Islamists in Boko Haram seek to destroy Nigeria from within by sowing the seeds of religious hatred and usurping traditional Islam. It is clear that the armed forces of Nigeria have a very difficult task because of the sheer size of the area embroiled by regular terrorist attacks. Also, the militant

I walked through the broken pots, half-burnt dolls, ransacked clothes
The smoke filled corners make up for the unlit furnace
A slipper in mid-flight by where the door once must have been
Abandoned in haste as piety came armed with sticks and stones
I walked the narrow lanes, the soot rubs off

Little Olinj was quite a naughty girl last week, and that’s why Dolly Aunty gave her to me yesterday to mind. In two days she had eaten four of Stephen Anna’s pigeons. But cats will be cats, and they’ll do as most cats would if they are set among the pigeons. And so, even though I was a little cross

Tuberculosis (TB) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – can we continue to tackle these separately? According to the Global TB Report (2012), in 2011, out of 8.7 million people who developed TB worldwide 1.1 million (13%) were HIV positive. An approximate of 0.4 million HIV-associated TB deaths t

Most Islamic scholars like to quote Koranic references and hadiths and offer their own interpretations to back up what they say. However, there are no direct instructions in the Holy Koran to kill someone who insults the Prophet. Pakistani preachers are zealous, emotional and less reserved about pre

I pondered why the congregation of Pakistan’s Main Churches is shrinking, what are the reasons, causes and aspects. After cogitating this matter, I got the answers of some of the reasons and causes behind the shrinking congregation. Let's consider these reasons and causes that why our churches are d

Some years ago, 30 years old Tanveer (name changed), a noted tabla percussionist, sustained a fall that lead to a spinal fracture and complete paralysis of both his lower limbs. Although orthopaedic surgeons fixed his spinal bony fracture, he continued to have paraplegia.
After a couple of years of

The seemingly ceaseless strife in Pakistan is the result of an erroneous political interpretation of Islam. The Pakistani Government as well as the Taliban have promoted this sort of interpretation. One major damage of a political interpretation of Islam is that it projects Islam as something to be

In 1770 the Turkish naval establishment was wiped out at the Battle of Çeşme (on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) by a Russian fleet. In 1799, the Fourth Mysore War was fought between Tipu Sultan and the British East India Company at Srirangapatanam. In this war, Tipu Sultan was killed. When

‘I had to choose between being deaf and being dead’, this is what Dalene von Delft, a Medical Doctor from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said in her testimony at a two-day Southern Africa meeting held recently to strengthen and scale up TB /HIV responses in the workplace. The meet was supp

Head of the Delhi-based Centre for Peace and Spirituality, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is among the foremost advocates at the global level of inter-religious dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts involving Muslims and others. In this Q & A session, he responds to queries about violent conflicts

The Million Muslim March planned for Sept. 11 in Washington, D.C., has been getting a great deal of publicity. This cynical and manipulative event is an attempt to obscure the reality of what happened on 9/11, portray Muslims as victims and intimidate government and law enforcement officials into en

Sacrifices have been great in Egypt’s unrest, but Egypt’s military has made certain it is not in vain. So far the military, guided by the pro-democracy coalition, has had significant successes to chalk up to freedom efforts. In its aim to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood, the army has arrested and j

Truth is the soul of religion. When Jesus came to earth he did not say, 'I have brought you a new religion never heard of by you or your ancestors.' He said he had not come to give a new law but to fulfill the law; in other words, 'I have come to continue giving you that which you have received befo

The distribution is not absolutely equal among the whole population, thus, demarcate among various socioeconomic groups of a country. One of the worst outcomes of income inequality is poverty, considered to be fatal for any nation’s development because poverty breeds more poverty which engulfs the w