Islam and Modern Times: Is There a Case For Reinterpretation?

For the religion to become functionally effective and progressive rather than static and time trapped, it has to be reinterpreted metaphorically and the mantle of interpretation has to be taken away from the existing ultra conservative clergy/religious sc

A Non-Muslim Appraisal of Islamic Sharia

Like the Pashtoon, the Sikh did not want to give too much freedom to his daughter; he too did not want her to go out unaccompanied by a male relative or not covered by a chaadar.

Am I a Skeptical Muslim?

The story of Islam from the rift on the succession of the prophet, the end of the Muslim glory in Spain in 1492, to the end of Ottoman caliphate in 1924, is all about the struggle for power.

Science and Enlightenment: East and West

‘Why the West craves Materialism and the East sticks to Religion’, the essay is an unabashed (and ill informed) defense of religious orthodoxy with some awkward, and factually inaccurate, jabs at Science and Reason.

Football Madness at Maracana, Rio de Janeiro

Nowhere does football arouse as much passion as in Brazil; and nothing personifies it more than the scene at the Maracana, one of world's largest sporting venues.

The Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro

A five thousand year old TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it) that remains forgotten today by its own.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands

We alternate our summer vacations between Pakistan and Greece, visiting places of history and intrigue. '07 was a Greece year.

30 Days in Afghanistan - Climbing Qassaba

On the way up, we pass kids herding goats along narrow passes. I’m in unfamiliar territory, and enjoying the mind body journey, they are at home, easily walking and climbing ahead of me.

30 Days in Afghanistan - Arrival

I open my window blinds, and look up at the blue sky, it’s the same sky I’d stare at in Dallas, except for the barbed wire on my horizon, and the Afghani guards 30 feet from me.

24 Hours in Dubai - Dunes and Dinars

Half the women I see are dressed in full burqas, and the other half look like Britney Spear rejects - this place is so full of opposites, it’s a yin yang of cultures.

Notes from the Sunderbans

Same place, different times. And now we are told that they may vanish below the surface of the Bay of Bengal in the next few years.

A Weekend in Vienna

I was joined in this ancient bibliothek by a trio of Russian ladies, all splendidly over-dressed

Monar Jomban (part 2 of 4)

We were out to buy Gaz (the traditional sweet of these parts, a delicate white chocolate made with sugar and eggs and some other mysterious ingredients), and we were directed to this 100 year old Gaz factory at the Western entrance of the square. There w

Monar Jomban (part 1 of 4)

“Esfahan what can I write about you which has not been written before.” I quote a forgotten writer who was apparently jailed and then killed, perhaps for his writings. He was an Esfahani. I am not- but I realise that big cities and old ones, h

Can We Defy Time or Be Contacted from Outer Space?

As social human evolution is progressing at a faster rate, so are our capabilities to decode information. We are getting rather more accurate in our understanding of the universe and unraveling more complicated universal phenomenon while retaining our na

Religious Tourism

Enthralling and enchanting locations of Pakistan beckon not only domestic but also foreign tourists to great extent.

If Pigs Could Fly

When proceeding to the check in counter, I always increased or decreased my pace so that I get a chance to stand next to a lady in the queue. Though I have been successful in this feat but then again, fate had something else stored for me.

Hala – City of Crafts

Once you’ve seen what poor, almost rag-tag, artisans can do with the paper, glass, cotton and wood you get convinced quite easily that art has no limits.

A Trip Down Moscow Lanes

The tour culminated in the red square and from there I, with a couple of other attendants, set off for a stroll around the square and followed it up by a visit to the Kremlin. We had barely half an hour before it closed and that turned out to be terribly

Meeting the Pakistani-Swiss

By a Burger King, I saw a group of Eastern European men playing chess with giant wooden pieces. Next to them, was a clique of South Asian men in their forties and fifties smoking cigarrettes and talking animatedly in Punjabi.

• Islam
• Christian right
• Hindutava
• Buddhism
• Atheism
• Ahmdiyas
• Madrassas
• Wahabi Factor
• Jewish Lobby
• Shia-Sunni
• Hindu-Muslim
• Fundamentalism
• Moderates
• Religious Reforms

• Pakistan's Struggle for Democracy
• The Indian Story
• Indo-Pak Relations
• Personal Narratives
• Religion Today
• War on Terror
• Role of Media
• Call for Social Change
• Hold Them Accountable
• Environment and Us
• Way of Life

• Swat Calls For Civil Society to Act
• In Search of Political Will: Fight Against Militants in Swat
• In memory of the Swat valley
• The Nightmare Must End
• In Honor of the Heroes of Swat