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Showing posts from December, 2009

NATW: Muslim queens

Nation And The World: 1 Sept 2009 Once again a mishmash of articles make the issue of this magazine. But in this particular issue a number of articles that are worth reading. One by Raihanaa Hasan on female Muslim rulers of the past is very interesting. There have been at least 20 female rulers who had juma khutba read out in their name (a sign of sovereignty in Muslim areas). So, there were some ruler before Razia Sultan and some after her. Article by Mohammed Hanif, first published in the Guradian about Karachi - London to Karachi: Homecoming to Pakistan- is very interesting read and opens you up to a place that we don't see it in news coverage about Pakistan. A full page ad by Maulana Azad National Urdu University is all in English except the name also appears in Hindi but not a letter of Urdu in the whole ad.

Book: Freakonomics

I have heard about the book Freakonomics but never got around to reading it. So, today I took a break from my long list of work to do and head to the library to do some leisure reading. I picked up this book and few hours later it was finished and here I am blogging about it. I am a slow reader and prefer to absorb the books that I read but this one I knew if I put down it might take a long time to get back to it. So my long reading session actually consisted of few sessions- few hours in the library, few hours in Karma Tea, then home for Asr and Maghrib prayers and then finally finished it and I should go and pray Isha. The books gives you a new way of looking at things/issues/problems. In the movie Patch Adams , Howard Hughes tells Patch Adams that you have to look beyond the problem to find the solution. I should mention here that I was a Howard Hughes Scholar in University. The other points the book makes is that people are generally good but if there are incentives to cheat

Urdu Science: MSG, global warming, science in poetry

Urdu Science, September 2009. Article on MSG salt is excellent and well-researched. Article on the topic of global warming is informative and relevant to Indian context. One really interesting article is written by Abdul Wadood Ansari of Asansol. It is "aik sher- science ki roshani meN" and looks at a famous sher by Khwaja Haider Ali Aatish : "kaam himmat se jawaanmard agar leta hai saanp ko maar ke ganjeena-zar leta hai" [If young man is brave, he can grab the jewel by killing the snake) It is based on a myth that when a snake becomes old, it produces a jewel that is very precious but snake becomes dangerous and not easy to kill him at this stage. This sher is used to tell kids that a difficult work can be done by bravery. The writer explains that it is a myth and therefore when reciting this sher it should be explained that it is a myth and not scientific fact. But I think this goes both way, we can use the awareness about science to generate interest

Radiance: Uniform Civil Code, straight talk of Shafi Moonis Raza

Radiance viewsweekly's 16-22 August 2009 issue has a number of really good articles. http://www.radianceweekly.com/index.php?issue_id=167 Muslims always complain about the attempts to force uniform civil code on them, but article by Afzal Ahmad Khan was good attempt to highlight various issues that Muslims have with this. Article on Al-Khair Cooperative Society was good in showing how a banking institution can survive without charging any interest. The best part of this issue was Radiance's interview feature "face to face" with Shafi Moonis who has been associated with JIH for a long time. Radiance is a JIH publication, therefore it was surprised to see Shafi Moonis openly criticizing many of the steps that JIH took over the years. It will be interesting to see if readers responded to it in later issues, if they did not then I know no one is reading these magazines.

Disability is no fault

Found this verse of Quran that talks about disables but says that it not a fault or punishment for sins. It is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame, nor in one afflicted with illness...[ Surah Al-Noor: 61]

Indian Muslim Orgs against two-nation theory

I have always believed and more I look more evidence I find that Jinnah was not the sole spokesman of Muslims of India and there was considerable opposition to him and Muslim League. More evidence of this appears in a recently published book: TOWARDS FREEDOM — Documents on the Movement for Independence in India 1940 (Part-I): Edited by K.N. Panikkar; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 3450. In the following quote from a review of this book, I have highlighted names of the organizations that opposed the two-nation theory. Though not mentioned below but it is well known that Jamiat Ulema Hind and Deobandi scholars opposed it too. The present exercise, however, convincingly demonstrates that not all Indian Muslims accepted Jinnah’s two-nation theory. The Kerala Provincial Political Conference , the All-India Azad Muslim Conference , and the South Indian Nationalist Muslim Association viewed the Pakistan proposal “un-Islamic” whe

Muslims to rule the world?

A reading of the verse 55 of Surah Al-Noor seems to suggest that. But when Muslim were the sole ruler of the much of the known world and leader of the education and science & technology for about thousand years then can we not call it that this promise has been already fulfilled? Nothing in this verse suggest that this promise is till perpetuity. In fact, there is a big condition imposed in the beginning that Muslims should be doing "good work" [عَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ]. Are Muslims being "good" to the world? I am sure lot of Muslim terrorist may be using this verse to justify their violent campaign to gain power in their countries or dream of world dominion but they first have to fulfill their promise of doing "good work." What good is it when one oppressor is replaced with another violent ruler? Allah hath promised such of you as believe and do good work that He will surely make them to succeed (the present rulers) in the earth even as He cause

A case for the Central Madrasa Board

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Muslim leadership in India is mostly about protest. Whether it is Shahbano, Babri Masjid, Salman Rushdie, Polio drops, registration of marriages, Taslima Nasrin, or the latest- Central Madrasa Board. Of course, some of these protests are justified and most of these protests are within the democratic limits but the other side of the democratic work is making demands for the community. Muslim leadership has failed to get any new benefit to the community. Muslim leadership also fails to analyze a situation, incident, or a new proposal and see how the community can benefit from it. It is either the mistrust of the government or our insularity that any new idea is shot down even before it is properly discussed. So instead of seeing how the proposed Central Madrasa Board (CMB) can benefit the community climb out of its pathetic education conditions we seem to think that we are better off without it. Before we see how the Board has the potential to help the community let’s look carefully

Movie: Baraka

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It is a really interesting movie. There are no dialogues, no character and in fact, no story. Shot beautifully in 24 countries- people, history, culture, religious life- this brings to life humanity and its relationship with each other and the world around them. Just by incredible photography and equally superb music, this movie generated lot of emotions in 96 minutes. Truly, an incredible experience. I had seen this movie earlier in 2003 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, saw it again recently on DVD. Baraka means blessings. more: http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka

Media Scan: new magazine

Media Scan is a monthly magazine launched in August 2009 from Bangalore. Editor is M. I. Qasimi and Publisher M.A. Raheem. Editorial of the first issues says: It is an endeavour by journalists and other professional committed to make a positive impact in the Indian society. We have no allegiance whatsoever- - political, commercial, religious, regional, casteism, or otherwise. With the first copy of MEDIASCAN we are happy to welcome you to join hands in our pursuit of TRUTH. No breaking news, exclusive stories, journalistic coups, and sting-operations- which often land us in the valley of wildreness. But towards the end the editorial board writes: There will be thought provoking columns, breaking news, exclusive stories, and exciting features- all adorned facts. So, within a span of two paragraphs, the magazine breaks its own promise of not doing breaking news and exclusive stories. Anyway, the magazine is published in all color with good quality paper and so far the best p

Milli Gazette: Sad news in color, Shahabuddin prescription for the community

Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2009 turned the front, back, and middle pages in color. It has been color when it just launched so after about 9 years color has returned to MG pages but that's not the sad news. This issue which is in color delivers news of death of three Muslim personalities- Kamala Surayya, Muhammad Shihab Thangal and Syed Abdullah Bukhari. Obituary of Syed Abdullah Bukhari is written by Syed Shahabuddin who was with him during the Babri Masjid Action Committee days. It is a nice biography of Mr. Bukhari. Syed Shahabuddin has another article in the same issues titled 'What can Muslim Indians do for themselves." In it he gives a vision for the development of the community. Let me quote few sentences: "... the Muslims must realize that it is not only they but nearly 80% of the people feel that 60 years of democracy and growth has passed them by, without any movement of social justice." "Nor should Muslims lose sight of the fact that the p

Ali Anwar’s struggle for Pasmanda Muslims

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Ali Anwar Ansari, son of a labourer, has come a long way since his bidi-rolling days. He has been a Member of Parliament of Rajya Sabha since 2006. In between, he has been a Grade IV government employee, activist, journalist, author and fathered a movement for Dalit or Pasmanda Muslims. In 1996, he received KK Birla Foundation fellowship to study condition of Dalit Muslims of Bihar. Anwar toured Bihar and what he found was documented in his book ‘Masavat ki Jang’ (Struggle for Equality). The book created shock-waves among Muslims and confronted them about the practice of caste among Muslims of India. This is the topic that was not discussed prior to this though always present in the society. A look at the matrimonial pages of any Muslim magazine will attest to this fact. Muslim leaders always maintained the Islam is all about equality and that Muslims are brothers to each other. Ali Anwar found many social practices that proved that caste practices are prevalent in Muslims as w