Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Search for a Modern Muslim

I grew up in Pakistan where we are taught about Sayyid Ahmad Khan throughout our school years as the grandfather of Muslim Nationalism in…

حج 2019: دنیا بھر سے مسلمان مقدس سرزمین پر پہنچ گئے

حجاج کرام میں اس برس کتنا اضافہ ہوا؟ سب سے زیادہ مسلمان کس ملک سے حج کے لئے سعوری عرب پہنچے ہیں، پاکستان کا…

The rich history of South Asia is the history of Pakistan too

History of South Asia – South Asia includes the contemporary political entities of the Indian subcontinent and associated islands. Therefore, its history includes the…

Media portrayals of Muslims fuel xenophobia

Scholars who undertook a study on how Western media covers terrorism have confirmed what we had known for some time. The news media wield…

‘Jobless’ white men can’t be terrorists

On Monday morning, a van ploughed down Muslim worshippers, as they were leaving a north London mosque after late night prayers. This was the…

Europe faces a huge challenge in dealing with its Muslim citizens

Mannequins dressed in brightly coloured headscarves at a shop in Cite, France   I talked to Akbar S. Ahmed  about the perception of Islam…

Long live Malaysia

Malaysia has entered the fifty first year of its existence. This has been a half-century of determination, progress and keeping a fine balance between…

Understanding Contemporary Muslimness

A review of Naveeda Khan’s book Muslim Becoming published in “The Book Review“ I wanted to learn what it meant to know Islam in…

Egypt back to square one

Here is an Editorial for the Express Tribune The Arab Spring unleashed in 2011 seems to be continuing. The removal of Egyptian president Mohamed…

This Moharram was turned into Karbala for Pakistani Shias

My piece published on 10th Moharram It is time the state reversed its policy of nurturing extremist groups and think of saving Pakistanis from…

On Raja Paurava and Alexander

In an article entitled On Raja Paurava and Alexander, Salman Rashid writes: We do not celebrate Paurava; we name no roads after him and…

A few Gems From Muhammad (P.B.U.H)

On the blessed day of birth of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), I am posting some of his sayings as we…

Muslimness – shifting boundaries

Muslimness is an elusive state of being. There are watertight strictures of the theological identity defined by men, interpreted as the Sharia, on the…

the new e-conflict zone for Indian, Pak netizens?

Times of India has quotes my post on Varun Gandhi today. Well, I know media-wallas have to find stories and sell. It was good…

More on Varun Gandhi

Amarjit Chandan has sent another article on the Varun Gandhi’s saga. My views have been quoted again. Naveen S Garewal Tribune News Service, Chandigarh,…

Varun Gandhi is a scary bigot

A post at Pak Tea House and the subsequent sharp comments have attracted some ire among the readers as to what is Varun Gandhi…

The Battle over Hindu History

Author Wendy Doniger, Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago’s Divinity School , writes on this blog about her new work. This new…

On Damadam Mast Qalandar

Renuka Narayanan writing for the Hindustan Times So many wake-up calls The unrelenting terror trail across India recalls young Pakistani author Raza Rumi’s wistful…

Ode to Benaras – Ghalib’s grand vision

The cancer of communalism and bigotry in South Asia continues to haunt us. These days, the Muslims are once again a subject of intense,…

Muslims feel like Jews of Europe – UK Minister

What an alamring statement coming from a Minister in the UK. Britain’s first Muslim minister has attacked the growing culture of hostility against Muslims…