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
Iraq Diaries: Pope Francis’s Balm Of Inter-Faith Harmony
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
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
Iraq Diaries: How ISIS Met Its Match In Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi
Volunteers of al-Hashd al-Shaabi were deployed as shock troops and negated ISIS's advantages of surprise, sudden attack, and ambush
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
Iraq Diaries: How American Invasion Ended Up Helping Iran
Iran built a corridor of influence extending up to the Mediterranean when the US left Iraq in 2011 and left the field open for its archfoe and helped Tehran keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria and support Hezbollah in Lebanon
Iraq Diaries: Bearers Of Prophet Muhammad’s Light
Ahl al-Bayt (people of the Prophet Muhammad's household) are known as nur-e-Muhammadi, or the bearers of his light, as well as his trustees ‘privy to his esoteric and religious knowledge'
Prophet, Social Justice, Rashidun & Making Of Islam’s Golden Age
The Prophet uprooted an oppressive social structure and ended a cycle of reprisals and warfare in Arabia before Khulafa Rashidun, his successors, helmed the rapid advancement of Muslims and laid the foundation of Islam’s Golden Age
Ali ibn Abi Talib: Unifier, Muslim Hero Known For Compassion
Shias consider Ali ibn Abi Talib as Prophet Muhammad's only rightful heir while Sunnis revere him as a close relative of the Prophet as well as one of the four rightly-guided caliphs
Iraq Diaries: Shia-Sunni Bridge-Building In Face Of ISIS Threat
Successes against ISIS would have been impossible without national unity when the bloody civil war deepened Shia-Sunni fissures