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  • London Bus
    Issue 29 Futures

    Postculture

    The Indian-American sociologist, Arjun Appadurai, argues that we should consider ‘the human preoccupations that shape the future as a cultural fact’…

    Richard Appignanesi
  • Grandfather Telling a Story paining by Albert Anker
    Issue 28 Narratives

    INTRODUCTION: Stories We Are Heirs To

    Let me tell you a story…To begin at the beginning. I’ll tell you how it was… In the beginning there was talking. ‘Where did we come from?’ ‘It’s like…

    Merryl Wyn Davies
  • Peacock
    Issue 27 Beauty

    Beauty in Islam

    In no other religion does the concept of beauty play such a crucial role as in Islam. The concept of aesthetic beauty or the beauty of the form…

    Doris Behrens-Abouseif
  • Historic image of a street featuring horse-drawn carriages
    Issue 26 Gastronomy

    Our Kitchen in 1940s Baghdad

    The house of my childhood in Baghdad had two courtyards, haush, Middle Eastern style. The larger one was the centre of the main living area, with…

    Sami Zubaida
  • A city skyline at night with building lit up by lights
    Issue 26 Gastronomy

    Twice Removed Migrant

    In January 2018, I went back to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, my birthplace. We Ugandan Asians were exiled from the country in 1972. I settled in…

    Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
  • The Wisdom of Owls Asleep
    Issue 24 Populism

    The Netherworld

    Until recently, populism hid a double-bind. For it carried with it two perfectly contradictory sets of associations. Both sets had direct connections…

    Ashis Nandy
  • Students in Dhaka
    Issue 23 Bangladesh

    Dhaka

    Every city moves to its own beat. Although I am a city dweller through and through, it took me some days into my visit to Dhaka before I could sense…

    Hassan Mahamdallie
  • A Tree in Paradise
    Issue 22 Utopias

    Gardens of Paradise

    Without doubt, the gardens of paradise are the ultimate utopias of Muslim consciousness. But what does the Qur’an say about gardens, landscapes and…

    Bruce Wannell
  • Ceiling and wall tilework at the Shah Mosque on Imam Square, Isfahan, Iran. The mosque is also known as Imam Mosque and Jaame' Abbasi Mosque. It is one of the masterpieces of Iranian/Persian Architecture and an excellent example of Islamic era architecture of Iran and also one of the top sights of the contry.
    Issue 21 Relations

    Best of All Patrons?

    A slave boy of Byzantine origin, who had grown up to become a scientific scion of Archimedes in the annals of world intellectual history, was offered…

    Syed Nomanul Haq
  • Sofia Khan is not obliged book cover
    Issue 21 Relations

    Hajabi Dating

    ‘Terrorists don’t wear vintage shoes.’ At least not according to Sofia Khan, the heroine of my novel, Sofia Khan is not Obliged. Because she knows…

    Ayisha Malik
  • Interior damage to an Armenian church in Mosul, Iraq, destroyed during the ISIS occupation of the city.
    Issue 20 PostWest

    The West is Dead

    It is clear. The West is dead. It is time to stop beating a dead West. It is time to start grooming and riding new horses beyond even postnormality.

    Jim Dator