Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prominent writer regarding the future of islam and science and technology”. Today it says “british-pakistani scholar”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “British-Pakistani writer, cultural critic, and public intellectual”. It now reads “British-Pakistani writer and cultural critic (born 1951)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Ziauddin Sardar , who has lived in Saudi Arabia , is a prominent writer regarding the future of Islam and science and technology; he often writes columns in The Observer , a British journalistic publication. Ziauddin Sardar is a writer, broadcaster and critic. He is a leading writer on the future of Islam and has published widely on science and technology. A Visiting Professor of Postcolonial Studies, Department of Arts Policy and Management at the City University, he has published over 40 books on various aspects of Islam, science policy, culture studies and related subjects. His most recent books include Postmodernism and the Other (1998), Orientalism (1999), Aliens R Us (2002),The A to Z of Postmodern Life (2002) and Introducing Islam (1992; 2001). He is co-author of Why do People hate America (2003) and his new book Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim was published in July 2004. Professor Sardar is the editor of Futures, the monthly journal of policy, planning and futures studies and co-editor of Third Text, the critical journal of visual art and culture.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16991655.
The opening as it stood in 2010 7 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ziauddin Sardar (born 31 October 1951, Pakistan) is a London-based scholar, writer and cultural-critic who specializes in the future of Islam , science and cultural relations.Prospect magazine has named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper calls him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath'.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370649430.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Ziauddin Sardar ( ; born 31 October 1951, Pakistan) is a London-based scholar, writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam , futures studies and science and cultural relations. Prospect magazine has named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper calls him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath'.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669347833.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Ziauddin Sardar ( ; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought , the future of Islam , futurology and science and cultural relations.The author and editor of more than 50 books, Prospect magazine has named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper calls him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath '.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963850547.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
British-Pakistani writer, cultural critic, and public intellectual Ziauddin Sardar ( ; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought , the future of Islam , futurology and science and cultural relations. The author and editor of more than 50 books, Prospect magazine has named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper calls him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath '.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176941374.
The opening as it stood in 2025
British-Pakistani writer and cultural critic (born 1951) Ziauddin Sardar ( Urdu : ضیاء الدین سردار ; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought , the future of Islam , futurology , critique of modernity , postmodernism and cultural relations.He has written and edited more than 60 books.Prospect magazine named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper called him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath '.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296978283. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prominent writer regarding the future of islam and science and technology”. Today it says “british-pakistani scholar”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “British-Pakistani writer, cultural critic, and public intellectual”. It now reads “British-Pakistani writer and cultural critic (born 1951)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
prominent writer regarding the future of islam and science and technology
Now
british-pakistani scholar
Sections that no longer exist
Present on October 6, 2023, absent today, with no near-matching heading in the current article and the article shorter overall, so this is not a renamed heading or a topic absorbed into a fuller treatment. 6 sections of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 17,608 characters shorter.
Islam, Qur'an and Islamic reform
Science and empires
Futures
Identity and multiculturalism
Postmodernism and transmodernity
Postnormal Times
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
