Religion: In the shadow of the mosque

The Economist

Religion is becoming less tolerant, and more central to Pakistan

 

Visibly more pious

THE CLEAN-SHAVEN, middle-aged academic in Lahore is under fire from his wife and his bushy-bearded 20-year-old son, a student. Last year he completed the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is expected to make at least once. Now, after a lifetime of weekly attendance at the mosque, on Fridays, he is told by his family that he should make the half-hour trip there to say his prayers five times a day. “Pakistan”, he says, “has become very religious-minded and anti-West.”

STATE AND RELIGION IN PAKISTAN

PTH

By Shahnaz Khan

Will separation of state and religion contradict the spirit of the creation of Pakistan?  Does this division threaten Islam? Should the state regulate the religious beliefs and activities of ALL Muslims?  These questions are being hotly debated in Pakistan, with the primary focus on either the two nation theory or the vision of Jinnah.  It, perhaps, may be more productive to review historical data and some fundamental principles of Islam in resolving these issues. After all this controversy is neither unique to Pakistan or Islam.  It will also be helpful to define a secular state:  A state which is not hostile to religion but is neutral to the religious preference of its citizens.

Humanising religion

BY AHMAD ALI KHALID ON AUGUST 23RD, 2011

For a self proclaimed religious society we are incredibly reserved when it comes to talking openly and frankly about our own religious experience and journey.

Understanding Ramadan Fasting In Allah’s Paradigm

By Awaam

At another place we have argued that establishing Allah’s discourse in Islam is the first and the most fundamental requirement for Islamic renaissance. This was the dominant and main discourse, in fact perhaps the only discourse that defined and governed Prophet’s life and time there in.

PROBLEMS OF PLURALISM

Asghar Ali Engineer

(Islam and Modern Age, August 2011)

 

When Islam emerged on the scene in early seventh century, Arabs were divided among different tribes but nevertheless spoke one language Arabic and more or less followed one religion (though had different traditions) i.e. worshipping different idols placed inside Ka’ba and some idols which were outside Mecca. Thus we cannot call that society a pluralist society. Of course there were Jews in Madina and Christians in some parts of Arabian Peninsula. So in that way it was a multi-religious society to an extent as Christians and Jews were in small minorities.

The Nation-State and Social Order in the Perspective of Islam

I. The Family: First Level of Social Organization

Human association has had a long history which three institutions had struggled to dominate. The first is the family, which has blood and heredity for bases. The characteristics it engenders in humans are innate and immutable. Indeed, they are constitutive of the relationship. Certainly family-living engenders in humans other characteristics which are acquired through association.

Towards An Islamic Theory of Meta-Religion

Dr. Ismail Raji Alfaruqi

The relation of Islam to the other religions has been established by God in His revelation, the Qur’an. No Muslim therefore may deny it; since for him the Qur’an is the ultimate religious authority. Muslims regard the Qur’an as God’s own word verbatim, the final and definitive revelation of His will for all space and time, for all mankind.1

Time now to recall Quaid’s warning to Muslim World

SHARIF-UL-MUJAHID

ARTICLE (December 25) : The “Quaid-e-Azam” says Frank Moraes, formerly editor, Times of India (Mumbai), “is assured of a place among the great Muslims of our times. Kamal Ataturk revived the ramshackle state which was Turkey. But Jinnah’s achievement was in a sense more considerable. Out of next to nothing, he willed a state into being.”

Not in God’s name…Not for Religion’s sake

By Awaam

Change and Freedom are the terms that dominate the socio political vocabulary in our times. Some may say that since the evolution of the human consciousness, these have been the most enchanting slogans. Either way, indisputably, these are considered to be the foundations of the process of progress and development for any society and any country. In fact this so well established and taken as granted, that we often forget and ignore why do we all want and crave for Change and fight for the Freedom? The answer to this question may vary in different times and spaces. But the fundamental answer remains the same. We want Change and Freedom for the betterment and well being of Humans and for peace among Humanity.

Of Probability and Faith

Dawn

By Iftikhar U. Hyder

THE contribution of the early Muslims to the development of mathematical ideas is widely recognised among scholars and well documented. From the development of Arabic numerals to the invention of algebra, their contribution is indisputable.

In his landmark book on the development of risk management, Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, Peter Bernstein asked why was it that despite early Muslims’ impressive achievements in mathematics and their advanced mathematical ideas they did not proceed to develop probability and risk management. The answer, he believed, lies in their view of the world.

The Meaning of Islam

William C. Chittick, Ph.D.

Professor of Religious Studies, State University of New York, Stony Brook

A few years back, long before 9/11, one of our Religious Studies majors told me that she had taken my course to learn why she should hate Islam. As a normal young American growing up on Long Island, she had no doubt that she should hate Islam, but she still wanted to know what was so bad about it.

Secularism confronts Islam

Secularism confronts Islam

The vigorous debate about Muslims in Europe and their relationship to the west’s understanding of itself needs to be informed by an understanding of history’s duality and the present’s fluidity, says Olivier Roy.

This article was published originally in Open democracy.

About the author

Olivier Roy is a professor at the L’Ecole de Haute Ìätudes de Sciences Sociales in Paris (Ehess). he has written a number of books including The Failure of Political Islam (Harvard University Press, 1994).