By 2016, Pakistan emerged among the top five overseas markets for Bollywood films, which fuelled a multiplex boom in that country and also helped revive a comatose Pakistani movie industry
Bollywood: Glue That Bound India, Pakistan In Worst Times
From Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, Indian film stars have ruled hearts in both India and Pakistan but only a handful enjoyed the level of adulation that Madhuri Dixit did across the divide
What Erasure of Wahhab Tells Us About New Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's ruling al-Saud family's ties with revivalist theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab conferred legitimacy on its rule but they are increasingly being underplayed with an acceleration of modernization
Maldives: Earthly Indian Ocean Paradise of White-Sand Beaches
The Maldives is an archipelago like no other with sun-kissed white-sand beaches and clear lagoons in the middle of warm turquoise waters as far as the eye can see
Chiang Kai-Shek: Nationalist Who Lost China To Mao
Generalissimo Chiang Kai‐shek's political testament dated March 1975 called on his supporters to fulfill his dream of recapturing mainland China from the Communists and restoring their national culture
Saraswati: Hindu Centrepiece of Muslim Indonesia’s Embassy
The interest that the Saraswati statue on the premises of the Indoneisan embassy in Washington DC generated pushed me to know more about Indonesia, which is home to 12.7 percent of Muslims globally and is governed by five foundational principles including humanitarianism, democracy, and social justice
Islamic Golden Age: Legacy Written Out Of History
Medieval Europeans felt inferior to the then vastly advanced Muslim world before they outshined and rejected its scientific legacy besides writing Islamic civilization out of their intellectual history
How Urdu-Speaking Muhajir Domination Shaped Pakistan
Urdu-Speaking Muhajirs accounted for 3.5 percent of united Pakistan’s population in the 1960s but they occupied 21 percent of the positions in the civil services that helped them shape the country in its infancy including through the adoption of their mother tongue as the national language
Maldives Other Side: Great Power Rivalry, Authoritarianism
Mohamed Nasheed replaced Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 2008 after the Maldives' first multi-party elections ended the 30-year authoritarianism in the country
Medina Charter-Drawn Citizen Model: Marrakesh Declaration
Scholar Abdallah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah crafted the legal framework that inspired the declaration connecting early Islamic sources and the Prophet Muhammad's Charter of Medina with international human rights law for a model of equal, contractual citizenship as an Islamic principle