Karbala: Booming City Of Resistance In War-Torn Country

Aerial picture of millions of mourning people in Karbala

Karbala, where the shrine of the Prophet's grandson Hussain has stood for centuries as a symbol of resistance against tyranny, was in 2016 fittingly the nerve centre of the war on terror group ISIS

Turkey’s Repressive Secularism & Rise Of Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey elections may head for run-off as Erdogan fails to get 50% votes

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the secular Turkish republic, banned Sufi orders, put mosques under government control, mandated officials to wear European-style brimmed hats, and banned Arabic as part of sweeping measures to impose secularism on Turks

Karbala: Metaphor For Suffering, Sacrifice, Resistance To Tyranny

Pilgrims in Karbala to mark the end of the forty-day mourning period after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain

Karbala symbolises for Muslims the foundational Islamic values—egalitarianism, justice, and equity— the Prophet’s Muhammad favourite grandson, Imam Hussain, laid down his life there in the seventh century resisting Umayyad ruler Yazid violating these ideals

Medina Charter To Nakba: Highs, Lows in Jewish-Muslim Ties

Israel's dispossession of Palestinians has blighted Jewish-Muslim ties, but the seven-decade conflict is a blip if seen from the perspective of centuries of cordial ties dating back to the rise of Islam By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In September 2020, an imam at Islam's holiest shrine—Mecca’s Grand Mosque—spoke about Prophet Muhammed’s kindness to a Jewish neighbour. … Continue reading Medina Charter To Nakba: Highs, Lows in Jewish-Muslim Ties

Democracy, Reform, Harmony: How Indonesia Bounced Back

Indonesia stands out among the world’s 20 biggest economies on the back of the stability it has maintained through harmony among its myriad ethnicities and linguistic groups decades after its crony-capitalist system collapsed in the face of the 1997 Asian financial crisis