I grew up in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1950s and early 1960s. I spoke Tamil with my mother, a…
Islam
The death of secular India is greatly exaggerated
As the citizens of this vast metropolis seek to restore some semblance of normalcy to their lives, it is important…
Secularism and press freedom
Secularism plays a crucial role in a certain moral narrative of modernity. This narrative tells a story of the liberation…
An internationalist president
In the Muslim world, as in Europe and much of the world, Obama is welcomed as an internationalist president.
September 11 and the struggle for Islam
In his contribution to a web forum organized by the SSRC immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Robert…
A religious war?
Today at The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan writes: 9/11 was a call, in my mind, to defend the Enlightenment from…
The religious undercurrents of Muslim economic grievances
In his contribution to a web forum organized by the SSRC immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Timur…
The challenge of creating change
Abdullahi An-Na‘im's Islam and the Secular State has rightfully received a great deal of attention and commentary. A prominent Muslim…
Preaching to the converted
Islam and The Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a is avowedly didactic, aiming to persuade Muslims in public debate…
On Turkish laicism
In a somewhat surprising move, Turkey's Constitutional Court announced today in a very close vote its decision to not ban…