The Ancient Madrassah

The well known scholar, Maulana Nadvi, in his manuscript on the ancient madrassahs (Islamic religious schools and academies) of Hindustan, observes that Muslim rulers throughout history have considered it a religious as well as secular obligation to build schools, mosques and qanqahs,

Evolution of the Syllabus

In the year 1080, Malik Shah, Abbasid sultan of Baghdad appointed Nizamul Mulk as his Grand Vizier. It was a period when the Islamic world was divided between the Fatimids in Cairo and the Abbasids in Baghdad,

The Madrassah-Cultural Archetypes

There is a one-to-one correspondence between the educational system and the archetypes that a civilization produces. These archetypes capture the functional aspirations of a society much as architecture captures its spiritual longings. The archetype in modern day America is Bill Gates. In 19th century England it was the merchant. In classical Japan it was the Samurai. Each archetype personifies what a civilization is and what it wants to become,

Chronology

Chronology, the arrangement of events in time. Below, events accompanied by dates when they took place will be written down. It starts by the birth of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and ending in the Turkish National Assembly abolishes the Caliphate,

Spiritual Impressions of the Hajj

That a Muslim lives in submission to Allah does not make him oblivious to the life of this world.   Indeed, he is commanded by the Almighty Creator and Sustainer to seek the bounty of this world, to enjoy all that is good and to live in a state of equity, justice and balance,

The Madrassah-The Seven Lives of a Madrassah

The madrassah, an ancient institution founded in the early years of Islamic history, has gone through profound transformations in the last 1400 years. The various dimensions of this transformation have been investigated and documented in other articles in the encyclopedia.,

The Madrassah – Modern Issues

The madrassah is an ancient institution and has survived for fourteen hundred years. We have outlined in other chapters how the madrassah has evolved over the centuries. Once a thriving institution which served as the pulsating heart of the Islamic community, it has been neglected, allowed to decay, and is now the object of suspicion on the global stage,

Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Only a free society wherein each individual is free to express himself or herself can collectively aspire to discovering the next level of its national consciousness.  Freedom is an essential pre-requisite to human progress,

Mosaddeq,Iranian Oil and the Coup of 1953

The coup that toppled the Iranian nationalist leader Mohammed Mosaddeq had all the ingredients of a James Bond movie: a charismatic but fallible democratically elected popular hero, international intrigue and spy agencies, turncoat mullahs, thugs, street gangs, patriots and a despotic but handsome young king with a scheming sister and a beautiful queen,

Marginalization of Muslims

When Islam burst upon the global scene in the 7th century, it faced the Christian (Byzantine, Eastern Roman) Empire in the Mediterranean and the Zoroatrian Empire in Persia. The campaigns of Caliph Omar Ibn al Khattab (r) eliminated the Sassanids, the Persians embraced Islam, and Persia became a part of the Islamic heartland. In the Mediterranean, the Roman provinces of Syria and Egypt were conquered,

The Saga of Anglo-American Dominance

A hundred years from today, a scribe looking at world history in perspective, will write that the saga of Anglo-American dominance started with the year 1799 CE and was over by the year 2025 CE when China displaced the United States as the dominant economic power of the world.,

Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab

Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab was one of those rare scholars whose ideas have continued to influence the Muslims for more than 200 years,

Islam in America – Before 9/11

Islam has established a niche in America. Estimates vary, but judging by attendance at mosques, there are about 4 million Muslims in the United States and Canada,

Tippu Sultan

The year 1799 marks a watershed on the Islamic calendar. It was the year that Napoleon landed his troops in Egypt. It was also the year that the British stormed the Fort of Srirangapatam, and the curtain fell on Islamic rule in India.,

The Suez Crisis of 1956

The Suez crisis of 1956 refers to the invasion of Egypt by the combined armies of Britain, France and Israel with the declared intent of seizing the Canal Zone,

The Rise of the Global Credit Economy

Civilization moves in epochs. In each epoch, the rules of competition are different. What drives the global civilization today is economic centralization, and the aristocrats of this drive are the bankers. The merchant, the industrialist, the soldier, the teacher and the mullah are all beholden to the banker, and more specifically, to the global credit system.,

Mansa Musa

Embracing an area more than half a million square miles, the kingdom of Mali was undoubtedly one of the richest and most prosperous on earth in the 14th century. Its territory touched the Atlantic Ocean to the west and extended as far as the bend in the Niger River to the east,

Imam Ja’afar as Sadiq

Imam Ja’afar as Sadiq (700-765 CE) was a giant among Islamic sages. He was the Shaykh of great Shaykhs, the teacher of Imam Abu Haneefa, Imam Malik, Abu Yazid al Bastami and Wasim ibn Atta,

Imam Abu Haneefa

A giant among giants, Imam Abu Haneefa towers high among the sages who have graced Islamic history. He was like a huge mirror vaulting from horizon to horizon, reflecting the Light of the Prophet. These reflections empowered generation after generation to see the Light and bask in its warmth,

The Conquest of Constantinople

The Battle of Ankara (1402) decimated Ottoman power in Anatolia. Bayazid I, who might very well have been remembered in history as the Napoleon of the era, was captured by Timur and died in captivity,