Religion

|By Brahma Chellaney| ABU DHABI – While international observers fixate on the Sunni-Shia rivalry’s role in shaping geopolitics in the Islamic world, deep fissures within the Sunni arc that stretches from the Maghreb-Sahel region of North Africa to the Afghanistan-Pakistan belt are increasingly apparent.Moreover, it is Sunni communities that produce the transnational jihadists who have become a potent threat to ...

|By Narendra Kaushik| Point Blank 7 Exclusive| Greater Noida: It is a tale of two villages. Supposed to be descendents of two Bhati Rajput or Rawal Rajput brothers, the two villages Ghodi Bachchera and Til Begumpur, located on the outskirts of Greater Noida, have maintained brotherhood for at least a few centuries. Every time there is a marriage, a death ...

|By Mari Marcel Thekaekara, New Internationalist| ‘No Second Wife, please’ is an intriguing headline that caught my eye. Jyoti Punwani’s illuminating article, carried by The Hindu’s Sunday magazine last month, described some unexpected reactions from Indian Muslim women’s groups to banning polygamy. (India has Hindu, Muslim and Christian Personal law, in addition to national civil law, which complicates legal matters ...