Dalrymple’s The Last Mughal
I was introduced to William Dalrymple when I read the City of Djinns a decade ago. What struck me was the fluid style of…
The invisible Princess Zebunnisa
A lesser known character from the Mughal Empire is princess Zebunnisa, the eldest daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb. Unlike her puritanical father, Zebunnisa was a…
Freedom Dawn?
It is 14th August today. My country is fifty nine years old. It is much stronger than it was in 1947. It is still…
Dispatches: Lahore
A friend of mine sent me this piece on Lahore from S. Abbas Raza’s blog. I absolutely love it. Source -> Dispatches: Lahore Lahore…
Iran – Navigating the labyrinth
In the West, experts on Iran can be divided into two broad categories: academics/scholars and journalists. Nikki Keddie (academic) and Robin Wright (journalist) in…
What The Ancients Did For Us – the Islamic World
Islamic inventions and contributions are narrated in a documentary entitled” What The Ancients Did For Us”. This production investigates the social and scientific advances…
FALL OF ADAM – THE EASE OF SPIRITS IN EXPLAINING THE NAMES OF THE ALL-CONQUERING KING
THIS IS FROM A RECORDING MADE AT A PUBLIC LECTURE GIVEN BY WILLIAM CHITTICK AT CARLETON UNIVERSITY.[1] Several years ago William Chittick gave a lecture at our local…
Ode to Mirza Ghalib’s Haveli
This excellent post brought found here back so many memories – of my two memorable visits to the famed but neglected Haveli From My…
The other side of Emperor Babar
Babar, the founder of Mughal dynasty in India was an unusual character of his times. A poet, writer and a free soul, he was…
Understanding Islam and its history
Toby Lester’s incisive article What Is the Koran? argues that researchers with a variety of academic and theological interests ‘are proposing controversial theories about…