Ayatolah Khomenini’s fatwa sentencing Slaman Rushdie to death for writing the ‘blasphemous’ novel The Satanic Verses was perhaps the curtain raiser for the religious extremism, intolerance, and violence that would mark the dying decades of twentieth century and the birth of the next. The ugly, hydra-headed religious fanaticism of every variety continues to threaten the…
Ram Puniyani We are going through strange times. While the science, technology and rationalism has given us physical and intellectual tools to better the lot of humanity, we are witnessing the production of provocative material, literature and films in particular, which demonize the particular religion, Islam to be precise, and the prophet of Islam. On…
Ram Puniyani India has been the victim of divisive-sectarian violence from more than a century, more particularly after the British implemented their policy of ‘divide and rule’ and encouraged communal formations to flourish. These communal formations, Muslim and Hindu both, in turn spread hatred against the ‘other religious community’ and violence in the name of…
Ram Puniyani Pakistan and India, these neighbors got Independence in the mid August 1947. Today 55 years after the Independence where do these two major countries of the subcontinent stand vis a vis their religious minorities, is the question which we need to answer to ensure a better and more democratic area. On August 11, 2012, a mob of…
Ram Puniyani The whole fiasco of Salman Rushdie not coming to Jaipur Literary Festival, JLF, (Jan 2012) has been a great shame on Indian democracy. With the news that Salman Rushdie will be coming to JLF, Deoband seminary issued a protest against Rushdie’s coming to India to attend the same. This was due to the…
Pervez Hoodbhoy We reproduce an essay written by Dr Pervez Hodbhy, who teaches Nuclear Physics at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. This essay, slightly different versions of which appeared in The Express Tribune (January 2, 2012) of Pakistan and The Hindu (January 4, 2012), narrates the hellish life that the people of Pakistan experience…
Carvaka “Love is stronger than hate” says the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in its latest issue – of course, in their own inimitable acerbic style. The magazine was firebombed on November 2, 2011 for satirizing radical Islamists. The cartoon on the cover page of the magazine had depicted Muhammad promising “100 lashes if you don’t die from laughter.” After…
The All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), a Sufi Islamic branch claiming to represent 80 per cent of Indian Sunni Muslims, has come out strongly against hardline Wahabism, holding the ideology responsible for radicalisation of young Indian Muslims. The AIUMB counts itself among the significant Sufi Khanquahs in India, among them Ajmer Shareef and Dargah…
Ram Puniyani It is not a very easy task to decide as to where the freedom of expression ends and Hate speech begins. A lot of perception about this depends on one’s convictions about the underlying ideologies which are being talked about. At another level how democratic space is subverted for anti democratic agenda is…
Listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Douglas Murray debatIng Zeba Khan and Maajid Nawaz on the subject – “Islam is a religion of peace”. The debate was held on October 6, 2010. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of the memoir Infidel, is an atheist and secular humanist. She rebelled against the oppressive laws…