Set behind forbidding walls, these vulgarly huge complexes were built on what would otherwise have been stunningly beautiful beaches. They were geared to rich European and Gulf Arab tourists, besides the few Egyptians who could afford them. Siwa was definitely no longer a remote idyllic oasis cut off from the larger world that my guide-book touted it as. Five mineral water bottling plants had just been set up on the outskirts of the town—a heavy burden on the oasis’ precious water resources, Hasan complained. ‘We never faced water shortage in all our history,’ he went on, ‘but now, with this craze for earning money at any cost becoming an obsession, and these plants consuming our water indiscriminately, bottling it and sending it off to Cairo, we don’t know what the future might hold.’-- Yoginder Sikand, NewAgeIslam.com

I trudged up a knoll to the Qala, the fort inside which the denizens of Dakhla lived till just a few decades ago before the new, ‘modern’ town came up. Labyrinthine lanes wound their way up to the summit, criss-crossed with shaded passageways lined with mud houses, now all in a state of woeful ruin. Only a few of these were still inhabited, presumably by families that could not afford to shift to the ‘modern’ town below. The tough walk to the crest of the fort was well worth the effort, for the panoramic view that it afforded: Of an enormous stone ridge, below which nestled hundreds of homes huddled, and on the other three sides a vast sandy ocean, whose enormous untouched dunes stretched for unknown hundreds of miles, to the Sudan in the east, and to Mali, Libya and Chad in the south and west—pure, virgin, uninhabited Sahara. -- Yoginder Sikand, NewAgeIslam.com

EVERY human being is connected with Allah spiritually. However, in this material world, we also get ourselves connected with other entities, such as parents, family, community, society, country, etc. As time goes by, new connections are added at every new stage in life. Islam encourages us to maintain happy relationships with other fellow beings. It urges civility, humility, tolerance and straight dealing with our fellow beings. These values subordinate the self and emphasise the others and are essential for cordial and peaceful coexistence in society. Islam is a religion of peace which can only be realised when an individual has happy relations with others. -- Amin Valliani

Dubai is a place where there are more nightclubs than mosques. Here, alcohol is a ready consolation for all and sundry. “We Dubai people, we do this every day. We get tired of clubbing and partying; we take our cars over the sand and have some desert fun.” To put it in the words of the huge bouncer who refused me entry, while encircling his head with his hand to imitate the Palestinian checkered scarf on my head: “You can’t go where there is free distribution of alcohol with that thing on.” -- Nuvaira A

“The mourning ceremonies of Ashura are of course an important way in which we demonstrate our love affection for Imam Hussein, and through him, the Prophet. I am committed to the notion that identification with the redemptive suffering of the imam is a key aspect of Shi’I piety. And I would add two other elements:  in the mourning, we have to be sure to continue to honor the sanctity of the human body, which is after all the creation of God. So in my own personal reckoning, I would prefer to see taking stories to heart, shedding of tears, and even the striking of one’s chest gently with one’s hand. I would suggest avoiding any action that would lead to shedding of blood (using knives, etc.) or leaving bruises (such as chains). -- Dilshad Ali

A community of Muslims on the other shore of the great divide of sectarian schism will express its unbridled sorrow in the streets of their towns and in their houses of worship during the next few days; commemorating the events that took place fourteen centuries ago and culminating in the legend of the martyrdom of the grandson and great grandson of the last messenger of God; at Karbala in Iraq --at the hands of a fellow Muslim’s army; who was contending for the glory of State Power! There is a parallel to this passion in another comparative Religion, namely Christianity, where the event of over two thousand years ago, is also similarly commemorated at Easter, on Passover day. In the context of Muslims, the legend of Muharram and ‘passion of Imam Hussein’, can one ask or discuss this dispassionately, rationally and historically in the context of Quran amongst the two main sects of Muslims? Erroneously called Shia and Sunni sects of ‘Islam’! Erroneously because Islam derives its code – ad Deen from Quran and it says in verse—6-160: As to those who split up their religion (Deen) and become sects, have thou (Muhammad) nothing to do with them: their affair is with God only. Here after He shall tell them what they have done. – Rashid Samnakay, NewAgeIslam.com

Masjid, literally the place where one prostrates, is commonly described as a house of God, a notion of place, fixed and definite — fixed in function and definite in its orientation. Dargah, or what is insufficiently translated as shrine, on the other hand, is a threshold in literal terms. Imagined as a crossing over of space and time, it is at once a place and space, marked respectively by a presence and an access. The mosque in principle is open to all, but its alignment with a particular sect or religious denomination is seen as a restricting factor. Alignment is achieved only in relation to other specified positions. Shrines are also aligned, producing thereby a significantly selective relation across different ritual points in space. It is possible to read these lines of relation in pilgrims’ ritual itineraries, in legends, miracles and hagiographies, and more importantly in pilgrims’ accounts of their experiences, dreams and visions. -- Omar Kasmani

Whenever I hear the word ‘prostitute’ the first image that comes to mind is an inappropriately dressed woman standing in filthy streets waiting for a client. The discussion on the issue how cruel the profession is to women – their empty, hungry stomachs forcing them to sell their bodies in order to buy bread for the family. But let’s think for a moment; what about all the men, the children, and the teenagers that engage in such acts? A child prostitute of 14 years can be easily bought with the meagre sum of three to five thousand rupees. Male child prostitutes – ranging from ages 15-25 – are thought to be cheaper than their female counterparts. Similar to prostitution is the practice of ‘bachabazi’ which exists in Pakistan mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is thought to refer to older men keeping young boys as their sexual partners with the former becoming responsible for the education, clothing and general care of the latter in return for ‘sexual favours.’ -- Aneka Chohan

I am sick to death of the whole wretched affair: ever since the story broke on Pakistan’s last tour, many English friends have wanted to talk to me about it. I have repeated ad nauseum that while I felt sorry for young Amir, the other two could spend the rest of their lives in jail as far as I was concerned. In a rich country like the UK, it is difficult to conceive of the grinding poverty millions of Pakistanis live in. And when one of them uses the springboard of cricketing talent to escape, the need to make sure that you don’t return to the mean streets must be overwhelming. So you are 18, and your captain orders you to bowl a couple of no-balls, and threatens you with being dropped from the side if you don’t, what do you do? I have followed the hypocritical response to the spot-fixing episode here in the UK and in Pakistan. The reality is that young people in Pakistan now grow up in an environment of ‘anything goes’. To expect them to keep to the straight and narrow while their elders indulge in all kinds of corruption is to apply double standards. -- Irfan Husain

The single largest congregation of Muslims should be deemed successful if it also enables discussion and debate on the continued suffering of Muslims while the rest of the world turns the page on poverty and disease. In the not-so-distant future, I aspire to file the following dispatch from Hejaz. It was the largest-ever gathering of Muslim intellectuals, youth, civil servants, and members of the not-for-profit sector in Jeddah to devise strategies to alleviate poverty, disease, hunger, and water shortages in the Muslim world. The annual Muslim Development Summit, which coincides every year with the Hajj, attracted over 300,000 participants making it the largest gathering of development professionals anywhere in the world. Fewer than 50 miles away from the Summit, almost four million Muslims were busy performing the Hajj rituals. While the pilgrims in Makkah were throwing stones at devil, the participants of the development summit were innovating strategies to use stones to build more schools and hospitals. -- Murtaza Haider

Today we have unique challenges: we have the Islamists but without the spirit of Islam; we have democracy without the democrats and we have liberals without liberalism. All my siblings fancied that black goat with big eyes and a furry mane. We joined our servant and took turns in feeding her, cleaning her shed and in walking her around. She even fell ill before Eid so we called a vet who took care of that. And then came the day of the sacrifice. I do not know how animals have an intuition of what is about to happen or there is a thing called ‘animal ESP’. But from the night before Eid, our goat’s usual baah’s and meh’s changed to moans. On that Eid, my siblings ensured that no meat was served on our dining table and nothing went into our mother’s deep freezer; all of it went to the neighbours and to the poor. -- Dr Moeed Pirzada

The Islamic concept of economy requires minimal interference from the state to impose restrictions on the movement of labour or capital. An Islamic state is required to maintain a balanced budget. Taxes should be kept at a level so as to finance the functions of a government that are limited to border security, internal security, provision of justice, ensuring equal rights of the citizens and development of basic infrastructure. In an Islamic society, social services like education and healthcare are the responsibility of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) created and run by wealthy and professional individuals. These NGOs are required to be non-profit, self-sustaining operations where the rich pay higher prices for services while the poor are subsidised or even given free service. It is a concept practiced by the Sindh Institute of Urology (SIUT), Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital or Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). As capitalism loses its universal appeal, it is an opportunity for Islamic intellectuals to offer an alternative that is more natural, equitable and social. -- Abdul Quayyum Khan Kundi

That a man forced to endure incarceration and self-exile — a man who had his patriotism questioned and his loyalties tested has been enshrined in yet another Hall of Fame is a remarkable twist of fate “For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time” — George Sutherland. -- Afrah Jamal

Although the positions he took — regarding important religious, social and political questions of his time — were clearly orthodox, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi can be studied as a product of the modern, colonial times. For a professional Maulvi, he came from a non-traditional background, received his higher education in the newly commissioned madrasa at Deoband and throughout his busy life, used most of the modern means of communication for his purposes. Ghouri quotes Thanvi while speaking about the Firasat-e-Khudadad or the God-gifted wisdom of Abdul Haq. In that, he decided very early in their childhood, what course the lives of his two sons were going to take. Ashraf Ali was chosen for taleem-e-arabi (‘Arabic education’), while Akbar Ali was to acquire taleem-e-angrezi (‘English education’). An old aunt of Thanvi took it as discrimination against the elder son that he was being deprived of the modern education, as she thought the ‘Arabic education’ would limit his chances of earning money. Abdul Haq got enraged and said, “Bhabi sahiba, tum kehti ho ko yeh Arabic parrh kar khayega kahan se. Khuda ki qasam, jis ko tum kamane-wala samajhti ho, aise aise is ki jutiyon se lage lage phirain ge.”-- Ajmal Kamal

Masood Alam Falahi, a young graduate of a madrasa in Bihar who went on to do his M Phil and PhD in Delhi, has written a book called Hindustan Mein Zaat-Paat Aur Muslman in 2007 (reissued in a revised and enlarged form in 2009 and available in English translation on the internet at newageislam.com). This book is a treasure trove of revealing quotations from the Muslim religious and historical literature of the subcontinent on the subject. Among other things, Falahi quotes an interesting anecdote about Aligarh written by the famous Deobandi Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863–1943) in his collection of responses to religious queries called Ashraful Jawab, which shows how the firm policy of segregating and differentiating between people of higher and lower castes was a common factor between Aligarh and Deoband. Thanvi writes: “An Englishman went to visit Aligarh College. He saw that while the sons of aristocrats (raeeson ke larke) studied, the servants accompanying them stood and waited at a distance; they could not even think of sitting next to their masters. But at the time of the Namaz, the servants and masters stood next to each other. He asked the raees-zadas if standing shoulder to shoulder during the prayers did not make these servants bold and impudent. -- Ajmal Kamal