The religious persecution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1945-2010) / Mahmoud Mohammed Taha & the Second Message of Islam

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was born in Quhafa, some 120 km from Cairo, near Tanta, Egypt on July 10, 1945. He died on 5 July 2010 in Cairo as a result of an unidentified virus infection and was buried in his birthplace, on the same day. He was 67. At the age of 12, Abu Zayd was imprisoned for allegedly sympathising with the Muslim Brotherhood. After receiving… Read More The religious persecution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1945-2010) / Mahmoud Mohammed Taha & the Second Message of Islam

From the Multiversity Cave: Plato and Periagoge

In Plato’s dialogues, Socrates always pursues truth with others. Dialectics therefore is a communal inquiry that aspires to be collaborative, with various participants contributing to a better understanding of the truth. It requires people to reflect on their own point of view and then proceed to understand the viewpoint of others which hopefully leads to… Read More From the Multiversity Cave: Plato and Periagoge

When Charles Chaplin Became the Enemy

First posted September 13, 2013 Von Clausewitz said that war is the logical extension of diplomacy; Monsieur Verdoux feels that murder is the logical extension of business. It’s all business. One murder makes a villain. Millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify… “By his very existence, Verdoux renders society guilty.” Approaching eternity, the convicted killer subtly reverts… Read More When Charles Chaplin Became the Enemy

The zeitgeist is changing. A strange, romantic backlash to the tech era looms

NB: The rebellion against reason, the cults of nostalgia or particularity are not new, these ways of thought have been with us a long time; and are a consequence of the divorce of reason from goodness, virtue, beauty and justice. Romanticism is a consequence of the elevation of scientific reason to a status above the… Read More The zeitgeist is changing. A strange, romantic backlash to the tech era looms

An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department

These professors had to finish their doctoral research, write papers, present in conferences, and yet miraculously also had time for that extra reading that a student requested, or for lunch at D-School Canteen to give a serious answer to a question. Abinash Dash Choudhury Education as the practice of freedom—as opposed to education as the… Read More An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department