Why Austin Powers did not have perfect teeth?

While in the US I could help but notice the obsession of middle class/ upper middle class Americans with perfect teeth. Everyone wants perfect teeth, I mean, people who had a single tooth out of place, would get braces. On the other hand in England the same obsession was not present.
After spending years in the [...]

Waris the classic PTV drama – an analysis

For those of you who have watched this Drama, do read this article. For those who have not and don’t want to, you may read; for those who do want to watch it, watch it first.
The purpose of this post is to talk about some themes in this classic Drama. This Drama was aired on [...]

Regrets on Parting with My old Dressing Gown. .

I wish I could get my hands on the original essay .. but here is a summary taken from
link 
Diderot is also the author of a charming essay called Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown, in which he describes how the gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown plunges him into debt and turns [...]

With apologies to those who love their cars ..

I found this paragraph (Mols in Identity and the Sacred) very appropriate to our times.
“Once upon a time there was a country that was ruled by a god named Car. In the beginning it did not amount to much. Then it came to pass that out of Dearborn, Michigan, there came a man who took [...]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, and the Fate of America By Imam Zaid

As we celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on a national holiday dedicated to his honor, many people point to the surging presidential candidacy of Barack Obama as evidence of how far this country has come in terms of race relations since the days of the Civil Rights struggle led by Dr. [...]

Funny side up .. always

The last post was a little too serious …
I actually believe in keeping the funny side up, as often as possible. It is similar to the sunny side up egg – for instance like the egg, it is easier to break through the thin, protective layer, and once the initial step is taken the yummy [...]

Adbusters …

These guys have something interesting to say, dont you agree (I am talking to you)
https://secure.adbusters.org/orders/

Try not to cry – Outlandish

A little snippet from the song:
I throw stones at my eyes
’cause for way too long they’ve been dry
Plus they see what they shouldn’t from oppressed babies to thighs
I throw stones at my tongue
’cause it should really keep its peace
I throw stones at my feet
’cause they stray and lead to defeat
A couple of big ones at [...]

Memories of Qawwali – Tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Courtesy www.masud.co.uk
Written by Masud Khan
August 16th 2007 marked the 10th death anniversary of one of the masters of the qawwali genre of Muslim devotional music. Putting aside all the fiqhi (jurisprudential) discussions about music and the permissibility or otherwise of it (although one finds that Imam al-Ghazali and Shaykh Abdal Ghani al-Nablusi make an exception [...]

Imam Zaid’s comments

This is an excerpt from Imam Zaid’s Review of Islam in NYT Book Revie.
I thought in the context of Pakistan these are valuable insights. My time with parents in Pakistan has time and again proved the views of the Imam, we are obsessed with producing engineers and doctors, now MBAs, IT professionals and bankers. It [...]