Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
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
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 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
Abraham is believed to have first heard God’s voice in Ur, which is not just an example of Iraq’s storied past but also of how Abrahamic religions are joined at the hip
Bahrain has been a trendsetter in the Middle East including in introducing greater participation of women in political and public spheres that have inspired other Gulf nations to follow suit
Tikrit was a test case for Iraq’s ability to unite the country after ISIS massacred 1,700 air force cadets, mostly Shia, at Camp Speicher there to drive a permanent sectarian wedge for the Iraqi state’s implosion
To showcase the broad-based resistance against ISIS, we were driven to Baghdad's riverside palm tree-shaded Jadriya locality for a show of Shia-Sunni unity by commanders fighting the terror group
The turnaround in the situation was such that Pope Francis could visit Mosul seven years after it fell to ISIS to acknowledge the assistance Christians received from Muslims and their harmonious coexistence
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
Volunteers of al-Hashd al-Shaabi were deployed as shock troops and negated ISIS's advantages of surprise, sudden attack, and ambush
