My attempts at landing upon an official Tableeghi Jamat statement on the attacks on a Tableeghi centre in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) and on Tableeghi Jamat members in Karachi fell in vain. I ceased to wonder when I chanced to meet a lady who was an acquaintance of one of the victims of the mosque target-killing in […]
It doesn’t happen quickly, it takes time. For a long time you can’t imagine it happening at all. Then one morning, you wake up and it’s living within you. A spiky, pebble in the midst of joyous certainty; disappointment. Disappointment in the Ummah, you are now a part of. For ‘born Muslims’ the acknowledgement that […]
Depression and psychological complex amongst sacrificial animals would be highest during Zilhaj if they could comprehend the criteria of ‘khoobsurat janwar’ which Pakistanis have created. Similar to how the advertisements make us believe that we need products to look good and for example, men and women who use fairness creams excel both in professional and personal […]
‘I’m not wearing that!’ My 12 year old daughter winces as we examine the bathing suit she must wear for swimming lessons at her private girls school in Manchester. A whole section is cut away from rear ribs to the (very) lower spine. As for the front, well, the thighs of the suit are so […]
The catalogue of bloodbath in the Muslim world is harrowing and sickening. I want to know who is responsible for it all. It has been a bloody week – the Westgate shopping centre massacre in Nairobi that left 67 people dead, the killing spree of students in North Eastern Nigeria has left 50 students dead, […]
Losing Our Religion That’s me in the corner That’s me in the spotlight Losing my religion Trying to keep up with you And I don’t know if I can do it Oh no, I’ve said too much I haven’t said enough… (R.E.M., Losing My Religion) The meandering mythologies of the Greeks have some insightful truths […]
Come, visualize with me.. Sakeena, a 10 year old who has never been to school, never enjoyed playing with dolls let alone the funky hi-tech gadgets, is carrying a 1 year old in her lap, sitting on a table distant to begum saheba’s. Her dull glitterless clothes, unadorned arms and ears tell us, she’s the odd one. […]
Politicians and journalists just love to write about the oppression of women in Islam … without even talking to the females beneath the veil. They simply have no idea how Muslim women are protected and respected within the Islamic framework which was built more than 1400 years ago. Yet, by writing about cultural issues like […]
A woman in many women- and children and men- was reported to be rushing back and forth in panic of the gunfire chasing her. A woman- another woman- was seen from her balcony with a portrait of General Al-Sisi; watching, observing, comprehending, and smiling. A grimly smile. This is not fantasy. This is not a scene from […]
For me, he is the emblem of heroism, of wisdom, of passion, of love of Allah. He accepted Islam as ten year old child, when very few were willing to risk their lives. He grew up, literally, in the house of Allah’s beloved (Salallaho Alaihi Wasalam -SAW). He resembled Rasool Ullah (SAW) in mannerism and […]
