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Sowing the seeds of intellectual understanding
Image Credit: Chatham House/Wikimedia Commons When Sushmita Kamboj joined my World of Islam class as a student two years ago, she spoke of the vast distances between Islam and Hinduism in India. Growing up in Yamunanagar,...May 12, 2018 1183 0 -
Interfaith Talk: A two-state solution will greatly improve Muslim-Jewish relations
A Palestinian girl inside her family’s partially destroyed home, looks at the destruction outside, in the Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City. Photo: UNICEF On April 11, I had the privilege of speaking in Temple Emanuel, a...May 5, 2018 887 0 -
South Asians must build a peace paradigm
Flag ceremony at Wagah border crossing, Photo: Daniel Hauptstein via Wikimedia Commons Of late I have recurring dreams, ominous and disturbing, which involve trains. They appear in the early hours when I am neither fully asleep...April 28, 2018 915 0 -
Why political leaders should lead the way toward bridging the intercultural divide
A view of Islamabad with Faisal Mosque, Photo: Fassifarooq/Wikimedia Commons Last month, while collecting my mail in routine I received an extraordinary surprise – a personal letter from Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. In February, courtesy...April 21, 2018 1145 0 -
‘Promote interfaith dialogue, promote friendship’
Perhaps no country in the world does a global event such as the one I attended this March quite like the USA. I was privileged to be launching my book, Journey into Europe, at the Woodrow Wilson...April 14, 2018 1455 0 -
A place for all – An opportunity for interfaith harmony
Photo: House of One Berlin/Facebook Page In the same country where six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, the genocide to define all genocides, and where the Far Right is once again emerging from the...February 3, 2018 1514 0 -
Culture Conversation: The true spirit of anthropology
Author Akbar Ahmed with Princess Diana and Prof. Jonahtan Benthall For far too long, Western anthropology has been seen by its critics as a tool of Western imperialists, a means of understanding how to best exploit...January 14, 2018 1176 0 -
Jinnah wanted a broad and inclusive idea of Islam for Pakistan
Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, where Pakistan Resolution was passed Photo: Lime.adeel/Wikimedia Commons The debate around the definition of Islam and its relationship to Pakistan’s identity has become vitriolic, obfuscating and violent. It also threatens a breakdown of...December 23, 2017 1881 0 -
The unsung heroes who sing Rumi in the deserts of Pakistan
Derawar Fort in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan Photo Tahsin Shah/Wikimedia Commons If the western media outlets are to be believed, little but murder and mayhem comes out of Pakistan. The images that dominate are those of men...December 9, 2017 2759 3 -
Focusing on interfaith work in contradictory and confusing times
Photo:Dr. Edward Kessler via Woolf Institute Twitter We live in contradictory and confusing times: on the one hand, we have the cases of widespread murder and mayhem on the basis of religion and race and, on...December 3, 2017 1805 0
