Maria Sartaj

What was your new year’s resolution like? Are you still on it? If it was about losing weight, forget it; those pacts last only a week before one gets tempted by a plate or biryani or nihari. Some people also like to begin anew on January first, taking it as the first blank page of […]

Ya allah tera lakh lakh shukar hai (I thank you many times God) exclaimed a housewife upon hearing that the ban on the screening of Indian films has been lifted. It had been over two months and most people were suffering from withdrawal symptoms of their favorite addiction that is Indian entertainment. Whether they like […]

Death is the only promise life makes to us; nothing else is guaranteed but our inevitable end. This awareness of our limited time on earth can often cause anxiety in regular folks, propelling them to search for answers about life after death, their own significance in the matters of the universe, and the reality of […]

For most Pakistanis, especially those who have never travelled to their neighbouring country, India is a land filled with Hindus who beat up their Muslim brothers at any given moment, and with Modi’s reign, the image of Indians has only tarnished further. “Thank your lucky stars Quaid-e-Azam fought for Pakistan; had it still been Hindustan, […]

In the days of the trunk call, when international calls were placed via an operator, most of our time was spent repeating “hello”, and “can you hear me?” By the time one could get a clear audio link, the standard three-minute call time was up. That was how most Pakistanis kept abreast with their loved […]

“So where exactly is Pakistan in Europe?,” asked an African-American classmate of mine, while pointing out to a map of the world in our geography class. This was in the late 90s, I had moved to ‘Amreeka’ from Pakistan as a teenager, and Americans within the school system and outside were not aware of our […]

I am asked, “Why do you visit dargahs, what can a dead man possibly give you?” by a friend or a loved one every time I have visited a Sufi shrine, which is quite often. A volley of questions regarding my reverence for Sufi saints usually awaits me whenever I tell them that I visit […]

Only very few Pakistanis, in recent times, have made headlines all over the world for something positive, the humble tea-seller from Islamabad was one such lucky lad. He caught the fancy of many Pakistani females, and was catapulted to overnight fame, as women over-exercised their social media power. His story, however, is also representative of […]

That photographer Steve McCurry went on to earn money, fame and awards, all thanks to his portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, Sharbat Gula, then a 12-year-old orphan languishing in a refugee camp near Peshawar, with piercing questions in her eyes, is a well-documented and a predictable story. Her gaze captured people’s undivided attention: perhaps […]

One of the most beautiful and fundamental aspects of Islam is the prostration; when we bow our head down we enter into a partnership with the Almighty in reiteration of the fact that there is no one worthy of worship other than the Creator Himself. In other words, sajda (prostration) is our reaffirmation of fearing […]