“Islam regards every form of Government which is non-constitutional and non-parliamentary as the greatest human sin.” 1912: Abul kalam Azad1 “Islam” and “Democracy”, each in its own particular way, mean too many things at one and the same time. The task confronting us is to minimize them to their simplest expressions and bring about a…
The Muslim civilization was developed historically (spanning from 7th through the 17th centuries) dominating the world close to millennia. It had transformed the world particularly during its golden age (8th to the 12th centuries); had become universal, supremely successful in all human endeavors, education, democratic ideals, sciences and technology of the era. Civilization in the…
IntroductionThe politically progressive Muslim majority countries such as Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia, ambiguous state of affairs in Pakistan and ongoing struggles with popular uprisings in the Middle East/North Africa have highlighted the need for a conceptualization of the socio political shifts and aspirations sweeping the Muslim World. These shifts are not exclusively secular or sacred…
The moment of truth is fast approaching in Pakistan on May 11, when close to 50 million voters will elect a new national assembly. The outcome, preceded by a sharp rise in extremist’s violence, is likely to reverberate far and wide. Pakistan’s post 9/11, poorly planned and hurried, participation in war on terror and its…
Similar to other Islamists in the several parts of the Muslim world, Pakistani Islamists have also used intolerant and exclusivist rhetoric. They have abused religion in a heavy-handed manner as the dominating tool of their political ideology and have confined religious concepts and values to certain parties and groups, nationalizing, modernizing, Islamizing and politicizing them….
“Deep State” (derin devlet in Turkish) is an imported term by the world from Turkey—it is neither a scientific concept nor a philosophical postulate but a word which resembles the mafia-like deterioration of state structures. When we start to learn some basics about Pakistani politics (its internal and regional instability, its relations with the Muslim…
“I died as a mineral and became a plant,“I died as plant and rose to animal,I died as animal and I was Man.Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soarwith angels blest; but even from angelhoodI must pass on: all except God doth perish.When…
In the contemporary world, the relations between people of the world are becoming more cordial as territorial borders are becoming less important in a globalizing world. Also, the people around the world increasingly share some common universal values such as the importance of genuine democracy, economic justice, human rights, rule of law and freedom in…
Basic question about democracy today is as to how established democracies around the globe are changing under the conditions of globalization of politics? If the 50 states of the Union (USA) lived pleasantly together under a federal constitution and if the forever fighting Europeans could unite in the European Union, what are the rea- sons…
We are at a turning point in human history. Human culture had evolved in a comfortable period beginning 12,000 year ago known as the Holocene period. All our culture was built on the assumption that the Holocene will continue, with its relatively mild global climate. But we have already left the Holocene and have entered…
