M. Shahid Alam

Abstract
The Torah and the Qur’an offer different conceptions of individual autonomy. These differences are best illustrated by the manner in which the two scriptures deal with the episode of Abraham’s […]

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I have never had the patience for long-winded novels, and much less for memoirs, but I am glad I persuaded myself to read Imran Khan’s Pakistan: A Personal History. Now that Tehreek-e-Insaaf, the political […]

On December 24 2004, I wrote an essay, “America and Islam: Seeking Parallels,” for which I received much heat from Zionist and right-wing bloggers in the United States.The article made the point that the l […]

Pakistan’s rulers and ruling elites may well be thinking that the wave of people’s indignation that started in Tunisia and is now working its way through Egypt, Jordan and Yemen will never reach them. Perha […]

From his weekly perch at CNN, Fareed Zakaria, speculated last Sunday (or the Sunday before) whether George Bush could take credit for the events that were unfolding in Tunisia, whether this was the late fruit of […]

For too long now, the government of Pakistan — at its highest levels — has looked like a monkey show staged by the United States of America.The USA picks the mercenaries from Pakistan’s wealthy and corrup […]

Pakistan’s English print media — faux liberal and elitist — have been in furor over the recent political murder of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, by his own bodyguard. Ostensibly, the governor was as […]

In the Qur’ān man appears in a variety of capacities: as prophet, messenger, sage; as Muslim, Momin, Jew, Christian, Magian, Sabian; as disbeliever, skeptic, hypocrite, idolater; as tyrant and his victims cryi […]

“My God! Is this the end? Is this the goal for which our fathers have striven and for whose sake all generations have suffered? Is this the dream of a return to Zion which our people have dreamt for ce […]

Increasingly, despite its early military and political successes, Israel cannot for long endure as a colonial project. It must choose between wars — and destruction — or transition to a state for all its peo […]

When veteran journalist Helen Thomas was asked recently if she had any comments on Israel, she shot back, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” She apologized for the remark, but, as the campa […]

Roger Cohen is the rare columnist at NYT who makes an occasional effort to bring some objectivity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet, how far does his objectivity go?Consider his piece of June 10, […]

Zionists have worked hard and cleverly for their successes, but their cause has been greatly advanced at each stage by the logic of their colonial project aimed at the creation of a Jewish settler state at the […]

An Arab-American of Lebanese descent, fluent in Arabic, Anthony Shadid was one of a handful of unembedded Western journalists reporting from Iraq during the US invasion in 2003. At the time, he was The Washington […]

He who knows himself and others Here will also see, That the East and West, like brothers,Parted ne’er shall be.– Goethe [1] In no other major civilization do self-regard, self-congratulation and de […]

On January 12, the New York Times, carried an article by David Brooks on Jews and Israel. It so caught my eye, I decided to bring its conservative author to my class on the economic history of the Middle East. I […]

Muhammad Iqbal, 1877-1938, was a poet of Urdu and Farsi, philosopher, sufi, and revolutionary, who combined in his works the traditions of Al-Ghazzali, Rumi, Ibn-e-Khaldun, Ahmad Sirhindi and Shah Walilullah. […]

“The more a ruling class is able to assimilate the foremost minds of the ruled class, the more stable and dangerous becomes its rule.” — Karl MarxA few days back, I received a ‘Dear friends’ email from […]

At the outset of the classes I teach, I always address the question of bias in the social sciences. In one course — on the history of the global economy — this is the central theme. It critiques Eur […]

The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax—Of cabbages—and kings… — Lewis Carroll…… These kleptocrats throw themselves at the feetof Western pl […]