By Anwaar Hussain The religion that once rewrote the parameters of human civilization in three continents, whose mighty empire once spanned the globe from the Central Asian Steppes to the shores of Atlantic, today feels threatened by a peasant woman. Its adherents want to kill this woman, a Christian mother of five, for having supposedly [...]

By Irfan Husain ALTHOUGH I get my share of spam in my inbox, I often receive very interesting and useful links as well. One took me to a recent debate at New York University. Organised by Intelligence Squared, the topic was ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. IQ2 has become an increasingly important forum for [...]

By Irfan Husain The ongoing furore over the so-called Ground Zero Mosque shows no sign of abating after weeks of noisy controversy. In a sense, it has become a litmus test of America’s cherished freedom of worship, as well as its tolerance of other people and other faiths. But to put things in perspective, I [...]

Read this New York Times report. Then this Truth Spring story. Then compare the truth with the fiction.

By S Ifitkhar Murshed “Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny,” declared Edmund Burke, the brilliant 18th-century Irish statesman who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig Party. The purpose of all laws is to protect, and not persecute, citizens. Any deviation from this norm [...]

By Anwaar Hussain While the American colonial goliath lies wheezing at the callused feet of its adversaries in Afghanistan, its commander General Stanley McChrystal has been fired by President Obama for his indiscrete comments to the media. Not many tears are being shed on the general’s fall. Almost everyone who is any one in Washington [...]

By Anwaar Hussain So what do we have in the aftermath of the Lahore massacre in Pakistan? No protests against the killings, no joint condemnation from the flag bearers of Islam who foam at the mouths at a mere hint of any ‘danger to Islam’, no conciliatory gestures towards the victims, no nothing. We have [...]