Iraq Diaries: Bridge-Building And Liberation Of Tikrit From ISIS

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

Mustansiriya University: Islamic Golden Age Remnant, Among World’s First

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 

Inevitably Disastrous: Why World’s Biggest Islamic Org Opposes Caliphate

Nahdlatul Ulama has cited ISIS’s attempt to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria and argued it will inevitably be disastrous and contrary to the basic purposes of Sharia—the protection of religion, human life, sound reasoning, family, and property

Nahdlatul Ulama: World’s Biggest Islamic Org Dedicated To Inter-Faith Unity

Nahdlatul Ulama is the world’s biggest Islamic organisation and an antithesis of forces such as the Taliban

Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s biggest Islamic organisation, is an antithesis of the Taliban but it is hardly known perhaps because its progressive ideas do not fit into the dominant narrative about Islam particularly when Islamophobia is lucrative and many demagogues globally have tapped into it for political power

Covered In Glory: How Hina Rabbani Khar Visited Taliban On Own Terms

Hina Rabbani Khar with Taliban leaders

Pakistan's minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Khar traveled to Kabul without adhering to the Taliban’s dress code for women by dressing typically stylishly and covering only the back of her head with her dupatta leaving much of her hair visible