The need for a Jinnah redux on April 16, 2018A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting at Harvard Law School on the history of the Indian Supreme Court and its foundations. Even as someone who has obsessed over Jinnah’s career as a politician and a lawyer, I was unaware of one of his most substantial contributions to the future Republic of India […]
Ethnocentrism and fundamentalism on March 26, 2018To pick up the thread from last week, it is important to consider the impact of Islam’s continuing immigration into the West and especially Europe in throes of its own populist backlash. Dr Akbar S Ahmed’s book Journey into Europe, Islam, Immigration and Identity is a magnum opus which should be mandatory reading for any […]
Pakistan and Islam’s Ambassador at large on March 19, 2018Dr Akbar S Ahmed, the Ibn-e-Khuldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Washington and Pakistan’s former High Commissioner to the UK, has to be the loudest voice of reason, moderation and tolerance in terms of scholarship on both Pakistan and Islam in the west. I was fortunate to be present at one of his […]
Another controversial decision on March 12, 2018The second Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution of 1973 was the last nail in the coffin of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan. The whole Anti-Ahmadi movement in the subcontinent has its genesis in Congress’ backing of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam which used the anti-Ahmadi slogans to attempt to draw a wedge in the Muslim League which had in its […]
The dangerous game continues on February 26, 2018As I have established in my previous articles, khatme-nabuwat and blasphemy issues in Pakistan are entirely manufactured and created specifically by certain sections within what we call the deep state. Given that Pakistan is a 96 percent Muslim majority country, Islam is in no danger here whatsoever. Nor does the holy personage of Prophet Muhammad […]
The Asma Moment on February 19, 2018The great Asma Jahangir has passed away at a critical time in our country’s history. Her close friend Dr Ayesha Jalal says that Asma Jahangir will forever live in the canons of Pakistan’s democracy. This is true but equally true is the fact that her death leaves a void when we needed her most. She […]
Imam Ghazali and the 2nd Amendment on February 12, 2018The great thing about being at Harvard is that not only can you find any book from any period in Islamic history but you can interact with scholars who have spent their entire lives studying in minutest detail the law of Islam i.e. Sharia Canon. On Friday I had the opportunity of meeting a true […]
A secular state is a religious imperative on February 9, 2018In his paper “The Transformation of the Sharia from Jurists’ Law to Statutory Law in the contemporary Muslim world”, Aharon Layish outlines how Sharia was originally ‘jurists’ law” i.e. law created by independent legal experts. He points out that Ibn-al-Muqaffa, the Secretary of State of the Abbasid Caliphate, suggested to Caliph Al-Mansur that latter enact […]
Our religious tests on February 5, 2018Space is said to be the final frontier. The world is preparing to go to Mars. Even our neighbouring country, India, has sent a successful Mars probe. Yet there seems to be no serious discussion on the future in Pakistan. This is despite the fact that Pakistan’s space programme predates the Indian space programme by […]
Let democracy take its course on January 29, 2018The Kasur incident is too horrific to write about. Nor does one wish to get into the controversies about the victim’s father and his conduct or that of the Government of Punjab. It has been a painful ordeal for everyone in Pakistan and indeed all around the world. What is sad though is this damnable […]