Comparing Religions on Taleb’s Anti-Fragility Scale
This article explores various religions all over the world on the Taleb's scale of anti-fragility. It analyzes how systems which seem very strong in normal times, may actually be very fragile and thus just one crisis away from total collapse. The Prophetic Monotheistic Religions of Christianity and Islam seem to be fragile and heading to an unseemly collapse, while Sanatana Dharma might gain from this disorder, as it has always been decentralized and personalized, not depending upon State or central structures.
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Is India Dar-al-Harb or Dar-al-Islam? – 1
In this piece, one of India's finest historians, Harsh Narain talks about the concept of Dar-al-Harb (Land of Infidels) and Dar-al-Islam (Land of Islam). In present times when we see how Muslims frequently flout State orders, one has to understand the Muslim psyche that works behind such behavior. In this first part of the exposition, Harsh Narain tells us about how Muslims view existence in a land ruled by non-Muslims.
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The Foundation of Islam
In this article, Dr. Sheshrao More discusses the foundation of Islam and the behavior of Muslims, with also throwing light on the Quran and the Hadis. This is an excerpt from the book "Islam: Maker of the Muslim Mind" by Sheshrao More, a Marathi scholar of great repute. He originally wrote this book in Marathi, which has been translated into English by a team of scholars, edited by Shri S. H. Deshpande.
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Jizyah in History
Jizyah, is not a concept which came later in Islam. It is a concept embedded in the very origin of Islam. In this excerpt from his book 'Jizyah and The Spread of Islam', Dr. Harsh Narain discusses how Jizyah was implemented by the Prophet himself and how the First Four Right Guided Caliphs made it a permanent institution of Islam, realizing that it was both a source of revenue as well as an ultimate weapon for conversion to Islam.
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Jizyah: The Fiscal Jihad
In this second part of the series on Jizyah, Dr. Harsh Narain, one of India’s finest historians of modern India tells us how Jizyah was nothing more than a means of fiscal Jihad, through which conversion to Islam was sought and encouraged by fiscally punishing the Hindus. This is an excerpt from ‘Jizyah and the Spread of Islam’.
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The Moderate Muslim Test
It is often claimed that Islam should not be judged by its extremists, but by its moderates. It is a reasonable proposition which then necessitates the question: What is a moderate Muslim? Before we decide whether the moderate or the extremist Muslim represents Islam, we must first ascertain the qualities of the moderate Muslim. This article is an attempt to do just that.
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Jizyah: The Tax of being Non-Muslim
In this brilliant excerpt taken from ‘Jizyah and the Spread of Islam’, Shri Harsh Narain, one of the finest historians of modern India, tells us what Jizyah is, and what it means for the Hindus. The Muslim psyche is of a peculiar making, vis-à-vis its attitude towards non-Muslims. According to the Prophet, every child is born in Islam, but its parents make it a non-Muslim. The Qur’an also says that ‘the earth belongs to Allah. He causes it to be inherited by whom of His Servants He will’. On the basis of it all the Prophet rules that all land belongs to God or himself, the natural corollary being that all land belongs, through God and the Prophet, to the Muslims.
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