism is an expected product of our complex and chaotic postnormal times, Anne Alexander traces the origins of ISIS, John A Sweeney studies 'extreme weirding' - the life-threatening changes in geology and ecology of the planet, Raza Ali is anxious about his love for the Prophet, Farouk Peru castigates the 'Islamofascists', Benedikt Koehler investigates attempts to distribute wealth in early Islam, Gordon Blaine Steffey wrestles with the terminology that defines the terrorists, Elma Berisha takes a tour of religious sites of Southeast Asia, Samir Younes is troubled by mean thought in the Arts, Jerry Ravetz tackles extreme corruption, Sunny Hundal laments the rise of Sikh extremism, Andrew Brown is disgusted with the New Atheists, Talat Ahmed reads Arun Kundnani's The Muslims are Coming, C Scott Jordan forces himself to watch American Sniper, and Rahul Jayaram relates the heart-wrenching story of the Indian labourer who escapes Saudi Arabia by hiding in the aeroplane toilet. 

Also in this issue: A comic strip by Ivan Carromero Manzano, S Parvez Manzoor on sovereignty, Naima Khan on the English rendering of the Pakistani play Dara, a short story by Navid Hamzavi, poems by Ghassan Hassan and Medina Whiteman, Last Word on 'Happy Muslims', and Shanon Shah's Top Ten Jihadi Janes.