Tom Holland, In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for the Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World, London: Atlantic Books, 2012. ‘History’, roars Tom Holland in a moment of cognitive elation, ‘is not built upon sand’. To this we may add: ‘No, not on sand but upon quicksand!’ For, the deeper… Read more »
Reviews
Like any great thinker, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) presents paradoxes to the inquirer. In his case, the paradoxes are patent, and deeply unsettling or enlightening, depending on your point of view.
When Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh living in the US, was murdered in supposed revenge for 9/11, his killer told police ‘I stand for America all the way’.
Pakistan has been described as a ‘tinderbox’ by the Indian journalist M J Akbar, and as sliding towards oblivion by a string of western academics and writers. Somehow Allah, Army and America have all conspired to create a declining security state. Yet, Pakistan is still there!
It is a scene that still carries fond memories: the sight of the postman standing outside the front door of my grandfather’s Karachi house laden with a cardboard box marked with the Royal Mail’s trademark red livery. The box would contain books from England, carefully packed by my father who was working in London while… Read more »
Being a hip hop junkie, I picked up this DVD begrudgingly, fearing a predictable story. I expected a sort of Muslim 8 Mile meets (the awful) Get Rich or Die Trying in documentary format: gun-toting street hustler with a knack for rhyming finds Islam, leaves his old ways and becomes a local hip hop star who raps about emancipation.
With Sudan again hovering at the precipice of uncertainty and hope, and the Arab world writhing under the weight of popular upheaval, Leila Aboulela’s dynastic novel ‘Lyrics Alley’ could not be more timely.
It is safe to say that Wikileaks will be with us for some time to come.
In the pursuit of a more viable future, Turkey has chosen to follow the modern path, but in her quest for a more authentic political existence she has also decided to adopt a secular constitution and a democratic way of life. A paradox or a contradiction in terms?