The meaning of Hell on April 3, 2021According to mystical belief, to be human is to be accountable to God, to accept the measure called absolute. Our human state is such a treasure that we are not ready to exchange it for anything. If we are offered all the treasured things of the world on the condition that we renounce our human […]
Reading Syed Maududi on Sufism on March 27, 2021Our attitude towards Sufism determines the answer to the complex question of our identity in matters personal and political – our view of religious/secular other. Syed Moududi’s views helped determine views of millions towards Sufism and call for attention and clarification. Syed Moududi’s attitude towards Sufism was critical but respectful. Certain ambivalence in his attitude […]
Understanding why innocents suffer on August 9, 2020One of the most knotty questions asked by all and sundry is why innocents suffer. This constitutes the most influential argument for disbelief in God. For those who believe in God or His good governance this calls for a response. And countless theologians have struggled to answer. One of the most difficult formulations of this […]
Understanding Ibn Arabi on Islam and kufr, guidance and misguidance on August 6, 2020Nothing divides Muslims amongst themselves and alienates them from other religious communities than the dispute over what constitutes Islam and straight path or the path of the community or swadi-azzam. Nothing can help them better than recourse to Ibn Arabi. Why I argue by reading him especially his Fusûs al-hikam and his Futuhat today on […]
Debating letter and Spirit of Qurbani on August 1, 2020Animal sacrifice is a feature of many world religions and understanding it requires engaging with scores of questions – involving religion, folk psychology, mythology, metaphysics, esoterism, anthropology. One of the measures of the depth of our engagement with the tradition of Islam is how we treat Qurbani as an institution. And how careless is our […]
Art, beauty and the task of humanities on July 21, 2020“Man can live without science, he can live without bread, but without beauty, he could no longer live because there would no longer be anything to do to the world. The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here.” (Dostoevsky) Laotze’s and Kant’s respective remarks about beauty as “the usefulness of the useless,” […]
Who is not a Sufi? Tasawwuf for all seasons on July 15, 2020Do we ever ask about the contemporary relevance of the use of intellect, sunlight, air and water? Similarly, we shouldn’t ask about the relevance of Tasawwuf today. Let me explain why. Anyone who reflects on what is Tasawwuf or what are its key definitions/characterisations would understand that Tasawwuf or what is said to be its […]
Reading Iqbal in Postmodern Times: invitation to the other Iqbal and the other in Iqbal on July 9, 2020Unlike Holderlin and Rilke, Iqbal is still awaiting his Heidegger, who could appropriate and present him for the post-Nietzschean world audience. Unlike Heidegger, he has received little attention from great philosophers and theologians of the world. Even the Muslim world has been largely ignoring him or just packaging his complex and enormously fecund and subtle […]