February 11, 2013, 7:33 pm
A Songkhla provincial mosque has become a popular destination for Malaysia's married Muslim men looking for a valid second marriage – or even third and fourth – after their polygamous request is rejected by their first wife, whose permission is required.
The mosque is frequently busy organising Nikah -- a simple Muslim wedding ceremony in which a man and a woman declare their commitment as husband and wife -- for about 10-30 pairs of brides and grooms, mostly Malaysians, every day, Chem Hemman, vice president of Songkhla Islamic Committee, said on Thursday.
The event is held in a specially arranged room at the mosque, with a simple decorative heart shaped floral arch for photo opportunities installed in front of it.
The ceremony is basic, but is in line with the principles of Islam, Mr Chem said.
In Islam, a married man must seek consent from his first wife before looking to marry a second, third or fourth wife. In Malaysia, most first wives do not consent to their husbands’ wish, forcing the men and their future wives to travel to the southern province to perform the Nikah, Mr Chem said.
Despite being a religious ceremony, the Nikah could take place at any convenient venue, outside a mosque.
The presence of the bride’s father is not needed if she voluntarily embarks on a marriage and the distance from her residence was at least 96 kilometres to the place in which the holy matrimonial event is performed.
The couple only pay for marriage documents while the Nikah service is free of charge.The committee will issue a certificate to endorse the marriage and inform the Consulate-General of Malaysia in Songkhla to confirm the validity of the couple’s union, Mr Chem said. The ceremony draws single men and women and widows as well as men marrying second, third or fourth wives.
Brides and grooms from Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei also come to endorse their union at the Songkhla mosque, Mr Chem said. This could promote cultural tourism for the province and the lower South because most couples are accompanied by a big group of family members, relatives and friends who serve as witnesses and guests in the ceremony. The married couple often stay for their honeymoon in the southern region, he added.
(Courtesy: Bangkok Post)
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February 11, 2013, 7:37 pm
A mosque set to be built in the western province of Bursa will use solar and wind power to produce electricity. Nilüfer Trade Center Mosque, which is set to be completed in 2015, may be the first mosque in Turkey that produces and uses renewable energy. Çelik Erengezgin, the architect of the mosque project, believes that the project will be an example for other mosques.
Solar panels will be placed on top of the mosque. A wind turbine will be installed on the minaret. Also snow and rain water will be collected for the worshippers’ water needs. Erengezgin said the mosque will produce its own energy and sell what it does not use. “The mosque will produce 120 kW of electricity but consumes only 50 kW. The remaining amount can be sold to the state.”
Erengezgin also said Turkey’s Religious Affairs Department had responded positively to his project.
Erengezgin said he also wanted to produce electricity from the pressure exerted on the floor by the worshippers during prayers. This is not part of the current project but he hopes to implement it also, he said.
“We will tell the worshippers, ‘You can charge your cell phones here, because you have produced this energy [while praying on the floor of the mosque].’”
Ateş Uğurel, a co-founder and partner of iRES Energy, said Turkey could produce 400 megawatts of electricity from mosques if approximately 80 mosques produced renewable energy. “This number is close to 600 megawatts, the amount of solar power that will be licensed in 2013,” said Uğurel.
Hasan Köktaş, the head of the Republic of Turkey Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), said not only mosques, but also private schools, universities, sports complexes and many other facilities are applying to produce their own energy.
(Courtesy: Hurriyet Daily News)
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February 11, 2013, 7:42 pm
Teaching at Australian universities, the renowned professor worked to correct misconceptions about Islam.
Cairo: Recognizing his effort in boosting interfaith dialogue, a Muslim professor at Melbourne University has been made a member of the Order of Australia for his significant services in setting educational programs about Islam in Australian universities.
Professor Abdullah Saeed has been made a member of the Order of Australia for ''significant service to tertiary education in the field of Islamic studies, and to the community, especially through promotion of interfaith dialogue,” the 2013 honors list was cited by The Age newspaper on Saturday, January 26.
The award was announced amid celebrations for Australia Day, the official national day of Australia, celebrated annually on 26 January.
The nomination is usually made and reviewed by the Council for the Order of Australia and then approved by the Governor-General.
Born in the Maldives, Professor Saeed studied in Saudi Arabia before coming to the University of Melbourne where he obtained a PhD in Islamic Studies in 1992.
Now the Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Melbourne University and a Fellow of Australian Academy of Humanities, his work focuses on Islam and human rights, Islamic law reform, Muslim communities in Australia and freedom of religion.
Teaching at Melbourne University, Professor Saeed has been one of the first Australian academics who worked to build a program focused on contemporary Islam.
Thanks to their efforts, courses on Islamic studies have become common at Australian universities.
Such interest in Islamic courses began after 9/11 attacks.
“Most universities in Australia started taking an interest in Islamic studies after 9/11,” he said.
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, to recognize Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service.
Clearing Misconceptions
Teaching at Australian universities, the renowned professor worked to correct misconceptions about Islam, the biggest of which was homogeneity.
“The idea that Muslims are just one lot of 1.6 billion people effectively functioning the same,” Professor Saeed said.
The esteemed professor also joined interfaith dialogue events looking for a common word between Islam and other Abrahamic faiths.
During one of the event, he attended interfaith meetings with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
“It is how we understand our own religion too,” he said.
Islam is Australia’s second largest religion after Christianity.
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population.
(Courtesy: OnIslam.net)
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February 11, 2013, 7:49 pm
For US-Iran talks to go forth and produce fruitful results there must be efforts from both parties to bridge the gap
By Tariq A. Al Maeena
It was a welcome overture. Joe Biden, the US vice-president, said recently in Munich that the US was prepared for direct discussions with Iran if Tehran was serious about working towards the resolution of the differences between them. Since being re-elected, US President Barack Obama has shown intentions of resuming dialogue with Iran by sending out positive signals.
“There is still time, there is still space for diplomacy backed by pressure to succeed. The ball is in the government of Iran’s court. But we have also made clear that Iran’s leaders need not sentence their people to economic deprivation and international isolation,” offered Biden.
The offer for the talks was greeted positively in some of the Iranian government circles. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, reacted positively to Biden’s offer and added on TV: “I would like to say that these are good signs ... We are a rational government and we look into resolving all outstanding international issues through negotiation. This is not a forbidden zone. This is not a red line when it comes to holding bilateral talks on particular subjects. Here I mean the nuclear issue. This is not a red line.” He added that his government would seriously consider the offer, but cautioned that they would have to refrain from “threatening rhetoric that everything is on the table”.
A few days later, the US widened sanctions on Iran with the intention of restricting its ability to use revenues from oil sales. According to a statement by the US Department of Treasury, the intent was: “In addition to effectively locking up Iranian oil revenue overseas, this provision sharply restricts Iran’s use of this revenue for bilateral trade and severely limits Iran’s ability to move funds across jurisdictions.”
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| Photo Courtesy: Luis Vazquez/Gulf News |
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reacted sharply a day later by saying that nogotiating with the US were not feasible while the US was continuing its strong-arm policy against the Islamic republic. If their intentions with the offer of dialogue were indeed to be meaningful, then why impose more binding economic sanctions against his country?
In direct reference to Biden’s offer, he replied: “The ball, in fact, is in your court. Does it make sense to offer negotiations while issuing threats and putting pressure? You are holding a gun against Iran, saying you want to talk. The Iranian nation will not be frightened by the threats. American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations.”
The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the other hand, is said to be in favour of direct talks. The belligerence exhibited by Ahmadinejad in the first days of his presidency has somehow been tempered by geo-political realities.
In recent times, there have been overtures initiated by him through third parties in easing off tensions between the US and Iran, but it is said that each time his efforts have been stalled by the country’s supreme religious leader — Khamenei.
The economic sanctions are indeed hurting Iran and its people. For any significant purchase, it is not unusual to see Iranians closing their trade with a suitcase filled with Iranian riyals that have devalued dramatically in recent times. And more significantly, it draws a section of the Iranians closer to the Khamenei doctrine of rejection of any western overtures.
As one embittered Iranian said: “Iran is having guns pointed at it. Khamenei was perhaps too mild in his reaction. The sanctions that the West keeps imposing coupled with invasion of our airspace by US drones are not signs of peaceful overtures. They are more like acts of war! Iran has been a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has never been cited in violation of it. Israel refuses to sign the treaty and yet gets away with no sanctions. Where is the justice in all of this?”
Another added: “It is of no use talking to the Americans who, through their illegal sanctions on Iran, have caused much suffering in that country. I suggest that the Americans lift all sanctions and compensate the Iranians financially before any talks can take place.”
For the talks to go forth and produce fruitful results there must be efforts from both parties to bridge the gap. Iranians must not be swayed by religious figures who have assumed custody of the Iranian political arena.
The population of more than 70 million should not be held hostage to the doctrines of clerics attempting to steer the nation away from the 21st century. As a major player in the region, Iran must understand that its security signals the security for the region.
The West, on the other hand, could serve the cause of peace better by re-examining the policy and effects of its sanctions. Their offer for talks must be genuine and credible. They will not win many friends from within Iran if people go cold and hungry and have nothing more to lose. All means must be exhausted to bring about a peaceful resolution.
[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena]
(Courtesy: Gulf News)
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February 11, 2013, 7:55 pm
“Allama Mashriqi is the great man of the present age. He has given India* a new outlook and a new way of life." ─ The Radiance (Aligarh), February 06, 1943
IMO News Service
Scholar & Historian Nasim Yousaf’s book, “Government of British India on Allama Mashraqi and Khaksar Tehreek (Movement): A Select Chronology” has been released in electronic format by a USA based publisher, AMZ Publications (New York). The print format of the said book was published in 2010. The new e-book / digital version can be downloaded (on Kindle, computer, or other reading devices) in many countries, such as Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK, and USA. This will allow researchers and historians on South Asia based around the world to gain easier access to this important publication.
This extensive work is a great contribution toward literature on topics surrounding the independence movement and the emergence of two sovereign states — Pakistan and India — in 1947. This book presents a timeline (focusing on the 1930s and 1940s) of the Government of British India’s materials as well as historically important events and news relevant to Mashraqi and his Khaksar Tehreek. It contains descriptive information on the secret and private correspondence of the Secretary of State for India, Viceroy of India, Provincial Governors, and other high officials. It also includes descriptions of classified and confidential documents and intelligence and Provincial Governors’ fortnightly reports. The book is among the most comprehensive chronologies ever created on the subject and is a vital resource for faculty members, researchers, students, film/documentary makers, and general interest readers to learn about Mashraqi, his ardent fight against the British Raj, and his pivotal role in bringing freedom to British India.
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The author, Mr. Nasim Yousaf, has been in research since 1996 and is a well-known scholar and historian. His works can be found in top research and academic libraries around the globe. Thus far, he has written ten books, out of which six are related to Allama Mashraqi and his Khaksar Movement and Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan (world-famous social scientist and pioneer of micro-credit). Indeed, Mr. Yousaf’s works have created an impact on the history of the Indian-sub-continent and there is a sense of realization among writers and intellectuals that the history of the Indian sub-continent is distorted.
In Pakistan, programs have been held on various television channels in the recent past regarding the falsehood and fabrication of history. It is now being realized that a balanced account of the history of the Indian sub-continent needs to be written, and this cannot be done without presenting the point of view of leaders like Allama Mashriqi, who vehemently opposed the partition of India.
Additionally, it is a matter of interest to academics and mainstream public (interested in the history of South Asia) that Scholar Yousaf is working towards publishing additional works. Among his forthcoming books and articles (all titles are tentative) are: “Mahatma Gandhi and My Grandfather, Allama Mashriqi” and “Men Like Allama Mashriqi Are Born Once In Centuries.” He is also working on number of research based articles such as “Allama Mashriqi at the Famous Caliphate Conference in Cairo -1926,” “Air Commodore Mohammad Zafar Masud,” and “Allama Mashriqi: A Founder of Islamia College, Peshawar, Pakistan.” Information on the author’s published works is available on the internet, including on YouTube and his page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nasimyousaf.26).
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February 11, 2013, 8:04 pm
By Naveed Qazi
India and Pakistan were formed through a tryst of destiny. The so called revolutionaries rose to find the soul of their nations, which were long suppressed according to their free thinking. Soldiers, adventurers, business men and administrators were the proudest possessions to exploit this part of the continent, which was getting free from the Empire of the Colonial British - they left, but kept their senates, their language and their institutions in their respective vassals.British ruled from Khyber Pass to Cape Camorin – India. Through the quarter of the century of inspired agitations and protests, the nationalist movement grew to an unusual prominence, which made the British leave India. The roots of this uprising was an age old antagonism between India’s Hindus and Muslims - sustained by a tradition of antipathetic religious differences, economic inequality, subtly exacerbated by Britain’s Divide And Rule Policy. Thus, there was a birth of ideologies and leaders, born out of the revolting masses, who freed themselves from the British, to chalk out a future of the sub-continent.
Muslims demanded an Islamic State of its own, arguing that if it didn’t happen, it would result in the bloodiest pogrom in Asian history. The reason for that was the emerging force of Hindu Mahasabha – the Great Hindu Society, an ideology that had a strong Hindu nationalist socio-politico overtone, with no space for Islamic reformists or even secularists, in the emerging homeland. Even for the Congress Party, who were representing millions of majority Hindus at that time, the rise of Islamist State was mutilation of their homeland, almost sacrilegious in nature, to which they eventually conceived. Therefore, Britain was trapped between two apparently irreconcilable positions, sinking slowly into the quagmire from which the British Empire in India was unable to extricate itself.
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To Muslims, it is generally accepted that integrating into a ‘Hindutva Society’ is to compromise the Muslim identity, when a competing faith in politics is ruling the minority, and the theology of the Koran, which taught monotheism, like other Abrahamic religions.
Hinduvta is a religious movement in polity. For Hindus, religion is derived from polytheism. Islam is against this phenomenon. To Jinnah, the two nation theory was expounded for a reason that the two religious communities belonged to two different philosophies, with different social customs and literature, having no intermarriage between various concepts emerging through a civilizational evolution.
Even for Allama Iqbal, guardianship and emancipation of 80 million minority Muslims before the partition era in a majority Hinduised society was prone to dangers of extremism and militarism towards civil wars. Savarkar once summarized: “The State will not guarantee secured Muslim seats in the Legislature or in the Administration and, if such guarantee is insisted upon by the Muslims, such guaranteed quota is not to exceed their proportion to the general population.” Constitutionally, India recognizes Muslims as equal citizens - a winning reminder to these ideologues. Jinnah, on the other hand, negated any form of faith based nationalism and propagated equal treatment of non-Muslims in the Pakistani society. So was this civilisational conflict, the birth of Pakistan as a nation, a necessary evil to attain peace in South Asia? To what extent, Hinduvta proved pivotal towards the propagation of two nation theory, and how will Sarvarkar’s ‘Ahkand Bharat’ (United India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) be a reality, when a country, with advantageous Hinduised socio-politico dictatorship ordains over a harmonious and a collective society in South Asia? At the same time, Sarvarkar propagated a separate homeland for Jews in Israel, so why didn’t he have same perceptions for a separate Muslim homeland? Academics and politicians should answer the growing communal indecencies in Indian politics because when we look at the condition of Muslims in India, they work in apathy and live in uncared ghettos. Ignorance and lack of secular education is also a problem for Muslims in both the nations, but communal wars between these two communities, in the past, serve as a dangerous predicament, for an ever growing tussle between the tenets of a Hindu Rashtra and an Islamic State - a deepening divide between majority and minority communities.
So why is it a shame or deceit when Indian Muslims cannot integrate fully into a fascist leaning cultural Indianess of a Hindutva society? Secularism should be an answer, it should be strengthened, but it hasn’t fully been attained in a huge country like India or even in Pakistan due to dangers of religious indifferences, civilisational argumentations and extremism - which is still prevalent today, as it was during the pre-1947 era. Why can't religion be confined to its chambers in a multi-religious society? There needs to be liberality, economic prosperity, freedom of expression, tolerance, justice, peace and interdependence through depoliticizing faith - but it is an utopian dream, until people of respective religious communities, in this huge region, don’t make an ideological shift, so that the place releases itself from the shackles of communal destitute and extreme nationalism – the main forces against seeking a pluralistic union of South Asia.
[The author can be mailed at naveedqazi@live.com]
(Courtesy: The Rising Kashmir)
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February 11, 2013, 8:11 pm
By Abdul Hafiz Lakhani
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court recently asked the state government if it conducted any survey to assess backwardness of Muslims in Gujarat in the last 20 years. The government replied, "No".
The full bench put the question to Advocate General Kamal Trivediduring the hearing on the legality of the Centre's scheme of pre-matriculation scholarships to students of five minority communities, to which the state government has objected.
Citing instructions in the Supreme Court's Inder Sawhney judgment, Justice V M Sahai, who presides over the five judge bench, asked the state government's legal officer, "Twenty years have passed. Have you conducted any survey of the Muslim community as a whole to know how many of them are really backward?" The AG said that the state government did not conduct any such exercise for last two decades.
The issues cropped up when the state government questioned the Centre's floating the scheme on the basis of the Justice Sachar committee's recommendations. The AG asserted that for conducting any survey, the government needs a legal declaration about the backwardness of communities. Justice Sahai again questioned him why the government did not undertake any exercise in this regard.
The judge further said that Muslims are downtrodden and live in ghettos. Narrating his own experience, Justice Sahai said, "Why do they live in ghettos? There are historical reasons, for security." He also commented, "The state of Gujarat is fighting for Rs 4 crore (its contribution to the minority scholarship)?" The AG rebutted this by saying that it is a matter of principle. "Tomorrow, the Centre may come out with umpteen schemes, but it is subject to declaration...It's a matter of principle," he argued.
A couple of judges in the bench commented that the schemes are aimed at benefitting the downtrodden, and affirmative action by the executive should be welcomed. Justice D H Waghela questioned the state government's projection of literacy ratio, which is claimed to be higher among the minorities, and cited the dropout rate for Muslim students in higher secondary.
The court's query on the survey came after the AG submitted that the Sachar committee could come up with recommendations, but it is up to the states to determine the criteria to adjudge whether a community is backward. He questioned why the committee's report is "so sacrosanct" for the Centre. He dubbed it a "convenient committee", and said that action on basis of its conclusion "cannot be tolerated".
[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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February 11, 2013, 8:17 pm
By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: "It is always asked by many that whether a second Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University, (AMU), can be born or not, the answer to this question is NO, because nowadays neither the situation is same nor anyone can feel the situation in the way as Sir Syed did. Sir Syed felt the situation of those times and realized that it is only through modern education that one can save the Muslim community from acute backwardness".
The above views were reportedly expressed by chief guest S.M.A. Kazmi, former Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh & Senior lawyer at Allahabad High Court, while addressing a national symposium on "Relevance of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in Post Modern Era". He also said that in the post modern era, the teachings of Sir Syed have became even more relevant. He asked the Aligarh fraternity to imbibe the values of secularism and dedication which Sir Syed taught.According to a Press release the national symposium was organised by Sir Syed Awareness Forum, (SSAF), at MuktaKash Pavilion of Aligarh Exhibition at Aligarh on February 6 last. The symposium was presided over by Prof. NAK Durrani, former Media Advisor, AMU.
While inaugurating the symposium Prof. Jamal Ahmad, Director, Centre for Diabetes & Endocrinology, AMU, said that one should not think about the outcome of his good deeds as you are working honestly & selflessly, you are bound to get fruitful results. The live testimony to this fact is Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, he pointed out.
Keynote speaker Dr. S. Jawed Akhter, Director Finance, ACN Group of Institutions, asked the students and old boys of AMU to rise above the petty interests and dedicate themselves to the cause of Sir Syed. He said that it is the duty of every Alig to carry forward the message of Sir Syed.
President of the Forum Dr. Shakeel Samdani said that in today’s scenario the philosophy of Sir Syed has became even more relevant and applicable. He said that it is only because of the tireless efforts of Sir Syed that we are getting quality education comprising of both “Tarbiyat” & “Taleem”. He stressed upon the need of inculcating the concept of “Tarbiyat” (good upbringing) preached by Sir Syed, as it is only through this, we can achieve the pinnacle of success along with strengthening our moral Values. He congratulated the AMU Vice-Chancellor Lt. Gen. Zameeruddin Shah for enthusing a sense of confidence and pride among the students of the university and maintaining a disciplined environment in the university campus.
Dr. Samdani also asked the audience to pray to the Almighty Allah for the success of AMU special centres. He said that the proposed centres should also see the light of the day very soon as it will lead towards the attainment of Sir Syed’s dreams of spreading education among the masses and asked them to pray for strengthening the hands of those who are involved in this noble cause. At the same time he called upon the students that their conduct should not hamper the reputation of the university.
Secretary of U.P. Rabita Committee Dr. Obaid Iqbal Asim said that this symposium on Sir Syed is a unique one and holds historical importance as this is the only programme dedicated to Sir Syed which has been organized at the annual Aligarh Exhibition. The credit for this goes to Dr. Shakeel Samdani because of his tireless efforts the Aligarh exhibition got it’s first program on Sir Syed. At the same time he urged the audience to strengthen the hands of Dr. Samdani so that he can carry on this noble endeavour.
In her inspiring speech Ms Ayesha Samdani said that Sir Syed’s contribution towards the development of secularism is too large to be recounted here. He worked hard to bring Muslims and Christians closer. He also supported large hearted tolerance between Hindus and Muslims and tried to bridge the gulf between them and this philosophy of Sir Syed is widely needed in this post modern era.
Speaking on the occasion ADM of Aligarh city D.S. Sachan said that it is due to the tireless effort of Sir Syed the name of Aligarh is famous through out the World. He extended full support to Dr. Samdani and urged him to organize such programmes in future also.On this occasion Sir Syed Awareness awards 2013 were given to Prof. Jamal Ahmad (JN Medical College) for his contributions in Medical sciences; Mohammad Shahid (Alig) for literary works; A.R. Khan, station superintendent, for Meritorious services and Pradeep Saxena for his valuable contributions in English Journalism.
Dr. Jarrar Rizvi, while conducting the programme, welcomed the guests and hoped that the symposium would be instrumental in reviving the “Aligarh Tahreek” in this post modern era. Joint convener Mansoor Ilahi proposed vote of thanks and senior member of the forum Ms Afrin Bano Khan highlighted the objectives of the forum.
The symposium was also addressed by Tousif Alam, vice-president, AMUSU; ACM II Rana, SP youth leader Sufiyan Rehman; Rubina Khanam and Sara Samdani.
The symposium was attended by the cabinet Members of AMUSU Shoeb Ali, Azam Khan, Huzaifa Sabir, Court Member Hashim Khan, Maazul Haque, Haider Ali Advocate, Dr. Sameena Khan, Ateeq Ansari, S.M Firdous Advocate High court, Syed Iqbal Ahmad Advocate High court, Mohammad Sarfaraz, Abdul Qadir Khan, Abdullah Samdani, Miss Hina Kauser, Miss Arjita Gupta, Miss Umama Zehra, Miss Aliya Rehman, Miss Ankita, Miss Yashfeen Ali, Miss Mina Khan, Mustafa Muqeet, Tarique Umar, Farhat Ali Usmani, Umruddin, Er. Parvez Ansari, Naseem Shahid, Dr. Mujeeb, Nasar Kazim, Suraj Singh, Touhid Alam, Adil Raza, Tayyeb Ansari, Afzal Abidi, S. Ateeq-ur-Raheem, Waseem, Moulana Noman Qasmi, Mukesh Kumar etc. The symposium was also attended by a large number of students, intellectuals, social workers, AMU old boys and journalists, the release added.
[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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February 11, 2013, 8:26 pm
By Abdul Hafiz Lakhani
Ahmedabad: The "face" of 2002 post-Godhra riots, Qutubuddin Ansari, is seeking financial damages from the makers of Bollywood flick Rajdhani Express for "illegally" using his photo and causing him and his family "mental trauma".
"We have sent a legal notice to the producer and principal director of the film for using the photo of my client (Ansari), which was taken during the 2002 riots, in a demeaning way, thus causing mental trauma to him and his family," said advocate Amit Nair, who is representing Ansari in the matter.
Ansari's photograph pleading with security forces with folded hands and teary eyes during the post-Godhra riots had not only gone viral in 2002, but also became the face and symbol of the carnage.
Tired of being projected as the victim of riots, Ansari, who has settled down in his life doing tailoring work, has sought damages worth Rs 25 lakh from the makers of the film.
Film Rajdhani Express, with which tennis star Leander Paes made his debut, is a suspense thriller and was released on January 4 this year.
A legal notice has been sent to producers SLA Impex and Manoj Kejriwal and to the principal director of the film, Ashok Kohli, while giving them two days to reply from the date of receipt of the notice.
"We are also seeking a sum of Rs 25 lakh as damages for their actions and have demanded to publish an apology prominently in two leading newspapers having national circulation," Nair said.
Ansari has also sought to remove the use of the said photograph from the film and/ or any such content directly or indirectly referring him.
"It was shocking to see the appalling manner in which his image is portrayed in the film. The said depiction is further accompanied with slanderous dialogue of one of the lead actors of the film," Nair said.
"Ansari is facing serious social and family problems after the film was released in city theatres earlier this month. This has in fact created a circumstance of fear and danger to his personal safety and security," he said.
After the 2002 riots, Ansari's photo was widely used by NGOs and political parties. It was also used by some terror outfits to show "injustice" meted out to minorities in Gujarat.Ansari had earlier requested people not to use his picture since it appeared in a threat mail issued by Indian Mujahideen after serial blasts that rocked Ahmedabad in July 2008.
In the notice, Ansari has also alleged that the film makers used his photograph to sensationalise the film and have left a "false and negative image" of his character.He wants to wipe out the features that keeps him tied to the state’s turbulent past despite all his attempts to escape it. Ansari’s photograph pleading with security forces with folded hands and teary eyes during the post-Godhra riots had become the face and symbol of the carnage across the world. Recently, the photograph was shown in Bollywood suspense thriller Rajdhani Express, starring Jimmy Shergill and tennis star Leander Paes.
“The photograph was used by many for their benefit. But it has destroyed my life, my peace. I have tried moving away and moving on. But someone, somewhere displays this picture and turns my life upside down,” says Ansari, who has slapped a legal notice on the filmmakers for using the photograph in a ‘slanderous’ manner.
Cursed Photograph
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| Qutubuddin Ansari pleading during Gujarat Riots |
The self-employed tailor is settled in eastern Ahmedabad. “Please do not reveal the area I live in. I don’t want to be in the limelight. Following the riots, I moved to Malegaon to escape the attention. I got a job as a tailor. I did not tell anyone about my past. Life was smooth till one day, my coworker saw the cursed photograph printed alongside a riot-related report in a newspaper.
He showed it to my employer who fired me because he did not want to court any controversy. I shifted to Kolkata and lived peacefully. But whenever focus shifted to the Gujarat riots, this photograph was featured prominently in most papers. “Finally, I got tired of the probing looks. I was also terribly homesick so I returned to Ahmedabad and got a job in a factory as a tailor. Things were fine till an NGO used my face on their posters to mark the anniversary of 2002 riots. My employer saw it and promptly fired me,” says Ansari, who had famously written to the Ahmedabad police commissioner, requesting a ban on the use and publication of this photograph.
‘Ban My Picture’
Ansari’s picture also appeared in a threat mail issued by Indian Mujahideen after serial blasts that rocked Ahmedabad in July 2008. “The police questioned me. My Hindu friends vouched for my secular ideology and convinced the cops that I would never be involved in such a heinous crime.
“I was fed up. Everyone who saw the photograph looked at me with pity. It hurt to see my picture with folded hands depicting my helplessness in newspapers, on websites and cover reports of NGOs. So, I requested the police chief to impose a ban on the use of my picture in future. And ask all media, websites and NGOs to remove my picture from their documents. Everyone from politicians to NGOs have used my picture to further their goals. No one thought what it might to do to me.”
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| Qutbuddin Ansari leading life after Gujarat Riots |
Though the application brought no result, Ansari is determined to fight it out this time. “I have two daughters and a son. They are growing up and I do not want the memories of the riots weighing them down. If I had the money, I would undergo plastic surgery to change my face without a second thought. I want my kids to live in a stable and safe environment,” says Ansari, who berates the negative effect the photograph has had on his social life.
Avoiding Strangers
The 38-year-old has friends but he has known them for a long time. “I avoid strangers. People want to befriend me because of my face. They would show me off to their friends and associates as if I were a curio. I was afraid of protesting against the use of my photograph earlier because I thought people would either question or be curious about my political affiliations.
However, when my friend drew my attention to Rajdhani Express and the scene with my photograph in it, I was disturbed. Everyone watches movies. My kids might watch it and be affected negatively. I am a middle- class man. I am not wellversed with the law. But my friend asked me to take legal action against the filmmakers,” he says.
[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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February 11, 2013, 8:31 pm
New Delhi: Press Council chairman Justice Markandey Katju has hit out at the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over detention of Kashmiri journalist Iftikhar Gilani. In a hard-hitting letter to Union Home Secretary R K Singh, Katju condemned Iftikhar's detention and said that policemen who were involved in the "illegal act" should be suspended and prosecuted.Iftikhar, son-in-law of Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and his family were on Saturday detained by Delhi Police a few hours after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail. They were, however, released after about five hours of detention.
The Editors Guild of India also condemned his detention saying the Delhi Police owned him an apology. "The police gave no reason for their unwarranted action. It is a matter of relief that he was released after protests by various journalist bodies and individual journalists, and the resultant intervention by the ministry of home affairs," the Guild said in a statement on Sunday.
"The police owe an apology to (Iftikhar) Gilani and his family and the assurance that he will not be harassed in the future or prevented from carrying out his journalistic duties again," it said. Iftikhar had on Saturday claimed that he and his family members were kept in detention following Guru's execution. Police have, however, denied the claim.
The Guild also expressed concerns over the restrictions on newspapers in Srinagar for the past two days. According to information received in Delhi, newspapers in the Valley have been asked not to print or circulate their editions. "That newspapers have not been able to upload their online editions impinges on their constitutional right to freedom of expression. The Guild calls upon the government of Jammu and Kashmir to end all such restrictions, so that newspapers in the state can work without any fetters," it added.
Following is the full text of the letter written by PCI chairman to Ministry of Home Affairs:
The Home Secretary,Government of India.New Delhi
Dear Sir,
I am forwarding to you an email I have received from Mr. Iftikhar Gilani, Asst. Editor DNA, who is a Government of India accredited journalist and former Vice President of the Press Association.
I have carefully perused the email he has sent me and I have also read the news item in the front page of today's The Hindu newspaper. They reveal great high handedness and outrageous behaviour by the Delhi policemen concerned in harassing and tormenting Mr. Gilani and his family, including his small children. These were the undemocratic and abhorrent methods of the Gestapo during Nazi rule.
If these allegations are correct, the concerned police officers, who committed these high-handed illegal acts, as well as those higher ups who were instrumental in ordering these shameful and odious acts are prime facie guilty of serious crimes under sections 341/342, as well as other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and are also guilty of gross and blatant abuse of their powers.
Hence, if the allegations in the email of Mr Gilani are correct, I call upon you to do the following acts within 48 hours:
(i) immediately charge sheet and place under suspension all police officers responsible for these high handed and illegal acts including those higher ups who gave the orders for them
(ii) immediately institute criminal proceedings against such officers under the relevant provisions of IPC and other statutes.
(iii) immediately sanction adequate and suitable compensation to Mr Gilani and his family and convey an apology to him
(iv) I am informed that Mr. Gilani is still being harassed and surveillance is being done on him and his family. This is a clear violation of the decision of the Supreme Court in Kharak Singh Vs State of UP and other AIR 1963 S.C.1295,1964 SCR (1) 332, as well as violation of the right to privacy , which has been held to be part of Art 21 of the Constitution of India. Police surveillance seriously encroaches upon privacy of the petitioner and his fundamental rights under Art 21 vide 1999 (24) All Cr. R. 815 (817): 1999 (11).
I may mention that in the Nuremburg Trials held in after the Second World War the Nazi War Criminals took the plea that orders are orders, and that they were only obeying the orders of their superior Hitler. This plea was rejected by the International Tribunal which held that those orders were illegal orders and hence should have been disobeyed. Consequently many of the accused were hanged.
Hence all policemen in India are hereby warned that they should not carry out illegal orders of their superiors otherwise they will be charged for serious crimes, and if found guilty, severely punished.
Justice Markandey KatjuChairman, Press Council of India
(Courtesy: Kashmir Times)
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February 21, 2013, 1:24 am
By Abubakar Kasim
It is not easy to be at the frontline and in front of the microphone these days.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. May the Almighty protect and bless you and your families and make you among those who will enter Paradise with ease and comfort.
I must commend you for the noble work you do – the work of Prophets in calling to the way of your Lord with wisdom, knowledge, and patience and holding the torch to guide mankind.
It is not easy to be at the frontline and in front of the microphone these days at a time when stakes are high and the confusion about our faith is at its peak.
You are scrutinized in every word you say and you are watched closely in every action you do.
You are hardly given the benefit of the doubt and are judged harshly when you make a mistake.
When confusion arises about a statement you make, or something you might have said in the past, the media sounds the alarms and the international media organizations transmit the “breaking news” to their audiences.
The tabloid newspapers are after you the same way the paparazzi go after celebrities.
The paparazzi, however, are much more objective with their reporting as they publish positive and negative things about celebrities; whereas the tabloid media only look at anything that could be interpreted negatively so that they could sell their papers the next day and win more viewers in the evening news.
They don’t see anything good you do and don’t report any word of wisdom you say.
All they are after is something that they can use to create a sense of panic and hysteria in the society.
I personally believe that the pressure the media put on you and the heat they direct upon you is a blessing in disguise.
It makes you remember about the importance of personal accountability and to be aware of everything you do and every word you say.
As our faith teaches us, we already have two angels who record everything we do.
It is extremely important for you as the leader of the community to conduct a personal review of your talks and to be extra careful of your future sermons in order to make sure that your talks reflect the message of Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings upon him, who was sent as a mercy to mankind.
As humans always error and the door of improvement is always open even when a person holds the highest degree ever awarded to mankind, it is imperative to assign one or two people as consultants to offer you a constructive and positive feedback.
The consultants should not hesitate to offer you a feedback and advice you accordingly.
As Imam Hamza Yusuf said repeatedly in his speeches, when Imam Shafi was asked of what made him achieve high status, he said he used to pay close attention to his critics.As you know, the one who like us would not point out to our mistakes.
A human being, whether he is a high school student or a PhD holder, is constantly learning.Only those who are arrogant think they know it all.
It is very important for an imam to have some people to offer him feedback.
If some people might not feel comfortable to do this, he could have them write him anonymous letters so that they will feel at ease to say what they really have to say without any hesitation.I feel very sad when I hear a Muslim scholar banned from entering a country due to some hateful and irresponsible remarks he is accused of making.
While some times the alleged remarks are taken out of context and blown out of proportion, some members in our community do say silly things some times.
We should not always blame the media when they criticize us. Some times their accusations do indeed have basis.
A well-known masjid in Toronto was in hot water several times before for making outrageous statements.
As reported in the Toronto Star on Nov. 17, 2008, a mosque employee sent an email to the mosque's Internet message service on Christmas Day, warning that saying "Merry Christmas" was akin to "congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone or having illicit sexual relations and so on.” The masjid in question later had retracted and apologized for the offensive remarks and said that the statement was written by a junior employee of the mosque.The community should make sure that those who are holding the steering wheel are qualified and experienced individuals who know what they are doing.
Imams need to bring people together and avoid things that keep them apart.
As every corporation has a spokesperson who is well trained in handling public relation matters, our organizations should do the same in having people who know well how to talk.
While in North America Muslims are much more disciplined and are rarely accused of making outrageous remarks, the situation in Europe is far worse and deplorable.
There have been voices of ill-qualified people who are eager to jump to the microphone and make offensive and dangerous remarks which put the entire community in the harm’s way.That is why a lot these self-made scholars, are imprisoned and some are thrown out of the country.
In behaving irresponsibly and acting foolishly, they portray the entire community as evil and make the life of Muslims a living hell. Their actions have contributed to the growing anti Muslim sentiment in the region.
Imams need to bring people together and avoid things that keep them apart.
In western countries Muslims of different background come together. It is important for imams to focus of what unite them and avoid putting emphasis on issues that divide them.
It upsets me so much to see some imams putting a lot of emphasis on trivial issues and avoid other important matters.
We already have enough division, hatred and animosity in our global village.It upsets me to the stomach when I see some Muslims bringing back the baggage of division from their native lands and start speaking the language of divisiveness.
We as Muslims should avoid terms that divide us such as who is sufi, tablighi and salafi.A Muslim is a Muslim. He or she should avoid using labels that only keep us apart and don’t do us any good.
May Allah restore sanity back to the senseless world and help mankind to recognize and appreciate the brotherhood of humanity and start treating others with dignity and respect.
Amen.
(Courtesy: OnIslam.net)
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February 21, 2013, 1:30 am
By Lizzy Balboa
In typical fashion, the Jewish Hillel group Grand Valley State University broke bread together Friday night as they celebrated Shabbat, or the Jewish day of rest. But this bread passed through different hands and had a deeper significance than usual.
Even as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fostered continued tension around the world, GVSU’s Muslim and Jewish students sat in peaceful fellowship and inquired after one another’s families, journeys to their homelands, futures and religious traditions.
Hillel President Noah Zucker said the Jewish organization invited the Muslim Student Association to participate in a meal to honor Avi Schaefer, a Jewish Brown University student who worked to improve Muslim-Jewish relations before being killed by a drunk driver in 2010.
The Jewish student group received a grant from the Avi Schaefer Fund to host a dinner for Muslim and Jewish students at GVSU on the night before Schafer’s yahrzeit, or anniversary of death, celebrated by the Jewish people. “I’m hoping that there’s many more to come,” Zucker said.
Hillel hosts a Shabbat meal every other Friday night, but this was the first time an official invitation was extended to students of other faiths.
The peaceful night shared by the Muslim and Jewish students is not an anomaly, though. Zucker said the two groups have a good relationship at GVSU compared to other places around the world or even other campuses in Michigan.
“Compared to other campuses it’s really good because there’s a lot of campuses where there’s, at least from our standpoint, a very active anti-Israel sentiment on many campuses around the country, and here there doesn’t seem to be either pro or against either side,” Zucker said. “It’s just kind of a not talked about issue, which is better than not, but for me I’d like to see it as we can do things together and show that we’re friends and be peaceful about it and show kind of a united front, so that’s kind of what we’re getting at.”
Zucker said he senses no tension between the groups at GVSU, and MSA President Zeana Khodor agreed.
“I think there’s a real big misconception that Jews and Muslims don’t get along, so I think this will promote togetherness, and I think it’s a good opportunity to learn about a religion we don’t know much about,” Khodor said.
Zucker added that he hopes the effort to make peace at GVSU eventually resonates with the rest of the world.
“I think we’re kind of a ways off in terms of the whole world perspective of everything, but little by little I would hope that it goes there,” Zucker said. “I don’t know how realistic that is in our lifetime, which is sad, but I think there’s just too much hatred on both sides. But I think smaller things like this is how you can start to change it, you know, like people like this become friends.”
As GVSU students come to know one another’s faiths, they can spread their understanding to their families at home and back in their original countries, Zucker said.
“A lot of our students have been to Israel before, a lot of them have been to their home countries, so you go back there and you talk to your families (about this),” he said. “It’s small things.”
Khodor said this is the first event that Muslim and Jewish students gathered together for the purpose of fellowship. “I think we’ve always gotten along but I think we still can make us closer,” she said.
And while bridging the gap between Muslim and Jewish students at GVSU may not have immediate worldwide consequence, it stands to testify that good relations are possible between the two groups often seen at odds.
“I think when we make our relationship stronger it will promote peace and less ignorance in the world, I guess, and it’s always good to learn about another culture or religion,” Khodor said.
(Courtesy: Grand Valley Lanthorn)
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February 21, 2013, 1:39 am
By Abdul Malik Mujahid
I was captivated while praying for the wellbeing of an eight-year-old boy with the rest of Malaysia. William wandered away from his mother in Kuala Lumpur the week I was visiting in January 2013. Police officers, neighbors, politicians, and radio jockeys all searched for him. I, too, kept praying that he would be found alive somehow before I left the country. But alas, the day of my departure, the newspapers carried the story of his body being found.
Only a mother can truly feel what it is like to lose a child.
What touched my heart so much, however, was not just William and his grieving parents, but also the reaction of Malaysians themselves.
Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-faith country. Its culture is defined by their unique successful model of co-existence and respect for each other individually, as well as communally.Neighbors – Muslims, Christians, Malays, Chinese, and Indians – distributed fliers of the missing child as they searched for him. I noticed the women police officers dressed in Hijab, along with non-Hijabis, looking for William. All newspapers, Malay, Chinese, and English, were busy searching and reporting.
It was, however, not an occasion where an interfaith coalition would deliberately rally in a planned exercise in solidarity, as happens in the United States after each attack on a mosque. Coming together regardless of faith, language, or culture is just business as usual in Malaysia. It is not something Malaysians do deliberately. It is simply part of the national ethos.
And it was William who brought my attention to this aspect of Malaysian society.
William’s parents are Chinese Christians in a predominantly Muslim Malay country which considers Islam its state religion, organizes Hajj and Zakat officially, and engages in Islamic banking at the highest level among all Muslim countries.
Malaysia is a nation of 29 million with Malays making up 60.3%, Chinese 22.9%, and Indians 7.1% of the total population.
Chinese and Indian laborers were mostly brought here by the British when they occupied Malaysia. They were poor workers, struggling at mines and plantations. Today, they are thriving communities. According to Forbes Magazine’s list of the 40 Richest Malaysians, at the top is a Chinese Malaysian, next an Indian Malaysian. The next eight are all Chinese, with only one Malay Muslim making the list. Today, the Chinese account for 70 percent of the country’s market capitalization, according to one report.
There is certainly some resentment about this. However, unlike Indonesia, which has gone through more than one violent campaign against Chinese control of the economy, Malaysia has been able to build socio-economical and political acceptance for this success story by channeling potential Malay resentments through ethnic quotas. Amy Chua actually thinks that this model is worth learning from for other countries where majorities resent minorities’ success.
However, this is not just about ethnic quotas.
The Malaysians’ social contract was born during their freedom struggle against the British, in which the Chinese agreed to special rights for the Malay majority and Malays agreed to grant citizenship to a million-plus Chinese in the 1950s. That communal understanding provided a framework for harmony and growth which has benefited all communities.
Malaysia, as a result, has achieved better minority-majority harmony and peace as compared to neighboring countries, where economically stronger minorities have been persecuted as in Indonesia, suffering several violent attacks or against the poorer ethnic minorities as in Thailand, Myanmar and Philippines.
It was an elderly Chinese cab driver who first alerted me to this historic understanding, saying that it has worked for all communities in Malaysia. However, he warned me that young people sometimes don’t understand the wisdom of this arrangement.
This understanding has translated into Malaysian culture of communal co-existence.
A common street scene in Malaysia is a working woman dressed in Hijab walking side by side on the street, chatting and laughing together, with a less-covered Chinese or Indian woman in a miniskirt. Visible Islam and visible non-Islam exist right next to each other in Malaysia.
It contrasts strongly with the neighboring Chinese-controlled Singapore, where Malay Muslim girls are not allowed to wear a headscarf in school because of a government ban.
During my stay, the newspapers also featured stories about the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebrations. The birthday of the Prophet is a big deal in Malaysia. Their king, a constitutionally elected leader, was present at the major mosque of the capital during ceremonies whose theme was “Moderate Islam is the way.”
But it is not just the Muslim holiday which was visible that week. Chinese New Year preparations were reported upon on the daily basis. The lobbies of the Petronas towers, which not long ago displaced Chicago’s Sears Tower as the tallest building in the world, were festooned with red Chinese New Year decorations.
Then there was a whole special section in Malaysian newspapers about a Hindu religious holiday. It was a Southern Indian festival where most of Malaysia’s Tamil Hindus come from.
This accommodation of religious diversity contrasts strongly with India, where newspapers hardly ever mention the Muslim Eid celebration. This is in a country where 150 million Muslims reside. India political culture suppresses community identity by using the word “communal” as a pejorative term.
The Malaysian model of successful pluralism is unique. I don’t know any other place in the world where the government pays for minorities to run their schools in their own languages. Malaysia has government-financed primary schools in Chinese and Tamil (Indian) languages, along with public schools. During my visit, I watched television programs in three languages: Chinese, Tamil, and Malay.
While nation-states around the world were busy over-emphasizing the individualism of citizens and their rights at the expense of allegiance to ethnic identity in the last half century, Malaysia was engaging the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities in its society and politics as a group. This was done far before India and China became synonymous with the term “rising superpower”.
Now that nation-states around the world are weakening, and ethnic demands and solidarities are rising from Kurdistan to Catalonia as Al Gore puts it in his latest book, The Future, it is important for the world to look into Malaysia’s model of ethnic recognition and co-existence instead of investing all resources in a militarized suppression of these demands. In many countries, minorities control the economy, which the majority population resents. And electoral politics is likely to make things difficult for those minorities as a result.
The Malaysian model is not new. For Muslims, it has roots in the Prophet’s Charter of Madinah which recognized pagan and Jewish tribes by name, gave full freedom of religion, life, security, and autonomy in their own laws, all while calling them and the Muslim community together “one Ummah”. This is probably the source of Malaysia’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic ideology which Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, an eminent Malay professor, has written about.
Malaysia’s model of communal harmony imposes a political structure as well. It has a steady model of racial coalition politics. These coalitions are not born out of any occasional parliamentary political necessity for short-term working relationships. They are a long-term, thoughtful strategy of working together for the mutual interests. The ruling coalition and the opposition coalition are both multi-racial alliances. While the dominant alliance has more ideological harmony and working relationships between the Malay, Chinese, and the Indian parties, the opposition alliance has an interesting mix of an Islamic party demanding Islamic laws, the pro-West liberals, and a Chinese party with historic ties to the ruling party of Singapore. But it is a multi-racial coalition nevertheless. Only in Malaysia could an Islamic party be a part of such an ideologically diverse coalition.
American scholars who have been desperately looking for “moderate Islam” have somehow missed Malaysia. Maybe it is their social science bias that individual rights are everything and communal identities are nothing but trouble, or perhaps a bit of Islamopobia playing a role in neglecting this “Muslim” success story.
There is no human endeavor that can be perfect. And that is true of Malaysia as well, which is the longest lasting parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world. While there, I read about Malay Muslims’ discomfort with a Christian missionary strategy to call Jesus Allah in the Malay language Bible. The Sultan of Selangor declared that Christians cannot do that. The Muslims from the opposition alliance supported the right of Christians to call their Jesus by any name.
The government remained mostly silent to the controversy until someone crossed the invisible Malaysian line of racial and religious respect. When a little pro-government politician threatened to burn the Bible which uses the name Allah for God, the police moved in, registering a case of “sedition” against the politician.
Malaysia takes ethnic conflicts very seriously. Since 1969, when Malaysia faced some race riots, any deliberate attempt to hurt a religious or racial group is taken very seriously. Attacks on places of worship do happen, but far less than in the US. Individual freedom to be irresponsible is contained for the sake of communal harmony.
They got peace.
No wonder as many tourists show up in Malaysia every year as there are Malaysians: 28 millions of them last year.
It is a happy country. 58% of Malaysian youth surveyed say Malaysia is moving in the right direction as compared to only 24 percent of the U.S. college students surveyed feel positive about America’s future.
The Malaysian GDP is growing an average of 6.5% for almost 50 years. Not too fast. Not too slow. That is the Malaysian way.
Malaysia will likely continue to grow. It is ranked the 12th most business friendly country in the world; first in terms of ease of getting credit and fourth in protecting investment. It is better than Canada, Japan, France and Israel in terms of business friendliness. It is also the only Muslim country in the top ranking of Doing Business 2013, a World Bank and the International Monitory Fund (IMF) report. Interestingly it is the IMF and the World Bank that Malaysia defied under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to protect its national interest during the financial crisis of Southeast Asia in 1997.
I have visited Malaysia every few years since the 1970s. I have always found it moving forward, more developed, ever respectful of the “other”, and dare I say it: very Muslim.
Malaysia must tell its success story to the world. And please don’t mess with success!
(Courtesy: Foreign Policy Journal)
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February 21, 2013, 1:47 am
By Karen E. Klein
In mid-2009, Pakistani immigrant Junaid Akbar struck out at a host of major banks when he sought funding to buy bagel shop franchises in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Then, in early 2010, the retired computer programmer landed just over $500,000 from an unusual source: Bank of Whittier, a tiny community bank in Los Angeles that specializes in financing for Muslims who want to comply with Islamic anti-usury laws that prohibit the paying or charging of interest.
The bank, whose staffers speak more than a dozen languages, markets itself to observant Muslim entrepreneurs trying to stay within the boundaries of Shariah, or Islamic law. Its clients include owners of gas stations, supermarkets, and restaurants. Even though avoiding loan interest wasn’t his priority, “they came and helped us out,” says Akbar, who now owns four Einstein Bros. Bagels (BAGL) outlets. “I applied so many places, but they took a chance on me.”
Islamic finance is widely available throughout the Muslim world, but is rare in the United States, says Yahia A. Rahman, who bought the bank in 1982 and five years later opened a related financing operation, Lariba American Finance House, to handle mortgages and small business ventures. Deals are structured so that the bank buys into the venture with the entrepreneur, who runs the company and buys the bank out, with payments structured so that the bank is compensated for its investment. Profits and losses are shared; the overall cost tracks with a traditional loan repayment at a standard interest rate.
“Our model is that we do not rent money,” says Rahman, who spent most of his career as an engineer in the oil and gas industry.”We do not charge interest; we look at every deal as an investment deal.”
Such a model may become more popular as the population of Muslims in the U.S. booms. Estimated at 2.6 million in 2010, a 2011 Pew Research Center report projects that the number of Muslims living in the U.S. will more than double by 2030, to 6.2 million. A March 2012 study of American Muslim entrepreneurs (PDF) tallied 81,000 Muslim-owned businesses in the U.S., with half located in New York, Chicago, and Houston.
Most obtain conventional funding for their small business operations, as well as for their home mortgages, says Aijaz Hussain, vice president of national sales at University Bank in Farmington Hills, Mich. His bank does “Sharia-compliant” home mortgages but not entrepreneur financing, which is much more complicated, he says. “It’s easier to do with asset-based financing” such as a home or commercial mortgage, Hussain says. “A business is a whole different challenge because you have to evaluate the risk, share in profits and losses, and you have to bet on the ability of the guy who’s going to run the business for you.”
In his conversations with Muslim Americans, Hussain says he finds about 20 percent of the most religiously devout are concerned about finding Islamic finance. “It’s like in any religion, you have 80 percent who are more liberal and don’t worry about it so much. The more conservative types want the Islamic product, but even most of them will shop around and make sure they’re not paying more for it.”
Business financing without interest requires a level of scrutiny that goes far beyond the typical bank underwriting process, which relies heavily on credit scores and borrower collateral. It is labor-intensive, but it makes for prudent operations: “Our losses are very, very minor because we work with the customers closely on their business plans, we tailor things individually, and we do detailed financial analysis on each deal,” Rahman says. “Our employees are not paid by earning a commission on the number of loans they produce, they are paid and motivated by satisfied customers.”
Some analysts feel that Islamic finance, which also prohibits investments in alcohol, casinos, and the adult entertainment industry, is a natural fit with the trend toward socially responsible and faith-based investment. That topic was on the agenda of a 2012 Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, where participants concluded that a shared focus on values-based investing could help extend acceptance of Islamic finance in the West. Saturna Capital Chairman Nicholas Kaiser explained on Bloomberg TV in 2011 how following Islamic finance principles has affected his Amana mutual funds’ strong performance.
International finance and entrepreneurship professor Jaemin Kim, who teaches at San Diego State University, foresees a partnership among private equity or venture capital investment and Islamic funding of entrepreneurs who are running fast-growing companies. “Equity is the primary financial claim used by the VCs, who invest in the possibility of growth potential. With all the liquidity in Arabic countries and Islamic financial institutions around the world, entrepreneurial finance could be a good venue for that,” he says.
Of course, for many Muslim entrepreneurs, the main objective is simply finding capital, whether or not it complies with religious precepts. Mohammad Kaskas has gotten traditional bank loans and also got funding from Bank of Whittier three years ago for his Fresh Choice Marketplace, an ethnic grocery store with 80 employees based in Garden Grove, Calif. “They call it a halal loan, and the other banks call it interest, but it’s the same rate—prime plus 1.5 percent.” he says. “In the end, anybody who gives me the better deal, I go with. They’re both collecting the money.”
(Couresy: Bloomberg Businessweek)
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February 22, 2013, 2:37 am
By Omid Safi
Many Catholics are coming to grips with the startling news of the impending resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Already, we are seeing many speculations on whether the next Pope will come from the non-white (Latin America, Africa, Asia), places which are clearly the future of the Church.
Others are approaching this with apprehension or excitement, over what might be the future direction the Church will take with respect to ordination of women, treatment of gays/lesbians, relationships with Jews and Muslims, and the broad context of Vatican II reforms.
Muslims have had, by and large, a very tense relationship with Pope Benedict. Or to put it more properly, Pope Benedict has had a very tense relationship with Muslims.
The majority of Muslim pundits have responded to today’s news by recalling Pope Benedict’s controversial and perhaps unwise statements in 2006, when in the context of a speech at Germany’s University of Regensburg, he offered a lecture called: “Faith, Reason and the University—Memories and Reflections”. In this speech, he quoted a Byzantine emperor who stated: Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.
Pope Benedict had also made some startling statements seeing the essence of European civilians as being connected to Christianity, and spoke about how Turkey should not seek to be a member of the European Union and instead should join a Muslim Union. Benedict had identified Turkey as being “in permanent contrast to Europe and that linking it to Europe would be a mistake.”
Pope’s comments seemed to gloss over the 700 years of Muslim presence in Spain/Portugal, the 500 years of Muslim presence in SE Europe, and the 1000 years of Muslim presence in Russia. It also raises the question of whether he sees European Muslims today as being properly European, or if he subscribes to the theory of them being tolerated guests—as opposed to citizens.
However, here is where I would like to urge my Muslim friends to keep in mind a few points. Yes, as people of faith, we are always called to speak truth to power, no matter for whom and against whom, so long as it is for truth. So there are a few truths about Benedict’s resignation that bear to be kept in mind. But we are also called to make sure that the truth is always mediated through mercy and compassion. After all, as one Muslim mystic has said, “A truth that hits like a hammer is no truth at all.”
Yes, it is true that Benedict spoke deeply offensive words about Islam. Yes, it’s also true that he’s a methodical and careful theologian, and those words were not chosen at random and were in fact reinforced on a number of other occasions. But it is also worth keeping in mind that the Pope realized the error of his speech, and sought to make amends by undertaking visits to Muslim countries, in particular praying inside the famed Sultanahmet Mosque (So-called “Blue Mosque”) in Istanbul, and also in the King Hussein Mosque in Amman, Jordan.
In the famed Sultanahmet Mosque, the Pope told the Turkish head of Religious Affairs: “With the help of God, we must find the way of peace together, for the good of humanity.”
Secondly, and this is perhaps an even more important point, both the Christian and the Islamic faith are religious traditions built on mercy and forgiveness. In the Islamic tradition we are told that, the one who does not show mercy to God’s creation will not be shown mercy by God. This process of transition is a difficult one for many Christians, and in particular for Catholics. Yes, there is a great deal of excitement over the possibility of having the first African or Latin American or Asian Pope, but there is probably also nostalgia and sadness for many Catholics, alongside the mere fact that no pope has resigned for over 500 years.
I would hope that we as Muslims can practice the divine qualities of mercy and forgiveness at this time, and stand next to our Catholic friends as they journey through this turbulent time of transition. May there be an enlightened leader waiting for them on the other side, who can help us all get to the lofty promised land of respectful co-existence and love.
To echo Pope Benedict’s comments: “we must find the way of peace together, for the good of humanity.” Amin, Amen.
(Courtesy: Religion News Service)
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February 22, 2013, 2:41 am
By Tory Shepherd
A "POLITICALLY incorrect" party run by a Sri Lankan-born pastor has vowed to abolish multiculturalism in the unlikely event that it wins power.
Controversial evangelical preacher Danny Nalliah is the president of the Rise Up Australia Party, which launched its federal campaign in Canberra yesterday.
RUA will reportedly run 52 Lower House and 12 Senate candidates.
"Pastor Daniel", of Catch the Fire Ministries, says a conversation with Jesus that went from 3.40am to 6am one morning prompted his move to Australia.
Since arriving here he has claimed that Victoria's abortion laws caused the Black Saturday bushfires and that his prayers have brought dead people back to life.
He declared Prime Minister Julia Gillard a heathen "living in sin" and former Greens leader Bob Brown an "openly practising homosexual" and said that he felt sick to the stomach watching them shake hands.
Rise Up Australia will push for cuts to Australia's "Muslim intake", for an end to multiculturalism and for protection of Australia's Judaeo-Christian heritage.
Political analyst Associate Professor Haydon Manning said that with both the Labor and Liberal Party "on the nose" voters might give such "extremists" a go.
"They present extreme views (and) the stark reality is it's a very small minority of voters attracted to those views," the Flinders University head of politics and public policy said.
"But it's a reasonable point to reflect that the major parties are on the nose and that voters could cast around to find another place to park their votes as a protest against the majors."
Associate Professor Manning also said any success would be dependent on their financing, their ability to attract "foot soldiers" for the campaign, and any preference deals.
Pastor Daniel, a former Family First candidate who was asked to leave the party, told a rowdy crowd in Canberra yesterday that the party was "determined to be politically incorrect"."Tolerance has gone too much and the RUA party is committed to keeping Australia Australian,'' he said.
Climate change skeptic Christopher 'Lord' Monckton spoke at the launch, giving a very graphic description of abortions and leading a round of patriotic cheers.
RUA did not return calls yesterday.
(Courtesy: Herald Sun)
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February 22, 2013, 2:48 am
There was a 10 per cent increase in anti-Muslim incidents in 2012 reported by the San Francisco Bay Area office
By Mick O’Reilly
Muslim-Americans are suffering from an increase in Islamophobic rhetoric and an accompanying spike in bias incidents. In San Franciso alone, attacks against Muslims increased by 10 per cent between 2011 and 2012.
Dubai: In Oklahoma City, a Muslim family placed a sign on their lawn wishing “as-salaamu alaykum” or peace be upon their neighbours.
On Friday night, just after 8pm, the neighbours answered. A volley of high-calibre shots ricochetted off the walls and ripped through windows, spreading fear and terror to the family inside. Luckily, no one was injured, but the attack came several days after the family’s son was stopped and asked about his religion.
The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on Oklahoma state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the crime as hate-motivated.
“Any time the home of a family belonging to an ethnic or religious minority is attacked in a potentially deadly manner, it is only prudent to investigate a possible bias motive,” said Adam Soltan, executive director of the local chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Sadly, it’s not as if the incident was isolated. Muslim groups across the US are reporting increased rates of anti-Muslim incidents, discrimination and Islamophobia.
There was a 10 per cent increase in anti-Muslim incidents in 2012 reported by the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It reported 283 separate incidents over the course of the year and included, among other issues,complaints of employment discrimination, requests for legal representation for voluntary interviews by FBI and other law enforcement agencies, and reports of hate crimes.
In Chicago, it’s a similar story. Last week, Muslim grave markers at a suburban Chicago cemetery were stray painted with hate graffiti.
“Whenever a symbol of any faith is targeted in this manner, it makes sense to consider a bias motive for the crime,” said Ahmad Rehab, executive director of CAIR in the city.
“We have witnessed 10 anti-Muslim hate crimes in the Northwest in just the past year, which should be serious cause for concern and corrective action,” Arsalan Bukhari, CAIR’s executive director for Washington State said.
He said the increase in Islamophobic rhetoric and an accompanying spike in bias incidents is another issue of great concern to the state’s Muslim community.
“Muslim constituents will work to make lawmakers aware of the growing problem of Islamophobia and of the veiled and camouflaged manner in which it is being promoted. It is imperative that local and national leaders speak out and condemn the growing level of anti-Muslim prejudice and work with their Muslim constituents and their allies to oppose this promotion of bigotry against minorities, whatever the source.”
But for all of the work CAIR does in fighting Islamophobia, it’s a case of two steps forward, one step back, with the media failing to distinguish between Arab and Muslim — fuelling xenophobia.
Last night, an audience of more than 200 million Americans and countless other television sets worldwide were tuned to the Superbowl — the culmination of all-things NFL and the largest marketing bonanza for advertising executives. Coke generated complaints and a CNN debate by pundits when Arab-American groups sharply criticised its ad as racist.
Coca-Cola released an online teaser of the commercial last week, showing the Arab walking through a desert. He soon sees cowboys, Las Vegas showgirls and a motley crew fashioned after the marauders of the apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ film race by him to reach a gigantic bottle of Coke.
“Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich shaikhs, terrorists, or belly dancers?” asked Warren David, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC.Viewers of the 60-second spot, launched on January 22 on YouTube, are asked to vote for a winner of the chase, but the Arab is not among those on Coca-Cola’s online ballot. That exclusion—plus the Lawrence of Arabia-style dress — drew charges of racism from the ADC and Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies.
“The Arab-American community has been experiencing demonisation in television and the media,” said Abed Ayoub, legal director for the committee. The fact that this is occurring in one of the largest television events of the year aroused concerns.”
“The problem with the ad is that it relies on stereotypical characters to tell their story,” says Chris Lehtonen, president of Asterix Group, a San Francisco-based multicultural marketing firm. “While it may not be blatantly racist, the fact that it pits these groups against each other in the ad is insensitive. It is trying to sell their product at the expense of these groups.”
(Courtesy: Gulf News)
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February 22, 2013, 2:57 am
By Isabel Kershner
Jerusalem: An academic study of the contents of Israeli and Palestinian Authority textbooks, to be published Monday, finds that each side generally presents the other as the enemy, but it undermines recent assertions by the Israeli government that Palestinian children are educated “to hate.”
Though unusually comprehensive, the report is unlikely to resolve more than a decade of fierce wrangling about the textbooks — part of a broader debate about Palestinian incitement against Israelis — having set off a political furor even before its publication date.
Israel’s Ministry of Education issued a statement in late January dismissing the new research as “biased, unprofessional and significantly lacking in objectivity.” Referring to “bodies that wish to slander the Israeli education system and the state of Israel,” it said the findings were “predetermined” and did not “reliably reflect reality.”
An Israeli member of a scientific advisory panel of experts that oversaw the research, Daniel Sperber, a professor of Talmudic research at Bar-Ilan University, refused to comment on the report, saying its release was “premature.”
Arnon Groiss, another Israeli member of the advisory panel, an Arabist, and the researcher and author of many previous reports critical of the Palestinian Authority textbooks, also refused to endorse the report, saying last week that he had not seen a final version. But he insisted that the authority’s textbooks “prepare the pupils for a future armed struggle for the elimination of the state of Israel.”
A Palestinian member of the advisory panel, Mohammed Dajani, a professor at Al Quds University in the West Bank, countered that the new study was “a strategic vision rather than looking through narrow eyes at one side or another.”
“People who are critical of the report are not appreciative of the work that went into it,” Mr. Dajani added.
Fourteen of the 19 advisory panel members expressed support for the study in a statement on Sunday.
The report was commissioned by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who advocate for mutual respect and understanding. It was financed by a grant from the United States State Department.
The research was led by two prominent academics with long experience in textbook studies, Daniel Bar-Tal, an Israeli professor of research in child development and education at Tel Aviv University, and Sami Adwan, a Palestinian associate professor of education at Bethlehem University.
The project was originated by Dr. Bruce E. Wexler, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, who co-founded an organization to promote Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.
In a response to the Israeli Ministry of Education, the three professors cited the rigorous research methods employed and wrote of their hopes that the ministries on both sides would “be moved to prepare a plan of action” to help “advance the peace building process.”
Dr. Wexler added that all the advisory panel members were familiar with the report’s main findings.
Unimpressed with the quality of previous, more subjective studies, Dr. Wexler said that he had insisted on applying scientific research methods for this one, so as “to provide real facts about a controversial issue.”
This included employing research assistants from both sides who were fluent in Hebrew and Arabic and data entered remotely into a database at Yale, similar to a blind study.
The study examined books from Israel’s state secular and religious systems as well as those used in independent ultra-Orthodox schools, books issued by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education and used in the West Bank and Gaza, and a small number used in the few independent Islamic Trust schools. It did not include religious scriptures.
Previous studies of Palestinian textbooks by monitoring groups like the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education and Palestinian Media Watch suggested that they promoted the widespread dehumanization of Jews and Israel and a rejection of Israel’s right to exist.
The new study avoids harsh language and couches the bad news in a kind of symmetry.It found that extreme examples of dehumanization and demonization were “very rare” on both sides. The few examples given included one from an ultra-Orthodox textbook describing an Israeli settlement established on the ruins of an Arab village that “had always been a nest of murderers.” A Palestinian language textbook included a reference to “the slaughterhouse,” explaining it as the nickname prisoners had given to an interrogation center “due to the brutality of the interrogators.”
The report said that both Israeli and Palestinian books provided unilateral national narratives that presented the other side as an enemy and that there was a lack of information about each other’s religions, culture and daily life.
The failure even to mark the existence of the other side on most maps, it said, “serves to deny the legitimate presence of the other.”
But another significant conclusion was that Israeli state textbooks provided more information and less negative characterizations of the other side and more self-criticism regarding certain historical episodes than the ultra-Orthodox or Palestinian books. Addressing the 1948 massacre in the Arab village of Deir Yassin, for example, a book used in the state secular and religious schools noted that the battle “developed into the killing of dozens of helpless Arabs.”In many respects, the findings are similar to those of previous reports, but the interpretation largely differs.
There is little argument that most of the maps erase the presence of the other side or any kind of border between them. The Palestinians argue that there is no agreed border yet. Israelis counter that the state of Israel exists and should be named, while the West Bank is still a disputed area.
The study concludes that the maps reinforce each side’s self-narrative and fears — for the Palestinians, that Israel seeks to keep and expand occupied territories, and for the Israelis, that the Arab nations seek to wipe Israel off the map.
The textbook teachings on martyrdom and self-sacrifice are treated with similar evenhandedness. Palestinian sixth graders read in a language book that “every stone is violated, every square cries out in anger, every nerve is abuzz, death before submission, death before submission, forward!”
Israeli second graders are told the story of Joseph Trumpeldor, who died defending an early Zionist settlement from Arab attackers in 1920 and was said to have uttered in his last moments, “Never mind, it is good to die for our country.”
Coming after years of Palestinian suicide bombings, Israeli critics say, the Palestinian books glorify such acts of terrorism.
But Professor Bar-Tal said that “both societies are in the stage of mobilization,” with most Israeli students being prepared for compulsory army service.
He and others cautioned that the textbooks were only one factor influencing the younger generation, among others like teachers, the media and the Internet.
(Courtesy: The New York Times)
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February 22, 2013, 3:06 am
By Tariq A. Al-Maeena
The war against corruption must never cease. Corruption eats away the moral fiber of a society and eventually ends up destroying the government, institution or the individual’s sense of ethics and integrity.
This moral decay has fueled enough anger in recent times regionally that long established governments and power blocks have changed. Several leaders have been forced out of office by a public unwilling to put up with corrupt officials. But corruption is not confined to the region alone.
In the annual study released by Transparency International (TI), the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 indicates that corruption continues to devastate societies around the world. The study offers a score of individual countries and how corrupt their public sectors are seen to be.Two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index score below the median, indicating a major affliction with corruption. With such daunting numbers showing that public institutions need to be more transparent, and powerful officials more accountable, there is much to be done to arrest the tide against the proliferation of this disease.
Corruption is a globally recognized problem, and as stated by Cobus de Swardt, managing director of Transparency International, “Corruption is the world’s most talked about problem. The world’s leading economies should lead by example, making sure that their institutions are fully transparent and their leaders are held accountable. This is crucial since their institutions play a significant role in preventing corruption from flourishing globally.
“Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision making. Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people,” added Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International. “After a year of focus on corruption, we expect governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 results demonstrate that societies continue to pay the high cost of corruption. Many of the countries where citizens challenged their leaders to stop corruption –from the Middle East to Asia to Europe – have seen their positions in the index stagnate or worsen,” Labelle concluded.
The 2012 Corruptions Index shows that Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tie for first place as the cleanest with scores of 90. This is undoubtedly a result of mechanisms in place that allow the public unrestricted access to information systems and rules governing the behavior of those in public positions.
At the bottom of the pile lie Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia. As TI says, “In these countries the lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions underscore the need to take a much stronger stance against corruption.”
Among the GCC countries, only Qatar and the UAE have managed to float above the median line, while the rest fell beneath. This is not very encouraging. But what is encouraging is that governments in some of the countries have begun to sit up and take notice, and even propose legislation designed to fight this growing evil.
In Saudi Arabia, the state-appointed anti-corruption commission has been given full autonomy to investigate corrupt practices across all government agencies. It has its hands full, as it weaves through a myriad of corrupt bureaucrats in several agencies, with suspicious dealings, failed projects or unaccounted for public funds.
Some may complain that it is not enough. The commission must be allowed more teeth and more bite. But it is a start for now, and while it is still in its infancy, the public has already responded positively to some of the commission’s unrestrained findings. It will be up the judicial authorities next to administer the appropriate punishment to the corrupt public officials.
As TI rightly states, “Corruption translates into human suffering, with poor families being extorted for bribes to see doctors or to get access to clean drinking water. It leads to failure in the delivery of basic services like education or healthcare. It derails the building of essential infrastructure, as corrupt leaders skim funds.”
The 2012 report concludes that “it’s clear that corruption is a major threat facing humanity. Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that threatens to further destabilize societies and exacerbate violent conflicts.”
Governments must integrate anti-corruption mechanisms into all aspects of decision making. Public servants must be held accountable for their deeds.
Governments should also make public spending and contracting more transparent, a move that would allow less room for acts of fraud and embezzlement of public funds. And finally, the judicial boards must dispense justice in line with the aspirations of the public. The criminals guilty of fraud and corruption should not be allowed to get off scot-free.
[The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena.]
(Courtesy: Saudi Gazette)
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February 22, 2013, 3:18 am
By Prof. Ilias Ali
There is a prevailing perception that family planning is a red flag in Islam. That Muslims are firmly against the adoption of family planning measures is a popular misconception. There is a general impression that family planning is deviant from the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith. And that Muslims are fast multiplying and one day they will outgrow the majority community. Justice Sachar’s report on the Muslim community in India demolishes such popular bigotry. In his report he stated that there is substantial demand from the community for fertility regulation and for modern contraceptives and over 20million couples have already used contraceptive.
My own experience while working among the Muslims of Assam for the last 4 years corroborates Justice Sachar’s findings that Muslims are not averse to partaking in family planning schemes.
There is no controversy among the population experts that poverty, illiteracy, insecurity and inaccessibility to birth control programmes are the root causes for the rampant population growth in the downtrodden sections of the community irrespective of cast and religion of our country. Unfortunately we tend to gloss over this fact and pin the blame on the Muslim clergy for the swelling demography in areas populated by such Muslims. We also need to bear in mind that among the Muslims at the bottom-end of the social pyramid; illiteracy, underage marriage, polygamy, poverty and population outburst are not only pervasive but are also inter-related; which only compounds the problem of burgeoning birth rates.
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Among the Muslims of Assam’s riverine areas, there is an unusually high demographic growth. This is hanging like a Damocles’ sword in their path to upward mobility. In such a backdrop, the chances for their socio-economic progress are rather slim. Nonetheless, it has dawned on many within the community that only a family with fewer children can be helpful in ushering into a life of prosperity and security. For this reason, many have come forward to attend our family planning camps and have responded with fervor to our call for family limitation. During the course of our ongoing campaign, countless couples have expressed that they are not in favor of raising large families as many mouths to feed implies untold hardships and miseries. Those who bear several children, were often borne unintentionally. It needs to be stressed that it is not because of the lack of participation by Muslims in family planning programmes that such large families have cropped up in the riverine areas, but due to the dearth of such facilities. According to the Sachar committee report, there is a considerable demand from the Muslim community for fertility regulation and modern contraception but there are supply side constraints.
Teeming multitudes of underfed, half-clad and uneducated souls cannot be the essence of a true Islamic society. Even an otherwise religious person with several children will find it difficult in abiding by the righteous ways of life as per the strictly laid down instructions of the Holy Quran. Allah the Exalted, does not call on his followers to overburden themselves by raising large families simply for material gains, as this could be harmful to their children. The Holy Quran forbids believers from raising large untenable families. Incidentally, at the dawn of Islam, the Prophet himself had not opposed the methods of birth control practiced in those days, known as ‘Azol’.
Several nations in the Islamic world have achieved remarkable success in birth control. As against India’s fertility rate of 2.6, Iran’s rate is 1.88 while that of Indonesia is 2.2 (CIA Fact Book, 2009). The main reason behind this is the broad-based development of these countries. The respective governments have implemented family planning schemes in a scientific manner and it is noteworthy that the clergy has come out in open support of such policies. There are shining examples of religious heads campaigning for the robust execution of such programmes. It bears recalling that Ayatollah Khomeini had once issued a religious edict that if a couple has 2 children and is struggling against odds in raising them, then they are bound by the Shariat to adopt family planning methods. The Vilayat-e-Fiqh (Council of Islamic Jurisprudence) of Iran was in sync with the Ayatollah and the Ulema was in the vanguard of the noble mission of spreading the message of population control. Iran was the first nation to launch a programme of permanent sterilization of both genders. Iran is also the only country in the world where it is incumbent upon all seeking to enter into wedlock, to undergo counseling in family planning to be entitled for marriage registration. Such a showcase achievement of birth control has set a precedent in the Muslim world which is increasingly becoming worthy of emulation by the rest. Infant and maternal mortality rates have drastically dropped in Iran while the social status of women has grown manifold.
In India, states like Kerala which has witnessed credible all-round development, the fertility rate among the Muslim brethren is lower than that of their Hindu counterparts. Similar trends are noticeable in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. This shows that with growth and development, society is better placed in curbing population growth. It is heartening to recall the overwhelming participation of Muslims in our family planning camps and in keeping with the spirit of public participation; it is incumbent upon us to bridge the gap in meeting the growing demand for family planning. In a random study of 2456 participants in male sterilization procedure in 2009-10 in Assam, 1390 (55.37%) were Hindus, while 1066 (43.40% ) were Muslims. And it bears reiteration that of Assam’s population, Muslims constitute 30.92%( as per census report 2001). Another study of 2383 people who underwent permanent sterilization procedure in Barpeta district of Assam in the year 2011-12 of which 996 were Hindus (41.2%), while 1387 ( 58.8%) people of the group were Muslims. Being a Muslim family planning activist, I do sincerely believe that conquering of myth, misbelieve and misconception prevalent in the Muslim society against family planning is not an insurmountable task. Therefore, we need to carry out our activities on a larger scale so as to cover the widest possible area and in this regard, we implore the Government of India to redouble its efforts in widening the scope of family planning initiative amongst the Muslim masses.
[Prof. Dr Ilias AliMS is Professor of Surgery, Head of Department of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Centre, Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati, The State Master Trainer Cum State Nodal Officer, NSV, Govt. of Assam. e-mail: drilias.ali76@gmail.com]
(Courtesy: The Hindu)
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