Climate and the religious lens
The condition of Pakistani cities shows that we are suffering from an intellectual, professional and moral crisis. There is a sense that the existing government institutions and people cannot be…
A scholar of peace (Part – II)
While discussing Wahiduddin we cannot escape his forays into the realm of the war between religion and science. His book ‘Mazhab aur Science’ – first published in 1971 as a…
A scholar of peace (Part – I)
When, as a young man looking for guidance, Wahiduddin moved from one source of knowledge to another, he realised that the books of the time were not sufficient. So he…
A critique of three scholars
Some of my readers have asked me to write more on historiography in Pakistan other than the writers such as Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, Dr Mubarak Ali, and Sibte Hasan. In…
H M Jafri: a scholar of early Islam
There are not many bookshops in Skardu, but whenever I happen to be there my friend, Aziz Ali Dad, takes me to Soday Books – a compact and fine place…
Hope for a religious corridor
The Sikh community the world over is getting ready to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary in November 2019 of the First Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev. Many would-be…
Mapping religious groups
Extremism and terrorism pose an existential threat to the peace, progress and prosperity of the country. Unfortunately, we have failed to eradicate terrorism despite the fact that we have spent…
The deepening crisis of scholarship
Last week, I ended the first part of this series by sharing my feeling of shock and dismay at the decline we have observed in religious studies and theological development…
The deepening crisis of scholarship
One’s view is primarily that of a creative writer. But since one’s interests straddle history, politics, culture and society, there is an inherent compulsion to comment on issues that surround…
Female scholarship
What would the world have been like if women had played a role in interpreting the Quran and development of Islamic jurisprudence? Most certainly, there would have been direct impacts…
