Articles by Dr. Parvez

40 Lessons We Should Learn from the Hudaibiyah Expedition T he Study of the Seerah (Biography) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is an indispensable aid in understanding Islam, to the point that each and every aspect of his life is brimming with lessons for us to learn. The Umrah journey of Zil Qadd 6 AH, widely known as the Expedition of Hudaibiyah was a turning point in the Islamic Movement, heralding the onset of all future victories. Hence it becomes very important for us to delve into it in some detail. Here I would try to highlight what we can learn from the events that unfolded during this expedition in the light of Surah alFath [48] (revealed while returning from the expedition) and the Seerah literature. Journey to Hudaibiyah Following the battles of Badr, Uhud and the more recent Battle of the Trench in 5 AH, the relations between the Muslims and the Quraish had reached their nadir. There was an atmosphere of belligerency all around and venturing into enemy territo

INDIA ’S ELUSIVE FREEDOM A Freedom that never was…. 15 th of August 1947 is remembered in history as the day India ostensibly won her freedom from Colonial Powers and became Independent. The sense of pride associated with this apocryphal statement notwithstanding, Indians have surely never been able to taste that promised freedom even after 71 years today; and nor was it offered to them then, that day when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave his memorable speech heralding India’s change of guard. For, at that very moment when the fulfillment of the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ was being announced, thousands of Indians were being killed, looted and raped. India was burning at both- her Eastern and Western borders. Riots of apocalyptic proportions had erupted on either sides of these fences and millions were displaced to an uncertain and tumultuous future. Those riots have been followed up with thousands more over the years, raising their grotesque faces every now and then, reminding us of

What is Back to Nature and Islam? A frican-American author, Alex Haley, in his epic 1976 biographical novel, ‘Roots’ traces down his family lineage to an African village from which one of his ancestors was abducted centuries back and sold out as a slave in America. Haley, travels back to his ancestral village in Africa and is moved to tears on his ‘homecoming’. This sense of belonging that a person has with his ‘roots’ is so ingrained in one’s nature and is so powerful an instinct that it has been cruelly exploited by some communal forces back home in the past one year under the garb of Ghar Waapsi. But if you dig deeper, this campaign of Ghar Waapsi , if implemented in true letter and spirit, should take a person somewhere else… it should take him ‘back’ to Islam. What exactly is Islam? Or should we ask, ‘What is Islam not’? Islam, for one, is NOT a religion invented or pioneered by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ some 1400 years back. It is not an ‘also’ religion in the long list o

Reservations- An Ignominy, A Grave Injustice! Repercussions of a Faulted System and Alternate Solutions W e Indians have, of late, started competing with each other in proving who’s more backward than the other and in this regard we seem to stand out from the rest of the world’s population, who, in sharp contrast, compete to prove how developed they are as compared to other competitors! This has led to shameless (and at times violent) protests demanding reservations in education and jobs by almost every Indian community. Obtaining fake caste certificates in the urge to prove themselves backward is also not unheard of. With every community craving to get its share from the reservation pie, this disturbing trend speaks volumes of our low self-esteem and blatant disregard for justice as Indians in general and Muslims in particular. Allow me to explain how…. What started as a 20% reservation for Scheduled Caste and 2% for Scheduled Tribe has eventually snowballed into a ma