A spirit of openness was fostered in what is now Iraq under the patronage of Abbasid rulers, who led from the front in their pursuit of knowledge at the peak of the Islamic Golden Age
Tag: Islam
Bayt al-Hikmah: Forgotten Pillar Of Muslim Contributions To Science
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
Iraq Diaries: Remnant Of Golden Age, One Of World’s 1st Varsities
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
Iraq Diaries: Universal Appeal Of King of Saints, Faith Reviver
12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani is an integral part of the spiritual life in my native Kashmir, the Himalayan Valley he never visited over 4,000 km from his burial site in Baghdad
Iraq Diaries: Qadiriyya Sufi Order’s Therapeutic Mother Shrine
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
Abdul Qadir Gilani: Saint Watching Over Baghdad’s Island Of Calm
Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, and Christians continued living cheek by jowl rebuffing the toxic mix of religion and politics inside the warrens of Bab al-Sheikh, drawing inspiration from the 12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, whose final resting place is located there By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In 2006, a bomb ripped through the Askari Mosque in … Continue reading Abdul Qadir Gilani: Saint Watching Over Baghdad’s Island Of Calm
Wadi-al-Salaam: World’s Largest Graveyard With 5 Million Graves
The graves at Wadi-al-Salaam, where burials have continued for over 1,400 years, are spread over 1,500 acres or an area equal to 900 rugby fields near
World’s Biggest Islamic Org Seeks Caliphate Alternative
Nahdlatul Ulama cited ISIS’s attempt to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria and said it will inevitably be disastrous and contrary to the purposes of sharia—the protection of religion, human life, sound reasoning, family, and property
As Islamophobia Becomes Norm, Stories That Need To Be Retold
The stories with compassion as the moral that people like me grew up on as children need to be told and retold for a peaceful future of co-existence that growing Islamophobia threatens
How Sistani Fatwa Helped Iraq Achieve Rare Anti-Terror Feat
Cleric Ayatollah Ali al Sistani rallied the demoralised Iraqis in June 2014 by issuing a fatwa calling on all able-bodied to resist ISIS when the terror group controlled 40% of Iraq