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, 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
Every other day, biscuit-maker Abdul Hannan takes groups of curious Muslims on a tour of Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society as if it were another mausoleum. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Constitution, Ehsan Jafri, Gujarat, Gulbarg society, justice, Muslims, Narendra Modi, riots, SIT, Supreme Court, They call me Muslim, Zia Haq
Going by official socio-economic indices, the average Muslim voter is a school drop-out, earns meagre wages, supports a mid-sized family, is self-employed, resides mostly among his ilk, would have not travelled far beyond his birthplace, is remarkably ‘clued in’, unlikely to vote any one party or candidate, but is generally cagey about Hindutva-based politics. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged BSP, Congress, Hindutva, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Muslims, Rahul Gandhi, Salman Khurshid, Samajwadi party, They call me Muslim, uttar pradesh, Zia Haq
Yakoob Rasool has haunting eyes. They are cold. The man is cautious, unwilling to lower his guard. He will not tell you where he lives. Or what his future holds from him. But you will understand his discretion once you know who he is: the husband of Gujarat riots survivor Bilkis Yakoob Rasool Bano. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Filed under India · Tagged 2002 Gujarat riots, Ahmedabad, Bilkis Bano, Delhi, Godhra, Gujarat, Gujarat riots, hindustan, Muslims, Narendra Modi, Randhikpur, They call me Muslim, Yakoob Rasool, Zia Haq
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
Cultural and religious symbols can both be sacred and offensive. Sensibilities surrounding them are so manifest that, often, constitutional law has had to affirm or negate such symbols, mainly to address their attendant social tensions. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Filed under India, Religion, World · Tagged Barak-Erez, Constitution’s Article 48, Directive Principles of State Policy, Durga Prasad, Hindu cultural symbol, Hindustan Times, Muslims, news, The Ocean of Mercy, They call me Muslim, Zia Haq
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or Bibi as he is called, made his speech at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, speaking into the same microphone as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Filed under World · Tagged anti-Semitism, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bethlehem, Bibi, Bill Clinton, Christians, Dolphin submarines, Egypt, Gaza, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jews, Jordan, Libya, Lord Buddha, Mahmoud Abbas, Mecca, Muslims, Obama, Palestine, Palestinian, Prophet Mohammed, Tunisia, Turkey, United Nations
What could be the single-most profound fallout of the September 2001 attacks, or 9/11, ten years on? It is the surreal state of permanent war, intermittent peace. In a way, the events wiped out the last remaining vestiges of universal innocence. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Filed under World · Tagged 9/11, afghanistan, al qaeda, America, Eid, iraq, Islam, Muslims, Pakistan, September 2001 attacks, terror, US Budget deficit, Zia Haq
Harvard University, the US’s oldest higher-learning institution, has defended Hindutva advocate Subramanian Swamy’s “right to free speech” in response to a petition to oust him as summer instructor for his recent article considered hateful towards Muslims. Read more

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Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Filed under Religion · Tagged anti-Semite, DNA, Donald H. Pfister, Harvard Crimson, Harvard University, hindustantimes, Hindutva, Islamophobe, Jews, Megan Knight, Muslims, Subramanian Swamy, They call me Muslim, UK, US, Zia Haq