Solitude and Bolero
ON SOLITUDE AND THE MUSIC TO GO WITH IT – On an overcast day, which in political terms is so much brighter, I am playing a piece of music called…
WHO, OR WHAT, IS A PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL?
My understanding is that Jean Paul Sartre, the rejector of Nobel Prize for literature in 1964, pretty much invented a public role for unaffiliated individuals devoting their intellect in service…
Iqbal’s Masjid-e Qurtaba is a flawed classic
Muhammed Iqbal, the Indian Subcontinent’s much loved Urdu poet, wrote a stirring poem titled Masjid-e Qurtaba after his visit to Cordova, Spain, in 1933. In the minds of the Urdu-speaking…
“Islamization of Knowledge” and How Muqtedar Khan demolished the idea.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran set off seismic changes across the globe, most intensely among Arab Muslim intellectuals living in America and its environment of nearly total freedom of…
The Origins of Judaism
A few centuries later the Romans invaded and made Palestine a province of the “Holy Roman Empire”. Most educated people have some idea of the origins of Islam, and the…
Jewish life in foreign lands
The Blueprint for Jewish Life In Foreign Lands In 587 BCE, the Babylonians attacked Judea and destroyed the Temple of David. Worse, they took 10,000 Judeans, or Jews, as prisoners…
American Jews’ Rise to Power
The story of the Jews in America begins with the migration of just 24 Sephardic Jews How did the Jews in America acquire decisive power over its government in just…
Dr. Omar Khalidi, a great scholar and the man
Omar Khalidi was a Muslim scholar, a staff member of MIT in the US, and an author. Dr. Omar Khalidi, a great scholar and the man, who articulated the voice…
The Guiding Star : My Uncle Jawwad
Qazipurian Family Memoirs Articles written in Urdu have been translated by Usama Khalidi Memories of Janab Moinuddin Hasan Jawwad, cherished for more than 60 years by his brothers, his late…
Naani Ammi and Me
Witten By Hamidah Rahman Although Nana Hazrat’s (Nizamuddin Saheb) wedding took place mostly according to the customs and rituals of the time, 1915, in Hyderabad, it differed from other weddings…
