Articles by Dr. Parvez

Democracy, as we know it today, or as it has been marketed to be, is the ultimate form of political emancipation. The ideas and values of liberty, equality and fraternity which have mesmerised human societies since the French Revolution have, however, turned out to be more utopian than practical. Democracy is a farce, an eyewash. The world still turns along the same fulcrums of absolute power and xenophobia that it always has. And Kashmir is no different. The entire argument against the abrogation of Article 370 rests on the belief that Kashmiris have been denied the right to self-determination. But let us understand very clearly that this ‘right to self-determination’ has never actually existed. Almost a ll throughout history, the mighty have subdued the weak, countries have been won by conquering them with military force, and in every war you can recollect from your books of history the opinion of the conquered countrymen was among the least of anyone's concerns. People simply s

An Exotic Trip to the Andamans Background: I had distributed copies of my book, Chiseled Perceptions, at the Khuldabad ijtema of November 2018. Mrs. Sajida, who was in Mumbai some time later, read that book at Zameer sahab's house. She liked the book, contacted me, and invited me over to her house... in the Andamans. I leapt at the idea, and booked the tickets and tour package with Andaman Fiesta in June, the moment the schedule of my daughter's Diwali vacations got announced. 21-27th October 2019: October end is the beginning of the tourist season. It is not advisable to go there in the monsoons; the choppy waters come in the way of inter-island ferries and water sports like jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, parasailing etc. Day 1: Monday, 21st October Bidding adieu to the hustle bustle of Mumbai, we took a 4am flight to Port Blair. But it was raining! We were worried that these unexpected rains would spoil our trip, but they, on the contrary, enh

Students of the Qur’an would note one very striking difference in the space allotted to ‘religious’ injunctions and ‘social’ injunctions. While details of major and obligatory acts of worship like prayers, fasting, hajj and zakat have been left to the Prophet ﷺ to explain, social and familial norms and etiquettes have been elucidated in such fine detail that even exceptional cases have been elaborated in the Qur’an. One such important social injunction concerns the Law of Inheritance, a major part of which has been discussed in Surah anNisa’. Why is the Law of Inheritance Required? Greed is an important element of human personality. Man tends to amass all benefit for himself, even if he has to deprive others of their rightful share in the bargain. So when a person dies, it is the human tendency of every near and far relative, even acquaintances, to claim a lion’s share of the departed soul’s estate. This would necessarily result in pandemonium and strife, and it is for this

While in school, when I learnt about Adolf Hitler, I noticed that he was being portrayed as the epitome of evil. This image of Adolf Hitler as an undisputed villain is ubiquitous all over the world, to the point that anyone denying the holocaust can be put behind bars in Europe. To me, this overtly emphatic discourse somehow appeared to be a prejudiced exaggeration. There surely had to be something about this man who pulled out Germany from the utter collapse it suffered in World War I and the consequent Treaty of Versailles and made her strong and competent enough to initiate an entire World War yet again! Hence, to give the devil his due, I purchased a copy of Mein Kamph from Planet M to understand the other side of the story. So impressed was I with his views on democracy and certain other social issues that for many years hence my email address was parvez_hitler@yahoo.co.in; not out of some love for Adolf per se, but as a mark of protest against the systematic domonisation of a per

This article was published in the March edition of Payame Sidrah

H O M O S E X U A L I T Y Impact and Solution DR. PARVEZ MANDVIWALA Abstract Homosexuality is either frowned upon and stigmatized (as in religious societies) or condoned and encouraged as a legitimate expression of one's sexuality (as in liberal societies). Accordingly, this also has a profound effect on the institution of marriage. In societies where it is stigmatized, homosexuality is considered a disease, which is either ‘cured’ by marrying the person concerned in a heterosexual union, or the homosexual person himself enters into a marriage of convenience. On the contrary, in societies where homosexuality is completely accepted, the homosexual person either remains unmarried or enters into a homosexual union depending upon the laws of his country/state. This paper seeks to explore all these four possibilitie