A Meditation on Ali

Seeking Perfection: Wajahat Ali | Spiritual Appetite. We Muslims sure like to pretend we are perfect. At the very least, we love promoting the myth.

Slideshow: Ashura, the Unique Face of Shia Islam | Religion | FRONTLINE | PBS. The holy day of Ashura marks the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, in a historic seventh century battle. The Battle of Karbala, as it’s known, cemented the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims that arose from a succession dispute after the prophet’s death.  Every year around Ashura, the media is flooded with images of blood-soaked Shias self-flagellating. But Shias around the world — who make up between 10 to 13 percent of Muslims – observe the month in a myriad of ways.…

Recently I had the chance to visit, after a 7 year gap, one of my favourite cities in the world, Istanbul.  The city is a perfect melange of East and West.  For some reason it feels like home to me even though I am not from there or live there,  It physicaly represents both my Western and Muslim identities.  Its very modern and cosmopolitan, yet steeped in history and tradition. Its been over 5 years since I have actually visited a Muslim-majority city and something did not feel right for the first few days.  Then it occurred to me that…