Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Made in Heaven Season 2 seemingly attempts to expose unsavoury customs but ends up promoting stereotypes that have been weaponised against a beleaguered community despite data to the contrary
Mukhayyam al Husayni Mosque, over 400 metres from Imam Hussain's shrine, stands at what is believed to be the site of the encampment of the Prohet's grandson and his family during the Battle of Karbala
The Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain, opposed the undermining of basic Islamic values of egalitarianism, justice, and equity, triggering the Battle of Karbala that ended with his massacre along with 72 of his companions and family members in the month of Muharram
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'
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
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
Equality was the essence of the Prophet’s teachings, which first resonated with marginalised people such as women and slaves in seventh-century Arabia with entrenched notions of superiority
The incendiary comments of India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders about the Prophet Muhammad mark a new low in their anti-Muslim rhetoric but essentially echo medieval crusade chroniclers' distortions
The shared veneration for Abrahamic religious figures is common across the Middle East and is rooted in Muslim beliefs perhaps best reflected in the 13th-century Persian poet Saadi’s poem, which likened Adam’s children to valuable limbs of one body
