January 15, 2013, 9:03 pm
By Rushdi Siddiqui
Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy. — Aristotle.
As the New Year resolution time frame is “officially” over, it’s time to air out some pet peeves for 2013, with the hope that it will have therapeutic impact if not for anyone else, then for myself. Self help is often cheaper than professional help, but if you pay peanuts, you wind up getting monkey advice!
Let’s talk about the LinkedIn agenda
Firstly, I wonder about the whole LinkedIn agenda. While I, and like many of you, are very appreciative of unsolicited endorsements from people not known on first name basis, it’s however a bit disconcerting as I have never worked or met many of these people! With so many endorsements, one wonders, if it carries any weight? Furthermore, are these good people expecting me or you to endorse them? I hope not, as an “open letter of recommendation” could dilute the reputation of both the endorser and the subject!
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Thirdly, people who use LinkedIn as Twitter. Some of these people post things like their 5km runs and attending a wedding. Not sure if people really care! LinkedIn is about professional connections, opportunities, insightful articles, wonderful quotes, etc, and there are other forums for weddings, personal training or (non-rat) races.
[BTW, one of the challenges I have with Twitter is that I do not want people to know every detail about me, my doings and often times one has to apologise with a follow-up tweet because of, say, heat-of-moment comment (well, the damage has been done!). Social media has pushed the privacy attribute to a bare minimum, but some people may prefer that route.]
What are we commenting on
Some of us write bylined pieces, regularly or occasionally, and hope or expect constructive or insightful feedback comments, as the collective intelligence of the market place is greater than any one of us individually. The frustration typically rears its head when (1) there are no comments (but, everybody has an opinion) or (2) personal attacks that have nothing to do with the written piece.
The lack of comments is more prevalent in Islamic finance articles, yet, at, say, conferences, we have mini-presentations from the audience members challenging a panel member or the panel session theme during the Q&A! In fairness, Islamic finance is technical, laden with Arabic lingo, requires a glossary during the read, or people can’t be bothered with the effort to reply, as finding a pen or not having spell check on PC are the usual show stoppers!
Leaders seeking medical treatment
A country’s leaders often tout the benefits the government provides for the people, from education, infrastructure, healthcare, subsidies, etc. Yet, we often read about the leader and/or minister receiving treatment at, say, Mayo Clinic in the US or world-class hospitals in western capitals in Europe. Yes, we want out leaders to be free of sickness and disease as consequences of being leaderless for a short period of time is (welcomed?) chaos!
But, what message does it send about local healthcare quality and care of the citizens when leaders and the privileged (repeatedly) go overseas for surgery and treatment?
Internet use in hotels
There are tight-wad hotels that charge for the Internet! Why don’t they charge for actual usage with a clock/timer instead of charging by the day? Thus, pay per use (PPU) would make more sense, as most humans don’t use the Internet when not in the room or sleeping, and, more importantly, it would build goodwill (for repeat business) and word-of-mouth endorsement (more effective than a marketing budget), especially if they travel for family/personal reasons.
Halal hotels and mini-bar
I’ve stayed at shariah-compliant hotels, but unsure what that really means. But it has included a conservative dress code and greetings of “Asalaam Alaikum” by the staff, alcohol/pork not served, segregated times for males/females for the pool, toilet not facing Mecca, Quran and prayer mat (in the room), etc. This will be an interesting conversation for another day.
I would like to see enlightened hotels help out the halal food industry that Islamic finance has missed. In the room’s mini-fridge, I would like to see sampling of (certified) halal food, from (healthy) drinks to candy bars, crisps, etc, during the stay. The “regular” hotels can ask the guest, much like options for a smoking room or size of the beds, if they want to stay in a “test room” with a mini-fridge that has only halal-certified offerings.
This would not cost hotel anything and is a great opportunity to test market products for companies and consumers, eventual clients. The only “payment” by the client would entail a written review of the consumed items.
Mums of super heroes
There is an urgent need to know where super heroes get their values!
In movies, toy stores, comics, prizes (value meals), there are super-heroes characters with their stories, and the move works well for the sell-side stakeholders. It’s a thriving global multi-billion dollar business, and some would say it’s the wholesale export of US culture at the expense of developing local super heroes.
[Unsure how popular The 99, Islamic super-heroes, has been received by the age appropriate children and commercials benefits of off-shoot collaterals.]
It’s well known that many of the super heroes are males, from Hulk to Iron-Man to Thor to Spiderman to Batman, and such figures are almost always influenced by their mothers. The lessons these super heroes represent must come from somewhere, and it’s their mothers.
So, it would be nice if the creative people in countries like Malaysia started thinking about “Mums of Super Heroes”. Let’s assume intellectual property issues do not become an issue for the story.
I see kids connecting with their dad’s “big toys” like fast cars, cool outfits, ATM-cum-Santa policies of toy purchases, but what about their mum’s, who often have to be the bad guy and say “no”?
I would ask the creators to include a script that includes answers to following questions:
Who is the super hero’s mum?
How were they raised?
Where do they send flowers and candy on Mother’s Day or mother’s birthday?
Where did they get their powers from and when to use them, whilst keeping anger/revenge in check?
Where do they go when they have problems?
Conclusion
To become a more tolerant person, one has to air out their pet peeves in a civilised manner with the hope readers show compassion and empathy.
BTW, I will neither be biking nor hiking today, and will not be attending any marriages or divorces!
(Courtesy: The Malaysian Insider)
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January 15, 2013, 9:11 pm
The world cannot continue to tolerate the oppression and terror activities directed at minorities and Sri Lanka is no exception
By Tariq A. Al Maeena
When Sri Lanka overcame the rebellious movement of the Tamil Tigers back in 2009, there was hope that the island nation would finally emerge stronger and more united.
The scars of the three-decade struggle by the Tamils had hurt the image of the country both politically and economically, as charges of unrestrained brutality and ethnic cleansing were levelled at the ruling party at the time.
The Tamil movement had led more than 150,000 Tamil Lankans to flee their country and seek refuge in other countries. Thousands of others — estimated between 80,000 to a 100,000 — lost their lives in the prolonged struggle, with some 40,000 casualties alone in the last days before the civil war was finally declared over.
With such deep wounds scarring the country, there were initial efforts by the government to forge reconciliation between the majority Buddhist Sinhalese and the minority Tamil Hindus and the Muslim population of the island.
Events lately suggest that all is not well in that country. There are signs that chasms are appearing, often in the form of violence against minorities. The island’s Muslim community is being targeted by race-inciting Sinhalese Buddhists, while the government appears to be condoning such attacks with their inaction.
Some opposition political figures charge that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government “is again giving tacit support to communal provocations against Sri Lanka’s minorities in a bid to divide working people amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis”.
In that the victims happen to be the minority sects in Sri Lanka, the political price of winning favour among the Sinhalese Buddhist majority far outweighs the peace and tranquillity that has once again deserted the island’s minority communities.
The Buddhist Power Force, better known as Bodu Bala Sena, is accused of being the leading terror group, inciting and organising violence against Muslims in all corners of the country.
Allied with the JHU party in the ruling coalition, this terror group is now claiming that the island’s Muslims are a threat to Buddhism and their way of life. They also assert that they will “strengthen and defend the Buddhist religion and its heritage,” using all options.
Their obvious aim is, in fear of an uprising, to ensure the continued suppression of the Muslim minority. However, they should not be in fear as in truth the two million Muslim minorities in Sri Lanka, who make up 10 per cent of the population, have been sidelined for decades.Muslim Sri Lankans are rarely recruited in the armed forces, police or offered equal opportunities and perks in government departments and other state institutions. In the commercial and trade sectors, Muslims have also been marginalised by their exclusion from government contracts, tenders and all such lucrative economic activities.
There is also the obvious indifference displayed by the government towards the 130,000 Muslim refugees from the north who were caught in the crossfire of the civil war and today continue to languish in refugee camps in appalling conditions three and-a-half-years after the end of the conflict. No substantial government effort is being taken to address their plight.
Meanwhile, the Bodu Bala Sena began a series of provocations recently against Muslims in the central province at Buwelikada, a small town about 15km from Kandy. The town’s predominantly Muslim population is mostly small shop owners and vendors.
According to eyewitness accounts, “a group of Sinhalese youth travelling in a bus began a quarrel with Muslims, claiming that a van had obstructed the road. Several Muslims injured in the clash were hospitalised. The government immediately deployed units of the notorious police special task force (STF), whose members did not arrest the culprits, but instead were sympathetic towards the thugs”.
Muslims charge that such acts of vandalism and terror are orchestrated to poison the minds of mainstream Sinhalese against Muslims “by a small but well organised group demonising Islam and Muslims through 19 Sinhalese and English language websites”.
They point to the recent destruction of a 400-year-old Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura, followed by the disgraceful attack on Dambulla Mosque by a mob of Buddhist vandals led by the chief Buddhist priest of the area.
Ironically, the inaction on the part of the government led to this incident being recorded as the first time in the history of the country that a frenzied mob prevented Muslims from performing their obligatory Friday prayers and since then there have been attacks on a number of small mosques all over the country. However, a blind eye has been turned towards these atrocities by the authorities and the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
The island country is at a crossroads today. If it continues to yield to the few terror-crazed Sinhalese Buddhists, who want to rid their country of all minorities and turn the countryside into killing fields, then it may well open up fresh wounds and begin another long journey into internal conflict and unrest.
The world cannot continue to tolerate the oppression and terror activities directed at minorities and Sri Lanka is no exception. It cannot distort facts to disguise ethnic hatred and violence. The island state will not escape reprisal for its failure to preserve the rights of its minority citizens.
[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.]
(Courtesy: Gulf News)
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January 15, 2013, 9:19 pm
By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ
True to its name, the media in Gujarat vie with one another in calling the ensuing jamboree a ‘vibrant’ one! Banner headlines in almost all the newspapers, this morning in Ahmedabad, scream as though it was the most important event on earth! Remarks and comments by captains of industry and even from representatives of foreign countries made it appear that this was the ultimate for business and for development. Hoardings all over Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad and advertisements in the newspapers, brazenly portray the face and figure of just one man!
One definitely cannot overlook the flag-waving, the cheering and the adulatory speeches made, from anointing the CEO of Gujarat as the “king of kings” to comparing him with Mahatma Gandhi! But then as Shakespeare would say in his ‘Hamlet’, “there is something rotten in the State of Denmark”.
Why is it that NO ONE has the courage to ask or say:- Why the CEO of Gujarat and his party have vehemently been opposing the Central Government in its Foreign Direct Investment plan but have gone all overboard to woo foreign investments for the State?
- Why that real development is not about money but about people?
- Why a huge wall has been constructed just opposite the Summit venue so that no one can see the miserable conditions of the people who live in the slums there?
- Why justice in Gujarat is a far cry for the poor and very specially for vulnerable groups like dalits, adivasis and minorities?
- Why the CEO presided over the killing of hundreds of innocent people and the marginalization of many more, in the State?
- Why some of his closest aides have been indicted or charge-sheeted in the annihilation of minorities?
- Why the State is the worst performer in malnutrition with 69.7% of children upto the age of five, anaemic and 44.6% malnourished?
- Why according to the Global Hunger Index Policy Research Institute India ranks 66 among the 88 countries listed; and Gujarat happens to be among the five worst performers?
- Why the literacy rate in Gujarat is marginally above the national average but extremely low in the tribal areas; primary education in Gujarat is in the doldrums and the worst sufferers are the poor and the marginalized?
- Why just 3.1% of the MOUs signed during the Summit in 2011 are actually under implementation?
- Why female foeticide is high in Gujarat and today the Gujarat sex ratio has a skewed rate of 918 - making it one of the worst States in the country?
- Why unemployment is rampant in Gujarat and that the average daily wage for casual workers in Gujarat is just about Rs.83 in the rural areas and Rs.106 in the urban areas?
- Why large sections of the minority communities are confined to ghettoes and cannot live in neighbourhood of their choice?
- Why Gujarat has the most draconian ‘Freedom of Religion Law’ in the country which necessitates that the person has to seek the permission of the civil authority before they can convert to a religion of their choice?
- Why three of the top ten polluted areas in the country are in Gujarat?
- Why rampant corruption in the State is never allowed to be made into an issue?
Real development is ultimately about people. PR firms contracted on large retainers are certainly adept at fudging figures and turning myths, half-truths and lies into something believable. But since fear and fascism, rule the roost, no one has the courage and honesty of the little child to loudly cry, “the king has no clothes on!”
[Fr. Cedric Prakash SJis the Director of PRASHANT, Ahmedabad-based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace. He can be contacted at sjprashant@gmail.com]
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January 15, 2013, 9:30 pm
ByAbdul Hafiz Lakhani
Ahmedabad: The number of jobless people in vibarant Gujarat state has risen by 97,095 in the last two years according to a government agency. In other words, on an average the number of unemployed people has been rising by over 4,000 per month.
In 2007-08, there were 7, 92,033 jobless people in Gujarat but in 2008-09 this had increased to 8, 24,769. But according to the latest figures (for the 11-month period ended February 2010) available with the state's labour and employment department, the number of unemployed people in the state is now 8, 89,128.
The number of jobless people is now close to nine lakh. An interesting aspect of unemployment in Gujarat is that joblessness is particularly rife among the educated. The official data indicates that out of the 8, 89, 128 people officially unemployed in the state, only 71,762 had no education. The rest (8, 17,366) had received education at different levels.
A comparison of the latest data with unemployment figures of previous years indicates that the number of educated unemployed has risen much faster than the figure for the uneducated unemployed. This is contrary to the state government's claim that employment opportunities have increased in 'vibrant Gujarat'.
The official data is based on the number of jobless people registered with the state's employment exchanges till November 2012.
A comparison of the latest data with unemployment figures of previous years indicates that the number of educated unemployed has risen much faster than the figure for the uneducated unemployed. This is contrary to the state government's claim that employment opportunities have increased in 'vibrant Gujarat'.
The latest data also indicates that the number of unemployed graduates is higher than that of the jobless with an SSC certificate. The total number of jobless graduates registered with the state's employment exchanges is 2, 42,344. For SSC certificate holders, this figure is 2, 25,983. But the largest number of educated unemployed (2, 64,035 people) are from the Class 12-pass category. The number of jobless people with general postgraduate degrees has also increased - from 34,061 in 2007-08 to 47,472 in February 2010 - but the number of unemployed engineering graduates is only 56 percent.
Unemployment among engineering graduates and post-graduates is very low compared to arts, commerce and science graduates. While unemployment figures have continued to rise, the success rate of state-run employment exchanges in finding suitable jobs for them has been declining. In 2007-08, the number of people placed by the exchanges was 2, 00,562. This had come down to 1, 55,783 by 2012.
A senior government official said on condition of anonymity that graduates in general subjects find it difficult to get jobs as they are not sufficiently competitive. "But the state government has started vocational training in automobiles, call centres, and other similar employment avenues," the official said. "Also, once the projects for which commitment was made during different Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summits (VGGIS) become operational, no one will have any problem finding jobs."
The official further said that unemployment figures provided by employment exchanges were not very reliable. People rarely took the trouble to report back to the exchanges when they had finally found a job. "And under the rules, we cannot delete their names for three years, from the list of the unemployed,'' the official said. This sorry situation of unemployment in Gujarat did not allow the state to advance into a prosperous state free from poverty. Gujarat has a high 31.8 per cent population living below poverty line, says a Planning Commission report. This is higher than several major states such as Jammu & Kashmir (13.2 per cent), Kerala (19.7 per cent), Punjab (20.9 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (22.9 per cent), Haryana (24.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (28.9 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (29.9 per cent). The report was submitted to the Commission by a group of experts, headed by Suresh D Tendulkar late last year.
Ranked eighth among major states, the only consolation for Gujarat is, Maharashtra, its neighbour and one of the main economic competitors, has a much higher incidence of poverty, 38.1 percent.
Poverty line for Gujarat monthly expenditure of Rs 501.58 per person in rural and Rs 659.18 in urban areas is based on National Sample Survey (NSS) norms fixed in 2005-06, which includes 'nutritional, educational and health outcomes', to quote from the report.
As long as the problem of unemployment is not solved as a step towards eradication of poverty Narendra Modi loses the right to call Gujarat as Vibrant Gujarat.
[Abdul Hafiz Lakhaniis a senior Journalist based at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Gujarat). He can be reached at lakhani63@yahoo.com or on his cell 09228746770]
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January 15, 2013, 9:37 pm
IMO News Service
Madhyama Kendra Mangalore has announced a Grand International Essay competition titled LET US KNOW THIS MAN – PROPHET MUHAMMAD (S) -THE MESSENGER OF PEACE. This event sponsored by Maulana Abul Hasan Islamic Academy, Bhatkal, involves prizes worth Rs.10 lakhs (US $ 20,000) for the winners of this unique essay competition.
First , second and third prize winners will get Rs.5,00,000 lakhs (US $ 10,000), Rs.3,00,000 lakhs (US $ 6,000) and Rs.2,00,000 (US $ 4,000) cash prizes respectively.
Apart from this, there are hundreds of other prizes to be won under various sub categories. Prizes will be distributed in a specially convened international conference.
Last date for registration is 15th March 2013. Last date to receive entries is 15th April 2013.
Complete details and rules and regulations of the contest are available at www.madhyamakendra.org and www.facebook.com/letusknowthisman
Interested participants may also write to madhyamakendra1@gmail.com or madhyamakendra2@gmail.com
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January 17, 2013, 1:55 pm
By Tariq A. Al-Maeena
Following my recent trip to Bangladesh, I was asked by a colleague the reasons behind my optimistic perspective on that country. He wanted to know what I had seen there to justify my positive view. My answer was brief: A diligent workforce and a thoughtfully planned educational system.
It is the industrious workforce that is behind the surge of multinationals seeking to establish a production presence in textile products. The export of garments has steadily increased over the last few years with more foreign enterprises coming in, attracted by the cheap cost of labor and the favorable tax perks for setting up shop.
According to recent figures released by the Bangladesh export promotion bureau (EPB), woven garments and knitwear exports from Bangladesh increased by 8.8 percent last year, contributing a significant portion of income to the GDP. In the last four months, an outstanding increase of 16 percent over last year statistics resulted in an income of $6.6 billion in this sector alone.
The fact that Bangladesh has steadily posted positive growth in its worldwide garment exports in recent years in spite of the current debt crisis in many European nations and a badly shaken US economy is a testament to the quality and confidence shown in its products, undoubtedly spurred on by its hardworking people.
Its large neighbor India, on the other hand, experienced a decline in its apparel exports for the same period. India has been in the business of garments far longer than Bangladesh, but according to the Indian apparel export promotion council (AEPC), India’s garment exports during the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2012-13 declined by nine percent due to weak overseas market demand.
Bangladesh today is in the process of transition from a predominantly agricultural economy to an industrial and service economy, and the private sector is playing an increasingly active role in the economic affairs of the country, while the government concentrates on the physical and social infrastructures. Even state-owned enterprises, traditionally an oasis of bureaucratic inefficiency, have been undergoing rapid restructuring.
The country’s report card includes the following: A steady annual GDP growth of five percent or over in the past decade; inflation held to single digits; the gradual shifting from the export of traditional goods to more value added items; emphasis on manufacturing sectors coupled with stable economic fundamentals such as exchange and interest rates, low debt and high foreign currency reserves.
But all this will be difficult to maintain if the labor force is not developed. To achieve this, the government has defined ambitious goals including the elimination of illiteracy by 2015. A program is currently in the works that will increase enrollment at primary school levels by 100 percent annually.
There are also plans to improve the quality of education, and the creation of a new generation of Bangladeshis equipped with the latest knowledge in science and technology. The government also intends to this year make degree level education free for all citizens, coupled with a higher salary for teachers and professors at these institutions.
The Education Policy Act of 2009 defined the government’s ambitious goal to utilize the youth of Bangladesh which form over 70 percent of the population into a potent workforce by providing them with the tools to achieve those goals. Some of the Act’s salient features include the introduction of pre-school education, integration of madrassa education and vocational education into the general education curriculum, scholarships for those who cannot afford higher education, and providing enough schools, libraries, computers and internet access to students in the remotest villages.
An education program with funding from the European Union has opened 150 multilingual primary schools, enabling more children to access education. The program began a new phase that is focusing on making education relevant and accessible to young people. This initiative has resulted in the introduction of multilingual education in remote areas of the country. Bangladesh is on track to achieve 100 percent primary school enrollment by 2015, one component of the country’s development goals.
The country is indeed investing heavily in education. Coupled with the industrious nature of a primarily youthful population, the rewards from such governmental steps toward promoting socio-economic development through education at the grassroots level will indeed bear fruit in the near future.
The country’s ambitious drive to elevate itself to the tiers of middle developed countries (MDC) in less than a decade will not be just a dream.
[The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena.]
(Courtesy: Saudi Gazette)
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January 17, 2013, 1:59 pm
By Rachel Chang
Madam Halimah Yacob was elected Speaker of Parliament today (January 14, 2013) by MPs.Moulmein-Kallang GRC MP Denise Phua nominated her, while Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Chris de Souza seconded the nomination.
After Madam Halimah then took her place in the Speakers' chair, Leader of the House Ng Eng Hen rose to speak, beginning with "Madam Speaker" - a phrase, he noted, that was being uttered for the first time in the House.
He praised her as an "active and ardent backbencher" who spoke up for low-wage workers, women and children and said that the former Minister of State for Social and Family Development would be missed in Government.
(Courtesy: Straits Times)
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January 17, 2013, 2:05 pm
Tracing the day-to-day struggle and triumph of a Palestinian boy, Ichmad Hamid who later on turns to be a Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
By Mohammad Aleem
It has always been a pleasure for me to read a good book but so rarely it comes in hand.This year, I have just finished my first book and I am pretty glad about it. This is The Almond Tree, penned by Michelle Cohen Corasanti and published by Garnet, UK, in 2012. This is a novel which runs around in three hundred fifty pages and it contains fifty eight chapters.
The book is all about the day-to-day struggle and triumph of a Palestinian boy, Ichmad Hamid who later on turns to be a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. It looks like a fairy tale because if we look at the background of Ichmad, it seems a pretty unachievable task because he comes from a very poor background. But it also strengthens the long held conviction that if one struggles hard and learns to live in different circumstances keeping his or her aim high, he or she may succeed, no matter at what time and how it comes. For Ichmad, though it was hard even to dream for a good cloth to wear and go to school regularly because his father, Baba is imprisoned in a cattle pen like security prison of Israel, perched in a barren and secluded desert for no any apparent reason. The only fault of that man was that some rugs had hid some arms and ammunitions in the courtyard of his house and he knew nothing about it. It was also coincidently the birthday of Ichmad and the family was celebrating its quite modestly that night when that ignominious incident had taken place. They live in a one room shabby house which even that gets destroyed by the Israeli bulldozer when they come to know about the arms hidden there in front of their house. Ichmad luckily finds out who has hid that ammunition. He was with a militant group fighting to liberate his motherland from the chocking shackle of Israelis but he gets caught by the security forces and reveals all his activities including his act of hiding the arms near the house of Ichmad. When Ichmad confronts with him in the night when the family was happily celebrating his birthday quite modestly because they had nothing to do lavishly, he threatens to shoot him and wipe out his entire family if dares to reveal about it to any, especially Israelis.
For Ichmad, it is a difficult situation to cope with. He is only twelve years old then. He gets caught in the web of violence. He fears both from the militant groups and the Israeli army.But finally his father and his whole family pay the price.
The Israeli rouge soldiers punish him brutally with total disregard of the human propriety and dignity. And even they raze their tent like house to the ground like. Though once upon a time, his family was rich and they owned a big plot of fertile land on which they used to grow oranges, olive and other food crops suitable for that area. The story is of a village which is perched near the border of Palestine and Israel. This village comes under jurisdiction of Israel and they leave not any chance unused to harass them and to make them feel like a slave and more than that. They live a wretched life. They have no freedom even to breathe freely. They can’t think of sending their students to school but they have to turn to the fields and construction building sites and slaughterhouses to earn their livings.
The story begins with a sad note. Ichmad has a big family. Among his siblings, he is the eldest. He's one of the sisters Amal gets killed by an explosion of mine which was laid just nearby their home and the Israeli army was pretty aware about those dangers. But they would never pay heed to such things. For them, killing innocent and unarmed Palestinians was just like killing some flies. They would never seem to take these incidents as a human should take.
“The next part was like slow motion. Like someone threw her up in the air. Smoke and fire were under her and the smile flew away. The sound hits us- really hard. And when I looked to where she was, she was gone. Just gone, I couldn’t hear anything.” (P, 5)
This is the gory scene which the family witness while seeing their eldest daughter going into flames and soon after that devastating blast, they find her dead and completely disfigured.The second deaths come in the house when the security forces come to take Ichmad’s father into their custody. They beat him badly in front of his family members and even don’t spare small children. And Ichmad’s second sister in line succumbs to their mindless violence.
After the incarceration of his father, Ichmad is forced to work at the building construction sites to earn a living. He now learns to live like a grown up man who could provide succor to his family. His younger brother, Abbas also goes to work with him because it was necessary for them to survive. There Abbas and Ichmad were treated not like a normal child but of an outcast class and every type of ill treatment they get there. On an ill-fated day, one thick headed Iraqi immigrant Jew tortures Abbas badly for not doing his work properly. He suffers deadly fractures and gets hospitalized. He becomes paralyzed. For many years, he lives in the hospital. This is another big problem for the impoverished family. That incident not only breaks the body of that crippled boy but his soul and mind also. He later on turns hostile to Israel and leaves his village to join a militant organization at Gaza. He now constantly grudges against his enemy and tires to avenge all humiliation and disgust received at the hand of Israeli. But this situation makes Ichmad and his family more vulnerable and harassments increase.
Ichmad is saved from such inglorious situation by a prudent and wise teacher who teaches him at the school. Ichmad is quite an intelligent boy. Especially, in science, his minds just fly like a bird in the sky. He loves to calculate the even difficult calculations in a fraction of time. And his teacher encourages him to continue studying and don’t think leaving it in any way.
Ichmad listens to his teacher patiently and gives his advice a due importance. He studies at night when he finds himself free from his tedious and bone cracking work during the day.
He has worked for some time at a slaughter house also. What is the condition of that house and how it impacts the whole village has been suitably summarized in these few lines:“The chimney from the slaughterhouse and accompanying factories spread thick, oily, black smoke throughout our village. Because we had no sewage system, the filth, grease and chemicals from the slaughterhouse soaked into our soil. Bubbles of carbonic acid rose to the surface, while grease and filth caked the land. Every now and then, the land would catch fire and the whole village would run and put it out with buckets of well-water.” (P- 103)
This situation is almost with the entire occupied territory of Palestine. They live like a second class citizen and most of the time, even worse than a slave, on their own legitimate land which the aggressor Israelis had occupied it forcefully.
Ichmad luckily gets the chance to appear in a competitive exam and he succeeds at it.And he is offered a scholarship at a Hebrew university. He is the first Palestinian boy who goes there to study. He meets there adverse situations and most of the time, his friends at college spew scorns and humiliation on him but he bears all with patience and determination for he knew that only this could make him success in his life.
He remembers his father’s word always in every adverse situation. He is always a pillar of strength and force for him.
“You cannot go back and make a new start, but you can start now and make a new end.” (P- 115)
He believes that he will be able to give a good start to his life. And finally he succeeds and he graduates from that university and after his post graduation he gets a scholarship to do his doctorate from an American university where he goes with his fellow science Professor, Menachem Sharon. He was the person who once despised and hated him abhorrently but later on when he realizes his talents he not becomes a close associate of him but helps him in his realizing his goal.
In America, they succeed and in the end they reach to the world’s most coveted award, the Nobel Prize.
The story of America is somehow with fewer struggles and passes it like a mild breeze.In those happy moments, a fragrant breeze comes as Nora in the life of Ichmad. She is a Jew.Her parents are quite wealthy and influential people. They work for the greater cause of the welfare of the society but when it comes to think about the marriage of their only daughter to a Palestinian boy, it becomes hard for them to swallow. Ichmad and Nora marry and start living together happily but its end comes soon in the form of a devastating incident at his village home.
Nora becomes victim of Israeli aggression there. When the bulldozer of Israeli army comes to raze the Ichmad’s house on the pretext of punishing them for joining the militant group of his younger brother, Abbas, Nora comes in the way of that barbaric aggression and she gets crushed.
It is a cold blooded murder and even her influential parents don’t succeed in bringing out the killers at the table of justice. Such is the highhandedness of Israeli army and its political heads.The novel has some other characters also which succeed in ingraining their presence in the mind of the reader quite successfully like Manchem’s second wife, Justice, Ichmad’s second wife, Yasmin and his mother. They are fine ladies and seem always doing their thing quite sensibly. Ichmad’s mother is an illiterate lady so she has her own understanding of seeing and doing the things but the other two ladies are quite intelligent and they have some humble corners in their hearts for oppressed one.
Second most important character in the novel is the younger brother of Ichmad, Abbas who turns a militant but he doesn’t succeed in reaping any substantial results from it. It shows that you can’t get anything applying violence but peace and higher education will take you there where you want to reach. But the enemy forces know it well that how to keep these kinds of people like their slaves. They, in a much planned way, deprive them from a good education.
It reminds me the days of the British in India and even at the present scenario here, only a few chosen one goes to good schools and universities and a vast number gets unattended. The worst condition is of Muslims and other such class who are forced to live on the fringes of the society.
But this novel not only narrates the gloom and sadness of one’s life but good and rosy side also. It also looks a little bit idealistic approach and an exceptional case in itself. What if Ichmad was not an intelligent boy and good at his studies as he used to be in the story, then what would have happened? Is there any place in the society for deprived one and for those who are not so lucky to get good talents in their lives? Then who will take care of those boys and girls?
I will conclude this article on these lines penned by the famous social activist of India, Harsh Mander. He writes on the editorial page of the Hindustan Times on 14th January, 20013.“In The Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen asks why the pursuit of justice is universal in human societies and concludes that this is primarily because human empathy, as well as the longing for freedom and reason, is essential to human nature. Empathy involves feeling the pain and humiliation of others as though it was one’s own.” (The Hindustan Times)
The whole Israeli establishment should understand that if they want to succeed in establishing the lasting peace with his Arab neighbors they would have to come out to them with a big heart and an open mind. Violence would take them nowhere. They can’t rule on Palestinians like this forever.
[Mohammad Aleemcan be reached at mohammad.aleem1@gmail.com. Visit his website www.mohammadaleem.com to know more about his works]
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January 17, 2013, 2:09 pm
IMO News Service
Stamford, CT: Saffron Road, the packaged food brand of American Halal Co., launches the first frozen entrée of its kind nationally at the end of January. The new gourmet, frozen entrée, Chana Saag with Cumin Rice, is the first frozen entrée in the USA to be Non-GMO Verified. In addition to Saffron Road’s existing 12 World Cuisine frozen entrees (including four Indian varieties), the brand will launch a Chana Saag Entrée to appeal to the growing popularity of Indian cuisine in the U.S. Saffron Road’s unique twist on Chana Saag includes tender, organic chickpeas and leafy fresh spinach mildly spiced and sautéed with exotic Indian herbs served in a bed of cumin rice. This entrée is verified Non-GMO, All Natural, Gluten Free, Vegetarian and Certified Halal.
“Earning the Non-GMO Verification for our products is a big priority for Saffron Road and a huge added value to passionate natural food consumers who are actively seeking out Non-GMO foods,” says Adnan Durrani, CEO of Saffron Road.
The new entrée will be available nationwide later this month at Whole Foods Market stores for the suggested retail price range of $5.49 to $5.99.
“We were motivated to add another ethnic frozen entrée to our portfolio as consumers continue to ask for more vegetarian and Non-GMO options,” says Jack Acree, EVP of Sales of Marketing. “We continue to look for more gaps to fill in the marketplace; look for Saffron Road to produce even more innovative products throughout 2013,” continues Acree.
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January 17, 2013, 2:18 pm
By Adfar Shah
Waqf is an Arabic word derived from “Waqafa” which literally means ‘religious endowment’. It is recognized by the Islamic law as religious, pious or charitable donation. It is perpetual, inalienable and irrevocable in nature as it is something dedicated to God,therfore,cannot be sold but once a waqf always remains so. It is used in Islam in the meaning of holding certain property and preserving it for the confined benefit of certain philanthropy and prohibiting any use or deposition of it outside that specific objective. The familiar term, for such trusts, in the texts of Shariah, is sadaqah and habs. However Islamic jurists also use the term waqf, which is sometimes written as Wakf or Waqf Auqaf, Awqaf, etc,. The Islamic jurists use words Habs or Tasbil for the same concept.
Importance Of Auqaf
Waqf is a parallel economic pursuit, a parallel welfare body. It has a massive public scope because of sentiments and it can be used as an institution of economic development. Owing to religious composition of india’s social structure, the existence and role of Waqf cannot be overlooked. The notion of Waqf in India, particularly in Kashmir, is more or less represented by Waqf of properties of mosques, shrines etc. Where as the institution started from the onset of muslim rule in india (more than 800 years ago ) and today has the potential of about one lakh twenty thousand crores but even less than one percent of the income is achieved owing to mal-administration,legal issues,land grab and encroachment and absence of proper control and waqf administration (As per Sachar Committee report).
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However the organization’s functioning in present Kashmir is being questioned by many intellectuals on the grounds of corruption, alienation and encroachment of Waqf property especially illegal occupation of Waqf land by encroacheres and administration being unable to get it back.
Prospect & Problems
Except a layman’s discussion on the concept of Waqf and the subject usually found in public debates and newspaper articles, hardly a serious scholarly discourse prevails or there lies any serious concern toward the research in Waqf studies. Currently we find that hardly any such empirical study is being done on this subject and its allied domains. Actually which makes Waqf a less understood institution and a difficult to deal with is the administration problem or creation of income generating assets. Recently through an opinionnaire, the perception of Muslim youths was sought by me both in Delhi and Kashmir (online), on the subject of the awareness about Auqaf among younger generation. Out of 100 youths, just 18 students knew about the concept of Auqaf or Waqf and about 50% of them knew Waqf as mere Waqf Board and 5% of the students could argue about the role of Auqaf in Muslim welfare.
The opinion was collected to ascertain how the Muslim youth sees the Waqf institution in India in the context of current role and prospect and Waqf’s educational role, Muslim empowerment, etc,. Also those who know anything about Waqf, instantly utter the term “Waqf Board” only. Not to talk of non-Muslims, hardly Muslim younger generation is aware of the institution of Waqf, its meaning and significance for the Muslim welfare.
The fact is even the country lacks efficient Waqf administrators to handle Waqf Boards and run the affairs smoothly. Right from the valley to the national capital, Muslim youth seem to be very ignorant about Auqaf, perhaps due to media’s negligence and dismal role of the state in promoting Auqaf. Lack of Waqf administrative services cadre. Also Waqf research has not been paid much attention and very few researches at doctoral level have been conducted in India or abroad.
However, the state of auqaf in Jammu and Kashmir and particularly Haryana has changed a lot in positive terms be that educational contribution,philonthropy,etc, despite a lot of scope for improvement. The fact is under the ample leadership of former academic M. Y Qadri (the current Vice- Chairman of J&K Muslim Waqf Board) and Mr. Naseem Ahmad (former IAS and former Vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University), Administrator of Haryana Waqf Board, both the Boards of Kashmir and Haryana have developed a lot in terms of contribution to society despite being beset with so many problems. Waqf Board under M. Y. Qadri has widened its activities especially after 2003 when it was rechristened from Auqaf Trust to Waqf Board. Currently it possesses no more than 1300 kanals (out of total 85000 kanals in the entire state as per some estimates) besides having the total property worth about Rs 2000 crores including more than 3400 shops including few shopping complexes and Hotels.
Also Haryana Waqf board has been leading all the 28 boards of the country in terms of the establishment of educational institutions,thereby contributing the Indian Muslim society in their capacity.
The Waqf can turn to a massive potential institution and thus can play a major role in Muslim upliftment; be it charity, socio-economic development of poor Muslims, education, health or Madrassa development provided spared of politicization and mismanagement which are seen in many Boards presently. Also the lack of Waqf experts haunts every Waqf Board and shortage of efficient staff and trained personnel to handle the situations is the biggest impediment to the Waqf development. Are we, as Muslim youth; ready to handle our own affairs is a question worth pondering.
But nothing will change by simply cursing the system unless we ourselves become the part of the system and work our bit for the empowerment and upliftment of our own institutions like Waqf rather than resorting to negative politics. Yes, the question is, are we ready to renovate and improve the Muslim state in the holistic country by our own actions and work, leaving apart unfair criticism and shall we be given the chance to contribute to the system?
The answer is simple. Get the skill, work hard, explore your respective fields and release the ghost of unemployment from your psyche. Before crying against unemployment, see whether you are employable and worth enough to contribute to the system or not. The problem will get solved by itself. Are we ready to keep the legacy forward or remain busy in gaining employment simply to run our own material comforts? This discussion may not enlighten us on whether there is a widely prevalent sense of Muslim alienation in the country but can surely enlighten us how the situation is perceived by Muslims which is utterly pessimistic.
While the term alienation has been widely used, its precise meaning has proved to be elusive in more ways than one. It is used generically to denote a turning away, estrangement, a state of being an outsider or the feeling of being isolated from society or a state in which a person’s feelings are inhibited so that eventually both the self and the external world appear unreal. This has serious implications for using the concept in relation to a discussion of situation of Muslims in India. Even the most casual reading of the popular discussion tells us that a wide variety of feelings and sensibilities are subsumed under this word without discriminating their implications.
Fear, resentment, a sense of protest or anger is all subsumed under the word alienation as if they were not only the same but also as if they have the same implications for behavior of Muslims. If one is serious about understanding whether alienation of Muslims prevails in society, one must begin by distinguishing these different kinds of sensibilities and identify more rigorously than has been done so far those sensibilities that denote alienation from those that denote other kinds of dispositions or sensibilities.
More …
The three basic premises of Waqf, I.e. the principle of irrevocablity perpetuity and inalienability are the main obstacles to the development of waqf properties especially Lands. Therefore, sustaining its basic principles Waqf’s contribution to the welfare of society can be made at par with other modern developmental and empowering institutions. There is need for rethinking of the present concept of waqf, either through studying the existing minority opinions or finding new solutions.
The institution of Waqf alone can be a major source of survival of the needy and can give boost to education, especially education of the poor Muslims Auqaf if developed holistically and administered properly can prove a tool of empowerment in Muslim societies and the downtrodden Muslim youth can excel well in all career pursuits. We as Muslim youth have to realize our duties and work for the holistic Islamic institutional strengthening. However, Muslim youth and scholars need to rethink and ponder seriously upon the missing links and dis junctions from their rich past as we cannot afford to progress at the huge cost of rich Islamic ethos.
Auqaf in the holistic India can bring a positive change in the life of every musli of the country because of its huge potential provided it is looked after well,regulated and controlled well and made more income generating and corruption free.Besides there is a dire need of the implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations pertaining to Wakfs in India.
[Adfar Rashid Shahis a Doctoral Candidate of Sociology at the Central University of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. India. The author hails from Kashmir Valley and has mostly been writing on social and political issues in South Asia. His articles have appeared in various national and international journals, magazines and newspapers. Besides participating in number of national and international conferences, he has produced more than one hundred publications so far. His research experiences include Iqbalian Philosphy, Youth Sociology, Change and Development, Field work, Military Sociology and Sociology of Religion. He can be mailed at adfer.syed@gmail.com.]
(Courtesy: Eurasia Review)
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January 17, 2013, 2:28 pm
Every Paisa in 12th Plan Will be Monitored: Maulana Fazlur Rahim MujaddidiBy Pervez Bari
Lucknow: The concerted and sustained campaign to get allocated substantial increase in the funds in the 12th Five-Year-Plan (2012-2017) for the welfare of minorities, especially Muslims, has borne fruits.
The efforts put in by Muslim cleric Maulana Mohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi, chairman of SEE, (Strive for Eminence and Empowerment), and trusted band of his lieutenants who orchestrated the whole campaign, came for all round praise from one all at the National Conference on “12th Five Year Plan & Minorities” here in Lucknow at Ganna Sanstha on Sunday last.
Maulana Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi, who is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Planning Commission, while delivering keynote address at the conference declared that in the last 65 years after India’s Independence Eleven (11) Five-Year-Plans have passed away into darkness and gone to the winds and the minorities, especially the Muslim community, remained cocooned in the web of ignorance and illiteracy while wallowing in the memories of their long-gone glorious past. But now, the Muslims have awakened and they will keep track of each and every paisa allotted for their welfare in the 12th Plan, he thundered.
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Nirmal Khatri, Member of Parliament & president Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, (UPCC), presided over the National Conference while Shri Prakash Jaiswal, Union Coal Minister, was the chief guest at the conference. Dr. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, ex-president of UPCC; Zafar Ali Naqvi, Member of Parliament; Dr. Mohammad Muslim, MLA from Sultanpur in Rai Bareli in Lok Sabha constituency; Akhtar Husain Akhtar; Masood Ahmad and Anees Ansari (Rtd. IAS), were guests of honour on the occasion. Many important dignitaries, academicians, social activists, NGOs and delegates from all over India participated in the programme.
Meanwhile, in an emotional outburst Maulana Mujaddidi said: “Abhi Tak Muslaman Bheek Mangta Raha Magar Ab Main Usko Apna Qanooni Huq Dilwakar Rahoonga. 12th Plan Mein Jo Kuch Mila Hai Uska Hisab Liya Jaega Aur Jo Kuch Nahin Milsaka Uske Liye Hamara Ehtajaaj Chalta Rahega”. Keeping an eye on the delivery system the social workers, community, political and religious leaders will be questioned by the beneficiaries about the implementation of the Government of India policies and programmes by the bureaucrats. Millions of Muslims have higher expectations about their future today, than they have ever had before, he added.“Main Millat Ke Liye social service Karta Rahoong Aur Hukumat Ke GalyaroN Mein Darwaza Khatkhata Ta Rahoonga Chahe Mujh Par Jitna Bhi Congressi Hone Ka Ilzam Lagta Rahe. Maine Apne Liye Ya Khandaan WaloN Ke Liye Kabhi Kuch Nahi Manga. Jisdin Yeh Koi Sabit Kardega Ke Maine Apni Zaat Ya Khandaan WaloN Ke Liye Kuch Haasil Kiya Hai To Main Usdin Social Service Se Sanyas Leloong”, Maulana Mujaddidi said in a choked voice which drew a thunderous applause from the assemblage.
Ph.D. in 12th Plan & Planning Commission
In a lighter vein later he said that his degrees from well-known world level Madrasa may not be recognised by Oxford and Cambridge Universities but making rounds of the Planning Commission of India for the last four years when the process of preparation of 12th Plan started I have obtained Ph.D. in 12th Five-Year-Plan and the Planning Commission.
Meanwhile, he reminded the political leaders seated on the dais and others that not a single Madrasa in the country gives training in terrorism along with their religious curriculum. “I being a Madrasa product can vouch for this on oath”, he emphatically said.
Talking about the 12th Plan which has been claimed to be Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, the Maulana pointed out that the total allotment outlay for Minority Affairs has been hiked from Rs.7,283/- crore in the 11th Plan to Rs.7,323/- crores in the 12th Plan which is 137.85 per cent increase. While in the Social Services sector the total allotment outlay has been increased from Rs.1,197,576/- crore in the 11th Plan to Rs.2,664,843/- crores in the 12th Plan which is 122.52 per cent hike out of which 15 per cent share is Rs.399,726/- crores for minorities. As per his own calculations, a whopping Rs. 1 lakh crore has been allotted for the Uttar Pradesh Muslims under social services, Maulana Mujaddidi stated.
He said that in Box No. 24.2 in the 12th Plan document on Page 256 of Volume III the Vision for the Twelfth Five Year Plan under the heading Increase Allocation it is stated: “Increase the scale of key interventions by greater financial outlays across the board to include MsDP and also bringing a larger number of schemes within the scope of the 15 PP, by making educational scholarships demand driven and by initiating key pilot programmes to develop best practices for the future”. For institutional robust monitoring all the data of a district will be available with the district welfare officer (facilitator) and available in the public domain.
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While on Page 263, Volume III of the 12th Plan document under the title 3. Scheme for Promotion of Education in 100 Minority Concentration Towns/Cities: 24.201. A sizeable minority population in towns and cities is socio-economically disadvantaged and requires a whole range of special initiatives to improve their living conditions and opportunities. It is, therefore, necessary to initiate special programmes for the promotion of education, including skill and vocational education, in such backward towns/cities for empowering members of minority communities, among others.
New chapter added in Elementary Education
He said that under Right to Education, (TE), and Muslim Children, a new chapter has been added in Elementary Education, wherein states will have to constitute Working Group for Implementation. There will be shift from Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to RTE in the 12th Plan for free and compulsory education of equitable quality to the children of India. By the middle of the 12th Plan a new modality of implementation of RTE would be ready to replace SSA.Talking of the ground realities Maulana Mujaddidi lamented that in the11th Plan under the Indira Awas Yojana, (IAY), for minorities only 2 percent of the targetted 15 percent houses were allotted to them.
India as World Super Power without Muslims impossible
Speaking as chief guest Mr. Prakash Jaiswal said the importance of education must be inculcated among Indian Muslims and they should be acquainted with the schemes brought out by the Union Government for their welfare so that they can derive maximum utilisation and thereby extricate themselves from the morass of illiteracy and poverty. He told the audience that it is their responsibility to make the government answerable by taking two steps and then ask it to take four steps.
Mr. Jaiswal said that then only India can aspire to become a world Super Power. He candidly admitted without any inhibition that without the progress and development of 15 per cent Muslims, who are denied their due share, India cannot become a Super Power in the 21st Century. It would remain only a pipe dream if Muslim community is not brought into the mainstream to enjoy the fruits of development as equal partners, he remarked.
He said that there are ample welfare schemes for the uplift of Muslims by the Union government. However, the benefits do not reach the common man as the regional governments which are the implementing agencies are equally responsible for this, he added.
Mr. Jaiswal, while heaping praises on Maulana Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi for his vision and mission, said the erudite Muslim cleric has wealth of knowledge to uplift Muslims educationally through Union government’s welfare schemes. He said when he visited Maulana Fazlur Rahim’s Jamea-Tul-Hidaya Madrasa at Jaipur of which he is Rector, he was spell-bound by the ambience of education that pervades at his institute. It is a unique Madrasa in Jaipur (Rajasthan), wherein religious, modern and technical education have been so well combined for the all round development of Aalims (graduate students) studying there in. Though a product of madrasa education the Maulana is a real educationist and a social activist in the true sense who has engaged himself with making the Muslim community aware of their rights and duties. Every state should be endowed with such a personality which would transform the fate of Muslims in particular and the country at large to become a Super Power, he opined.
Nirmal Khatri in his presidential address referring to Maulana Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi said a Madrasa product knocking the doors of Planning Commission incessantly not only got it opened but also got his demands for the Muslim community accepted by it. This is no mean achievement, he added.
Dr. Rita Bahuguna Joshi acknowledged the contributions of Maulana Mujaddidi for the uplift of Muslim community which we politicians have failed to do so. She also admitted that India gained freedom due to great sacrifices of Madrasa education stalwart.
Zafar Ali Naqvi, Member of Parliament, Dr. Mohammad Muslim and Akhtar Husain Akhtar also spoke on the occasion.
In the beginning S. M. Hilal of Foundation of Civil Liberties spoke on the National Conference’s Aims & Objects. He said due to the weaknesses in the delivery mechanism the 12th Plan may also suffer the same fate as that of the 11th Plan. As such the Muslims and other weaker sections should remain on their toes to try to understand the delivery mechanism and keep tab on the welfare schemes meant for them, he added.
Arshad Azmi, Chairman of Minority Welfare Programme Monitoring Unit, (MWPMU), who was the convenor of the National Conference, welcomed the guests at the start. He later on unfolded the Action Plan of MWPMU. The seminar was organized under the aegis of SEE, which is a New Delhi-based organisation working for the educational uplift of Muslims.
Three books related to 12th Plan brought by SEE were released on the occasion. At the end of the National Conference three resolutions were unanimously adopted. The resolutions which were passed are:-
(i) The concerned Union Ministries should immediately make public the action taken report. One year of the 12th Plan has already been passed, the community had bad experienced of 11th plan implementation specially related with educational infrastructure. Therefore it is proposed that concerned Ministries are requested to prepare an implementation Schedule for 12th Plan.
(ii) Though, the Scholarship Scheme has been made Demand Driven in the 12th Plan but the amount layout will not fulfil the financial needs to make it Demand Driven. Therefore, it is proposed that the Scholarship outlay should be increased and matched as per recommendations of Working Group (Ministry of Minority Affairs) & Steering Committee (Planning Commission) proposal. Further, the guidelines should also be amended according to the proposal.
(iii) The 12th Plan has introduced three (3) new Schemes viz. (a) Educational Infrastructure for 100 MCTs, (Minority Concentrated Towns); (b) Scholarship for Civil Services Exams & (c) Appointment of Welfare Officer in MCDs (Minority Concentrated Districts). These schemes are yet to be launched. It is proposed that these schemes should be launched immediately.
At the outset Maulana Qari Sikandar Islahi recited verses from the Holy Quran and explained its meaning to the assemblage. Mr. Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Director, Crescent Academy, New Delhi, anchored the programme with aplomb. Mr. Usmani proposed a vote of thanks.
It may be mentioned here that the conference was webcast live on http://www.cacademy.org with the link being http://96.125.174.63/~devtechn/projects/jamiya/.
[Pervez Bariis a senior Journalist based at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Madhya Pradesh). He can be contacted at pervezbari@eth.net]
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January 20, 2013, 11:38 am
By Laurie Balbo
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are expected to bring 3.5GW of solar capacity online by 2015: Saudi Arabia and Turkey lead the way.
A new report published by Green Tech Media (GTM) Research pins the surge from today’s near-negligible production on rapidly rising energy demand spurred by MENA economic expansion, population growth, and urbanization. It helps that the region is supersaturated with sunlight.
Factor in rising opposition to nuclear development and growing public awareness of the environmental sins of fossil fuels, and solar’s sunny reception makes perfect sense. Plus renewables, specifically concentrated solar (CSP) and photovoltaics (PV), would provide a secure domestic substitute for state-subsidized oil-generated electricity.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are expected to account for 70 percent of MENA’s total demand; each nation has unique motivations and strategies.
Conservation of oil for export is driving Saudi’s solar targets: 16GW of PV and 25GW of CSP by 2030. Turkey’s swing towards solar is a defense against its tenuous reliance on imported Russian and Iranian gas.
Saudi production will be based on large-scale ground-mounted arrays and CSP plants. Turkey will go with commercial and industrial rooftop PV segments.
In 2005, Turkey was the first MENA nation to establish a feed-in tariff (FIT), a limited program that failed to create adequate demand to attract large manufacturing. But with a retooled FIT in place and favorable renewable energy policies, Turkey’s predicted to experience significant PV demand. The nation has a 2023 solar target of 3GW, a planned capacity that GTM believes they’ll significantly exceed.
Abu Dhabi is moving forward with Shams-1, the world’s largest single-unit (100MW) concentrating solar power plant. Qatar plans to install 1.8 GW of PV capacity by 2014 and Dubai aims to source 5% of its power supply from solar by 2030. Then there’s Abu Dhabi’s EU-backed Desertec project.
Jordan and Morocco also have solar ambitions.
Last December, Jordan announced the kingdom’s first FIT. Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Commissioner Mohammad Hamid told pv-tech,“With rising international oil prices, the government has been looking for ways to reduce electricity demand and costs. We found that the best way to achieve both is by encouraging Jordanians to go solar.” ERC claims that solar could save individuals and small to medium sized businesses up to 70% on their monthly bills.Intentionality is great, but implementation demands strong policies and reasonable regulatory frameworks. In a region experiencing dramatic political and social change, solar’s future remains dubious.
The report was authored GTM Research analyst Scott Burger in collaboration with the Emirates Solar Industry Association. Burger presented highlights at the World Future Energy Summit on January 16th, describing major stakeholders, overall market structure, and long term outlook of each solar market in the region.
(Courtesy: Green Prophet)
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January 20, 2013, 11:52 am
Multi-billionaire son of a notorious playboy, His Highness Prince Karim, the fourth Aga Khan, enjoys his jets, yachts, and Thoroughbreds. But since the age of 20, he has also been the spiritual leader of 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, building a hugely effective global development network. In Chantilly, home to France’s most prestigious horse race, James Reginato explores how the press-shy, Harvard-educated prince, at 76, fuses two worlds.
By James Reginato
His Highness Prince Karim, the fourth Aga Khan and 49th hereditary imam of the world’s 15 million Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, remains a paradox to many people. The Pope of his flock, he also possesses fabled wealth and inhabits a world of marvelous châteaux, yachts, jets, and Thoroughbred horses. To be sure, few persons bridge so many divides—between the spiritual and the material; East and West; Muslim and Christian—as gracefully as he does.
Born in Geneva, brought up in Nairobi, educated at Le Rosey and Harvard, the Aga Khan has a British passport and spends a great deal of his time aloft in his private aircraft, but his base is Aiglemont, a vast estate near Chantilly, 25 miles north of Paris. On-site, in addition to a château and an elaborate training center for about a hundred of his Thoroughbreds, is the Secretariat, a modern office block that houses the nerve center of what might be described as his own U.N., the Aga Khan Development Network. A staggeringly large and effective organization, it employs 80,000 people in 30 countries. Although it is generally known for the nonprofit work it does in poor and war-torn parts of the globe, the A.K.D.N. also includes an enormous portfolio of for-profit businesses in sectors ranging from energy and aviation to pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and luxury hotels. In 2010 these generated $2.3 billion in revenue. The extent of these endeavors might not be so well known to the general public, since the Aga Khan usually shuns the press and stays out of the public eye.
Though he has no political territory, the Aga Khan is virtually a one-man state and is often received like a head of state when he travels. As imam he is responsible for looking after the material as well as spiritual needs of his followers, who are scattered in more than 25 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. His projects, however, benefit people of all faiths.
One of the rare opportunities to catch a glimpse of him occurs on a certain Sunday in June, in Chantilly, at the annual Prix de Diane, which for more than a century has been the most prestigious horse race in France. It takes place pretty much in his backyard, at the historic Hippodrome de Chantilly, just a few kilometers from Aiglemont. Dating from 1843, the Prix de Diane is the high point of the Continental horse-racing calendar, on the turf and off. Members of France’s top horse-owner clans, such as the Wildensteins and the Wertheimers, typically appear, along with sheikhs from Qatar and Dubai, and glamorous women in heavily feathered headgear.
Had it not been for the Aga Khan, however, this storied racetrack would probably not exist today, and its surroundings might be heading to ruin. In a highly unusual arrangement, the Aga Khan adopted, you might say, the entire 20,000-acre Domaine de Chantilly, which also contains one of France’s foremost but relatively unknown cultural treasures, the Château de Chantilly. Somewhat ironically, he is using expertise gained in his development projects from Kabul to—literally—Timbuktu to rescue this lush swath of France.
‘His Highness will see you now,” an assistant informs me in the cool white marble lobby of the Secretariat, then ushers me down a long corridor and through what appears to be a heavily fortified door. (Though his closest friends call him “K,” the Aga Khan, 76, is referred to by most of his associates as “His Highness,” “H.H.” for short.)
The Aga Khan’s private office is a large room of minimalist-modern design, with one unexpected feature. Colorful, highly polished spheres—geological specimens from around the world—appear to be floating on the walls, wizard-like.
“It’s a little bit of what’s beautiful under the earth,” His Highness explains as he sits down for a rare interview. “This one is from Madagascar, that’s from Brazil,” he elaborates. On a Saturday morning, he is wearing an impeccably tailored suit with a tie. He has a courtly charm and speaks in a captivating low voice.
Last summer marked the 55th anniversary of his imamate. It was an inheritance no one—himself included—expected him to receive when the news was announced on July 11, 1957, during a reading of the will of his grandfather His Highness Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III. It was the first time in the family’s 1,300-year history that a generation—Karim’s father—had been skipped over. Though historians have written about the events of that day, Prince Karim has rarely publicly commented on his own feelings.
“It was a shock,” he reveals today, “but I don’t think anyone in my situation would have been prepared.”
He was a junior at Harvard, where his roommates had included Adlai Stevenson’s son John, but in April of that year Prince Karim left abruptly when he received an urgent summons from his ailing 79-year-old grandfather, who was at his villa near Cannes.
“He just said, ‘Come and see me,’ ” he recalls.
Eighteen months later, when he was able to resume his studies, he reappeared in Cambridge with a longer name—Queen Elizabeth had conferred the style of “Highness” on him two weeks after he became Aga Khan IV. According to a letter from the secretary of state for the colonies, it was granted “in view of his succession to the Imamat and his position as spiritual Head of the Ismaili Community, many members of which reside in Her Majesty’s territories.” His dormitory must have been crowded, too. “I returned with two secretaries and a personal assistant,” he recalls. His retinue was “a big joke” on campus, he says with a laugh.
The title Aga Khan—meaning, in a combination of Turkish and Persian, commanding chief—was granted in the 1830s by the Emperor of Persia to Karim’s great-great-grandfather when he married the emperor’s daughter. But Aga Khan I was also the 46th hereditary imam of the Ismaili Muslims of the world, in a line that descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.
In 1885, Prince Karim’s grandfather (who was born in India) was seven years old when he assumed the imamate upon his father’s death. The following year, he received his “His Highness” from Queen Victoria. In the early 1900s he moved to Europe, in part to pursue his passion for horse breeding and racing, in which he would become a celebrated figure. All the while, he looked after his flock remarkably well, building a huge network of hospitals, schools, banks, and mosques for them. “My duties are wider than those of the Pope,” he once explained. “The Pope is only concerned with the spiritual welfare of his flock.”
“He was an extraordinary personality, a very powerful intellect,” recalls his grandson. “When he left India and established himself in Europe, he became very fascinated with the philosophy of the Western world. He brought that knowledge to his community.”
And they showed their appreciation. On his Golden Jubilee, in 1936, his followers famously gave him his weight in gold, a spectacle some 30,000 onlookers jammed a square in Bombay to witness. Upon his Diamond and Platinum Jubilees, he received similar tributes in the appropriate stones and metal. The sizable funds from those tributes pale, however, compared with the zakat money traditionally paid by members of the Ismaili community, some of whom believe their imam is semi-divine. (Prince Karim categorically denies any suggestion that he is divine.) Though exact figures are not known, it is thought members who can afford to do so provide a tithe of around 10 to 12 percent of their annual income. According to some estimates, that may amount to hundreds of millions a year. While the Aga Khan has complete control over these funds, they are not meant for his personal use. It has always been difficult to calculate his own wealth versus that which belongs to the imamate, and estimates vary widely, but a recent tally put Aga Khan IV’s fortune at $13.3 billion.
His father, Prince Aly Khan, was born in Turin in 1911 to the second of Aga Khan III’s four wives, Theresa Magliano, an Italian ballerina. Aly, one of the most handsome and dashing men of his generation, met his first wife in 1933, though the lady had a husband. But by the first course at a dinner party in Deauville, he whispered “Darling, will you marry me?” to the then Mrs. Loel Guinness, née Joan Yarde-Buller, an aristocratic English beauty. They married in Paris in May 1936, and Karim was born to the couple on December 13, 1936; his brother, Prince Amyn, arrived the following year.
Though Aly had a well-known affair with Pamela Harriman, he will always be best remembered for his romance with Rita Hayworth, whom he met on the Riviera in 1948 shortly after she had divorced Orson Welles. Aly soon obtained his divorce and the two married in Paris on May 27, 1949. Their daughter, Princess Yasmin, was born on December 28, 1949. The marriage soon proved unhappy, and the pair separated in 1953.
In the spring of 1957 the old Aga Khan clearly had his reasons for summoning his elder grandson. The young man remained with his grandfather until his death, in the early-morning hours of July 11, at his residence near Lake Geneva. Later that day, the family gathered in the drawing room to hear the reading of the will, which had been brought in a locked case from Lloyds Bank in London.
“It has always been the tradition of our family that each imam chooses his successor at his absolute and unfettered discretion from amongst any of his descendants whether they be sons or other male issue,” read the old Aga Khan’s solicitor. “In view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world … including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the best interest of the Shia Muslim Ismaili Community that I should be succeeded by a young man who has been brought up and developed … in the midst of the new age. For these reasons … I appoint my grandson Karim, son of my son.”
Prince Karim, now Aga Khan IV as well as the 49th imam, announced solemnly, “My religious responsibilities begin as of today.”
Half a century later, he hints he might not have been as confident as he appeared to be. “My grandfather had been imam for 72 years,” he says. “I was 20 years old.”
Though he embarked on a worldwide tour of his community, he resisted the wishes of the community elders to begin his duties immediately. He returned instead to Harvard to finish his B.A. in Islamic history. “There was knowledge there that I needed,” he says. But once back on campus he was not like the other boys in so many ways: “I was an undergraduate who knew what his work for the rest of his life was going to be,” he says, rather quietly.
Although the Aga Khan has agreed to this interview to discuss the restoration of Chantilly, he readily chats about contemporary politics.
The West fails to recognize the pluralistic nature of the Islamic world, he believes: “None of these situations are identical. You cannot take one set of issues from one country and apply it to another. They are all different, in terms of history, and the religious compositions of the populations involved.”
The problems in the Middle East are not caused primarily by religion, he adds. “Relations between various communities within Islam are obviously impacted by theocratic forces, but I don’t think theocratic forces are the cause of the situations. They are politically driven. But the faith dimension comes on top of that, and that makes things more complicated.”
In Afghanistan, one should analyze and approach the country regionally, he says. “It’s going to be a question of province by province. The whole country cannot reconstruct itself at the same speed. So you have to think in terms of how improved provinces can become sustainable in their own right and become patterns of change. In some provinces, it’s happening. Not everything is lost. I don’t believe that.”
Switching gears, the conversation turns to the topic of bloodstock, which reveals a more personal side and brings up the death of his father, who died in a car accident outside Paris in 1960. “When Daddy was killed, the three of us found ourselves with this family tradition none of us knew the first thing about,” he says, referring to how he and Amyn and Yasmin grappled with taking on the Aga Khan Stud—a massive operation with nine farms in Ireland and France. After Aga Khan III died, Prince Aly took control of the business and managed it until his death, when his children inherited it. During those three years, Aly was highly successful.
Horses were a world with which Prince Karim was then wholly unfamiliar. “I never had any interest in it. Harvard is a great institution, but it doesn’t teach about Thoroughbred breeding. So it was a total surprise.
“It was a very difficult decision to keep it going,” he continues. “Having three generations’ activity that is so successful—if the fourth generation makes a mess of it … that was my risk. And it was not part of the imamate, was not an activity that was particularly well regarded in certain countries.”
Still, he decided to buy out his siblings’ shares and try to make a go of it. His many wins have long since put him in the very top echelon of the bloodstock world. (At last year’s Prix de Diane, on June 17, the Aga Khan shattered a century-old record in French racing when his filly, Valyra, crossed the finish line first, giving H.H. his seventh Diane. Since 2010 he had held a tie with renowned owner Auguste Lupin, who notched his sixth Diane in 1886.) “I’ve come to love it,” he says of the sport. “It’s so exciting, a constant challenge. Every time you sit down and breed you are playing a game of chess with nature.”
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It’s a long way from Buckingham Palace to Timbuktu, Mali. There, His Highness recently restored the mud walls of the 14th-century Djingereyber Mosque, the oldest earthen building in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last decade, he’s also made vital improvements in Mali’s educational system and in nearly every sector of its infrastructure, including water, electricity, aviation, agriculture, health, and education. He prefers to take this “area-based approach” to development, as he calls it. “We try to avoid the single-building syndrome. You have to look at the big picture. If you try to put social and cultural development ahead of economic development, it doesn’t work. You have to do it all together.” In Kabul, that has meant restoring key architectural components of the Old City while also building a five-star hotel and a new mobile-telephone network. In Uganda, he owns the country’s largest pharmaceutical company, a bank, a tannery, and a fishnet factory. Most impressively, he built—with the Blackstone Group as a partner—a $750 million hydroelectric system. Said to be the most innovative electrification program in Africa, it has brought 18 hours of electricity a day to the poor West Nile area, where there had been 4 hours every other day.
Aga Khan IV is thus both philanthropist and venture capitalist. But the high level of synergy he maintains between his nonprofit and commercial activities is probably unique in the world. All of the surpluses from his profitmaking companies are re-invested in his development work. “He has a very fine mind for investing—and he does a bloody good job balancing the task of increasing his capital with that of advancing the needs of his followers,” says former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, a good friend. “At the end of the day, he is looking for human profits.”
‘In a strange way, I am bringing to Chantilly our experience from similar work in the developing world,” says the Aga Khan. “There are a number of commonalities. The first is a fairly large number of stakeholders.”
The Château de Chantilly, at the center of the Domaine de Chantilly, was begun in 1528 by the Constable Anne de Montmorency, a renowned soldier and connoisseur. In 1643 it was inherited by another branch of the Bourbon-Condé family, cousins of the royal family, when it became the property of the family of Louis, Prince of Condé, who became known as Le Grand Condé after a great battlefield victory. By 1659, Condé seems to have hung up his swords and devoted himself to turning Chantilly into a pleasure palace that would rival Versailles. Not surprisingly, Chantilly did not fare well during the French Revolution. Many of the buildings were destroyed and the art treasures confiscated. After the fall of Napoleon, in 1815, however, Condé’s heirs returned from exile, reclaimed the estate, and began to restore it. In 1830, it was inherited by Henri d’Orléans, Duc d’Aumale. The son of King Louis-Philippe, who had ascended the French throne after the 1830 revolution, he was eight years old at the time of the bequest. After becoming a celebrated war hero himself, while fighting in Algeria, Aumale was forced by the Revolution of 1848 into a 24-year exile, in England. It was quite a comfortable one, though. The Orléans family, of which he was the principal heir, had held on to their huge fortune, so he was one of the richest men of his time.
Denied the power to make history, he bought it. Aumale devoted himself to assembling a collection of art, books, and manuscripts that was unmatched in his era. Many of these objects had been seized from his family during the French Revolution. Today, in France, his collection of paintings—including works by Raphael, Van Dyck, Poussin, and Ingres—is considered second only to that of the Louvre. In an oration given in 1862, Benjamin Disraeli extolled Aumale: “Happy the prince, who, though exiled from his palaces and military pursuits through no fault of his own, finds a consolation in books and an occupation in the rich domain of Art.”
In 1871, when he was finally able to return to Chantilly, he arranged all these treasures majestically in the Renaissance-style grand château, which would be more or less completely rebuilt by the architect Honoré Daumet to Aumale’s specifications, starting in 1875. (Daumet also designed the grandstands of the Hippodrome.) With no direct heirs—all of his children had died by 1872—Aumale reconstructed the château to stand as a monument to his family and their lost world.
In the 1880s another political upheaval threatened Aumale with exile yet again. To thwart seizure of the property and preserve it, he bequeathed the entire Domaine de Chantilly to the Institut de France, with the stipulation that almost nothing could be altered. In 1898 it was opened to the public by appointment, two days a week.
The Institut de France, which is virtually synonymous with the Académie Française—the oldest and most prestigious of its five learned societies—is arguably the world’s most exclusive institution. Once elected, the 40 members of the Académie, known as “the Immortals,” keep their fauteuils for life, and it is their primary task to guard the purity of the French language.
But as the 20th century progressed, the institute’s ability to maintain the Domaine declined. As a result, the little-visited château became “one of the world’s best-kept secrets,” according to Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Then serious maintenance issues developed, prompting the World Monuments Fund in 1998 to put Chantilly on its watch list of endangered monuments. Things were even worse at the Hippodrome. In 1994, its state of deterioration prompted the government to announce that it would be closing the facility.“Forgive the expression,” says His Highness, “but all hell broke loose.” (Not every day does one get to hear a “pope” say “hell.”)
The heads of France Galop, the governing body of French horse racing, which had long leased the Hippodrome from the Institut, made an emergency visit to the Aga Khan, to ask for his help.“I’m not going to restore just the racecourse, ” he recalls telling them. “My interests are much wider.” He subsequently scheduled meetings with the various other stakeholders—primarily the Institut de France, but also with local, regional, and national officials. “Why don’t we think of the bigger scheme of things?” he challenged them all.
“The entire area has enormous economic potential, which has never been thought through. We are so close to one of the largest transportation hubs in the world,” he explains today.
But it took two years of personal negotiations with the chancellor of the Institut, Prince Gabriel de Broglie, to hammer out the contract, signed in 2005, to create the Foundation for the Safe-Keeping and Development of the Domaine de Chantilly. A unique agreement, it has ambitious goals but a limited life span—20 years. During this period the Aga Khan pledges to restore the Domaine to its “princely lustre.” To accomplish this he has donated 40 million euros, more than half of the projected budget.
Last fall saw the completion of significant linchpins in his plan to promote year-round tourism in the Domaine, including restoration of the Jardin Anglais and the Jeu de Paume, which now houses a major exhibition space. Just across the street, and a short walk from the château, a newly built, ultra-chic hotel—the Auberge du Jeu de Paume—opened its doors.
“When the foundation has finished its work, everything goes back to the Institut, when I hope the Domaine will be a totally rethought, re-structured cultural asset and an economic unit that will stand on its own,” says the Aga Khan.
“I did a lot of homework. I would never have dared to get involved in this unless I had enough experience,” he adds.
Accomplishing all this has required something the French in general—and perhaps the Immortals in particular—are not so well known for: cooperation. Yet during an interview with the Institut’s chancellor in his stately paneled office, he is positively effusive. “It’s like a fairy tale!,” Prince de Broglie says. “The Institut de France very much approves of the way things are being conducted. We are profoundly happy.” A very formal gentleman, he is wearing his ceremonial habit vert, a long black coat richly embroidered in green, accessorized with his military decorations and a sizable sword.
Joining forces with this organization, it’s obvious, is no lark. According to one person who has worked with the Aga Khan, it is his impeccable manners—combined with his regal bearing and confidence—that help him to prevail: “He imposes his will with the utmost grace. In meetings, for example, he will ask—so politely—‘I wonder whether it would be a good idea if we do such and such … ’ That means, We’re doing it. No one would dream of challenging him.”
“Karim has a great deal of charm,” says an old friend, “but underneath he’s made of steel. He does exactly what he wants, when he wants.”
A highly concise description of the Aga Khan comes from Betty Lagardère, the widow of French tycoon Jean-Luc Lagardère and a longtime friend. “He’s a god,” she declares straightaway (disregarding Prince Karim’s demurral of any immortality). His “divine” stature, she says, extends from his work to his personal style. “He is so elegant, so refined.”
Notwithstanding his social skills, Aga Khan IV has never been “social,” however. “Parties are not his thing,” says a childhood friend. “He was never gregarious or outgoing, the way his father was.”
“At this point, he is very reclusive,” says another friend. “He’s becoming a bit of a Howard Hughes. He sees few people.”
And though he clearly seems to appreciate female beauty, the friend scoffs at the thought of Karim’s being labeled a playboy, like his dad: “Absolutely not. Karim is maniacal about work. He never drinks or smokes. He is extremely precise, serious, and hardworking.”
Still, he has led a full life. In 1968 while in Gstaad, he fell in love with Sally Crichton-Stuart, a tall blonde model. They married the following year and produced three children. Today, all work within the imamate. Princess Zahra, 42, a Harvard graduate, heads the Social Welfare Department; Prince Rahim, 41, a Brown graduate, is executive director of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development; Prince Hussain, 38, educated at Williams College, works in the environmental sector. Three years after his divorce from Sally, in 1995, H.H. married the German-born Princess Gabriele zu Leiningen. After a brief career as a pop singer in Europe, she was working as a consultant to unesco. In 2000 they had a son, Prince Aly Muhammad, but they separated a few years later, and are currently negotiating a divorce. For some time now, his companion has been the Danish-born Beatrice von der Schulenburg, 44, who was previously married to a business executive in London.
While the apparent contradiction between the Aga Khan’s lifestyle and his role as a spiritual leader continues to puzzle some, it is more interesting to try to square his activities as a highly astute venture capitalist with his religious duties. But that, the Aga Khan says, is elementary. “It comes from a basic understanding of what an imam is required to do,” he says. “An imam is not expected to withdraw from everyday life. On the contrary, he’s expected to protect his community and contribute to their quality of life. Therefore, the notion of the divide between faith and world is foreign to Islam. The imamate does not divide world and faith. That’s very little understood outside Islam. In the West, your financial systems are all built around that divide.”
For a moment, he speaks as though Muslims and Republicans actually might have more in common than either side would dream: “We have no notion of the accumulation of wealth being evil,” he says. But clearly he’s not going to be any poster boy for the R.N.C.: “It’s how you use it,” he continues, speaking about wealth. “The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.”
Say what you will about the Aga Khan’s lifestyle, he has done an extraordinarily good job performing the duties of his imamate, while maintaining a rare charm. “He is many things to many people,” says James Wolfensohn. “But, for a god, he’s a fantastically good friend!”
(Courtesy: Vanity Fair)
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January 20, 2013, 11:57 am
By Isobel Coleman
On Friday, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah made history when he named 30 women to the kingdom's Shura Council, an appointed advisory body that cannot enact legislation but is still the closest institution to a parliament in that country. He also amended the Shura Council's law to ensure that women would make up no less than 20 percent of the 150-person council going forward.
Friday's announcement did not occur in a vacuum. Before now, some women served in an advisory capacity, but not as full members, on the committee. In 2011, King Abdullah, known for relatively moderate views on women's roles in society, announced that women would be appointed to the Shura Council and that women would be able to run and vote in the country's 2015 municipal elections.
Nevertheless, Friday's follow-through is a sign of King Abdullah's seriousness about incrementally increasing women's participation. In a 2011 speech, King Abdullah introduced the decision as a vital step for keeping up with the times, saying, "Balanced modernization in line with our Islamic values, which preserve rights, is an important requirement in an era with no room for the weak and undecided people." He also explained that the decision to appoint women to the Shura Council and to allow them to vote and run in elections was made after consulting with religious scholars.
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Reaction to the Shura Council is mixed. On Twitter, the hashtag "The new Shura Council does not represent me" materialized, a reminder that the Shura Council is unelected. Manal al-Sharif--a female activist who has shown great courage in advocating for Saudi women's right to drive--wrote on Twitter that "The amendments ignored Saudis' demands of electing the members and increasing the Council powers! It still cannot pass or enforce laws" (via POMED). Essam Alzamel, a tech entrepreneur with a significant Twitter following, wrote, "There are two types of parliaments: the kind that represents the people and the kind that represents the people but is not of the people." Just today, around fifty clerics opposed to the Shura Council decision turned up at the Royal Court to request a meeting with the king and one of his advisers, which they were not granted. This protest was notable, particularly given that Saudi Arabia's primary religious authorities have approved of the king's decision.
Despite the limitations of the Shura Council, the appointed women have their work cut out for them. As my friend, women's rights advocate and new Shura Council member Thuraya Arrayed said to Al Arabiya News, "I expect this decision to open doors for qualified women to take part in all fields and not just in politics but in all areas." Fellow new Shura Council member Thuraya Obaid, whose impressive career includes time as executive director of the UN Population Fund, told the newspaper Asharq Alawsat, "...as for those who do not accept this, this is a huge challenge for women to prove that their presence is an addition to, not lessening of, Saudi society." With female council members like these, this mixed-gender Shura Council may well pave the way to greater opportunities for Saudi women, however incrementally.
(Courtesy: The Atlantic)
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January 20, 2013, 12:03 pm
Saudi women’s empowerment is in keeping with a society that is beginning to debate the social and cultural traditions that are interspersed with Islamic edicts
By Tariq A. Al Maeena
Since taking over, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia has been admired for his efforts to empower Saudi women. In stages, laws have been passed that defined and protected the rights of the marginalised females whose absolute dependence on their male guardians occasionally left them on the short end of the stick.
Recently, the king executed his commitment to ensuring a larger role for Saudi women in the political arena by appointing 30 women to the 150-member Shura Council, a body that debates issues pertinent to Saudi society and proposes laws that are then submitted to the Council of Ministers for further debate and approval.
In his decree, King Abdullah dictated that women shall comprise 20 per cent of the Shura and will be full participants in all active discussions and debates. There will be no lines drawn or barriers except for the physical ones, such as separate seating areas and separate entry doors. This is necessary in a society that is currently beginning to debate the various social and cultural traditions that are often interspersed with Islamic edicts.
Reaction to the king’s move has been positive throughout the country for the most part. Saudis have genuine affection for King Abdullah — a man they see as deeply concerned for their welfare and stability. Many husbands, fathers and brothers appreciate the opportunities today that have been granted to the womenfolk.
One can recall that prior to King Abdullah’s ascension, the role of the professional woman was primarily limited to teaching in all-female institutions or in the medical profession. There were no other venues for women whose calling was beyond those two professions.
As new fields of employment began to open up and increase, so did resistance from certain elements of society. These individuals, threatened by the increasing opportunities given to women in the marketplace, and by default more financial freedom and independence, began to espouse the evils that would soon envelope Saudi society if such actions were not reversed.
Employment opportunities
Women were suddenly seen everywhere working respectably in ministries, in banks, in retail industries and in law offices. The national airline and the hospitality industry, areas out of limits for women just a few years ago, today offer employment opportunities to Saudi women. Women have travelled out of the Kingdom for higher education and to learn skills and traits that would help build the nation.
The government’s continued efforts to protect and empower women appear to have won the consent of the majority. Through incremental steps, the government has all along displayed enough sense to ensure that the sensitivities of the majority of the Saudi public will not be disturbed and that the steps taken are in line with universal Islamic rulings.
Western analysts may dismiss these steps as being too little and progress as being too slow. They will want an instant change in the country — in line with democracies in the West.However, in the climate of regional instability, the Saudi government’s approach towards modest steps forward seems to be working fine as more and more Saudis appreciate the efforts of the King to free women from their previous shackles.
That does not mean that there do not exist fundamentalist elements who are alarmed by the granting of personal freedom to women. Some 40 clerics who did not take kindly to the king’s decision to appoint women in the Shura Council staged a protest outside the Royal Palace in Riyadh. One cleric stated that the decision represented “dangerous changes in the country and these latest appointments to the Shura Council do not represent philanthropists and good people. These appointments are not representative of the whole society”.
Positive acceptance
Another stated that they had gathered for an audience with the head of the Royal Court to offer him advice, implying that the message of their unease should reach the King. Their opposition to this move is not surprising as they have been objecting, without success, to a host of previous government decrees that granted women Islamic rights. Such clerics no longer represent all of the Saudi people as displayed by the positive acceptance of the majority of Saudi citizens of the King’s decision to place women in the Shura Council. They are simply minor pockets of resistance in a sea of change that is ever so dynamic.
There has also been criticism from some quarters that this was a token move, to appease critics who lament the lack of fundamental rights for women. It will only remain token if the appointed women do not fully take advantage of their presence in the council and push for further reforms on issues that not only relate to women, but to the entire Saudi society. The women selected come with an impressive portfolio of qualifications and skills and it will indeed be a major disappointment if they do not choose to exercise the confidence shown in their selection and execute their duties to the maximum.
King Abdullah, in granting women more rights, once said: “We refuse to marginalise women’s role in Saudi society.” There is no going back.
[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.]
(Courtesy: Gulf News)
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January 20, 2013, 12:10 pm
By Ashok Mahajan
India currently is observing a significant public health milestone: two full years without a new case of poliomyelitis, the paralyzing and sometimes deadly virus that has robbed so many millions of our children of productive futures.
The last reported polio case – a young girl in West Bengal – was recorded on Jan. 13, 2011. In February 2012, the World Health Organization removed India from the list of polio-endemic countries, a historic achievement given that until very recently, India was considered the epicenter of the disease and had been predicted to be the last country to stop polio.
Today, the wild polio virus circulates in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and our neighbor, Pakistan, where the polio eradication campaign has been in the news lately, but, unfortunately, not because of the impressive 65 percent reduction in cases Pakistan has achieved since 2011. Sadly, the news out of Pakistan has focused on a recent spate of violence targeting polio vaccinators, the dedicated army of health workers and volunteers who go door-to-door to reach the most at-risk children with the oral polio vaccine. Their dedication and hard work are largely responsible for the tremendous progress in the war against polio, with only 218 cases reported worldwide so far in 2012, a record low, down from 350,000 cases a year in the 1980s.
During December’s sub-national immunization days in Pakistan, nine frontline health workers, six of them women, were shot and killed. The media have linked the violence to lingering suspicions within some segments of the Muslim community that polio eradication is some sort of Western conspiracy to sicken or sterilize Muslim children.
Security officials escort health workers as they administer polio vaccination to children in Bajaur region of Pakistan.
Cultural misconceptions are one of many challenges we face as we close in on our goal of global eradication, along with poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, poor sanitation, extreme population densities, inadequate infrastructure, geographical isolation — the list goes on.
Members of India’s Rotary clubs are very familiar with all of these challenges, including the problem of vaccination refusals by parents in Muslim communities. Over the last year we have been sharing our experiences with our friends in Pakistan in the hope our success can contribute to successful resolution of the issue there.
In a nutshell, our approach in India has been to reach out to the local and regional religious leaders and scholars to inform them about polio eradication and why reaching every child with the vaccine is so important. We openly discuss the misconceptions and suspicions that some people harbor – such as the notion that the vaccine contains swine or monkey cells — and explain why they are false. Rotarians, as fellow members of the community, have an element of innate credibility that perhaps outside authorities lack at first. We can talk about “our” children, not “your” children.
The Rotary Club has a long history in Pakistan, as it does in India: the Rotary Club in Karachi was chartered in 1933, and there are presently 151 Rotary Clubs in Pakistan.
I have been involved in this issue since 1997, when I was appointed to India’s National PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International. (PolioPlus is the polio prevention program started by Rotary International in 1985, three years before the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative now led by Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)
At that time, Mumbai was at high risk for polio, especially in areas with large Muslim communities. I sought and was granted repeated meetings with the leading imam, who, finally convinced, went so far as to reprimand parents of children who were not immunized. At his request, we put up hundreds of pro-vaccination posters and banners around the periphery of the main shrine and mosque three days before a scheduled National Immunization Day. The posters at those religious places sent a message to his followers that if the imam approves polio immunization, they should also. Over time, community resistance declined and Mumbai became polio free.We continued successfully along this path on a more-or-less informal basis as India made great gains against polio, recording only 66 cases in 2005. But in 2006, an alarming number of infections in western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar threatened to derail our progress. Of the 676 cases in India in 2006, 548 were in Uttar Pradesh and 59 percent of those were from the Muslim community.
Our response was to call for a meeting of the leading Muslim imams, ulemas, scholars, physicians, and educators in New Delhi in August 2006. Out of this came Rotary International’s State Level Committee of Muslim Ulemas in Uttar Pradesh. This, for us, was one of the biggest achievements in the effort to engage the Muslim community.
The state Muslim Ulema Committee thereafter played a significant role in bringing about a metamorphosis, successfully persuading hitherto resistant and unwilling sections of the community to accept the oral polio vaccine. Committee members issued appeals on behalf of polio eradication and walked with Rotarians, health workers, and vaccinators to booths and homes to ensure children received the vaccine. Several of them personally administered the vaccine drops to their own children to demonstrate to their followers that it was harmless.
The numbers soon demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. In 2008, Muslim children accounted for 37 percent of polio infections in Uttar Pradesh, down from 70 percent the previous year. The concept was quickly expanded with the formation of district level ulema committees throughout the state. Rotarians in these regions continuously follow up to ensure that the campaign remains up to the mark. Last month, I met with a top administrator at Aligarh Muslim University to garner the support of doctors associated with the university to promote the campaign.
Ulema Committee members are now sought by the Health Ministry and other agencies to advocate not just for polio, but other health and sanitation needs in the Muslim community. Rotary is organizing free camps to reach the community with basic health care services. With the Ulema Committee, Rotary created a partnership that will endure and yield benefits far beyond the eradication of a single disease.
This is not to say that the India experience provides the perfect template needed to address the situation in Pakistan. There are of course major differences between the two countries, the most obvious being that Islam is a minority religion in India. The respective political landscapes also are vastly different. But one common denominator is the presence of Rotary and the commitment of Pakistani Rotarians to rid their country of this terrible disease.
What we did in India shows that by working hand-in-glove with the true faith leaders of the communities at risk — by gaining their trust and support through sincere dialogue and by keeping the focus always on the well-being of the child – polio eradication is achievable even under the most challenging conditions.
[Ashok Mahajan, a member of the Rotary Club of Mulund, Maharashtra, is a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.]
(Courtesy: The New York Times)
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January 20, 2013, 12:13 pm
Ontario (Canada): Volunteering for community help decades ago, a Canadian Muslim in Ontario’s city of Mississauga has received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal to acknowledge her passion to serve her country.
"Forty-five years of my Canadian life I have been serving the community," said Malik Syed, who was awarded the medal on Friday.
"When I came to Canada I didn't know I could do so much more in this community. This is a great country," Mississauga.com reported quoting her as saying.
Coming to Canada decades ago, Syed, of Indian origin, tried to offer help to her new community. Trained as a teacher in India, Syed worked for several years as a supply teacher in Ontario.
Later on, she volunteered with the Muslim Seniors Circle, which was present to see the medal presentation, and regularly visits hospitals to do what she can. Yet, her greatest pleasure has always come from helping children. She added that she has volunteered to serve not just the Muslim community, but the broader Canadian community.
Her efforts were finally recognized after she received on Friday the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal at the Islamic Centre of Canada on South Sheridan Way.
The medal was presented to the Mississauga resident of nearly 40 years by Senator Salma Ataullahjan, the first Canadian senator of Pushtun descent.
Receiving an award to recognize her efforts, Syed, 70, said her husband, Amjad Syed, was even happier for her than she was herself.
Created in 2011, the commemorative medal was made to mark the 60th anniversary of the accession to the thrones of Queen Elizabeth II.
The medal also serves to honor significant contributions and achievements by Canadians. Awarding Syed her distinguished medal, Mississauga Senator praised her efforts to serve the wider community, regardless of their faith.
"Malik has spent 45 years doing volunteer work in Canada," said Ataullahjan. “It is so appropriate she should receive the medal here in the Islamic Centre.”
Muslims make up around 1.9 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the North American country.
A recent survey has showed the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian. Yet, a March 2012 survey by the Association for Canadian Studies and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation found that more than half of Canadians distrust Muslims, the lowest level of trustworthiness of religious groups in the country.
Another recent survey by the Canadian Studies (ACS) found that the Muslim minority in Canada is still facing negative perceptions a decade after the 9/11.
(Courtesy: IINA, January 13, 2013)
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January 20, 2013, 12:18 pm
By Ram Puniyani
The recent electoral victory of Narendra Modi, his third consecutive one (Dec 2012), has drawn lot of applause from a section of society and he is being projected as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. It’s another matter that BJP, itself is in shambles as far as electoral arena is concerned and its NDA allies are unlikely to endorse Modi, given his aggressive communal politics and the authoritarian style of his functioning. One knows that this victory of Modi was predicted by many exit polls, one also knows his victory was not a smooth sail, as by now the dissatisfaction from his policies, his style of functioning is adversely affecting a large number of Gujarat population. The people of Gujarat turned out in big numbers to cast their vote.
Many commentators feel that his win is due to his development policies, that he has won again is an endorsement of his claims of development of Gujarat. The development model undertaken by Modi is a total surrender to the favored industrial houses, which are having a gala time in Gujarat. The shiny malls and roads of Gujarat hide behind them the travails of the deprived and marginalized sections of Gujarat, the villages in particular. Every Nano car rolling out from Tata car is subsidized by the state to the extent of Rs 60000. The hype of development propaganda, managed by the American Company APCO Worldwide, which has already worked for notorious dictators like Sani Abacha (Nigeria) and Nurusultan Nazarbayev (Life President of Kazagystan), has done its job well again. The job by this agency has been done so well that anybody questioning the development of Gujarat is receives various derogatory labels. As a matter of fact what Modi has done is nothing unusual and states like Maharashtra have achieved much better in this direction, without the hype. Here comes one of the roles of Modi, not only to hire an image maker but also to act like Goebbels.
This so called development hides that the social indices of Gujarat which are very much on the lower side when compared to many other Indian states. What matters in popular perception is the image more than reality. So this aspect of Modi’s propaganda did sell well for a section of middle class not only in Gujarat but all over the country. Many a commentators do buy this uncritically and attribute Modi’s victory to this factor. As its not only the mall going middle class but even the suicide committing farmers families, the starving dalits and Adivasis, who also vote, they feel the reality of the ‘development’ of Gujarat in their lives, so a large turn out to vote and in rural areas they did show that the so called development is from the annals of make believe World.
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As far as dalits and adivasis are concerned the social engineering unleashed by BJP associates VHP and Vanavasi Kalyan ashram has done its job and a section of these deprived sections has been won over to the Hindutva fold and vote for the BJP. The sense of insecurity amongst minorities and minority women is paramount, making them withdraw into their shells. The liberal space in the state of Gujarat has shrunk rapidly, more than in other states. The educational institutions have been thoroughly brought under the management of academics sympathetic to Modi’s ideology. The state now reminds one of a dictatorial state, as pointed out by the ex- BJP chief Minister Keshubhai Patel himself. It can be called as communal-semi fascist state. The major factor in the state is the polarization and abolition of liberal space. This is ‘Hindu Nation’ in one state. One is reminded of the USSR, where ‘Socialism in one state’ was the slogan to begin with. In India while there are many states ruled by BJP, it is Gujarat, which fits into this ‘Hindu Rashtra in one state’.
The real danger today, which is reminded by Modi’s victory are manifold. To begin with the communal fascism is creeping in India through deeper pores of the nation. It is said that RSS is not happy with Modi coming to power and becoming larger than the party, the BJP. This is a contradictory situation. RSS on one hand wants to create a Hindu Rashtra. On the other it wants to regulate the whole process. The contradiction is that RSS ideology pushes the nation towards dictatorial thinking, as RSS itself is modeled on Ek Chalak Anuvartita, (controlled by single supreme dictator), the Sar Sanghchalak, whose writ is unquestionable. At the same time one recalls that one of the characteristics of fascisms the single charismatic leader. Modi fits in to that model very well. It is being said that in Gujarat, the RSS and its progeny VHP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been marginalized. One should know that the RSS and its non electoral progeny is there to make the ground for creating a communal space in which BJP can then rough shod and work for Hindu Nation. In Gujarat, these organizations are redundant now as they have already played their role. With Modi’s victory it’s clear that in India the communal fascism is marching state by state, and in the social space, in a gradual manner.
Modi’s blatant proximity to industrial houses is again in tune with the pattern of a fascist state. Hitler was also the darling of big capital. Hitler had mass following amongst the middle classes and could co-opt the poor as its storm troopers, street fighters. Modi is walking the same path, the difference being that of speed and regional variation. India being the vast diverse nation, the Gujarat pattern stands out very clearly as a repeat of German fascist onslaught with many differences. The other BJP ruled states are adopting different paths, some features being common. These common features are cultural infiltration, and relegation of minorities to the margins.
It is in this situation that those committed to secular democracy need a rethink. At electoral level, the parties like Congress, Samajvadi, Communist and Socialist parties, do not perceive the threat to democracy and secularism as they should be doing. If they understand the implications of Hindu Rashtra, the impact of Modi in hiking up the communal politics and communal thinking, then they have to close their ranks. They need to rise above their electoral and prime ministerial ambitions and take this threat of communalism head on as a united front. That seems to be a very tall order to expect from these electoral formations which so far have not demonstrated their willingness to come together for the sake of principles. Is it thinkable at all these parties will contemplate more in terms of saving democracy and secularism rather than protecting their fiefdoms? Its time these parties wake and realize that unless they hang together, the danger of communal fascism taking over the country in the future is not ruled out. Still one knows all this is an optimistic urge. If wishes were horses!
What can secular elements do at this point of time? They have engaged in legal activism, advocacy work, done rehabilitation work and conducted awareness programs to the best of their capabilities. It seems their best is not good enough. The need for more innovative thinking to ward off the threat of looming communalism has become more menacing with the victory of Modi. It’s a warning signal of sorts to do our utmost to strengthen the values of freedom movement, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It’s time to remind ourselves of what the preamble of our Constitution tells us. It’s time to build a real people’s platform for secularism and democracy. It’s time for social movements to take this issue in utmost seriousness before the situation is created that social movements will themselves will not be permitted to march forward for the cause of human rights of the deprived sections of society.
[Ram Puniyaniis based in Mumbai and is a strong advocate of human rights. He can be contacted at ram.puniyani@gmail.com]
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January 20, 2013, 12:23 pm
The event boosted confidence for aspiring young models and gave traditional Kashmiri winter wear a turn in the spotlight.
By Adil Akhzer
Srinagar: Famous Bollywood songs, traditional Kashmiri menswear, aspiring models and cheering crowds were all on full display at a rare fashion show in Srinagar on December 30th. Organisers credited the return of peace to Kashmir for enabling them to hold such programmes.
Sheikh Imran Bashir, managing director of Wilson & Royals, which organised the show together with Arachnid Studio, told Khabar South Asia that its aim is to bring the fashion industry to Kashmir.
"We want to give a message to Bollywood and the Indian fashion industry that Kashmir too has talent and there are many models who, given the right platform, can prove their calibre. Professionals from Mumbai who attended our show were extremely satisfied with the performances," Bashir said.
"We are providing platform to those youths, who are not financially well off and cannot go outside the state to show their talent. This is an opportunity for them to show their talent in front of their own people," he added.
Many young people in Kashmir today are interested in a career in fashion, Bashir said. "My company has worked since 2009 to provide a platform to those youth. Everyday, my office sees young people who are serious in taking up modeling as their profession," he noted.
The fashion show, held on the lawns of Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre, was also an occasion to boost local youth who have suffered due to the violence in the state."Models here are talented and handsome. They can compete with models from rest of the country and rest of the world, at any level," Bashir said.
"Further, not only did models get a rare chance to hone their skills, but it was also an occasion to promote our local Kashmiri tradition outfits."
About 30 young men modeled classic and modernised versions of the pheran, a traditional, knee-length winter cloak, created by Kashmiri designer Samil Ali. He studied in New Delhi and until recently worked there, according to Tribune News Service.
"I love Kashmiri tradition and everything that comes with it. I moved back to Kashmir to work here," Ali, 24, told The Tribune. "I intend to bring glamour to the tradition."
Shuaib Nazir, 19, a local youth who walked the ramp for the first time, told Khabar the event helped enhance his confidence. "I am very happy after this performance. I was very nervous, but thanks to the Almighty I rocked on the stage," he said.
Muzamil Nazeer, 22, a male model from Srinagar who participated in a fashion show held in Kashmir in 2009, told Khabar he got many assignments from the experience.
"Honestly speaking, I was worried about attaining my goals because we do not have support structure here, unlike other states. But thanks to Wilson & Royals, I participated in a fashion show for the first time in 2009, and I got many campaigns after that," Nazeer said.
"I am earning good money and I am happy in my profession. But more such opportunities are needed for the youth in Kashmir. All they need is a proper platform and guidance," he said.Political analysts say such programmes and events are required to change the mindset of local youth who have experienced two decades of violence in Kashmir.
Showkat Ahmed, an assistant professor at Kashmir University, told Khabar such initiatives help youth stay away from adverse and anti-social activities.
"By participating in such activities, they remain mentally fit and stable. They have witnessed a lot of violence, now let them enjoy peace as well," Ahmed said.
(Courtesy: Khabar South Asia)
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January 20, 2013, 12:27 pm
By Our Special Correspondent
Bhopal: Students of madrasas are very intelligent. Given proper education and training, they can prove highly productive for society. These views were expressed by Advocate Mohammad Ibrahim Qureshi, a former minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was speaking at an Educational Meeting here at Jamiatul Banat Madrasa Tanweerul Quran, Shaheen Colony on 13 January 2013. Qureshi, who is also Vice-President of the All India Muslim Education Society, said that madrasas had hugely contributed in the overall education of Muslims helping the State of Madhya Pradesh achieve highest literacy rate among rest of the north Indian states. Delighted to see that students at Madrasa Tanweerul Quran were taught Hindi, English and Mathematics besides Deeniyat, Qureshi said if madrasa students were taught Hindi, English and Mathematics besides religious subjects, they can be instrumental in playing an important objective role in the survival and development of society.
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Speaking on this occasion, journalist Manzar Imam, who is also a member of the Banaat Education & Welfare Society and Director of Public Relations, Anjuman Foundation, Gaya, said that while a main objective of modern education was to prepare the new generation for future economy, in Islam the prime objective of education was to gain knowledge of the Creator of the universe. He said that the concept of earning livelihood and economy existed there as important part of education in Islam, but understanding one’s Creator was the topmost objective of education.
Mr. Imam, in whose Bhopal arrival, the meeting was convened, said that the culture of rape that had put India to big shame could be countered if people adopted sincerely the measures provided in Islam to regulate social behavior.
Islam propagates equality for men and women and Muslims need to empower women by giving them their due that would enable women to play larger role in social reform. Appreciating the efforts of both students and teachers of the madrasa, he said that the madrasa had made a remarkable achievement within a short span of four years as it was established in a slum with a very low literacy rate.
Hafiz Abdur Rashid, Head of Hifz section of Jamia Islamia Arabia Masjid Tarjumewali said it was heartening to see such a huge number of boys and girls getting education at the madrasa. He said that education was not meant only for children and adults also needed to come to the madrasa during their spare times and learn Quran, hadith and prayers etc.
Mufti Mohammad Javed Anwar Mazahiri, Principal of the madrasa, coordinated the programme which was attended by a good number of representatives of different madrasas and organisations besides locals. These among others included Abdul Wahid Khan, Mufti Akmal Yazdani Qasmi, Mufti Muhammad Afroz Qasmi, Hafiz Jawed Iqbal, Qari Mohammad Rafiq, Yousuf Dada Miyan and Haji Ilyas.
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