“HISTORY is more or less bunk,” said Henry Ford, the larger-than-life American car-maker who made history with his mass-produced Model-T. Apart from his take on history – which I will get back to later – Mr Ford confronted the world with a street-wise swagger. Failure, he said, was an opportunity[…]

THE Qur’an says that Jesus Christ was not crucified1. The Gospel of Barnabus suggests that Judas Iscariot, who resembled Jesus, was placed on the cross instead. In the Islamic motif Jesus doesn’t die, but is taken ‘unto God’ where he will await the Final Days. In other words, a crucifixion[…]

WHEN I saw the shaky images of Israeli naval commandoes rappelling on to the decks of the Mavi Marmara in international Mediterranean waters, my first thought was: I could have been there. A combination of financial restraints (the humanitarian relief flotilla was no junket) and a conflicting commitment had seen[…]

  WHEN Jonathan Shapiro, aka Zapiro, drew a cartoon in the Mail and Guardian of the beloved Prophet (s) on a therapist’s couch complaining that his ummah didn’t have a sense of humour, I winced – or as I wrote – “dug myself a trench”. As a journalist and talk-show[…]

  When I saw Zapiro’s cartoon in the Mail and Guardian depicting an image of the noble Prophet Muhammad, I started digging myself a trench.   Zapiro’s drawing was a response to calls on Facebook for people to celebrate, of all bizarre things, a “draw Muhammad day” in response to[…]

I’M a non-smoker, but when I read the Cape Argus headline that the South African National Halal Authority had banned smoking, I laughed like a drain. SANHA is one of the four Halal certification bodies in South Africa which certifies that foodstuffs are permissible under Shari’ah, or Sacred Law. Halal[…]

THE other day I had the privilege of examining the fossilised skeleton of Australopithicus Sediba, a 12-year old male who had passed away nearly 2 million years ago. Unearthed by Professor Lee Burger of Wits University in a cave at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site near Johannesburg, this[…]

  “WHY are you wearing the veil?”   There is a shocked silence in the class-room.   “The niqab (the face-veil) is a cultural tradition. It has nothing to do with Islam,” continues the speaker, an old man with an imposing demeanour.   A teacher tries to explain something, but[…]

As I neared the Church of The Holy Sepulchre’s crumbling portals, I noticed a wooden cross leaning against the door of a side chapel. Crucifixion had been used by the Persians as a deterrent as early as 700 BC. And what an effective means of public persuasion it must have[…]

ONE of the modern era’s most prominent scholars, Shaikh Yusuf al-Qaradhawi, has been visiting South African shores. Now 84 years-old, the Shaikh has been a bastion of independent, but moderate thought in an age pockmarked with the legacy of Salafi-Wahhabi extremism and post-colonialism.   As a faqih, a master of[…]