In the context of Allama Mohammad Iqbal, today the contradictory couplet, ‘reverence and relevance’ engenders Shakespearean ‘saucy doubts’ quite pathetically. For, if we substitute ‘and’ with ‘versus’, then all the combinations sound irksome at some point on a plane with the coordinates ‘reverence a

(Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand/Noor Mohammad Sikand)

Suicide attacks have become a fairly frequent phenomenon today. Many of them are the handiwork of disgruntled Muslim elements. Indeed, in some countries what are known as fidayeen attacks undertaken by Muslim groups have become so co

The way mainstream media has covered major events of the past two decades leaves much to be desired. After the 9/11 attacks, rigid, insular debates and discussions too often replaced free and open discourse, creating an environment ripe for the rise of blogs.
The prominence of a “good” versus “evil

Except for a casual mention of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian lands and the tensions they recently caused in US-Israeli relations, my Passover Seder last week was very spiritual –another adventure for this Muslim.
After 9/11, as some Americans started to learn more about Islam, I emba

Across Europe, discussions are taking place about what local Muslim women wear – specifically the niqab (face veil), burqa (a garment that covers the body, head and face) and the hijab (headscarf). More recently the debate has been taken up in the Canadian province of Quebec. And, as in Europe, the

When is a terrorist not considered a terrorist? When the US media identifies him or her as a “Christian". And when is a terrorist group not considered a terrorist group? When the US media calls it an "anti-government militia".
Exceptionalism is alive and well when it comes to reporting on violence

The educative value of literature can not be denied. Real education does not mean that you are passing a few Universtiy examinations. Education is not simply an equipment to enable us to near our means of livelihood .True education lies in the development of one's intellectual and spiritual faciliti

I see cheerful mobs turning into graveyards, Mothers crying over their sons scattered bodies and to every heart shaking sight we have become so ignorant that now if we see a news of some bomb blasts we stop for a while say, “OH!” and move on to our favorite T.V show. I don’t understand that who is

Less than two weeks after the death of Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appointed Tantawi's successor to the most senior post at the 1,000-year-old university, the oldest and most revered seat of learning for many Sunni Muslims.
Ahmed

A closer look at the pattern of Pakistani immigration to Italy and integration into Italian society indicates that it’s the distance – and not the difference – between the two cultures that has proved to be the most stringent barrier in cultural integration.
It is words like terrorism, burqa and w

In a report published last month on violent crimes committed against women in 2009, Karam Saber Ibrahim, Executive Director of The Land Center for Human Rights, a Cairo-based non-governmental organisation, spoke of a belief that some Egyptians continue to hold, that “women are fundamentally lacking.

The 7 March elections in Iraq remain a topic of interest around the world as both former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and current Prime Minister Nouri Maliki scramble to create coalitions that would give them a 163-seat majority in parliament. As many feared, violence has marred post-election Iraq wit

Even one year after the enforcement of the Smoke free law in India, more than 50 per cent of the places are out of compliance across India.
An air quality monitoring study was conducted by Voluntary Health Association of India, The Uttar Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, and several other toba

It’s not a magnetic law of attraction. It’s more related to human life. It is one of the better known universal laws. The theory behind the Law of Attraction is that we create our own realities. We attract things we want and we also attract things we don't want. We attract the people in our lives, t

In my first news of this village, I had highlighted the situation of tuberculosis (TB) in Ganga Jamuni village, situated around 110 KMs from the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. However, in this article I would like to share one more healthcare-threatening aspect that how women of this village are be