Selected articles
Book review: “Al-Britannia, My Country” by James Fergusson
Three children of Pakistani bus drivers are now working at the very peak of Britain's meritocratic society; Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, Baroness Warsi and cabinet minister Sajid Javid.
Book review - “Victorian Muslim: Abdullah Quilliam and Islam in the West”, edited by Jamie Gilham and Ron Geaves
Queen Victoria not only read Quilliam’s book on Islam but bought copies for all her children.
My Demagogue Hero
One should not insult the memory of Thersites and Cleon by allowing Trump and Farage to be rated as fellow Demagogues.
Book review of “Islamic Empires: Fifteen cities that define a Civilization”, by Justin Marozzi
His chapter on the city of Samarkand, informed by an earlier biography of Tamburlane, is so knowledgeable and intimate that one is in danger of briefly warming to this murderous but garden-loving tyrant, worthy of being listed alongside Stalin, Mao and Hitler.
Muslim Dogs
This is glory for animal-lovers to exalt in, a basic understanding that all creatures are spiritual partners on this earth.
Multi-faith Muslim Morocco
Death is greeted with frenzied ululations from female relatives and friends though men are traditionally supposed to hold back from passionate expressions of grief.