Imam Hussain: The Beloved of the Beloved
By Syed Salman Chishty Shah Ast Hussain Among the Belivers are Men ,who delivered their promise to Allah (Ayah 23/ Surah Al-Ahzab) On the…
South Asian Cooperation and the Role of the Punjabs
South Asian Cooperation and the Role of the Punjabs. Tridivesh Singh Maini. New Delhi: Siddharth Publications , 2007 South Asian Cooperation and the Role…
Sufism and its reality
Summary of a speech delivered by Syed Asmat Gilani Up till the 19 century, the dominant thought in the West was that ‘science’ was…
Kashmir,Azadi and Arundhati Roy
UPDATE: Arundhati’s brutally frank piece where she asks this question: The unimaginable sums of public money that are needed to keep the military occupation…
Capital shock
My op-ed published in the NEWS. This was also posted at ATP and a robust discussion took place there. A week long sojourn in…
Weird science – the perils of Muslim scholarship
I am posting Ziauddin Sardar’s article published in the New Statesman (August 21,2008) that explores the ‘nonesense” of some Muslim scholars who claim that…
Sab Thath pada reh jaye ga…(When the gypsy-headman leaves)
These pithy Urdu verses by Nazeer Akbarabadi lament that all will be abandoned when the Banjara (gypsy), the headman or Naik in the folklore,…
Issues in Madrassa Education in India
Yoginder Sikand’s new book Issues in Madrasa Education in India published by Hope India, Gurgaon is a promising publication. Here is a review by…
The sway of the Bauls: Oblivious minstrels of soul
“The sway of the Bauls: Oblivious minstrels of soul” “By Ratnadeep Banerji – Organiser – New Delhi, India Weekly issue: August 17, 2008 Baul…
Lal Shahbaz Qalander of Sindh
Source here Shahbaz Qalandar was born in Marwand to a dervish, Syed Ibrahim Kabiruddin whose ancestors migrated from Iraq and settled down in Mashhad,…
National identity sans freedom
A few quotes from this article in the Hindustan Times – incidentally it also includes what I rambled…. Freedom means everything. But I’m not…
Beyond Borders – with Shubha Mudgal and Tina Sani
My article published in the Friday Times (Aug11-18) Days after the recent skirmishes at the Line of Control, when the composite dialogue between India…
Adieu Mahmoud Darwaish
Courtesy AHRC I come from there I come from there and I have memories Born as mortals are, I have a mother And a…
Sir Salman Rushdie’s fatwa against freedom of expression
Khaleej Times – 11/08/2008 BY SHAJAHAN MADAMPAT SIR Salman Rushdie, that beloved symbol of freedom of expression, has now turned Khomeini, so to speak,…
Visit to Sindh, Udero Lal (the story of the Dalits in Pakistan)
Yoginder Sikand writing at DNA South-central Sindh isn’t quite a favourite holiday destination, but I spent a fortnight there while on a vacation in…