Articles
‘After Riot, Statistics were Fabricated’
The National Integration Council (NIC) meeting held in New Delhi against the backdrop of Muzaffarnagar riots witnessed a joint determination to fight against the escalating communal violence and crimes and discrimination against women and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (ST/SC) communities. According to the reports submitted by the government and circulated among the membersof the NIC, the […]
What’s the Big Idea?
So what is your idea of Islam? To what extent and in what ways is there or should there be a choice? Do you agree with Mohammad Sidique Khan or with Tariq Jahan? On the one hand, Khan, leader of the 7 July 2005 London bombers, sought ‘martyrdom’. In his suicide video, he told the […]
Mathnawi : The Parliament of Symbols
No mystic of Islam is as well known in the west as Jalaluddin Rumi, called his followers Maulana, “our master” (Turkish pronunciation Mevlana), or Maulawi. The order inspired by him, the Mevlevis, known in the west as the whirling Devishes, early attracted the interest of European visitors to the Ottoman Empire and the first orientalists […]
Necrophilia and Uncooked Meat: A Take on Irrational Fatwas
The cyberspace is abuzz with discussions on yet another fatwa, this time from a Moroccan cleric who declared necrophilia lawful. According to the cleric, it is religiously permissible for a man to have sex with his dead wife provided it is done within six hours of death. Although the fatwa seems to have been issued some […]
Tombs, Orders: Facets from History
The Naqshbandiya, which spread in India, China and the Malayan Archipelago, is an orthodox order and in general, appeals to the elite, forbidding the practice of extravagant forms of dhikhr, dancing and music. It was introduced to India by Baqi Billah in the 10th/16th century and was started afresh and reinvigorated by his important and […]
Rūmī and the Sufi Tradition
The following is an excrept from the author’s book Islamic Art and Spirituality State University of New York Press Wine in ferment is a beggar suing for our ferment, Heaven in revolution is a beggar suing for our consciousness/ Wine was intoxicated with us, not we with it; the body came into being from us, not we from […]
Sporty, Yet Devout
Disputes have put their heads out in the sporting world, keeping the athletes in a difficult situation of choosing between their faith and a career in sports. Muslim women, who look forward to a promising career in sports and games, are being victimized by way of imposing limitations on their choice of clothing. Muslim women […]
Hijab: Bibliographical Sources
I stick to the phrase ‘semantic versatility’ in the book Veil Unveiled by Faegheh Shirazi to use textual discourses on veiling. Hijab does not have a single meaning. It does not a single use, either. It has various significations: that of freedom, modesty, traditional elegance, oppression, ignorance, political rebellion, exposition of identity etc. There are […]
Textuality of Hijab: Leila Ahmed and Amina Wadud
The meaning of the term ‘sexuality’ changed from “capability of sexual feelings” in 1879 to “sexual identity” in 1980. Textuality evokes the 1980 meaning. If any discourse is introduced in the Muslim world, or in all worlds for that matter, scholars inquire about its textual identity or textual authority, which means how the discourse can […]
Textuality of Hijab: Asma Barlas and Mohja Kahf
Asma Barlas (1950-) Biography and bibliography: Asma Barlas was born in Pakistan and has held teaching posts in the US. She had earlier been inducted to the Pakistan Foreign Service but was dismissed by General Zia ul Haq for calling him in a buffoon in her personal diary. Her works include Believing Women in Islam: […]
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