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Mirabai’s Poems on Love and Devotion
As soon as we read the first poem by Mirabai, we know we are in the presence of someone who is unworldly. Mirabai’s poems take you to this unreal realm where you get immersed in the magic of literary beauty. There is no one else exactly like her in the whole history of poetry. Mirabai…
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How a 16th-Century Historian Described Africa
Al-Hassan ibn-Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi, better known as Leo Africanus, was probably born in the 1460s in Granada, the last Muslim toehold in Spain. He was then raised in Fez (modern Morocco), where his family migrated in the face of mounting Spanish military pressure. Educated in Islamic law, he entered the service of the Sultan of…
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Konglish, Hinglish and Other English Pandemics
In many parts of the world, particularly in countries formerly colonised by the British, there is a noticeable enthusiasm for the English language. Often you see a class-divide in such societies, where the English-speaking faction is considered as the elite. Whether this divide exists purely on linguistic basis — that remains debatable. However, one cannot…
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Galileo’s Defence of Science
The greatest European scientist in the early 1600s was the Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). In astronomy he pioneered the use of the telescope and defended the theory of a sun-centered universe, advanced by the Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus in 1543. His public support of Copernicus disturbed Catholic clergymen and theologians, who were…
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A Creation Myth from Ancient Egypt
In the beginning nothing existed but the deep, dark waters of Nun. There was no land and no sky. No gods, no people, no light and no time. Only the endless, motionless waters. But deep within the still waters of Nun there floated a perfect egg. And trapped within that perfect egg was a solitary…
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What Buddha Discovered While Sitting Under the Bodhi Tree
The monk Gautama awoke in the morning to the sound of birds singing. He was covered with dirt and dust, and his robe was so tattered and threadbare it no longer covered his body. He remembered seeing a corpse in the cemetery the day before, and he guessed that today or tomorrow people would lift…
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Pakistan and Islam: An Ideological Confusion
It would seem self-evident that, as a Muslim homeland built in the name of Islam, Pakistan would be better equipped than most states to define the role of Islam in national politics. Yet, the debate on the place of Islam in national life has raged on, muddied by the claims and counter-claims of its many…
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