Social Issues
-
Resolution of Conflicts
Democracy isn’t just about equality, liberty, secularism, and other such loaded terms that fill the popular narrative. We have far moved beyond the French Revolution, however our obsession with these terms continues. We often forget another pillar of democracy, a pillar of successful society rather, “Resolution of Conflicts”. Though a ranking or hierarchy of various aspects of a thriving state can’t be made, or at least is difficult to make, we can be relatively certain that “resolution of conflict” is an important aspect which we often miss in our discussions. Conflicts keep lingering along and often end up shaping the sentiments of communities in a long run. Such a happening affects…
-
Holding Pride in Ancient Science
More than anyone else, I am fairly certain in my personal assessment that Muslims and Hindus hold huge pride in their ancient achievements. Each one claims to be the genesis of modern civilization and root of all modern knowledge. Irony dies a million deaths when we see the state of affairs in both the Muslim and Hindu nation, holding pride in Camel Urine and Cow Urine respectively and discovering medicinal benefits in Zam Zam Water and Ganges Water respectively, yet not able to sort out public health issues in their respctive nations. Understand the fact that everything that we know today and study in science is not a product of…
-
Excerpts from Maryam Jameelah’s “Islam Versus the West”
“From my Jewish textbooks I learned that Abraham was the father of the Arabs as well as the Jews. In these same books I read how centuries later when in medieval Europe, Christian persecution made lives intolerable, the Jews were welcomed in Muslim Spain, and it was this same Arabic-Islamic civilization which stimulated Hebrew culture to reach its highest peak of achievement.” (Islam Versus The West, Page 5) “Sayed Qutb points out that while the teaching of Christianity are confined to individual spiritual salvation and while Communism looks at human needs from a purely economic angle, Islam maintains that the soul cannot be seperated from the body and that spiritual…
-
Seeking Knowledge
Knowledge seeking is to be done with dedication and pains. It can’t be gained to its optimum levels otherwise, nor is depth in understanding ever gained without pains and dedication. Knowledge once acquired is to be spread into masses, that is how teachers are born and that is how knowledge grows. Xuan Zang was one of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited India some 1300-1400 years ago. Though we can’t be certain about the purpose of the visit, but we can be fairly sure that the purpose was seeking knowledge and education. His stay at the Nalanda Buddhist Monastery and taking with himself almost half a thousand Sanskrit manuscripts speaks…
-
Battle of Hunayn and the Pride in Numbers
Fought in 630 CE between Muslims and the non-Muslim Bedouin tribe of Hawazin in the outskirts of Mecca, the Battle of Hunayn is an important battle that has somehow not found a place in everyday Muslim discourse if compared to the battles of Badr, Uhud, or Trench. Battle of Hunayn, among other battles, is one good example that tells us numbers don’t matter. In the earlier battles such as those of Badr, Uhud, or Trench the Muslims were vastly outnumbered, however in this one which took place after the Treaty of Hudaybiah and the Fall of Mecca, the number of Muslims was huge. It was the largest ever Muslim army…