You Assassinate our Scholars Because you do not have logic, If you would have any logic or reasoning, then you would try dialogue and discussion.But Your logic is based on Terror
Imam Khomeini
As an avid reader of Immanuel Kant during my teenage years, I disciplined myself morally in ways that external chaos could never achieve. Kant’s categorical imperative became my inner compass: act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. This pure reason-based ethics grounded me, turning personal turmoil into a commitment to principles that transcend circumstances.
The loss of Ali Larijani, a true Kantian thinker who authored multiple works on Kant’s philosophy, including explorations of mathematical method, metaphysics, and synthetic a priori judgments in his thought, feels profoundly personal to me. Here was a man who confronted what he saw as a materialist, genocidal empire on high moral ground, much like Kant’s insistence on treating humanity always as an end in itself, never merely as a means. His death is not just a political event; it is a blow to that rare fusion of philosophical rigor and principled action.
The United States, through its Rewards for Justice program, placed a bounty of up to $10 million on Larijani’s head (along with other senior Iranian officials, including Mojtaba Khamenei) just days before his reported killing in an Israeli strike. This act reduces a human being, regardless of political role, to a price tag, a means to an end in geopolitical maneuvering.
If this practice were to become a universal principle, no head of state would ever be safe again. Imagine Donald Trump, or any leader, subject to the same logic: bounties issued by adversaries, turning political opposition into licensed assassination markets. The world would descend into a state where dignity evaporates, reason is subordinated to power, and perpetual insecurity reigns, precisely the antithesis of Kant’s vision of a kingdom of ends, where rational beings coexist under laws they give themselves.
Larijani, this committed Kantian (Syed Kantian, as some might say), left a piercing question for the Muslim world in his final public message before his martyrdom: Which side are you on? He framed the confrontation as one between America/Israel on one side and Muslim Iran/forces of resistance on the other, urging Islamic nations to unite rather than remain silent or complicit. He emphasized that true security, progress, and independence come not from narrow nationalism but from solidarity across the Ummah, echoing a bloc-like unity similar to the European Union.
Today’s EU stands, in many ways, on Kant’s anti-nationalist philosophy. Kant viewed nationalism as outdated, a relic of particularism that must yield to cosmopolitan right and perpetual peace through federations of free states. Larijani, in his last message, similarly rejected narrow nationalism for Iran or the Muslim world, advocating instead for a collective strength akin to a supranational bloc that could guarantee dignity and autonomy for all, much like Kant’s ideal of a federation transcending sovereign rivalries.
I am in no position to write a full obituary for him yet; the shock is still too raw, the grief too immediate. But I will write one, in time. For now, this is simply an acknowledgment: a Kantian light has dimmed, yet the imperative he lived by, and that he helped instill in me, remains undimmed. We must will a world where such principles prevail, not bounties and eliminations.
The incompetence will lead the mighty to fall and the giants to crumble.
Bold and blunt analysis by Prof. J. Mearsheimer on @POTUS short sightedness and grave incompetence.
Professor John Mearsheimer:
We’re not winning against Iran. We’re not winning.
We’re sending a message that we’re a bunch of fools. That we started a war we can’t win.
We didn’t have the required military forces to achieve any of the objectives that we were floating, and we had no plan.
What does this tell the Chinese and what does it tell the Russians?
It tells them that we are incompetent. Of course the Russians have had enough dealings with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to fully understand just how incompetent we are.
Nostalgia just took over me! My heart beat raced up and its like I can feel this place but couldn't grasp it anymore; It's within reach yet so far away. The friends, the huts, the walks in rain. Oh, it is like the floodgate of memories broke open.
ہم نہ ہوں گے تو کوئی ہم سا ہوگا۔
ژوند
ژوندون څه دى د زمان په زړه کې منډه
ډېره ګونګه، ډېره تېزه، ډېره لنډه
څو لمن درټولوې نوبت دې تېر وي
لکه څوک چې په چا ووهي ملنډه
~ سليمان لايق
What is life, a run in the heart of time
Very dumb, v fast, v short
When u depart, ur turn is over
As if somebody just teased u
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Irrespective of political affiliations and personal prejudices, it is loud & clear that PTI should and must form the next govt in Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Centre.
Respect the mandate now, you will not be regretting later.
The PTI is the legitimate plurality party of Pakistan’s federation.
Imran Khan or his nominee is the legitimate premier designate.
If you think otherwise then it means you neither accept the constitution of Pakistan nor are willing to concede when faced with an adverse electoral outcome, which means you are neither liberal nor a democrat.
I say this as someone who holds no brief for any political party.
The people have spoken in spite of all manner of sanctions and infirmities inflicted upon the PTI.
Let their will be done.
It was truly enlightening and inspiring to have you in our last semester Sir. Your nuanced analyses and rich knowledge of the subject was unmatched. Most interestingly, the inferences from your life experiences and observations were a class by itself.
Huge respect for you Sir!
You guys were incredibly amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching you the course, Democracy & Authoritarianism. At QAU it's always great interacting with students from diverse backgrounds inclined to argue & reason. Perhaps that's why I never regretted choosing teaching as metier.
A soul-refreshing face of QAU where such a massive crowd of students comes out to celebrate Holi with colours of life, joy & harmony each year. I saw girls & boys flashing of colours in evening were symbolizing a life full of love. That life is possible. It must be lived 💖💝🤎💜
Rural students at Pakistan’s top university “locked out” of dorms: removal of students from dormitories has left many scrambling to afford lodging in city or return to rural homes, where online learning is “impossible”. @PolaLem reports
https://t.co/bcxT7ziyFD