Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Former Oxford professor Avi Shlaim’s book Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew uncovers what he calls ‘undeniable proof' of Zionist involvement in the attacks that forced Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel after over 2,500 years of presence in Babylon
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
Academic powerhouse Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) carried the global light of learning in Baghdad for centuries as a centrepiece of the Islamic Golden Age
A tapering gateway of inscriptions and geometric themes now leads to Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities which survived the Mongol onslaught, floods, and manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries
12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani or Dastageer Sahib is integral to the spiritual life in Kashmir, the Himalayan Valley he never visited over 4,000 km from his burial site in Iraq
A theological college within the walls of Baghdad’s old city became the Qadiriyya Sufi Order’s mother shrine when the 12-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani was buried there
Baghdad quickly became the world's cultural lodestar after its foundation, which has been described as 'a glorious milestone in the history of urban design' and 'a landmark for civilisation', in the eighth century
The idea of 'Sufism', which in its present form has little to do with saints and their teachings, has long mutated with the association of those helming shrines purely by virtue of heredity with corrosive power, patronage, and vanity By Sameer Arshad Khatlani When Mardan Shah, better known as Pir Pagara, died in 2012 in … Continue reading How Association With Corrosive Power Mutated Idea Of Sufism
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
