THE FADING SHADOW
(The Elusive Dance of Light and Life) There is a profound contradiction at the heart of every shadow that has ever stretched across the earth. A shadow, by its very nature, proves the existence of light. It is the silhouette cast by illumination, and is the darkness that cannot exist without brilliance. Yet, the moment […]
THE NERO SYNDROME: MODI, MEDIA AND THE BLOOD
(The Karan Thaapar Interview) Gandhinagar. . October 21, 2007. The Chief Minister of Gujrat remained seated at his residence, facing Karan Thaapar, the CNN-IBN Journalist at his residence. Wearing a saffron colored kurta, a symbol of strength, courage, and sacrifice for the Indians, Modi went on to blame the fact that when he is referred […]
A Clock Set by the Divine
If I were asked to explain deen in simple words, I would say this: for me, deen means living a disciplined life. Islam is a complete system of guidance that teaches us how to live in an organized, balanced, and purposeful way— both at a personal level and as a society. A true momin is […]
One Winter, One Book, A Thousand Lives
A cold winter evening. A warm, cozy corner. A bookshelf full of books that had already taken her on adventures far better than anything this world had to offer. She sat there knowing it was the perfect time to read and yet she had already flipped through these beloved pages countless times before. Then her […]
Belonging, and the Maps We Make
There is a quiet hunger many of us carry.It does not growl like the stomach or ache like the bones. It waits. It watches. It asks a simple question that somehow takes years to answer: Where do I belong? I think of a river when I think of belonging. A river is always moving, yet […]
From Community to State: Wilfred Cantwell Smith and the Unfinished Journey of Muslim Politics
In 1943, Canadian scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith published Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis, a study written at a moment when neither Pakistan nor the Partition of India had yet solidified into historical certainties. Smith was observing Indian Muslims within a still-united colonial India, a society in flux, where tradition, religion, modern politics, and […]
Rallying the Flag Worldwide: The Strategy of Manufactured Populism
In contemporary politics, public engagement often outweighs governance. Leaders around the world increasingly rely on manufactured populism: carefully constructed narratives of external threat, nationalism, or moral duty to mobilise support. Unlike traditional populism, which may focus on economic inequality or domestic grievances, manufactured populism often creates or exaggerates external crises to rally citizens behind the […]
All That Remains
The Quiet Desperation of Becoming Ourselves
“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” — Henry David Thoreau We live in a time where everyone talks about being an individual, but strangely and ironically, we are all starting to look and act the same. We are slowly losing our true human selves and trading them for a perfect, predictable copy. There is […]
What Peace Would Look Like If It Were A Person
Peace is something every human being deserves—whether a beggar on the street or the richest person alive. Peace can be anyone around whom you feel safe. For a child, it may be their mother. And if peace were to take the form of a person, this is how I imagine it. Amid the chaos of […]