Category: Society & Culture
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Representation Culture: Negotiating the TV Muslim
The narrative journeys of Muslims in fiction are shoehorned into a pendulum of tradition versus modernity, Western versus strange. Stories illustrating the journey to reconcile the two necessarily entails subsuming Islam under discount Netflix theology with the sirens of self-as-god.
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Ramadan Traditions in Constantine
We should take note of Constantinian heritage not only because it is worth basking in its splendor, but because it serves a sentimental purpose. With Christmas being completely commodified, many of us may feel pressured to compete by curating a Ramadan ambiance through the same capitalist means. One cannot stress enough the importance of aesthetics…
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Macauley ke Bache: On Our Relationship to Urdu
The list of dead, white British men who lorded over the Subcontinent is long, but Thomas Macauley holds a special place among them. The archetypal British colonial administrator, Macauley was best known for his instrumental role in entrenching English into the cultural and epistemic life of the Subcontinent. In decreeing the supremacy of English as…
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Islamicate Literature — a Tool to Tackle Islamophobia
Islamophobia is a long standing, deeply entrenched, global issue. Growing bodies of research point to the proliferation of Islamophobia cases across the globe in recent years. It disrupts civil society at many levels, from anti-Muslim policies to heightened tensions and hate crimes, including the increased bullying of Muslim children. One of the core causes of…
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‘Trojan Horse’ or a British Tradition?
Birmingham, Britain, 2014 — a scandal hit the headlines. A letter was leaked to the press which had been sent to the City Council detailing “Operation Trojan Horse,” a plot by a cabal of Muslim teachers and governors to take over and Islamicize state schools in Birmingham. A national outcry followed, and the government swept…
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Muslims and Progressive Sexual Ethics in America
Muslims, perhaps sincere, are unable to adequately ground themselves in line with the deen, awash in the pressure to disregard Islamic morals that are controversial in modern day America.
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Castles of Delusion – Reflections of Power in “Throne of Blood” (1957)
We pan out only to see the ruins swallowed by the mist before vanishing altogether. So begins and so concludes Akira Kurosawa’s eerie period drama “Throne of Blood”. Throne of Blood is the late director’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, trading the warring Scottish Highlands for feudal Japan. It wasn’t one of the famed Japanese…
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Al-Quran – Stories of Prophets and Emotional Intelligence
In our daily lives, we regularly encounter challenges affecting our emotions: We feel sad and happy, we may express ourselves by crying or laughing, or we may hide our true feelings behind a smile. Our emotions sometimes bring us to tears, yet we find ourselves comforted and serene in their aftermath. Memories of the past…
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Colonialism and Gender Discourse: A Case Study on the Unique Case of the Ulema
The respectful attentiveness that has ever characterized the traditional attitudes of Muslims students before their teachers, male or female, is derived from the example of women as from the men who attended and served him [the Prophet ﷺ]. Shahr ibn Hawshab has narrated from Asma’ bint Yazid that she said: “I was holding the rein…
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The Activist Economy
A number of celebrities, including Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, were recently invited onto a new TV series named “The Activist” where six individuals compete against one another to promote a particular cause. These include health, education and the environment. Online engagement was one of the metrics by which the impact of different causes was to…