A symbol of love
SYMBOLS and symbolism are regarded as essential parts of Islam. In the Holy Quran, the value of symbols has been made abundantly clear to us. For example, in ayat 158…
US aims to quickly train Iraq forces for anti-IS fight
American and allied soldiers are aiming to rapidly train thousands of Iraqi security personnel in the "bare minimum basics" needed to join the fight against militants who swept Baghdad's troops…
Mosque & seminary
The two emblems of Islam — the mosque and the madressah — are frequently vilified, feared and even shunned by many non-Muslims. In Pakistan, some are places to avoid, rather…
Ruling the airwaves
A few days ago, the BBC Urdu website carried an interesting news report that gave details of the number of exclusive interviews of various front-line politicians carried by Pakistan’s 24/7…
The never-ending battle
Afshan Ahmed, a teacher at the Army Public School in Peshawar, bravely stood between her students and the Taliban gunmen that invaded the school on December 16, 2014 and entered…
Raising children
As society loses its ethical and moral foundations, the younger generations seem to be growing up in a vacuum. Yet, almost every Muslim house spends so much time and effort…
Teaching Islamiat
In the British era, schools of the Indian subcontinent did not have the formal subject of Islamiat for their Muslim students. The senior members of a family were supposed to…
Morality & politics
The relationship of morality to politics has occupied philosophers the world over since time immemorial. While the ideas of Western thinkers such as Machiavelli and Kant have gained universal acclaim,…
Changing face of a holy city
The wall they were building crushed them when it fell. On Wednesday, Sept 10, six construction workers reported to be of Pakistani and Indian origin were killed under the 15-metre…
The Brunei ‘model’
The Sultanate of Brunei is running out of oil. Lower production levels led to a 34pc drop in crude oil exports last November, which amounted to a loss of nearly…
