Foreign policy expert Vali Nasr argues that the US pivot away from West Asia is ill advised

The superpower in winter - and dispensable

Business Standard

Anne Norton reviews the principal areas where Western philosophers and political commentators have painted a negative view of Islam

Islam defended: too loud, too late

The Patachitra painters of Midnapur district of West Bengal are Muslims who depict Hindu gods and goddesses and sing devotional songs that accompany these paintings. They have a &ldquo;fluid identity&rdquo;: a professional name that is Hindu and a &ldquo;real&rdquo; name that is Muslim. In the Sundarbans of Bengal, there is a Muslim goddess, Bonbibi, who resembles the various Shakti deities and is a product of the harsh and perilous environment. In large parts of Andhra Pradesh, Muharram, a period of sorrow and lamentation for Muslims, is &ldquo;celebrated&rdquo; by diverse Hindu tribal communities, with songs recalling the battle of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. In Odisha, the procession of Lord Jagannath, on its return journey, pauses every year at the samadhi of his Muslim bhakt, Salebeg, a Mughal nobleman who composed hundreds of bhajans recited across the state today.

Little traditions in composite India

S Irfan Habib, a recognised authority on the history of science, bemoans the decline in scientific studies among Muslims over the last few hundred years. He contrasts this with the significant contributions made by the early Muslims in preserving Greek learning and then, with significant contributions of their own, making it available to Europeans emerging from the Dark Ages.

Faith and reason in the Islamic world

Vijay Mahajan teaches marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, consults with the world&rsquo;s leading corporations and has received several lifetime achievement awards for visionary leadership. The Arab World Unbound, authored by him, is a substantial study of the dynamics of the Arab world, setting out the significant developments taking place in the region and the impact they would have on the strategies of a global entrepreneur. In order to obtain a first-hand understanding of his complex subject, between 2008 and 2010 Mahajan visited nearly all 22 countries of the Arab League and met several hundred people across the region.

The hidden Arab Spring

Every principal world religion has pilgrimage as a significant tenet. This pilgrimage is central to the &ldquo;sacred geography&rdquo; of the faith and provides an opportunity to the believer to traverse this physical space and seek to interact directly with the Divine.

Talmiz Ahmad