Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

Understanding Some Forgotten Lessons in Relationship with Animals in Traditional Cultures in general and Kashmiri Culture in particular. Why is it that children get ecstatic on seeing or contacting or playing with animals? Why is it that our dream imagery involves animals? Why is it that human history in general and sacred history in particular is also a history of our relationship to animals? What a misfortune that as we grow old our encounter with animals is often reduced to museum space only.       Animals humanize and sanctify. Our salvation is linked with them in many ways. If we fail to comprehend how and why of our fellowship with animals that we enjoyed as children or all normal children exposed to contact with animals enjoy due to our sharper perception of higher world, don’t be surprised. We have almost lost sense of a vital treasure of symbolism. Our Symbolism Illiteracy and Kashmir We fail to be humans invited for deciphering symbols. By being guilty of symbol illite

Understanding the Gap between Traditional Islam and Modern(ist) Islamism. Much used and abused statement that Islam doesn’t separate sacred and profane, religious and political often hides more insidious, confounding of modern institution of State and traditional universe of shariah/Islamic Governance.       Given widespread confounding of Islam with Islamism/Political Islam (al-Islam al-siyasi– terms now widely used by Muslim Ulama, historians and political theorists), few points  to be noted for broad characterization of it, reviewing the debate and explaining why the latter fails to convince the best of traditional and modern scholarship: Islamism is that modern(ist) development that assumes key role for Islamic State (as distinguished from what Hallaq calls Islamic Governance) and imposing its interpretation of Islamic law on others though it may use democratic means to get power, rejects/suspects or severely limits role of philosophy, art and mysticism, is wedded to religio