Turkish Theologian and reformist Islamist Bediuzzaman Said Nursi encouraged Muslims to adopt the dynamic spirit, intellectual tradition, and technology of the West but condemned European colonialism, the economic exploitation of capitalism, the atheism of Marxism, and the moral bankruptcy of secularism. He believed that Islam provided its own religio-political alternative for Muslim societies, and thus he turned to the past to rediscover the humanitarian principles and universal values essential to reconstruct an Islamic model for modern Muslim societies....

In most ‘Religions’ something similar to the Hadis’ saying that “Poverty is my pride” exists in terms of extolling the virtue of being ‘poor’. Poverty is believed by most religions to being saintly and promoted as akin to piety. In general, possessing little or nothing, without any worldly means and being poor is ‘closeness to God’.

The former head of the banned terrorist outfit of Pakistan, Sipah-e-Sahaba and the present Emir of Punjabi Taliban, Maulana Asmatullah Muawiyah has written an article titled ‘Hamein nizam-e-kufr qubul nahin’(We Do Not Accept This Anti-Islamic System Called Democracy) in the mouthpiece of Taliban, Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad, December 2012. In this article he has likened democracy to non-belief and advocated the establishment of Islamic caliphate. He has also declared the government of Pakistan a government of kafirs and his organization, the Taliban is engaged in an un-Islamic war with the Pakistan government, killing innocent people, ministers and soldiers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. We strongly condemn his misleading notions about democracy and jihad and present a point by point refutation of his article.

Many believers accepted the atheistic assumptions of this philosophy but nevertheless maintained their belief in God hoping to find a place for Him in the realms which science could not yet conquer. But the atheists argued, with some strength that since science was rapidly progressing in giving us “rational” explanations of phenomena which we used to believe to the works of God....

Islam gives high emphasis on justice. It goes to the extent of saying that for justice we should not even desist from going against our own selves: “O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be [against] rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts [of your hearts], lest ye swerve, and if ye distort [justice] or decline to do justice,  verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do”. (Ch 4 Verse 135)

It is disappointing to observe breach of trust and broken promises in every facet of Islamic life today. The breach of trust with fellow Muslims and violation of covenant with God by today’s Muslims can be seen at every step.  Muslims are no more a community that uphold their promises as their religion teaches them to fulfil promises and obligations. Fulfilling obligations means acting according to the ‘written’ or ‘unwritten’ agreements.....

Humankind on the whole is engaged in war.  At one count or another. What motivates the people who are waging this war and how can it come to an end? Is there any possibility of bringing all humanity together and end this war? The answer is, yes, indeed. To end war humanity will need to resolve root issues like injustice, exploitation of the weak and all sorts of supremacism that the mankind is suffering from and, in my view; Islam has the panacea for all these maladies....

It was he who changed the basic concepts of ethics and spirituality. To those who believed that asceticism and self-annihilation alone formed the standard of moral and spiritual purity—that purity could not be achieved except by running away from worldly life, disregarding all the urges of the flesh and subjecting the body to all types of tortures—it was he who showed the path or spiritual evolution, moral emancipation, and attainment of salvation through active participation in the practical affairs of the world around them.

In Islam it is a must to accept all the terms and condition before marrying. In Islam, marriage is a written and legal covenant between two individuals who understand their responsibilities and duties. A child does not know about the intricacies of marriage and the burden of bearing a child. Both the parties should understand the details of the marriage and it is impossible for a child of say 6 or 9 years to have achieved the level of wisdom so as to be able to take mature decisions…..

Over 90,000 people have been killed in terrorism and insurgency-related violence across India since 1981, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database. Despite India’s long experience of Pakistan-backed terrorism, Quassab is only the sixth terrorist to be hanged in this country. However, the first to be hanged was Maqbool Bhat, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) ‘president’, on February 11, 1984…

When engaging in the process of developing Qur’anic hermeneutic and Islamic legal theory (usul ul- fiqh) and, generations upon generations of Islamic legal theoreticians (usulliyyun) have primarily concerned themselves with the questions of what the Qur’an has to say on a particular issue or theme but not what the Qur’an tacitly assumes to be normative as understood by its direct audience and as evident in the Qur’an’s content. Furthermore, Islamic legal theorists did not fully recognise the interpretational implications of the Qur’anic pre-suppositions present in its discourse....

Apparently, ‘secular’ is some sort of a bad word and anyone using this word in connection with Quaid-e-Azam is automatically a traitor Our Urdu press, conspiratorial, nationalist and rightwing, is full of nazriati (ideological) warriors. This article is a rebuttal of two of the most popular standard-bearers of the Ghairat brigade and the so-called Nazria-e-Pakistan (idea of Pakistan)....

If I were a rational person I would not be writing this blog. In the past I have lamented the proliferation of garbage, lauded junkies and soothsayers at a sufi saint’s shrine, delved into nostalgia about rail travel, and written about other harmless subjects. These blogs and features received mostly bouquets and some brickbats from the readers.
But today I want to talk about a very difficult subject. No, I am not confessing that I am a serial killer or a closet drag queen; sorry, nothing juicy like that. This particular subject has been like a thorn in my heart for many years but good judgment and sane counsels from friends has stopped me from pulling it out of my heart and speak out what I really think about it. Pakistan’s poet laureate Faiz Ahmed Faiz perfectly expressed this feeling thus:

Be it the majesty of the Monarchy or the theatre of Democracy---Separate the ‘Code- Deen’ from politics, what remains is mob-rule (of the kind of the Mongol hordes)! As argued here, Islam is not a religion, therefore the statement that Church and State are separate’’ does not apply. The universal code does not differentiate between morality and ethics as applied to political and non-political elements of human endeavours....

Something of it did happen and the story came out literary true. Zia-ul-Haque captured power, issued the Hudud Ordinance followed by the Ordinance punishing a person with death for insulting the Prophet and now Pakistan is virtually is controlled by Taliban who cannot tolerate any dissent or difference of opinion.