Rana Safvi

The Buddha advocated the middle path. Sufi saints advocated love. Ashoka advocated compassion. Today, this is no longer history for India. These are lessons we need to live.

The 16th century monarch chose a name that respected secular values. What is a 21st century chief minister doing?

Neither life nor death could separate him from his beloved, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Its every stone is crying out to be loved.

It should worry anyone who loves India.

[Book excerpt] Abdul Qadir Bedil was considered a Sufi saint by many.

They battled as a united force against the might of the British Raj.

A brief, wondrous history of skewered meat.

It is also a month of detox, something we otherwise spend a lot of money on.

Before getting into the controversy, let's understand Sufism, qawwali and sama mehfils.

While it can provide you clean toilets, it can't restore a world-class monument.

To clear prevailing confusion, the corporate group will not be doing any conservation work.

He spoke out against the use of religion as a tool to legitimise dictatorship.

This is not the first time rape has been used as a tool of war to subjugate those who are considered a threat.

Though it’s still as majestic, I despair at its shoddy state.

His instructions on keeping the army happy, selecting a chief justice are kept in the United Nations as an example.

When death is a time to rejoice, and not to grieve.

The Lal Qila, as we we see it today, is a mere shell of its former self.

He gave us the most defining verses about their emotions.

It has roots in the war poetry of Arabia.

Enjoy it or ignore it, but don’t waste your energy in outrage.

It’s the 'new normal' except that it is neither normal nor should it ever be.

He has often been called the Tooti-e-Hindustan or parrot of Hindustan.

I came upon it in the book 'Lal Qila ki ek Jhalak', written by Syed Nasir Nazir.

Unlike the British, they did not colonise the subcontinent.

Today there are attempts to deny India's immense plurality when we talk of one culture, one nation.

Those that learn to sing and dance no longer sing Ghalib or Dagh’s ghazals.

I learnt there's much more to resisting.

At a time when Muslim men are already living in fear, one more law would be added to harass, jail and demonise them.

Zauq and Ghalib took digs at each other through a sehra penned for a prince’s wedding and the Red Fort reverberated with this clash of titans.