All These Words

When India became independent in 1947, our leaders inherited a wounded, fragile nation. Partition had torn the land, displaced millions, and left Muslims within India anxious about survival. In such a moment, our Constitution-makers faced a profound choice: should all citizens be guaranteed the same dignity in family law, or should communities retain their separate “personal laws”? They chose pluralism over uniformity. Hindu law was codified and reformed in the 1950s - polygamy was abolished, inheritance was modernized, minimum marriage ages were fixed. But Muslim law was left untouched, on the grounds that it was “too sensitive.” Article 44 of the Constitution promised a future Uniform Civil Code, but only as an aspiration. That “later” never came. And it is here that lies the great betrayal. The Vote Bank Trap In the decades after Partition, India’s political class found it easier to treat Muslims not as citizens but as a vote bank. Once  the educated elite had migrated to Paki...

 The 99 Names of Allah -  al-Asmāʾ al-Ḥusnā , the Most Beautiful Names are meant to unveil the nature of God. Each Name is a facet of the Infinite: mercy, peace, justice, wisdom, love, light, patience. Taken together, they form not a list, but a vision. And yet, across history, God has often been reduced to the image of a warlord’s deity that is partial, vengeful, insecure, demanding blood and obedience. But if we listen to the Names themselves, this image collapses. The Names expose the gap between divine transcendence and human narrowness. How can al-Raḥmān  - the Most Gracious - be represented by cruelty? How can al-Salām - the Source of Peace - sanction endless war? How can al-ʿAdl - the Just - delight in eternal damnation for disbelief? How can al-Wadūd  - the Loving - be mirrored in coercion and fear? The Names do not support this narrow portrait; they refute it. They open instead to a God beyond possession, beyond tribe, beyond violence. A God who is m...