Selected articles
“The Messenger; The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad” by Tariq Ramadan
… they must also embrace other aspects from the lifetime of the Prophet: the freedom of women to speak out, to pray, study and learn
“Muhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society” by Leor Halevi
From these tenuous trails of historical memory, a whole rigid belief system would however be created by literate, male scholars to gradually strangle the freedom of a living, inspirational religion with the chains of clerical authority and a scarcely credible mythology
“Britain & the Islamic World, 1558-1713”, Gerald Maclean and Nabil Mattar
the two authors keep throwing open the windows to offer us fresh insights, new horizons of inquiry, as well as skipping out through a back door to give us a witheringly close examination of the fabric.
“In the Name of God: A History of Christian and Muslim Intolerance” by Selina O’Grady
So when we hear how the Huguenots of France, or the Jews and Moors of Andalucia are to be protected and tolerated by a generous peace settlement, we need to set the alarm clock for the inevitable persecution that is to come.
Book review: “Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam” by Innes Bowen
Over 60% of Muslims in Britain come from the lands of the old Raj - Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. So Urdu and English are the languages of communication in British Islam, not modern classical Arabic, let alone Koranic Arabic.
Book review: “Sufism & Surrealism” by Adonis
... for the small readership who can engage in the poetics of two cultures situated in two different ages, it is a work of extraordinary richness.
Book review: “The Man Who Created The Middle East: A Story of Empire, Conflict and the Sykes-Picot Agreement” by Christopher Simon Sykes
... he started out as a convinced imperialist but was so disgusted by British rule in India (and French rule in North Africa) that he eventually realized that mere administrative efficiency should never be exchanged for freedom.
“Lifting the Seven Veils - Writing about Islam” - talk given at the British Library during “Sacred” exhibition, 2007
Those who cannot understand the recited verses of Arabic will always be in an outer circle, unable to approach anywhere near to the true understanding and power of the Koran.
Writer's Talk: Writing about Islam
I have got used to spotting that eyebrow flicker of incredulity when I meet Muslim writers and they hear that I have written a biography of the Prophet Muhammad
For the journey is to him - We Have Our Words and You Have Yours
The most that can be expected of any dialogue between Islam and Christianity is an awareness of the different role models for holiness and the different pathways upon which God can be approached.
Looking for a hero for all mankind
I have striven to talk and write about the Prophet as a heroic figure for all mankind to cherish - not just for those who define themselves as Muslims.
Wraps up our world in ribbons of faith
The public call to prayer that echoes out from the minarets of all the great mosques of Islam is like a circular beacon that wraps up our world in ribbons of faith.
Osama’s T-shirt and the Prophet’s Mantle
In 1998 Osama spun completely out of control. He went ‘global’, calling for a pan-Islamic International Front and arranged for forty Taliban ‘scholars’ to back a fatwa sanctioning the killing of Americans and Jews.
Exhibition review: “Hajj journey to the heart of Islam” at the British Museum, 2012
They have assembled a wonderful medley of relics from the past: be it a souvenir flask with which a pilgrim would carry the holy water of the Zemzem spring back home or a gloriously ornate medieval Haj certificate (all counter-signed, witnessed and sealed to prove that the pilgrim had indeed performed the correct rituals).
Portraits of the Prophet Muhammad
When we try to look at early Muslim two-dimensional art on paper, papyrus and parchment we face a historic blank.
To hang or not to hang - On portraits of the Prophet Muhammad in museum collections
His crime was to have shown a beautiful book illustration of the Prophet, veiled in a halo of light, ascending to the heavens.
Dreaming of the Caliphate
I switched back to reality - to watch Japanese televisions, Korean freezers and Chinese dishwashers being loaded onto American trucks by units of the Iraq army driving through the streets of Kuwait in European-made armoured cars.
Nineteen Islamic Numbers
It is an act of piety to collect together the forty most personally relevant hadith from the thousands that have been assembled.
Cultural Connections: The Middle East in London
One should not insult the memory of Thersites and Cleon by allowing Trump and Farage to be rated as fellow Demagogues.
Review of “Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam” by Innes Bowen
So when one is looking for Cultural Connections does one have to cut out all the real success stories? Are we always looking at a bridge, or a journey half delivered, someone caught halfway between assimilation and the indigenous homeland?