Lamb Couscous; or Africa meets Arabia
In lamb couscous, Arabia and Africa meet. Lamb is one of the integral items in a standard Arabian dish. The importance of mutton as a specially prepared dish can be established from various sayings of Prophet Muhammad especially the one that he himself preferred the thigh of lamb among his delicacies. Couscous is a staple […]
Bad thoughts
I am a practicing Muslim, but I am not as such in my thinking. Every time, I imagine myself to be doing things that Islam has not permitted-like smoking marijuana, having sex, drinking etc. Alas, sometimes I have these thoughts while I am inside a mosque and, worst, praying. Am I a normal Muslim? By […]
Shorten Prayer
I am a nurse working in the surgical unit of a multi-specialty hospital. Owing to a tight schedule and on account of my professional commitments, i am not able to perform prayers duly. A scholar, whom i have approached for a solution, told me to quit my job, since in my case i am not […]
America’s new villains
A video which was leaked through social media, including Youtube and Myspace, exposes some slides which characterises certain moderate Islamic groups as having infiltrated the public space, including media, education, government and military. In a slide, Al Jazeera reports, the photo of Al Qaeda militants beheading someone was shown with the caption: Violence of Muslim […]
Mercen Dede: Synthesizing Broken Lives in a Ney
Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Mathnawi opens with the mention of a musical instrument which symbolises mankind: ‘From reed-flute hear what tale it tells/ What plaint it makes of absence’ ills/ From jungle-bed since me they tore/Men’s, women’s, eyes have wept right sore/ My breast I tear and rend in twain/To give, through sighs, vent to all […]
On the Future of Islamic Intellectualism
Interview with Dr. Syed Farid Al Attas Dr. Syed Farid Al Attas is the Associate Professor in Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. In an interview with Muhsin Parari, Dr Farid Al Attas speaks on several issues that matter: the east-west dichotomy, decolonization of Knowledge, Islam, the Project of Islamisation of knowledge, […]
Rhymes forge Nationhood
Martin Stokes’ ‘Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy In Turkish Popular Music’ delves deep into the public life in Turkey mediated by the pop culture and pop music in particular with special reference to Zeki Muren, Orhan Grancebay and Sezan Aksu, ‘who are closely associated with the political transformations of the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s respectively.’ […]
Case diary : ‘Bring her back on the track’
His demand had nothing extraordinary about it. ‘You ought to change her. To bring her back on the track.’ Usually, counsellors are expected to mend the ways of their problem case. Like detectives, they ought to search for the clue which leads them to the villainous element of behaviour which prevents the problem case from […]
Jesus: A Reading on Islam
Water There is Jesus walking on water. ‘And he was asked: ‘How can you walk on water?’ He replied: ‘Through certainty of faith.’ He was told: ‘We too have certain faith.’ Jesus asked: ‘Do you believe that stones, mud and gold are all equal in your sight?’ ‘No,’ they replied. He said (or I think […]
The Blend of Europe and Islam
Intercultural sharing between two communities is nowhere more explicit than in the cultural products of a region where two groups lived together for a long period of time. In art and architecture, we tend to fuse two streams of influences together as in Indo-Sarasan, Indo-Persian etc. In an era which was characterized by mutual rivalry […]
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