This probably is the first time I am posting something like this, not really my area and this is hardly about Ed Miliband and how he will be the next Prime Minister. But in an increasingly pernicious pornified public culture, where the cosmetics of a relationship supersede true responsibility when in private and where the ephemeral glamour of a ...
First published here for The Platform earlier this Ramadan. Being a British Muslim in Ramadan can be an accommodating and amusing experience – and even more so with this year’s programming on Channel 4 I used to work at a prominent architectural practice in central London. Being the only Muslim, let alone the only non-white employee, I stood out ...
This article was first published in the print version of the Ceylon today on 24 July 2013 (view online soon) and is in response to an interview of Dr.Ameer Ali published on the Ceylon Today on 19 July 2013 titled ‘Muslims are self-alienating’. The state of Muslims in Sri Lanka has been closely observed over the last few years. ...
More often than not, when one has a view point that is diametrically opposed to what is considered the norm, one is quite easily referred to as a conspiracy theorist, and this is quite sincerely a case of playing the man instead of the ball, to throw a football metaphor. Facts are hardly refuted but the purveyor of the ...
I have not actively been taking photographs for more than a year now. For most people, most certainly for me, photography as a pastime works best when the mind is settled and has time to take time off. Mine hasn’t been over the past year or more, for various reasons, rigorous academic research I am sure has a lot ...
Quite a few friends had tweeted about this video of Coca Cola seemingly aiming to unite the peoples of India and Pakistan, one person at a time, at least. Personally I am extremely cynical of big money capitalism, of which Coca Cola is the most notable example. Numerous are the instances where Coca Cola has been found to be at ...
Below is an excerpt from my post for The Platform, “Does the Silence of the Sinhalese Signal Complicity”. “There is that scene from Schindler’s List which had a profound impact on me. I had forgotten about it, I never knew it existed, except that it has lain somewhere in the fibre of my brain, dormant, latent, waiting for the ...
I walked into a Indian/Pakistani restaurant (I still can’t say the difference) a few hours ago ago, I asked for a menu card and they didn’t understand, none of them spoke any English. As I went in and sat down someone swayed his head about thirty degrees to either side of the vertical axis and said ‘Teekay’ (I think ...
Evangelicism is quite a common phenomenon in many parts of the world. Evangelicals take many forms and hues, from the hysteric evangelic Christians with their TV shows in the US or Muslim televangelists in many parts of the Muslim world, mostly in South Asia than in the Middle East, like this Muslim loon here who likes to put on ...
Much speculation has been made of Ed Miliband, the man who many (myself included) feel will be the first Jewish Prime Minister of Britain. Guido Falks tweeted an article from The Jewish Chronicle which says that Ed Miliband claims to be a Zionist. Let’s go through the exact words – “I take anti-semitism very seriously. Any kind of de-legitimisation ...
I was speaking with a close friend of mine who is based in the US but is involved in Bangladeshi politics. We casually discussed among other things the current street protests taking place in Shahbag, Bangladesh where there have been over a hundred thousand protestors taking to the streets and calling for the death of leaders of the Jama’at ...
Don’t be fooled to think from the title that this post is about the cinematic rubbish that Ranjan Ramanayake stars in. I wrote a post for The Platform titled ‘Parliamentary Debates: The Politics of Comedy’, this was a ranking of ten instances when humour has been utilised expertly to convey a point in the British Parliament. Sadly, such banter ...
I have been trying to write on this matter for sometime, for lack of time and the want to write something coherent without just ranting, I have been keeping away from it. This gentleman from the Jemmiyathul Ulema (Sri Lankan body of Muslim Theologians) gives an excellent analysis of the social, legal and political dimensions of what ‘Halal’ is ...
I watched both seasons of Homeland, as gripping and exciting as both seasons are, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it is yet another film/TV Series that portrays the default image of Muslims as being terrorists. In the defence of the show, it does show the US Vice President as being a murderer who ordered drone strikes that ...
I was involved in a twitter argument with someone known and someone unknown about the recent spate of Buddhist extremism in Sri Lanka, particularly instigated against Muslims. The argument was that there were certain sections of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka who claim that Buddhists are not entirely to blame for the recent anti Muslim activities, but rather ...
Reblogged from : Prophetic Attitude to Disability Not a great deal of information can be found in the life of the Prophet Muhammed or in the Qur’an regarding the issue of disability. But like many other issues within the Islamic tradition, a lot can be drawn from a single prophetic example. With this I have in mind the incident ...
On the day that it was announced that Sachin Tendulkar had retired from one day international Cricket, a friend had the following as her facebook status – I can’t believe it. This news presenter just said although everyone was saddened by the recent rape case in Delhi, that nothing could match the sadness people are feeling over Tendulkar’s retirement! ...
