Bring forth once more that goblet and wine, o Saki!

A friend who has a knack for finding great renditions of Allama Iqbal’s poetry brought this to my attention recently. I have listened to it a number of times and I have to admit that it is great. If anyone knows of other pieces sung by Shabnam Majeed do let me know.
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Missing In Pakistan

This documentary brought forth a host of emotions such as anger, disgust and to some extent despair. We all know that even in the bastions of democracy human rights can be trampled under foot in the name of fighting terrorists. However in a country like Pakistan where there is no rule of law the [...]

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Musharraf:Rule of Law or Rule of the Mob?

…..well this picture says it all!

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Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad

Mawlana Azad is a twentieth century scholar that I have revisited lately. I read some of his work many years ago and had found him to be interesting. Recently I picked up his book Arkan-e-Islam(Pillars of Islam) from the local library and having read it felt that I had underestimated the man last time round. [...]

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Political Reality in Pakistan

The indefatigable blogger Koonj has posted a very important article by a Pakistani scholar, Dr Samia Altaf here. It presents a lucid argument for the one thing necessary in Pakistan at the moment: the restoration of the Judiciary without compromise. It also gives a good summary of the “ground reality” of democracy in Pakistan.

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Saudi Rape Verdict

This is truly depressing news. A Saudi court has sentenced a 19-year old rape victim that was gang raped to six months imprisonment and 200 lashes. This is more than absurd literalism; it is zulm (oppressive injustice). It is also a slur against Islam and a clear sign of just how crazy the Saudi regime [...]

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Musharraf’s Emergency Speech

Like many others who listened to Musharraf’s speech when he imposed martial law, I could not help noticing that this was indeed an “emergency speech”. By this I mean that it seemed that despite having a whole day to prepare for it our hero was having trouble coming up with even one sentence that made [...]

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Ms Bhutto, savoiur of democracy?

Some may be confused about where BB (Benazir Bhutto) stands in the democratic movement in Pakistan. In the West she likes to present herself as the ONLY choice for a democratic Pakistan. However as every ordinary Pakistani on the street now knows she is only interested in one thing: a return to power.  Fatima Bhutto, [...]

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A Note On Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

Over the last few weeks I have spent a good deal of time perusing the writngs of the Pakistani scholar Javed Ahmad Ghamidi. I have also been going through some of the audio and video material available here and here. Although in more traditional circles some of his views are quite controversial I think that [...]

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Philosophy and Religion- Allama Iqbal (trans)

Here is a translation of the poem that is recited in the video in the previous post.
What is this sun and what are these starry heavens?
I have yet to understand this continuation of night and day
Am in in my homeland or am I a stranger here?
Seeing this vast and desolate desert fills me with fright
I [...]

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