A 3rd Generation AMU Alumna Mourns Attack on Jinnah & Secularism
In 1976, when the Emergency rule was at its peak, I remember going to the Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) Students...
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What Indian Muslims Did and are Doing to ‘Set India Free’
n the morning I woke up to messages of hope and happiness as is usual on India’s (71st) Independence Day....
The ‘Missing’ Muslim Code Bill Can Help Us Tackle Triple Talaq
In 1960, India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, told Taya Zinkin of The Guardian, “I could do something for Hindu...
Mera naam musalmano’n jaisa hai. Mujhko qatl karo.
Mera naam musalmano’n jaisa hai Mujhko qatl karo Aur mere ghar mein aag laga do Mere uss kamre ki Ismat...
The ‘Hindu Rapists Vs Muslim Rapists’ Battle Must Stop
Pic Credit: Prerna Jain In January, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal tribe was kidnapped,...
The Relevance Of Faiz’s Poetry In Today’s World
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of the most celebrated Urdu poets, was born in 1911 in Sialkot in undivided India. As...
Humayun’s Tomb- An Excerpt From ‘The Forgotten Cities Of Delhi’ By Rana Safvi
Picture Credit: HarperCollins India Emperor Humayun’s Tomb ‘As for the righteous, they will be in the...
Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Poem About The 1857 Revolt & Dilli-The Garden Of Harmony
The British Resident in Delhi, the Assistant Resident, and the Commandant of the Escort, escorting Mughal...
Female Genital Mutilation Is An Atrocity; Stop This Torture In The Name Of God FGM was banned by the UN in 2012.
DVID I heard one of my friends Became a hero Because she went for a procedure That make her so I knew...
Remembering Maulana Hasrat Mohani: A Celebration Of The Diverse And Secular Culture Of India
B.R. Ambedkar with Maulana Hasrat Mohani at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s reception in 1949. On our 72nd Independence day, let us...
Ambika, 11th century Jhansi Museum
Ambika, 11th century Jhansi Museum Abdul Aziz Rajput explains: In Jainism, Ambika is the Goddess-Mother and the Yakṣhi dedicated attendant...
Shri ChitrGupt Mandir in Roshanpura, Shahjahanabad
Near Nai Sarak in ShahJahanabad I came upon this charming Shri ChitrGupt Mandir with a mix of Urdu, Farsi and...
On Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s urs, the story of a pir and murshid
Khabaram raseed imshab ki nigaar khwahi aamad Sar-e man fidaa-e raah-e ki sawaar khwahi aamad Tonight I received word that...
Allahabad becomes Prayagraj: No, Akbar did not rename Prayag. He built a new city called Ilahbas
On Akbar’s birth anniversary on October 15, 2018, the CM of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, declared that the name of...
Why Delhi has 14 cities and a cursed Sultan
Sar zameen-e-Hind par aqwaam-e-aalam ke Firaq, Qaafile aate gaye, Hindustan banta gaya On the land of Hind, from the nations...
Brief history of Delhi’s Bagh-e-Bedil — and a Beloved Poet
Harkî raft az dîdah dâghe bar dîl-e mâ tâzah kard dar zamîn-e narm naqsh pâ nomâyân meshawad The one who...
How, led by Mughals, Hindus and Muslims together fought the war of 1857
On May 11, 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the nominal emperor of Hindustan, was approached by the Indian sepoys of the...
A brief, wondrous history of skewered meat.
Kebabs have not only dominated the kitchens of nawabs and ordinary folk, over time, they also became a popular idiom...
Why Muslims fast on Ramzan (and how it should be done)
"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may...
Will our Red Fort be called The Dalmia Bharat Red Fort?
So has the Red Fort really been passed off to a private body? In September 2017, the ministry of tourism,...
Remembering poet Habib Jalib and his fight for a free Pakistan
Poetry has been a powerful medium of expression, be it for conveying love or disappointment, for spreading general cheer, or...
Rape of a child is rape of humanity itself
There are so many discussions about growing up in new India amid widespread viciousness and hatred in the air. While...
Glorious history of Delhi’s Jama Masjid — the mosque that promised a view of the world
Shah Jahan gave orders for building a fort in Delhi in 1639AD and entered the “Qila e Mubarak”, as it...
A brief history of Hazrat Ali – the first male to embrace Islam
On Friday, the 13th of Rajab (the seventh month of the Islamic calendar) - which falls on March 31 this...
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s Urs: Why death anniversaries of Sufi saints are celebrated as weddings
A baby was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan) in Iran around 536 AH or 1141/42 AD. His parents named him...
The tall truths about two Red Forts in Delhi
Not many of our history books describe the cities of Delhi. This, along with the fact that many of their...
Sahir Ludhianvi’s many tributes to women
It is a delicious coincidence that International Women’s day coincides with Sahir Ludhianvi’s birthday (March 8, 1921). Here was a...
Rediscovering chahar-bait, a dying folk music form that travelled from Afghanistan
Musical traditions in India are so varied that one keeps discovering new aspects to them every day. At the recently...
St Stephens College in Shish Mahal in Katra Kushal Rai, Shahjahanabad
This is Shish Mahal in Katra Kushal Rai of ShahJahanabad. St Stephens school in 1853-54 and then St Stephens College...
Darvaaze of Shahjahanabad
Sab thaath pada rah jaayega Jab laad chalega banjara #DarwaazeofShahjahabad darvaaze chup saadhenge aahaT sii rah jaaegii Mughni Tabassum #DarwaazeOfShahjahabad...
Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi
I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.