Throughout history, crime and punishment have gone hand in hand. Protesters in Delhi, infuriated by a grotesque gang rape of a 23-year-old girl, have demanded the death penalty for such offenders, which was first publicly raised by BJP leader LK Advani many years ago. Read more

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I was in the UK last month. I could see that despite rising far-right threats, multi-faith is making slow but sure progress. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged British Nationalist Party, David Cameron, Hindustan Times, Irene Zempi, Islam, london, Lord's, Muslim College of Ealing, Muslims, Regent Park, University of Leicester, Zia Haq
Muslims, from Libya to Hong Kong, have exploded again. The rage is against an anti-Islam film, made in the US, and cartoons in France. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, September 23, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Filed under India, Religion, World · Tagged Brevik, cartoons, christianity, Christopher Stevens, france, Hillary Clinton, Hindustan Times, hong kong, Islam, Libya, news, Salman Rushdie, They call me Muslim, Zia Haq
Poor Subramanian Swamy. The prospects of Islamic finance and banking options in India make him nervous as a rain-drenched cat. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Filed under Religion, World · Tagged Arab funds, Citibanks, Citigroup, Dow Joneses, HSBC, investment, Islam, Islamic finance, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanleys, Neo-Con, sovereignty, Stancharts, Subramanian Swamy, Zia Haq
Muslims, like Hindus and Sikhs, will not like to surrender their personal laws because they are just that: personal. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 12:35 am
Filed under Religion · Tagged Anand Marriage ActHindu, Delhi High Court, DN Mulla, Hadith, Hindu Marriage Act, hindustantimes, Indonesia, Islam, Muslim marriage laws, Muslims, Quran, Shariah, Sikh, Soli Sorabjee, They call me Muslim, Tunisia, Wikipedia, Zia Haq, Zoroastrian
What after all is jihad? From an India-Pakistan perspective, few people can answer this question better than Pakistani-American writer and Mary Richardson professor of history at Tufts University, Ayesha Jalal. Her book, Partisans of Allah: Meanings of Jihad in South Asia (2008), puts this core concept of Islam in perspective for the subcontinental audience. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged Ayesha Jalal, Hindustan Times, India International Centre, Indian mujahideen, Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jihad, Maulana Mawdudi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, news, Sadaat Hasan Manto, Sugata Bose, Syed Ahmad Shaheed, Taliban, Tufts Professor, Zia Haq
I have never tried my hands at magic realism or lampooning of the kind that drips venom. But it’s worth trying. Deal with it.
General Shutman Ruddie had long abandoned his land of birth, Freeforallistan, to conquer the rest of the world. Read more

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To bay for Salman Rushdie’s blood is to let the “absolutism of the pure” fight a gory battle against the “hybridity” and “impurities” of cosmopolitan “mongrelization”. Not acceptable. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged absolutism, blasphemy, David Frost, holocaust, Islam, Jonathan Duffy, modernism, Muslims, Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses, Tony Blair, Voltaire, western world, Zia Haq
“You can crush the flowers, but that will not delay the Spring.” – Protest graffiti in a Cairo mosque Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Filed under Religion, World · Tagged arab spring, Cairo, Hindustan Times, Hosni Mubarak, Ibn Rushd, Islam, Libya, Morocco, Muammar Gaddafi, news, Saudi Arabia, They call me Muslim, Tunisia, Zia Haq, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Journeying across the Maghreb region – the northernmost belt of Africa across the Mediterranean – last month pretty much got me what I consider to be a front-row seat to the Arab Spring. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Filed under Religion, World · Tagged AR Abu Dawia, arab spring, Arab world, Casablanca, Ghazi Ghrairi, Hosni Mubarak, International Forum for Democratic Transitions, Islam, Libya, Maghreb, Mediterranean, Mohammed VI, Moroccan King, Morocco, rabat, Tangier, Tunisia, Turkey, Zia Haq, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali