As it gradually begins to dawn on consumers that food doesn’t magically...
History
The cultural fabric of Kochi has been elegantly woven by the beauty...
Despite its traditionally hidden nature, the history of Sufism in Australia is a rich field of study that is slowly coming to light. To date, most examinations into the history...
It’s 1154 CE and King Roger II of Sicily is dying. He...
Buffalo and lions roamed the periphery of the swampy lands, that were...
Bilal Hassan travels to Gwadar, Pakistan To say that Gwadar’s location is idyllic would be an understatement. Affectionately referred to as Ganjen by locals, in Balochi it roughly translates to ‘a place of...
Riding through the Kenyan countryside on the modern standard gauge railway one...
Muslims around the world strive to imitate the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ every...
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt commented in his book, The Future of Islam, that Islam needs to “work out for itself a Reformation,” resembling that which took place in Europe. Blunt points out...
Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify Sacred Footsteps · 036 Translating Rumi: A...
In 1879, when presenting a paper on female suffrage, Louisa Bigg told...
The Seyahetname of Evliya Çelebi is a multivolume travel account of a larger-than-life Ottoman gentleman from 17th century Anatolia. Educated in a courtly medrese with little interest in a bureaucratic...
In 1861, Egyptian army engineer and surveyor, arrived in the Hijaz by...
Zara Choudhary on living exhibitions or human zoos, that were commonplace in...
Ali Abbas Ahmadi visits the Paigah Tombs of Hyderabad After offering his prayers each morning, Rahmatullah settles down among the arched alcoves of the Paigah complex with a cup of...
Sacred Footsteps · 034 How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe Listen on iTunes...
The Dala’il al-Khayrat, a collection of prayers and blessings upon the Prophet...
Timur Khan on invisible Indian writers in 18th century colonial travel writing Students of British rule in South Asia are familiar with the style of colonial travel writing. Often, it is...
Muazzam Mir on the life of the great East African saint, Dada...
Nomadic warriors, sophisticated weaponry, and brutal tactics: this moderately sums up what...
“When we speak of ‘shooting’ with a camera, we are acknowledging the kinship of photography and violence.” Teju Cole This visual essay will assess the ways in which early photography was used...
Zara and Zirrar talk to poet Baraka Blue about the life, work and legacy of Jalal al-Din Rumi. Baraka tells us about the era in which he lived and how he came to be the great poet we know him as. Zirrar and Baraka share their somewhat differing views on the controversy surrounding English translations of his work, and the claim that Islam has deliberately been ‘erased’ from his poetry.
A new documentary, 'Malcolm X and the Sudanese', looks at the role of Ahmed Osman in the life of Malcolm X. Osman, a Sudanese development economist, first met Malcolm by chance at Muhammad’s Temple #7 in Harlem in the summer of 1962. The film, directed by Sophie Schrago and written and produced by Hisham Aidi, follows Osman, now in his late seventies, as he returns to Harlem 55 years after the death of Malcom X.
On March 5th, 2020 tawwaf (circumambulation) in the immediate vicinity of the Ka'ba was temporarily halted by the authorities (see the eery images here). A decision was taken to sterilise the area, due to fears over Coronavirus. This is not the first time that worshippers have been prevented from circumambulating the House of God; we take a look at some of the recorded historical instances in which tawwaf has been interrupted, for a host of different reasons.
To compare the landscape of Uzbekistan to being on a movie set seems somewhat futile and impertinent to its glorious history. Yet to articulate the sentiments evoked by its architectural wonders, that stand like sentinels scattered throughout the land, seems beyond expression. A visit to Uzbekistan is an experience that etches itself onto the hearts of its visitors.
The trailer for Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator started with the tagline: “The general...
In 1947, Pakistan emerged on the world map with a predominantly Muslim population. However, before partition, a number of other religions were practiced in the region, including Hinduism. Hinduism first established its roots, and was adopted by the Indus civilisation, between 2300 BC and 1500 BC. Some of the earliest Hindu temples once stood in what is now Pakistan; their traces can still be seen in the ruins that exist today, in varying degrees of dilapidation.
Muslim travellers want to know if it is permissible to visit, enjoy and appreciate the city of Petra in Jordan, which was the capital of the Nabatean civilisation. They also want to know the same about the second largest city of that civilisation which is called al-Hijr and is in Saudi Arabia. The area of al-Hijr is now known as ‘Mada’in Salih’ (The Cities of the Prophet Salih), leading a great deal of Muslims to think that the destroyed people of Thamud, to whom the Prophet Salih was sent, were the Nabatean people.
When talking about the history and legacy of Islam in West Africa,...
Cairo, city of a thousand minarets, was once the embodiment of the power of Islam according to the 14th century traveller and observer Ibn Battuta. When Ibn Battuta entered medieval Cairo in 1326, it was under the siege of the black plague (‘Bubonic Plague’ as its known today) killing up to 20,000 people a day. Cairo would be hit by the same plague fifty more time in the next 150 years, a disease that would hurt but never extinguish the glow of this sacred city.
60,000+ dead over 7 decades, 3 wars between 2 nuclear armed states, and countless human rights violations - Kashmir continues to be the heavily occupied and militarised region with the recent spikes between India and Pakistan.
With Ertuğrul-fever (still) running high, Humza Sheikh shows us how to visit the...
Islam in India is often portrayed as a byproduct of the 16th century Persian Mughal Empire; but if you look past the Taj Mahal and Jama Masjid of Agra and...
The history of Islam in Africa is almost as old as Islam...
A travel journal or blog, is not a new fad. Persians called...
Ali Abdelaziz Ben Saad explores the influence of the Ottoman coffee-houses of Tunis and the connections between coffee and spirituality.
One of my main intentions, actually probably my only intention, when visiting the Topkapi...
Sunia Choudhary on the history of Islam and Muslims in America Though...
In Methala, Kodungallur, in the Indian state of Kerala, stands a small, unassuming mosque with a pale blue exterior; if not for its minarets and small onion-dome, you could mistake it...
“The area between my house and my minbar is one of the...
“Go to Mangalia, which is the Kaaba Mecca of the wandering poor...
While unearthing a romantic little tale in the woods of Lithuania, Tharik Hussain encounters someone taking his own 'sacred footsteps'
“Islam and Europe”, don’t quite fit, right? One doesn’t belong in the other...
“O Mosque of Cordoba! For thy existence and thy glory thou art...
Madina al-Munawarra, the Radiant City of the Prophet
Photomechanical images of Damascus and the Umayyad Mosque captured between 1867 and 1900....
A collection of photos, dated 1899, that give us a brief insight into 19th century Algerian life.
14 mosques established in the first 150 years of Islam
Historic photos of Palestine from the 19th and 20th centuries
The erudite spiritual master and saint Ibn Ata’illah, may God have mercy upon him, says in his Aphorisms (al-Hikam), “Let not an act of worship make you joyous because it...
Safi ibn Vali’s Mughal Hajj maps The Salamat Ras departed Surat in...
Zara Choudhary on the history of Islam and Muslims in Vietnam and...
Ibn Fadlan, a religious scholar in the tenth century, underwent a voyage to the kingdom of the Volga Bulghars in modern day Russia. Along the way he chronicled his journey,...
