The Meaning of Kufr in the Quran: A Faith-Neutral Perspective

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 5 April, 2025 (This article, along with two more, have been generated with the assistance of ChatGPT based on a single discussion. For a more detailed analysis and the foundational discussion behind these articles, you can access the full chat at the following link: https://chatgpt.com/share/67efef4a-b474-8006-aec7-9b4b93c82ceb Readers are encouraged to explore the chat, raise any questions or doubts, challenge my conclusions, and share their findings if they successfully rebut my arguments or identify any discrepancies or errors.) The term Kufr has been widely misunderstood and misrepresented in Islamic discourse. Traditional interpretations often equate Kufr with disbelief, leading to a binary worldview that classifies all non-Muslims as Kafirs. However,...

Modi’s Visit to RSS Head Office: Is It Sangham Sharnam Gacchami?

By Ram Puniyani for New Age Islam 5 April 2025 The recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to RSS headquarters in Nagpur and pay homage to RSS founder Dr. K.B. Hedgewar and its second Sarsanghchalak, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar elicited great interest all around. The much advertised trip was interpreted by many as a mechanism to strengthen his stature within the RSS combine. The other anticipation was that as this September Modi will be completing 75 years, as per the norms of BJP, Modi should retire. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ---- There are a couple of other issues due to which it appeared as if the father (RSS) - son (BJP) relations had turned sour. In the wake of 2024 General elections the BJP President J.P. Nadda had stated that now BJP can...

God Is a Dream, A Hope, A Woman, An Ironist, A Father....

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 5 April 2025 "God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you—even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers and triumphs over all opposition." French philosopher Ernest Renan's quote beautifully captures the myriad interpretations and perceptions people have regarding god. Renan portrays god as a multifaceted concept, encompassing various forms and roles. He suggests that god can be seen as a dream, offering solace and inspiration; a hope, providing a source of optimism and motivation. Furthermore, Renan introduces the idea of...

The Quran as a Living Guidance: Unfolding Divine Law Through Time

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 4 April, 2025 The Book in Loh-e-Mahfooz: The Master Blueprint Using the analogy of a computer program, the Book in Loh-e-Mahfooz serves as the master blueprint of the Universe, encoding the unchanging laws that govern all phenomena—both in the physical world and in human behaviour. Created by Allah before the Universe itself, it functions like an executable program, unfolding creation according to divine decree. The Quran, rooted in these same principles, is a revelation conveyed in human language—like a user manual guiding us to align our lives with our inherent design, encoded in our DNA. It provides moral and spiritual direction for success in both this world and the Hereafter. The teachings of the Quran were revealed experientially, unfolding through...

Interpretation of 9:80 And 9:84 Addressed to The Prophet Now Under Discussion at This Forum – An Unprompted Review with Chat.Gpt

By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam (Co-author (Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA, 2009) 4 April 2025 Yunus and Chat,gpt exchanged views on an exegetic question as reproduced below. He is now sharing the chat verbatim with fellow commentators on this website in the backdrop of ongoing conversation on the interpretation of the verses 9:80 and 9:84. The chat sheds light on the interpretation of these verses by exegetic icons of the past centuries. . hare User Yunus said: A learned and highly dedicated and devout Muslim commentator, who champions free thought activity questioned ‘the divinity of the verses 9:80 an 9:84” they in his logical thinking contradict the verse 2:256. This obviously implies that if we were to remove 9:80...

Muslims Have Become India's New-Untouchables

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 4 April 2025 "Near the end of our journey, I asked Mishra if all that he’d been saying to me was really only to say that he hated Muslims. I thought he might hesitate, deny the thought, if only for form’s sake. But new India has no place for such hesitation. Proud Hindu that he was, he said, “Yes.” Parvati Sharma, Aurangzeb The Bad, And Our New Black-And-White History Very true. Today's India has no place for such hesitation. The hatred for Muslims is palpable. Mughals were invaders, Muslims were vandals and Muslims kings forcibly converted Hindus. While there's some truth to these (public) perceptions, there's no denying the fact that we've gone wrong on almost all counts. Remember, our understanding of history is shaped by those who record it, highlighting...

The Prophet’s Deep Love for His Daughters: A Lesson in Respect and Kindness

By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam 4 April 2025 Understanding the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) Teachings on Daughters Amid Societal Bias and Tragic Incidents Main Points: 1. In some cultures, daughters are seen as less valuable than sons, leading to harmful consequences. 2. Cases in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh highlight the extreme actions driven by gender preference. 3. Islam teaches that daughters are a blessing and deserve love, respect, and kindness. 4. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) emphasized treating daughters with care and promised Paradise for those who do so. 5. The Prophet’s deep love for his daughters, such as Hazrat Fatimah and Hazrat Zaynab, serves as a model for fathers today. ----- In many parts of the world, some people...

Andaman-Nicobar Drew Media Attention, But for Wrong Reasons

By Nava Thakuria, New Age Islam 4 April, 2025 The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India, recently drew national and international media attention for two incidents, but both for wrong reasons. The group of 572 islands, where 38 are inhabited, with the landmass of around 8,249 square kilometre woke up to an incident where a foreigner was caught for visiting a restricted island and also a local journalist was found dead in the last week of March 2025. News broke from Port Blair (now renamed as Sri Vijaya Puram), the capital & largest township of the territory, that Ukrainian-American national (identified as Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov) reached North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean to make contact with the uncontacted Sentinelese people. Polyakov (24) was arrested...

20th Biannual Report Of The Secretary-General On The Threat Posed By ISIL Or Da’esh: ChatGPT Analysis Of ISIL Activities

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 3 April, 2025 Prompt: "In the discussion focused on the 20th biannual report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL or Da’esh, Sierra Leone’s delegate pointed out 14,000 fatalities were recorded on the African continent alone in 2024, noting the impact on women and girls. " What is this conflict about and which countries are involved? ChatGPT said: The conflict referenced in the 20th biannual report of the Secretary-General pertains to the activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, across various regions in Africa. In 2024, ISIL and its affiliated groups intensified their operations on the continent, resulting in significant loss of life and widespread instability. Countries Involved: • ...

Eunuchs, Khwaja Sara or Zankha: They're Also Humans

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 3 April 2025 A few months ago, an Urdu daily carried a poignant piece on its edit page that a 20-something biker met with an accident on his way to Bijnor in UP. He was lying on the road profusely bleeding and no one stopped to attend to him, until a group of eunuchs (Khwaja Sara or Zankha in Urdu) saw him and took him to a nearby hospital. The boy required blood and his blood group was AB negative. One of the eunuchs having the same blood group volunteered to donate his/her blood to save the boy's life, but the relatives, including the parents of the boy, had some reservations regarding a eunuch donating blood to bring their son back from the jaws of certain death. Fortunately, doctors told the relatives and the parents that it would make no difference if...

DMK Will Protect The Muslims Of Tamil Nadu: CM Stalin

By Syed Ali Mujtaba, New Age Islam 3 April, 2025 Chennai: Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has said that the DMK will always support Muslims' political rights and protect the Tamil Nadu community. He was speaking at an Iftar function organized by his party last week. “Whenever there has been a political threat to the Muslim community, the DMK has acted to safeguard the interest of the Muslims,” he said, and added that “the DMK will never allow the BJP government's disruptive plans to be implemented in Tamil Nadu.” “Among the 28 states of India, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is the only CM who has the gum and gustation to publicly proclaim with conviction that he will protect the Muslims,” MLA Jawaharullah and the head of the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi party, said, who is an ally of the DMK. “According...

Will Nepal Return Back To Monarchy!

By Nava Thakuria, New Age Islam 3 April, 2025 The ongoing anti-government movements by a large number of Nepal residents may pose a serious question- if at all the south Asian country is bringing back the ousted monarch as the common Nepalis become frustrated with the poor performance of the Left-dominated regime in Kathmandu for nearly two decades. The pro-monarchist rallies and demonstrations continue to attract hundreds of thousands of people who hit the streets with no particular leader or political party as their leader. A spontaneous movement demanding to bring back the last king Gyanendra Shah to the Narayanhiti palace and re-establishing Nepal as a Hindu Rashtra has gained momentum in the Himalayan nation. A relatively peaceful country of over 29 million people lately witnessed...

Abdolkarim Soroush on Qur’an and/as Revelation

By Adis Duderija, New Age Islam 2 April 2025 Among the influential voices contributing important insights into the question of nature of Qur’an and the concept of revelation is Abdolkarim Soroush, an Iranian philosopher teaching in the United States. Like that of Abu Zayd , Soroush’s work moves beyond the conventional view of revelation as a static, external transmission, emphasising instead the pivotal role of Muhammad’s lived experience and its unfolding nature in this process. (Photo Credit: From Files) Soroush’s intellectual endeavour emerges from a conviction that a static and purely metaphysical understanding of revelation often struggles to provide meaningful guidance in a world characterised by rapid change and increasing complexity. He recognises that in societies where religious...