Critical Muslim 05: Love and Death

Aamer Hussein takes love to its logical conclusion, Robert Irwin traces the origins of the ghazal (love lyric ), Christopher Shackle recites epic Panjabi poems of sacred love and lyrical death, Imranali Panjwani mourns the massacre of Karbala, Martin Rose is taken hostage by Saddam Hussain, Jalees Rahman reflects on Nazi doctors who took delight in deathly experiments, Ramin Jehanbegloo is incarcerated in the notorious Evin prison, Hamza Elahi visits England’s Muslim graveyards, Shanon Shah receives valuable guidance on love and sex from the ‘Obedient Wives Club’, Samia Rahman sets out in search of love, Khola Hasan has mixed feelings about her hijab, Sabita Manian promotes love between India and Pakistan, Boyd Tonkin discovers that dead outrank the living in Jerusalem , Alev Adil takes ‘a night journey through a veiled self’ and Irna Qureshi’s mother finally makes a decision on her final resting place. Also in this issue: Parvez Manzoor throws scorn on a nihilistic, revisionist history of Islam, Naomi Foyle reads the first novel of a British Palestinian, Ahmad Khan explores the colonial history of The Aborigines’ Protection Society, a short story by the famous Fahmida Riaz, Syrian scenarios by Manhal al-Sarraj, poems by Sabrina Mahfouz and Michael Wolf, Rachel Dwyer’s list of Top Ten Muslim Characters in Bollywood and Merryl Wyn Davies’s ‘last word’ on love and death at the movies.