Articles
Let’s Talk About Muslim Men and Hair
When hair comes up in the context of Muslims, it is women who first come to mind. So I’m taking an unexpected look this week at the subject of men and hair. There is a huge emphasis in Muslim cultures on washing and cleanliness, which stems from the religious edicts to wash before every prayer. Apart from […]
The Spiritual Wardrobe
Once a Sufi was asked why he wore blue robe. He replied: “The Prophet left us three things: poverty, knowledge and sword. The sword was taken by kings, who misused it; knowledge was chosen by scholars, who were satisfied with merely teaching it; poverty was chosen by dervishes, who made it a means of enriching […]
Islamic Fashion: A Rebellious Choice
The book Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion, focuses on trends, attires, personalities and discourses prevalent in Islamic fashion and proves that Islamic fashion developed as a rupture with the notions of fashion, understood both as an industry with its reckless celebration of female body as well as capitalization of human desires and as ‘pervasive cultural colonialism’ as […]
Maududi said ‘NO’ to Pakistan. Why?
After 1937, Moulana Maududi’s literature started to turn its attention on political analysis; his writing mainly centred on theology thus far. In the election held in 1937, the Indian National Congress won with a whopping majority in the Hindu-majority provinces. Congress leaders thereafter exuded the mood of confidence that the new-found religious majoritarian power, in […]
The Faithful as a Nation
Nations are born in the hearts of Poets; they prosper and die in the hands of politicians. – (Iqbal) PHILOSOPHICALLY and ideologically, Pakistan is the legacy of Iqbal. To say this, however, is to overstate the significance of his role. Pakistan is the outcome of the struggle of Indian Muslims during the British Raj; it is […]
Ambiguities of Pakistan
‘ Go to Pakistan’ in India means ‘Go to hell.’ When a BJP leader Giriraj Singh exhorted the voters either to back Narendra Modi in the ongoing election or to go to Pakistan, nobody was really shocked. First, it’s BJP’s exhortation, despite the party’s recent attempt to bury the hatchet of chauvinism in its drive […]
“In Pakistan We Have Selective Islam”
My Generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan, despite becoming independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public […]
JINNAH: THE ELUSIVE TRAGIC HERO
Qaed-e-A’zam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who learned the alphabet of politics at the feet of Dadabhai Naroji and was gently initiated to the altar of Indian politics by a giant political seer Gopala Krishna Gokhale was admirably sung as the “Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity” by Sarojini Naidu, the nightingale of India.But, later he was treated […]
PAKISTAN : A STATE OF BORROWED IDEAS
HERE is a cliche : Pakistan was created as an Islamic state, as a separate home for Muslims of the Indian sub-continent, as an expression of their desire to establish an Islamic society. The Pakistan Movement was inspired by the “Ideology of Islam”, India was partitioned and millions sacrificed their lives, honour and millions sacrificed […]
Praveen Swami and Tuhfat al Mujahidin
On the day of fools this year, I woke up in expectation of pranks. But none seemed to be aware of the relevance of the day. I took hold of the paper. It’s election gala. Politicians are out on the streets, with all the pranks up in their sleeve to make us all fools or, […]
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