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Showing posts from February, 2010

Radiance: "very fair" bride

Radiance: 5 Dec 2009 Personal and matrimonial ads are always fun to read. I have noticed two interesting ads in a previous issue of Radiance. In this issue also there is a matrimonial box ad but this time the perspective bride is in her 20s- 24 to be exact. She is doing MA in English. The ad mentions that she is "beautiful" and here is the interesting part, she is also "very fair." There is a very interesting article on Islamic Banking by Mansoor Durrani and is actually critical of the hype generated about Islam banking. Durrani rightfully asks question what Islamic banking has done to change business practices or alleviate poverty in the world? He says the problem is that Islamic banks and financial institutions are managed by same people who until recently were in Wall Street and Dalal Street. So the motive and drive for these people is still to get rich quick. Additionally, Islamic funds end up investing in same capital markets that is designed for speculati

Nights are for resting

I remember the days when we used to sleep early because there was nothing else to do at night. Now, thanks to the late night TV and the internet addiction, we are up late for no apparent reason and therefore difficulty in getting up for fajr. I am sure there are many who have not seen a sunrise in years. Allah says in Quran that nights are made for resting in Surah al-Namal. I think same topic is repeated somewhere else in Quran and it is mentioned there that days are for working. سورة النَّمل کیا نہیں دیکھتے کہ ہم نے رات بنائی تاکہ اس میں چین حاصل کریں اور دیکھنے کو دن بنایا البتہ اس میں ان لوگوں کے لیے نشانیاں ہیں جو ایمان لاتے ہیں (۸۶) Have they not seen how We have appointed the night that they may rest therein, and the day sight-giving? Lo! therein verily are portents for a people who believe. [Al-Naml:86]

Milli Gazette: Ten years of a community newspaper

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By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Very quietly, with their January 2010 issue the Milli Gazette has completed its ten years of publication. The Milli Gazette is a fortnightly publication published from Delhi under the editorship of Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan. It is surprising that a community that complains about media bias has not celebrated this important occasion of their own media. Publishing a community magazine for ten years and that too without much community support and advertising is no mean achievement. Milli Gazette is published in tabloid format every fortnight. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan want to make it a weekly but unable to do so due to limited resources. Recently it returned to publishing few pages in colour which is a step forward. Few years earlier they also changed their front page format and experimented with fonts. It is a nicely organized newspaper with a number of regular features. Though it has increased to 32 pages in each issue but even then the price has stay

Radiance: No conspiracy theories please, we are Muslims.

Radiance: 22-28 Nov 2009 I was delighted to read RV's editorial on Aligarh hungama last year over the death of a student. "We do not subscribe to the theory that external conspiracies are responsible for all our ills." Shahabash Radiance and now let's stop publishing those nonsense articles against Israeli conspiracies.

MG: Hamdard's Safi girl

Milli Gazette: 16-30 Nov 2009 SafiGirl.com is a website launched by Hamdard to promote their product Safi. Safi is a very old unani product that supposed to cleanse blood and give girls a better skin. Safi sells well and I have seen it in many Muslim households. The new print ad for Safi shows a girl in skirt and sleeveless top with a bag around her shoulder ready for school. Looks like Safi wants an image makeover but interestingly enough this girl doesn't appear on the bottle itself. As a part of this image makeover SafiGirl.com was launched. The website offers dating tips to girls. MG rightfully asked whether Hamdard, which is a waqf should be spending money to offer dating tips to girls? watch this ad to know what Hamdard's Safi Girl will be doing in the world:

To the lands of Quran

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I saw this ad in October 2009 issue of the Milli Gazette. I don't know what to make of it but here it is the for record. May be a reflection of increased economic power and higher religious consciousness of Indian Muslims at least in Kerala. There is definitely a middle class emerging that is demanding more Islamic content and ready for pay it. This also explains the immense popularity of Zakir Naik.

Radiance: A plural world

Radiance: 1-7 Nov 2009 A number of good articles in this issue of Radiance Viewsweekly. Article by Syed Sultan Mohiddin lists the personal struggle of Jaffer Baig of AP who is trying to get the waqf property out of the control of the encroacher. He started his struggle in 1967 and court has adjourned the case as much as 157th time. Another interesting article is by Dr. Abdussalam Vaniyambalam which is actually a report of the inter-faith dialogue called by the Saudi King. In it, the author mentions some verses which shows that Islam accepts a plural world. "And if your Lord had so willed he could surely have made mankind one Ummah." [Hud: 118] "So will you compel mankind until they become believers?" [Yunus: 99] "Then whosoever wills, let him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve." [Al-Kahf: 29] Now, who is going to remind all those extremist daees that chill out, give the message but don't push.

MG: Achievements of Shia Personal Law Board

Milli Gazette: 16-31 Oct 2009 All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) was established in 1973, it is to the credit of the ulema of that time that they included Muslim men and women of all sects in the board. In last few years few more "Personal Law Boards" have come into existence by saying that AIMPLB does not really reflect the aspirations of other segments of the Indian Muslim community. So now we have Boards for Muslim Women, Shias, and Barelvis. Though some media reports says that they have split up from the main board but this is not true. These organizations is setup by people who were never part of the original board. Though these boards criticized AIMPLB but all of them named themselves after the original board. Shia Personal Law Board's spokesperson Ya'soob Abbas was interviewed by Manzar Mehdi Faizabadi for MG. The most interesting thing about this interview is the achievement listed by the spokesman about his organization. 1. Hazrat Ali'

Quran and poetry

Last few verses of Surah Al-Shuara severely criticized poets for not doing what they preach and giving opinion about every subject. So I guess, moral is that Allah wants Muslims to be active. Then, why Muslims are one of the laziest people in the world? And the Poets― it is those straying in Evil, who follow them: (224) Seest thou not that they wander distracted in every valley?― (225) And that they say what they practise not?― (226) Except those who believe, work righteousness, engage much in the remembrance of Allah, and defend themselves after they are unjustly attacked. And soon will the unjust assailants know what vicissitudes their affairs will take! (227) [Al-Shuara]

The Inivisble Indian Muslims

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ICIFAI.com Originally uploaded by kaaashif Not only that Indian Muslims are invisible in the modern Indian setting, they are also missing when one talks about the Muslim world. Now we are missing from ad run by Islamic organizations set up by Indian Muslims themselves. See this ad by Institute of Certified Islamic Financial Analaysts of India (ICIFAI) published on the back cover of Radiance viewsweekly. It carries pictures of Arabs and Muslim girls from some western country. In another instance, I have found Islamic Voice magazine also unable to find pictures of Indian Muslim women to display alongside their article on hijab. We are invisible to our own eyes. If we don't have shadows do we really exist?