By S. Iftikhar Murshed* Abstract (Other societies have evolved and adjusted with the times but the Islamic world has remained static and is still a prisoner of the past. The opinions expressed by scholars centuries ago still prevail though the Qur’an specifies only a few laws thereby enabling Muslim societies to enact legislation in line […]
Islam and Apostasy Read More »
Syed Iftikhar Murshed passed away on 12 May 2018. He was a former Pakistani Ambassador to South Korea and Russia, Additional Foreign secretary for Afghanistan, author of the book: “Afghanistan: the Taliban Years” and over 200 op-ed articles and the Founder and publisher of this journal. Iftikhar Murshed had internalized a particular objective which would
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by S. Iftikhar Murshed* In the passing of Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan, the country has lost a statesman of towering international stature. The New York Times described him in 1999 as “the most skilful diplomat of the world today.” Yaqub-Khan once delivered an address on ‘Diplomacy as a problem in epistemology,’ a few weeks later he received a
Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan Of Pakistan (1920–2016) Read More »
By S. Iftikhar Murshed* Abstract Chance or accidental discoveries may have played a part in the development of nuclear weapons yet, had they not occurred, the Manhattan Project would still have been initiated, albeit, at a later date. The inevitable would merely have been postponed. The psychology of strength is consistently evident in the politics
Nuclear Politics and South Asia Read More »
By S. Iftikhar Murshed* Abstract The Hudood Ordinances deviate from the spirit of Islamic law which is founded on the rights of the people. Not only has this been ignored in the ordinances, but some of the injunctions of the Qur’an have also been misinterpreted. For instance, zina or adultery is the only offence specified
The Hudood Ordinances of Pakistan and the Denial of Justice Read More »
By S. Iftikhar Murshed Abstract Since the establishment of the kingdom of Afghanistan by Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1747, the country has seldom known peace. It has been ravaged by conflict before the emergence of the Taliban, during their harsh rule from 1996 to 2001 and after their ouster. Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic country and it
The Afghan Turmoil from 1747 to 2001 Read More »
By S. Iftikhar Murshed [*] Allama Iqbal once said that the sign of a true believer is that he wears a smile at the time of his death in the knowledge that the yearning of the soul to be reunited with its beloved Creator is being fulfilled. This is precisely the manner in which Navid Zafar
by S. Iftikhar Murshed Abstract. The conflict between Islam and the West is not a post-Cold War phenomenon as Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” theory imagines – it has been going on since the early years of Muslim ascendancy in the seventh century. The foremost contemporary threat to global peace and security is terrorism from which
The Contemporary Challenge to Global Peace and Security Read More »
S. Iftikhar Murshed was a former Ambassador of Pakistan and the founder of Criterion Quarterly. His writings for Criterion Quarterly: The Contemporary Challenge to Global Peace and Security Navid Zafar Islam and Apostasy The Afghan Turmoil from 1747 to 2001 The Hudood Ordinances of Pakistan and the Denial of Justice Nuclear Politics and South Asia
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