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My Top Ten Novels by Desi Writers

I am a prose stylist and all my choices reflect this bias.

In Remembrance of Martyrdom

A translation of the Urdu elegy “Zikr e Shahadat� by Mawlana Hassan Raza Khan

Whither Pakistan? The Presidential 'Election' and Beyond

It is my view that in the not too distant future Pakistan too will go through its own version of an Islamic revolution.

Dillu Ram Kausari: The Hindu Poet who Loved The Prophet

One quatrain, in particular, shocked the entire community in India, both Muslims and Hindus.

Ramadan Special: Tales of Sufi Wisdom

Since Ramadan is supposed to be a month for bringing dead hearts back to life all the episodes here chosen have the theme of life and death.

Book: Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam

Aslam has really succeeded in portraying the lives, dreams, and fears of immigrant Pakistanis in the UK. That he does it with magical prose is icing on the cake.

Celebrating Pakistan's 60th Anniversary

What better way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pakistan's independence from Britain than poetry from Iqbal, the man who is Pakistan's ideological founding father?

Michel Houellebecq: France's New Literary "Enfant Terrible" and Islamophobe

Reviews of "Atomised", "Platform" and "The Possibility of an Island".

Does Islam, in fact, Encourage Paedophilia?

Sexual attraction to postpubescent teens has existed in every culture throughout history.

An Evening with Ustad Asad Amanat Ali Khan: A Tribute

I met Asad Amanat Ali Khan a few years ago; I didn't think I'd never meet him again.

A Weekend in Vienna

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

Muharram 10: ’Ashura: Commemorating Imam Hussain- The Prince of Martyrs

A translation of a section from Jami’s Shawâhid al Nabuwwah

Islamic Education, Madrassah Reform, Rationality and Dawkins

The Muslims need to adapt a modern mindset which requires changes to traditional education.

Muslims ‘Unveiled’

Muslims should be willing to adapt to the host culture as much as possible

Iqbal, Ghalib, Amir Khusraw: Three Masters, Three Poems

The Madness of Love by Allama Iqbal - Where I was Last Night by Amir Khusraw Dehlavi - Do Not Be Stingy With the Wine Today by Mirza Ghalib

Another 'Bludy' Desi?

A group of teenagers viciously beat up another boy. Except this time the boys doing the beating are desis from Hounslow in South London and the poor chap getting beaten up is white -- which is also his ’crime’

'Dew from Truth’s Garden'

The following translation is of excerpts from a poem by the great scholar-Sufi saint from India, Imam Ahmad Riza Khan, eulogising the Prophet. In these verses he writes of the miraculous qualities of the various body parts of the Beloved Prophet

Iran, Geopolitics and the Bomb

When Iran does not have a bomb and Israel has 200 of them why not threaten Israel with sanctions?

An Ode To Wine

The grapevines in Makka are grown
When fully ripened, to Madina are flown!

Movie: Sins

A Catholic priest has an affair with a young woman and blackmails her into continuing it to further his own Church career.

A Cinephile’s Choice

These are films which I have watched again and again and which give me great pleasure whenever I watch them.

Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed: The Naked Sufi Martyr

Every man who is aware of his secret
He becomes concealed even from the skies
The mullah says that Ahmad went to the heavens
Sarmad says that the heavens were inside Ahmad!

Anarkali

Anarkali is becoming increasingly reckless; Salim in a state of confusion is trying to get her to stop with motions of his head and signals with his eyes

More Tales of Sufi Wisdom

Onlookers were amazed, the venerable old Sufi kneeling next to the stray dog

Movie: Garden State

A fable about the power of love to heal old wounds...

Two Score and Ten

Books that have somehow changed my life...

Sometimes…

A translation of Sahir Ludhiyanvi’s Urdu poem, “Kabhi Kabhi”

Movie: House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu)

Scenes of such perfect beauty that that they almost brings one to tears!

Movie: The Fog of War

The ultimate insider`s view as McNamara talks about his role in WW2, The Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam et al.!

Movie: The Twilight Samurai

This is quite possibly the greatest samurai film I`ve ever seen.

Three Tales Of Sufi Wisdom

Rumi smiled back and said, “This is something which you do not know!”

Ecstasy

Affirmation of love whispered in hesitant tones
Two heart-beats echoing with one reverberation

Book: Muhammad (sal Allahu `alayhi wa sallam): His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

This great work has won many prizes from all over the Muslim world for being the best biography of the Prophet in English including from the government of Pakistan.

I Have Heard That People Look At Her In Amazement

sunaa hai bole to baato.n se phuul jha.Date hai.n
ye baat hai to chalo baat kar ke dekhate hai.n

Book: Death in Venice

Thomas Mann`s masterpiece, exploring the relationship between the artist, art and beauty.

Book: Devotional Islam and Politics in British India

The best available study to date in the English language on the life, work, and politics of the great Sunni scholar, mujaddid and Sufi saint.

Movie: Kill Bill: Volume 2

More eye-popping action as Uma Thurman continues to seek out her would-be killer and former lover/boss Bill for revenge in QT`s brilliant conclusion to his epic.

The Girl from Napoli

Al Ghazzali said that it is impossible to describe the pleasures of orgasm to an impotent man no matter how much one tries.

Movie: In Custody (Muhaafiz)

This beautiful little gem is a plea from the heart to save the dying Urdu language in its land of birth told through the story of a fictional poet Nur Shahjahanabadi (Shasi Kapoor).

Book: An Equal Music

Love, longing, Schubert and Beethoven in London, Vienna and Venice!

Book: Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle

The magnum opus from the author of `Lolita`, Ada is his other great love story and the supreme work from the master prose stylist.

Movie: Kill Bill: Volume 1

Uma kicks some serious ass in this brilliant, violent, uber-cool, `Roaring Rampage of Revenge!` from Tarantino as he pays homage to the martial arts genre.

Ramadan Special: The Felicitations of Fasting

The one who fasts has two joys in which to delight...

Conflicts of Imagination

One one side there is Paradise, the other, Hell/And you are neither here nor there!

Music: In Praise of the Last Prophet

A truly international mixture of nasheeds and naats in praise of Allah`s Beloved Prophet in English, Arabic, Malay and Urdu by artistes from around the world.

Wasim Akram: A Tribute

Voted Number 1 by Wisden in the list of the Top 100 ODI bowlers in history.

Movie: Mughal e Azam

The greatest Indian commercial film ever made in my opinion--and the opinion of many critics too: great script, great direction,poetic dialogue, amazing acting by all, great music, classic songs: a bona fide masterpiece.

Book: My Feudal Lord

Tehmina Durrani`s autobiographical account of her former life as Mrs. Ghulam Mustafa Khar, one-time Chief Minister of Punjab, where she was mentally and physically abused by her famous and powerful huband.

The Rumi of Kashmir: Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Qadiri (may his secret be sanctified!)

even the illiterate peasants often know whole chunks of it by heart

Book: Sufi Heirs of The Prophet: The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh

A scholarly look at the history of the Naqshbandi Order, especially in the Subcontinent and a case-study of one of the greatest Naqshbandi Saints of the 19/20th century-Hazrat Pir Sayyid Jama`at Ali Shah Alipuri.

Is ’Eve’ the First Human to be Cloned?

Has the first human clone been created?

Movie: Maula Jatt

Quite simply the Greatest--and Craziest!- Punjabi Film Ever Made which changed the course of Pakistani cinema for ever!

Music: Afternoon Ragas

The best classical Hindustani instrumental music I have ever had the joy to listen to. Perfect. It is said that 'With this raga (Bhimpalsri) you can make the animals cry.' And on this evidence it is true.

Book: Lolita

Nabokov`s controversial yet mesmerizing story about pedophilia contains astonishing use of the English language and savage humor.

How Muslims Can Win The Coming Wars!

The most important war of all

Book: The Broken God: (A Requiem for Homo Sapiens --Pt.I)

This mind-expanding first novel in the A Requiem for Homo Sapiens trilogy combines space opera, lyrical prose and interstellar mathematics to brilliant effect to produce the most original sci-fi novel in years.

Music: Kalam Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah (rahmatullah alayhi)

This contains a number of famous naats in PUNJABI by Hazrat Pir Sahib, one of the greatest Sufi saints of the Punjab and an accomplished naatiyya poet including the immortal naat, 'kithay Mihr Ali, kithay teri sanaa/Gustaakh akheeN kithay jaa aRiyaan' [Wh

Music: Qasida al Burda (The Poem of the Cloak)

This poem became legendary even in the author`s lifetime and is now without doubt the most famous laudatory poem in the Muslim world in praise of The Beloved Prophet.

Music: Asma ul Husna

A spiritually uplifting and beautiful collection of famous naats in Arabic rendered by a singer with the voice of an angel!

Book: Rendezvous with Rama

Quite possibly the most famous novel ever written about Mankind`s first encounter with an alien civilisation and certainly one of the best books of the `grandaddy of science-fiction`.

Movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The first part of J R R Tolkien`s classic masterpiece of the fantasy genre brought stunningly to life on the big screen this is the `greatest epic in motion picture history`.

Book: Twilight in Delhi

A social drama-cum-love-story-cum-historical novel set in post 1857 Delhi and centred around the life and loves of a upper middle class Muslim family.

Movie: Three Colours: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu)

Kieslowski`s masterful opening chapter of his `Trois couleurs (Three Colours)` trilogy based on the colours of the French flag and the related ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality. This opening film addresses the subject of liberty in a controlled a

Book: The Life and Work of Jalaluddin Rumi

A wonderfully readable yet scholarly examination of the life and works of Rumi, the `greatest mystical poet of mankind` (Nicholson) by a genuine scholar of Rumi and Persian.

Uniting Muslims on Eid

Muslims are unable to get together even on the occasion of Eid

In Celebration of Ramadan (Part 1): Ala Hazrat’s Poem About The Onset of Ramadan

O’Saqi, I will forever be yours, bring me some wine, Ramadan has come!

Shaykh Sa’di of Shiraz: Persian poet and Sufi Master

He was from amongst the greatest of the Sufis

What Am I?

A short poem about someone special...

40 Sayings Of A Modern Sufi Master

Each one is an ocean of wisdom

Asif Naqshbandi

• Articles on Chowk: 69
• First article: May 16, 2000
• Latest article: Feb 12, 2008
• Times read on Chowk: 433665