REZAVI

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Our Higher Secondary results had come out in the daily newspapers during the long summers of 1977. As my father was unwell having suffered a damaged heart valve, he had arranged my solo visit to Lucknow where a maternal uncle of my mother and his son Rais Mamu lived. Rais Mamu was employed in the Shia Degree College, perhaps as a Finance Officer? I never knew and never…

सैयद अली नदीम रेज़ावी जब हर साल मुहर्रम का महीना आता है, तो दुनिया भर में करोड़ों लोगों का ध्यान इराक़ के एक छोटे से मैदान की ओर चला जाता है, जहाँ इंसानी इतिहास की सबसे महत्वपूर्ण घटनाओं में से एक घटी थी। कर्बला में इमाम हुसैन इब्न अली की शहादत को चौदह सौ साल से भी अधिक समय बीत चुका है, लेकिन उनकी याद आज भी उतनी ही ताज़ा और ज़िन्दा है। उनका नाम आज भी अलग-अलग देशों, धर्मों और संस्कृतियों के लोगों…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi When the month of Muharram returns each year, millions across the world turn their thoughts towards a small, unremarkable plain in Iraq where one of the most transformative events in human history unfolded. Perhaps on 27th June 2026 would be 10th Muharram 1448, the day when Husain was massacred. More than fourteen centuries have passed since the martyrdom of Imam Husain…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi As the month of Muharram approaches, Muslims around the world prepare to remember the martyrdom of Imam Husain at Karbala. It is a good time to pause and reflect on who the Ahlul Bayt (the Prophet’s family) really are and why they matter so deeply to millions of believers. Every year, Muharram draws attention not only to the tragedy of Karbala but also to the remarkable…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi The month of Muharram is nearly upon us. This year it starts on 16th June, and the 10th day, known as Ashura, falls on 26th June. As the month approaches, a familiar controversy begins again. Should Muharram be celebrated or commemorated? Do we greet each other as if it is a festival, or do we offer condolences as if a loved one has passed away? To answer this question, we…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi A man works on a poster on Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) ahead of CJP’s protest on June 6th, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on June 3, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI A protest is not a polite gathering. It is raw, human, and meant to be felt. It exists to pierce through indifference, to make strangers stop in their tracks, to force conversations at dinner tables, and to rattle the…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi There is a proposal floating around to change the name of Barkatullah University in Bhopal. On the surface, it might sound like a routine administrative matter, the kind of thing that involves little more than a new signboard and some updated letterheads. But we all know that is not how these things work in India today. A name change of this sort is never just paperwork.…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Eid al Ghadir is one of the most profound occasions in the Islamic calendar, commemorating an event that took place on the 18th day of Dhu al Hijjah in the year 10 AH, which corresponds to 632 CE. The location was a sun baked crossroads known as Ghadir Khumm, situated between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Prophet Muhammad had just completed his Farewell…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Recently a thesis on the political views of Shah Waliullah of Delhi was awarded a PhD and the examiner enquired about the reception of his ideas. Here I am dealing only with his reception in modern times. The reception by the contemporaries will be dealt later. Few intellectual figures from eighteenth-century South Asia have drawn as much scholarly attention as Shah…

A Historical Perspective and a Lesson for the Muslim World   Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Kullo yaumin ‘āshūra Kullo ‘arzin Karbala Everyday is Ashura Every land is Karbala * Perspective There is a thirst that does not begin in the throat. It begins in the soul, in the hollow place where hope used to live, and it spreads outward until the tongue turns to dust and the eyes become two dry wells.…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi The image is strange, even a little disgusting. A “Cockroach Janata Party.” On the surface, it sounds like a joke. But for millions of frustrated Indians, it feels painfully real. It is not a political party in any official sense. It is a cry made of dark humour, born from a nation that feels betrayed and dreams that have been shattered. Comparing a satirical cockroach to…

सैयद अली नदीम रेज़ावी मदन मोहन मंदिर वृंदावन जिस के लिए अकबर ने अनुदान दिया आज के दौर में मुगल बादशाह अकबर का चरित्र भारतीय इतिहास को लेकर छिड़ी बहसों का एक प्रमुख मुद्दा बन गया है। हिंदुत्व इतिहासलेखन के समर्थकों द्वारा लिखी जा रही लोकप्रिय पुस्तकों और टिप्पणियों में मुगल काल को धार्मिक दमन और सांस्कृतिक अलगाव का दौर बताने की कोशिश की जा रही है। इस तरह के आख्यान में अकबर या तो एक चालाक…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Father Moserrate along with other men of religion at Ibādatkhana with Akbar The Madan Mohan Temple of Vrindavan: The grants for which came from the Mughals, starting with Akbar In recent years, the figure of the Mughal emperor Akbar has become a battleground in contemporary debates over Indian history. A growing body of popular writing and commentary, particularly from…

Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi An imaginary depiction of Thakkur Pheru, the Mint-Master with his Sultan, Alauddin Khalji The conventional narrative of Mughal Emperor Akbar’s sulh-i-kul (universal tolerance) and his employment of Hindu Rajputs, bureaucrats, and intellectuals often overshadows a longer, less celebrated history of non-Muslim participation in India’s medieval state apparatus. Long before…