‘Have we melted into a mirror / leaving our souls behind,’ wonders Nobel Laureate and acclaimed poet Derek Walcott in one of his poems where he concerns himself with the conflicts of identity and historicity.  Today, the same question can be put before the Indian Muslims, for they are fast melting into a mirror and their identit...

The fundamental and foremost institution which sustains our society together with our individual self is the family. Among all the institutions surviving, or at least trying to in this fast paced society, the family is the oldest and most enduring of the lot. It not only entails the coming together of the...

A joint family simply disintegrates, but a nuclear family explodes, that is, causes social devastation when it splits – obviously when the husband and wife get separated. It can be compared with the enormous amount of energy released after the break-up of nucleus. These unique nuclear explosions have already taken their toll i...

Harun and Airin were playing in the playground. Suddenly two dogs moved towards them barking vociferously and quarrelling with each other. Exasperated with the new development, both little boys ran hardly towards their home leaving behind them their bat and two tennis balls. Airin hastened towards the door of his flat, took the key ...

Throughout the Muslim world we have countries, which profess to follow Islamic law (Shari’ah) in the matters of family law. However, if we look more closely at these laws throughout far too many countries of the Muslim world, Islamic law is only followed “if” it does favour those within the court case who are citiz...

What are the consequences of crossing or erasing the thin line of demarcation between the two sexes?