Q&A
Condemning Israel without Being Anti-Semitic
In the context of the Israeli offence in Gaza, there is a loud hue and cry all across the world, condemning the attack. That Israel chooses the holy month of Ramadan for this offence renders its act even more barbaric, which makes the indifferent ‘onlookers’ both in the east and in the west complicit in […]
Islamic Fashion: Corruptive or Corrective?
“Islam is all about achieving the ideal of spiritual reform. So it offers an ethical vision beyond the immediate temptation of matter and materialism. What we call ‘Islamic fashion’ is oxymoron. Fashion is the sole by-product of capitalism, a political and economic reincarnation of materialism. How can Islam be in accord with the pettiness and […]
The Ahmedi Question
I have grown up struggling against the Ahmediyyah sect in my locality. But however hard I tried to keep away from the sect; I have been increasingly drawn to its cultural elements. The western hip-hop, with its underpinning in the Nation of Islam, is one of the most vocal features of contemporary Muslim culture. The […]
Muslim Homosexuals: Why is There Much Fuss Around?
We are carrying discourses about homosexuality and Islam. It goes without saying that it’s one of the most volcanic topics now (whose eruption here was caused by the recent verdict of Supreme Court of India upholding a 150 year old Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes same-sex sexual intercourse, thereby striking down the Delhi High […]
Can I date my fiancé
This question is sort of motivated by the Q and A you have carried last time about the age for marriage. The problem we face today is that issues regarding the violation of women’s rights and injustice against women are debated only after they became controversial. After they are hotly discussed by the media, we […]
Much Ado about ‘Marri-Age’
A recent verdict of the High Court of Kerala regarding the age of marriage for girls has now been locked in ruckus. Some Muslim organizations have decided to move the Supreme Court of India with the demand for the revision of the order, which, they argue have harmful effects on those who are forced to […]
Non-violence: Islamic vis-à-vis the Gandhian
Does Gandhiji’s non-violence have any radical significance in the modern age? Does Islamic position on the struggle for justice, epitomized in the concept of jihad, support non-violent agitation? In the age of terrorism, which is unpredictable and exponential both in its state and anti-state manifestations, what can be a more ethical response to torture than non-violence? * Gandhi’s […]
Despotism or Pluralism: Questions on Islam
In India, there are two theories on the expansion of Islam. Theory number one: It spread as part of the expansion of empire. This is a sugarcoated argument explaining the hackneyed sword theory on the expansion of the religion. Theory number two: Islam spread through Sufis and merchants who travelled far and wide effusing mercy, […]
Etiquette of a Muslim Filmmaker
I am a filmmaker by profession. The taboo which existed among Muslims against watching and making Muslims seems to have been broken many decades. Even the ultra-conservative Muslim groups in my locality have started to make films. So my question is not about the permissibility of watching or making films. It is about the ethics and etiquette […]
Zoophobia in Islam
I have often observed the stupid indifference of my Muslim friends to animals as an admixture of zoophobia (extreme fear of animals) and misozoony (Hatred of animals). First, I found them cynophobic (disliking dogs). One of my friends related to me the Prophetic hadith on washing seven times (one time being with water), in case […]
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