ALTAFSIR.COM is a completely free online resource to a wealthy collection of authentic Qur’anic Commentaries (tafasir or tafaseer), translations, recitations and essential materials. Developed in 2001, the website is maintained by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan.…
Tag Archive for Islam
Mani Shankar Aiyar on Pakistan’s History and Identity
by Masood Raja •
India’s first-ever consul general to Karachi says Pakistan is not a failed state. He is convinced that its middle class will save it from the Taliban, and that it can engage with India and set aside historic hostilities Before we…
Creatures of a lesser God
by Qaisar Abbas •
Pitfalls of a Religious National Identity
by Masood Raja •
There is myth in the public politics of the nation that underwrites the political narrative of religious political parties. It is a myth of a sacred and unsullied past. The common belief is that if the nation could, somehow, retrieve…
New Book: Secularizing Islamists?
by Masood Raja •
Secularizing Islamists?: Jama’at-e-Islami and Jama’at-ud-Da’wa in Urban Pakistan By Humeira Iqtidar Secularizing Islamists? provides an in-depth analysis of two Islamist parties in Pakistan, the highly influential Jama‘at-e-Islami and the more militant Jama‘at-ud-Da‘wa, widely blamed for the November 2008 terrorist attack…
On Minority Rights in Pakistan
by Masood Raja •
It is astonishing to see that the so-called Ulama offer historical truths to their audiences without ever mentioning that history is not really transparent and unmotivated and often presents the views and perceptions of the dominant groups. The treatment of…
Pakistani & “Muslim” theatre
by Fawzia Afzal-Khan •
In the context of what we now term “Pakistani” theatre and performance, in addition to gender, aesthetic and racial histories, conventions and traditions, we need also to acknowledge the religious, nationalist, ethnic and linguistic contestations which are key to understanding…
Zia, army & Islamization
by Masood Raja •
The fact that the West-Pakistani army committed thousands of recorded and unrecorded atrocities against their own countrymen and women further proved that Islam alone could not build a nation and that on both sides the incipient regional and ethnic differences…
My Fellow American Website
by Masood Raja •
I just recently got an email about this wonderful website that offers the best of America. There project about Islam–offered against the usual racist representations of Muslims–is commendable. Here is their statement/ pledge about American Muslims: They are part of…