Zia Haq, as a five-year-old, refused to take Arabic lessons from a maulvi hired by his mother because the alphabet book wasn’t colourful enough. He revisited the Quran only as an adult, just after 9/11 to be precise, to find out if his faith was inherently violent. The ‘need to know’ soon grew into a ‘need to tell’ — that Islam needs to be understood not feared. Haq, assistant editor with the Hindustan Times, reports on minority affairs but likes to believe he’s destined for bigger things, like taking the phobia out of Islamophobia.
A French parliamentary report on January 26 called for a ban on the burqa, the full Islamic veil. “The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable,” the report said, adding: “We must condemn this excess.” Click here for full French text.
If anything, it is the French proposal that is excessive and extreme. It infringes on some bedrock freedoms. In that sense, it’s so anti-French. It stigmatises both Islam and Muslim women. [Read more]
(11 votes, average: 2.45 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Filed under World · Tagged anti-French, bikini, Burqa, freedom, French National Assembly, French police department, Islamic veil, Muslims, Nicholas Sarkozy, Third Reich, women’s subjugation
Why “They Call Me Muslim”, I have often been asked. How about “They Call Me Indian” instead? What if someone were to write under a competing title, “They Call Me Hindu”?
At times, the query may have popped out of naivety, but mostly, there seems to be a question behind the question. [Read more]
(10 votes, average: 4.1 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged American, British Muslims, Dutch, French Muslims, humane adjective, Indian Muslims, Islamophobia, Israeli, ultra-nationalism
Israel evokes varying degrees of hostility in the Muslim world because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, a sea change in India’s relations with Israel has taken place, as we become Israel’s closest ally in Asia. What Indian Muslims should make of this, I thought, as I saw fenced-off Palestinian homes just outside Jerusalem? [Read more]
(11 votes, average: 4.36 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Filed under World · Tagged India, Indian Muslims, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jerusalem, Muslim, Palestine Liberation Organization, UN
Many people I met during my recent visit to Israel — which kept me away from this blog for a fortnight — suggested the impossible. It’s this: left to the people of Palestine and Israel, peace is possible. [Read more]
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Filed under World · Tagged Briti, Inside Israel, Israel, Palestine, President Chiam Weizmann, sh MP Richard Crossman, Yitztak Rabin and Yasser Arafat
Those whom BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani has endeared on the way will find in his slow ride into the sunset the last chapters of a tragedy written years ago: Advani’s rise at the expense of all he stood for. He was a ‘good man fallen’ among saffronites. [Read more]
(11 votes, average: 2.73 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Filed under India · Tagged advani, BJP leader LK Advani, BJP leader Varun Gandhi, English critic Eric Bentley, Hindustan Times, Jihad, Varun Gandhi
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