In the Name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful ‘What? Can there be a doubt about Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth?’ (Surah Ibrahim chapter 14, verse 10) Often the yardstick of logic and science is used to ‘prove’ the existence of God. That endeavour is somewhat misplaced because of its concession […]
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful “See you not how Allah sets forth a parable? – A goodly word as a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) to the sky (i.e. very high). Giving its fruit at all times, by the Leave of its Lord […]
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful “And verily! This your religion (of Islamic Monotheism) is one religion, and I am your Lord, so keep your duty to Me. But they (men) have broken their religion among them into sects, each group rejoicing in its belief. So leave them in their error for […]
“Lost in the loneliness, we turn inwards- with a knife in our hands and a lump in our throats”, writes Muhammad Fadel describing the deep crisis in contemporary Muslim consciousness. The loss of the Khilafah has imbued Muslim sensibility with a deep and haunting nostalgia for a bygone glory. The direction of foreign policy taken by […]
To condemn the Woolwich incident, spine-chilling and disgusting as it may be_ is pointless. Not because it may by any stretch of imagination be justified, but because the haste and anxiety with which this is so promptly done both by spokespeople of Western nations and by Muslim leaders denotes the uncritical acceptance of the predominant […]
Following the reprehensible attack on Christian homes in Lahore, a spine-chilling, grotesque image of an arsonist cheering over the burning flames went viral. One wonders what sort of man thumps his chest over destroying innocent lives and how human beings can become capable of such naked, audacious sadism that seeks justification in a faith that […]
When a friend from Bangladesh gifted me a jute bag with the Bangladesh flag motif painted on it, I asked her to explain the symbolism. She told me it stood for the rising sun over the green fields, reddened with the blood of liberation martyrs. After the terrible atrocities in 1971 in which many innocent […]
Much ire has been unleashed against an awareness drive in Karachi that highlighted the concept of modesty in Islam using Quranic and Prophetic references on billboards and handbills, in the context of the February 14 celebrations. The rejection of the idea of singling out a day for the expression of amorous sentiment as odious to […]
Arguably, love is the highest sentiment the human spirit is capable of. In essence, it is selfless, generous, liberating, sublime. It purges one of all that holds one down to the mundane and earthy. Kahlil Gibran famously writes: “Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it […]
The jarring reports on human rights abuse in Kashmir- notably, of rape used as a weapon against an occupied people- have failed to elicit a response from the United Nations. When pressed for comments over a report on the presence of thousands of unmarked graves, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon apologized that he had ‘no […]
