Lailatul Qadr (the Night of Power or Destiny) is one of the blissful nights of Ramadan, which has been specially mentioned in the Holy Quran. It is the night associated with the revelation of the Quran, which contains the eternal message of mercy from the Creator to His creation. The Holy Quran enables mankind to distinguish between the good and the evil, the vice and the virtue, the lawful and the forbidden. It warns man against the pitfalls and darkness and shows the illumined way that leads to righteousness.
How likely is China’s launch of a limited war against India? This is the question that has animated South Asia watchers over the last two days ever since reports about the Chinese denial of a visa to a top-ranking three-star Indian army general, whose operational command includes the state of Jammu and Kashmir, became public.
How can the United States guarantee multi-religious understanding, pluralistic tolerance and strong social cohesion amongst its citizenry of different faiths for generations to come?
A few months before he became Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief adviser, met with a group of Middle Eastern academics and policy experts, including Arabs and Israelis. With his academic background and immense erudition, he succeeded in painting, on a wide canvass, the new directions of Turkey’s policies under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership.
Here we go again. Yet one more round of peace talks that will without a doubt produce little more than rhetoric and more bad blood between the Israelis and Palestinians is scheduled to take place in Washington in the coming days. While peace talks are a positive thing, and certainly better than the alternative, they are only worth holding if there can be some sort of assurance that something will come out of the talks.
A true Muslim is he who is honest and upright in his business and all other monetary transactions. He keeps his word and fulfills his problems, shuns fraud and avoids deceit, does not encroach upon the rights of others and abstains from wrongful litigation, does not give false evidence, and abstains from making dishonest money as from usury and graft.
The calm after the dotcom shakeout a decade earlier was temporary after all. Traditional (read print) media companies are now marching into breaking news terrain and taking a shot at digital riches in store.
Unresolved tensions in the Obama administration’s Afghan policy have again been highlighted by recent pronouncements by its top military officials. This has sent confusing signals about the US-led coalition’s next and decisive phase of engagement in Afghanistan rather than convey clarity in purpose and strategy.
Travelling alone as a Muslim Pakistani female hasn’t been all that easy in a post-9/11 world. In fact, being ”Muslim”, “Pakistani” and a “woman” simultaneously can be too many red flags attached to one identity.
After months of fierce political wrangling, backtracking and tortuous negotiations with the Opposition parties showcasing India’s fractured polity, the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has finally got the Parliamentary nod to make the landmark Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill 2010 into an act of law.
