Books and Documents
AI Kandi, AI Hassan, AI
Farabi, Avicena, Al Gazali, Abubakr, Avempace, Al Phetragius. (The Arabian
names are so contracted in historical works written in European languages)—these
are names memorable in the annals of human culture; and the fame of the great
Averroes has been immortalised as that of the man who made the forerunners of
modern civilization acquainted with the genius of Aristotle...
What prevents the recognition of the presence of critique in Islam is
the “inability of our prevalent frameworks,” an important example of which is
“the Enlightenment legacy” which understands critique as being that “of
religion other than Christianity,” rather than it occurring “from within
non-Christian religion”...
Atheists often raise these sorts of questions in their critique of the
concept of God. If God were really true and if God were truly powerful, good
and just, as is claimed by those who believe in God, surely God wouldn’t have
permitted ‘innocent’ people to suffer, they would say....
Barren
sandy desert, extremely hot climate, and scarcity of water resources made the
heartland of the Arabian Peninsula an inhospitable abode for man
since ancient times. Its original people were pagans, except for some
Unitarians (ahnaf) who contemplated on the Oneness of God. In the post
Judeo-Christian era, pockets of wet fertile land attracted Jewish and Christian
settlers from the adjoining regions, and became isolated centres of trade and
commerce. However, the vast stretches of the desert heartland that only
sustained a nomadic life, remained in a primitive state until the advent of
Islam. The nomadic tribes had preserved their ancestral paganism, with each
tribe having its own idol; and the Ka‘ba, a cubical shrine at the heart of an
ancient sanctuary (Haram) in Mecca, was the centre of idol worship. The
nomadic Arabs were largely unlettered, had no notion of central state or
kingdom, and their social and moral norms were based on traditions (Sunnah) and
dictated by the struggle for survival. .....
At the time of Mohammad,
and under the circumstances it was advanced, the argument served a positively
revolutionary purpose. When man's mind is dominated by the belief in the
supernatural, every progressive idea should be formulated in the terms of those
beliefs if it were to secure popular support. Besides, the idea of One God was
not the invention of Mohammad...
This cosmopolitanism, to be sure, rested on self-interest. Babur, who
would go on to found the mighty Mughal Empire that stretched from Afghanistan
to the easternmost reaches of India, “took care to promote the liberalizing
forces of commerce, which brought in numerous foreign traders.”...
A judge of the Supreme Court is also facing ouster by the Supreme
Judicial Council for being too “critical” in his remarks over a case involving
the army and an extremist religious outfit called Tehreek-e-Labbaik
Pakistan....
Ghattas’s narrative upends this Western misconception. Instead of
feuding over theology, Ghattas shows, Saudi Arabia and Iran transformed latent
religious divisions into weapons wielded in the pursuit of political power, by
cultivating and often arming sectarian militias across the region....
Its historical background and the social conditions in which it was born
put on Islam the stamp of toleration, which, to the undiscerning eye, may
appear to be incongruous with the spirit of fanaticism traditionally associated
with it. But there is no contradiction....
What
happened to us? The question haunts us in the Arab and Muslim world. We repeat
it like a mantra. You will hear it from Iran to Syria, from Saudi Arabia to
Pakistan, and in my own country, Lebanon....
Long after the death of Gibran, it seems that his often-rebellious body
of work is timely, tackling universal themes such as one’s relationship with
one’s homeland, women’s rights, and challenging societal norms....
Separated from the rest of
mankind, the Arabs took the stranger for an enemy. The poverty of his country
had added to the growth of that spirit. These two factors went into the making
of the codes of law and morality of the Arabs....
Vulgar interpreters of the
Islamic history lay stress upon its military achievements either to praise or
to deprecate its far-reaching revolutionary significance. If the undoubtedly
brilliant military con quests of the Saracens were the only measure of the
historic role of Islam, then it would not be a unique historical phenomenon...
This deliberate exclusion of women from the mosques does not happen in
the Arab world. Women enjoy complete right to go to Al-Masjid al-Nabawi,
Al-Haram or any other mosque in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
Qatar, etc. It is the same with women in the Muslim countries of South-East
Asia, for example, Indonesia or Malaysia.....
Yet, a Hindu, who prides in the prosperity of the reign of an Akbar, or
boasts of the architectural accomplishments of a Shahjehan, is even to-day
separated most curiously by an unbridgeable gulf from his next door neighbor
belonging to the race, or professing the faith, of those illustrious monarchs
who are believed to have glorified the history of India….
Possibly the most basic existential question that we could ask is, “What
is the purpose of human life?” Since we are all destined to die one day or the
other and leave this earthly realm, what is the ultimate meaning of our
temporary stay on this planet?...
Many mosques in medieval India can be said to have been graced by royal
women, and even those from the families of nobles. There is no single piece of
historical evidence to show that women were prohibited from going to the
mosques, and there is no record of Ulema issuing a fatwa against the entry of
women into mosques....
In reality, no two individuals, regardless of their creed or conviction,
can ever perceive God in the same way. Yet, the infinite diversity is contained
within a realm that spans across the divine-human divide....
Reflecting on this quote, Sehgal explains that “The most important thing
in life is the realization that there is only one Supreme Power which is
responsible for the well-being of every living being, that He is the reason for
us to receive a human life and be on this earth....
It was a truth universally acknowledged that all young women traveling
from Britain to the Islamic State needed to go shopping first, and in that
strange winter when girls started to go missing, Westfield Stratford City, a
sprawling mall in east London, emerged as a favourite final destination before
the journey....
A fruit of such study across religious boundaries is that one is often
able to discover gems of goodness in other religions and communities. Such a
process can lead to a marked inner change for the good. And that’s perhaps what
happened with Jackson through his studying a fourteenth century Sufi from
Bihar....
Salam was the first Pakistani to win a Nobel, and his victory should
have been a historic moment for the country. But instead, 40 years on, his
story has largely been forgotten by the country in which he was born – in part
because of the religious identity he held so dear...
PM
ignored rumours about Bajwa’s Ahmadi link. Significantly, Nawaz cites a former
chief acknowledging that the screening of top promotions in the army was not
sufficient insurance against growing radicalisation within its ranks….
Pakistan
has been the victim of the covert war which was supposed to be directed at the
infidels. This should be instructive, given the aimless bloodshed, unless Pakistan
doesn’t care about it....
This is a human story written by a person who knows
how to listen and to observe. And because the subject is about a group of
ordinary Afghans and their mentor doing their best in the struggle to end one
of the longest wars in human history, it is a story that is well worth
reading….