Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify Islam arrived in the Malay world through...
History
Asha Ahmad crouches around a symbolic green tomb of Ali Hamdon, one...
Throughout history, from sultans and scholars to warriors and commoners, Muslim men have worn head coverings not just simply out of custom or practicality, but also to denote rank, affiliation,...
Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify The Islamic sciences were once rooted in...
Neither Napoleon nor Lenin and Marx are divinely inspired So do not...
There are times and spaces that are considered more sacred or blessed than others; times and spaces of increased baraka, when and where the veil between this world and the...
Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi, known as the Cave of Patriarchs in Jewish tradition, is...
The story of Islam in any region – from Persia to Punjab,...
If we take a 400 metre walk from the bustling Sultan Ahmed tram station – the gateway to the two great historical and widely-visited tourist attractions, Aya Sophia and the...
Al-Haram al-Sharif is an ancient expanse situated at the centre of Bait...
Constructed around the middle of the twelfth century as a church by...
When a moral or logical argument cannot be refuted, a common tactic employed by the coloniser, is diversion. Public attention is diverted away from an immoral imperial aim towards a cause that...
The Kenyan archipelago of Lamu, nestled on the Swahili coast, is decorated...
Ibn Battuta (d.1369) the renowned Moroccan qadhi, or judge of Islamic law,...
On the hills in and around Cape Town you will find dozens of Muslim graves, the oldest of which are 17th century. Some have small domed structures built over them,...
The ‘Dalā’il al-Khayrāt’ of East Africa and it’s Republication Journey إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِيِّۚ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيۡهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسۡلِيمًا Indeed, Allāh and His...
On the hills in and around Cape Town, you will find 300 year old Muslim graves belonging to notable individuals who arrived on the southern tip of the African continent in chains, as slaves or political prisoners of colonisers. They brought nothing with them, except faith in their hearts and the remembrance of God on their tongues.
Nsenga Knight on the African Muslim manuscripts and writings that contradict the dominant narrative on ‘slaves’ and Africa, and how they are informing her work as an artist. There was...
In the heart of Nairobi’s bustling city centre, lies a somewhat peculiar...
As it gradually begins to dawn on consumers that food doesn’t magically...
The cultural fabric of Kochi has been elegantly woven by the beauty of Islam. Known as the ‘Princess of the Arabian Sea’, the city is a well known tourist hotspot...
Despite its traditionally hidden nature, the history of Sufism in Australia is...
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 uninhabited except for the meeting of the Kikuyu and Maasai peoples, who occasionally brought their cattle to graze....
Bilal Hassan travels to Gwadar, Pakistan To say that Gwadar’s location is idyllic would...
Riding through the Kenyan countryside on the modern standard gauge railway one...
Muslims around the world strive to imitate the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ every day, but few can truly claim to resemble the drama of his struggle for Islam, body and soul,...
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt commented in his book, The Future of Islam, that Islam...
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...
Zara talks to author and Arabist Diana Darke about her most recent book Stealing From The Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe. Diana explains how cultural exchanges between Europe and Islamic Syria shaped Gothic architecture, and why this has become a point of controversy in Europe today.
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...
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.
The trailer for Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator started with the tagline: “The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor.” While the...
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, many people are now discovering the vast scholarly legacy of the Islamic tradition in the region, from the...
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...
In Methala, Kodungallur, in the Indian state of Kerala, stands a small, unassuming...
“The area between my house and my minbar is one of the gardens of Paradise…” Hadith For centuries upon centuries, pilgrims visiting Mecca have also made their way 200 miles...
“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 apparently. “Islam and Muslims should leave Europe!” say extremists on both sides. Whatever your views, one thing is indisputable: Europe...
“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...
Safi ibn Vali’s Mughal Hajj maps The Salamat Ras departed Surat in India on the 20th September 1676, carrying hundreds of pilgrims from Gujarat. On board was Safi ibn Vali; unlike the...
Zara Choudhary on the history of Islam and Muslims in Vietnam and...
Ibn Fadlan, a religious scholar in the tenth century, underwent a voyage...
