Hidden Pearls

Pearls beautiful manifestations of Allah’s design and creation are born and found in the depths of the ocean within the protection of an oyster shell. Many divers risk their lives to attain these jewels, their shine unmarred, hidden away from human touch & sight. They are lessons in nature for heedful eyes.

Have we ever wondered why pearls, the purest and whitest of natural jewels are not found floating on the surface of the ocean for all to see? Have we pondered why all beautiful things are hidden, the pomegranate seeds in their peel white coconut in a coarse shell, diamonds in a mine? And the most beautiful Being beyond our imaginations Allah Ta’ala .

Among his best creation, the human being, Allah chose this honour for a woman in order to preserve, protect and purify her beauty and to make it eternal in paradise.

However, in recent years this great honour bestowed on a woman is now being looked down upon. A symbol of dignity for centuries, it is now being called a symbol of humiliation and imprisonment . Above everything else people have gone to the extent of saying that this ordainment is not there in the Quran. So let us see what Islam says about veil (Purdah).


A number of words have been used in the Quran to explain the dress code and conduct expected of a Muslim woman. Hijab or “purdah” as we call it, is not only a covering or outer garb but also the kind of conduct and intention that should accompany it. Yet the presence of only a good intention is not sufficient without any action to verify that intention.

You can perhaps vouch about your own purity of thought (which is also disliked by Allah because no one can claim to be free from sin) but how can you vouch for the intentions of the hundreds of men you choose to walk amongst? Intention is important but not sufficient by itself for repeatedly Allah says:
“Those who believed and performed good actions.” Hence, actions must accompany intention and in the following ayahs, Allah Ta’ala has stated certain specific actions that He wishes us to do.
1- Surah An-Nur: 31
states: “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and protect their private parts and not to show off their adornment except that which is apparent and to draw their khumur over their juyub and not to reveal their adornment except to their husband’s fathers, or their sons or their husband’s sons, or their brothers or their brother’s sons, or their sister’s sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of feminine sex.”

The word ‘Khumur’(plural of khimar) is used for a head cover in Arabic. Alcohol is also called khamr because it overcomes or covers up the senses of a person. Before Islam, women would tuck this head dress behind their ears and throw its ends over their shoulders to leave their ears, necks and bosoms uncovered. So it was clearly ordained here to extend the head dress (or scarf or dupatta) over the bosoms so they serve their actual purpose of covering a woman’s attraction.


Then women are explicitly told about the people before whom they may reveal their adornment. It is vital to pause here and think, “What was the need of mentioning every mahram by name if there was going to be no difference in the woman’s attire before them and everyone else?” Not only the clothes but even the manner of walking should not be provocative or such that it draws attention to the women.
“And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” (An-Nur; 31)

We, on the contrary, act against these commands and then except Allah to forgive us.
Men and women have both being asked to lower or restrict stray glances, not because the face is uncovered or covered but also to avoid eye contact or avoid seeing any haram (unlawful) thing that can open the door to many vices.

Eyes are windows to the soul and betray many an emotion; therefore controlling their unbridled usage was one of the steps to prevent unlawful relationships. Purdah was another step in the same direction

We need to then think about how the shariah (Islamic law), which is full of wisdom, could command the covering of the head and bosom, the lowering of certain gazes and a dignified walk but allow the face to remain uncovered? The face is where the main attraction of a woman lies. It is on the beautification of her face that the woman spends thousands of rupees, the face that attracts men and the face that is used in advertisements to promote many products.

2-In Surah Al-Ahzab: 53
It is clearly stated that the wives of the Prophet SAW are not allowed to remarry and if male strangers have any important thing to ask for, they should do so from behind a partition. Allah says:
“That is purer for your hearts and for their hearts.”
Hence certain actions are necessary to preserve the purity of the heart. Allah Ta’ala is our Creator and is closer to us than our jugular vein. He knows the thoughts that arise in us even before we can realize them. He knows better what precautions and rules to make to save humanity from disaster.
In spite of being Mothers of the faithful and role models for us, the wives of the Prophet SAW have been given strict rules of conduct and attire. If these pious ladies have been ordered thus, where should we place ourselves?

3-In Surah Al-Ahzab: 59,
Allah Ta’ala ordains “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their jilbabs (cloaks) all over themselves. That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as to not be annoyed. And Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

The word ‘jilbab’ refers to an outer garment to be worn over the khimar and clothes when going out of the house. Beyond the security of the house, this dress will hide a Muslim woman’s adornment (face, body, clothes and jewellery) and also act as a mark of distinction to prevent any wrong advances.

Here, it is not the face that is meant to be a mark of recognition for any individual because this meaning would be inconsistent with the context and meaning of the rest of the ayah. Rather it is this attire that will help a woman be recognized as a Muslim woman about whom no evil hopes can be harboured.

To say that this order was for the olden days when such a need for security existed is a farce because are we implying that the time of Prophet SAW was worse than the corrupt and crime-ridden society of today? Are women more secure from threats to their person and honour today, or are cases of rape and sexual harassment on the rise in all parts of the world? Has the human nature changed with time? The answers are clear.

The word ‘ala’ (upon) signifies that this cloak must be hung from above a person so as to cover the face, body and clothes and not hung from the shoulders, etc. The form and design of the jilbab is not mentioned but rather left up to the conditions of each country or climate.

The Quran cannot be completely understood without ahadith and we must see how the initial and foremost recipients of this Divine Message acted upon it. We see that the wives of the Prophet SAW and the sahabiat had no hesitation in covering their faces and bodies when such an order came from their Lord. Hadhrat Aisha RA relates in context to the incident of slander against her:
“I kept sitting there and dozed off. Meanwhile a man, Safwan bin Muattal Aslami came to the place and saw me sleeping. He recognized me immediately because he had seen me before the commandment for hijabcame. He recited ‘Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raajioon’. So I woke up and covered my face with my jilbab. ” (Bukhari)
Hence, though the word ‘face’ or ‘naqab’ may not be mentioned in the Quran in context to hijab, but it is mentioned in ahadith (like the hadith about not wearing naqab during Hajj). The test may be to see who submits to Allah’s commands as well as the Messenger’s SAW Sunnah.

An exception to this rule is when a man wishes to see the woman he is going to marry. This is allowed and recommended and this special permission shows that it is not possible to see the woman otherwise.

Old women who have no desire or produce no desire for marriage in others have been allowed to shed their outer clothes, which proves that the wearing of jilbab is necessary for young, marriageable women. Even for the old, Allah says,
“But to refrain (not to discard their outer clothing) is better for them.” (An-Nur: 60)

As far as leaving the face uncovered during Hajj (or namaz) is concerned, this is not necessarily applicable for the rest of our life too. Acts of worship have special requirements that are not practiced otherwise. We do not wear the ihram (2 sheets of cloth) in our daily life, nor do we observe the various restrictions of ihram except on the occasion of Hajj, we do not abstain from food or intercourse everyday from dawn till dusk like we do in Ramadan. So how can we make an exceptional act like uncovering the face a rule for the rest of our life?
On the other hand the command to abstain from using naqab (sewn cloth for covering face) during Hajj proves the fact that it is necessary otherwise or there would have been no need to stop women from wearing it on Hajj. Infact it is not forbidden to cover the face with an unsewn cloth for women on Hajj. Hadhrat Aisha narrates, “Men on camels used to pass by us while we were with the Prophet SAW and in the state of ihram. We would cover our faces with our jilbabs when they passed by us and then uncover them again.” (Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah).

This attire is not a hindrance but rather a blessing for the Muslim woman. If an entire nation can go around wearing masks to save themselves from catching the SARS disease, why can’t Muslim women do so to save themselves from other kinds of social ills? If a surgeon can perform the most delicate of tasks covered from head to toe, wearing a mask, why must a Muslim woman’s sight, hearing or breathing be obstructed by a cloth? Hijab is not a means of blackening the faces of women and reducing them to mere objects! Rather it is the culture of obscenity that is making women mere objects of attraction and a feast for the eyes.

Does keeping a pearl within a cover or a diamond in a safe place decrease its worth? Rather it increases it. It is when the woman’s outer appearance is hidden from public display that her inner qualities of intellect, wisdom and knowledge shine through.
Whenever the women of Jannah are mentioned in the Quran, their quality of being hidden and preserved is also mentioned which further enhances their beauty. They have been called Azwajun Mutahharatun (purified wives) and Lulu-el-Maknoon (Pearls kept hidden). Allah Ta’ala says:

“And beside them will be Qasirat-at-Tarf (ones with lowered, restrained eyes) with wide and beautiful eyes. (Delicate and pure) as if they were (hidden) eggs (well) preserved.” (As-Saffat: 48-49)

If we desire to be amongst these women in the gardens of Paradise, we will have to develop these qualities within ourselves from this world onwards to become one of the Hidden Pearls.

Tsunami Masjids Miracle Report :: Miracle of Allah

Assalam Alaykum Brother and Sister/Friends ,
I hope you all remember Tsunami … The killing Tsunami distroyed every thing,Almost more than 2 Lakh people Effected in India.
Infact all the countries situated around the Bay of Bengal were affected by the tsunami waves in the morning hours of 26 December 2004 (between 0900 – 1030 hrs IST). The killer waves were triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale that had an epicenter near the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.
I have seen many videos,i think i have not seen a real big disaster than Tsunami.Indeed it hurts to see many peoples ded,many crying….but DEATH is something which everyone have to face.Our Creator takes us back in many ways…may be Tsunami was the way to take back those soals.All is the wish of Almighty.
After the Tsunami,there were few reports about the “Allah written of Tsunami wave and Mosque was saved in Tsunami….
Islam haters call this as some “accidental resemblance”.but not the Miracle of Allah swt.
You can view “Allah written on Tsunami wave” pictures here.
You can the Mosque Miracle pics here…
Every building washed away..everything except few Mosques…Yes,the same Tsunami which moved millions of TONs of SHIPs,hundered tons of Trains but was UNABLE to DISTROY the Mosque and One who was in Mosjid were saved by Tsunami…
But Islam haters who call this Miracle as “accidental resemblance” are also trying to proove it was fake…they show that many building were saved…but those building they r showing is far from ground zero of tsunami,at ground zero only Mosque was saved…
They also try to show to Mosque destroyed by natural disasters from other part of World.that these mosque were not saved,so the Almighty does not exist….but indeed they forget its WILL and wish of Allah swt,which mosque he want to save,which mosque he want to distroy.
This is a Report on Masjids saved in Tsunami….not 1 or not 2 not 3 but 27 Mosques were saved in Tsunami.You can also see the news agency report in video….
Allah swt said in Quran :
“We will show them Our signs in all the regions of the earth and in their own souls until they clearly see that this is the truth…” (Surah Fussilat 41:53)

Staying Up Late, A Disease of Modern Times

In The name of Allah,The Most Merciful,The Most gracious
Staying Up Late, A Disease of Modern Times


They roam the streets when everyone is asleep. Or they may hang out with friends all night at the local ‘hookah place’. Or if they have nothing to do, some of them may even ‘egg’ some poor unsuspecting person’s house….’just because’.

And if they are not ‘out there’, they are indoors, up until the wee hours of the morning, watching movies, listening to music, playing video games or chatting on the Internet, just because it’s ‘summer vacation’.
Yes, that’s right, brothers and sisters, that’s our youth during the summer.

And even when it is not summer, they stay up late even then. They think it is ‘cool’ to do so.

And, unfortunately, this ‘disease of late nights’ has become so widespread that we, as parents, don’t think much of it either. In fact, many of us adults are afflicted with this same disease ourselves. We come back from parties and dinners late at night and we let our kids do the same.

However what we don’t realize is….. that’s not how Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta’ala intended the order of things. In fact, it is quite contrary to the natural rhythm which Allaah has created in the universe and in mankind. Allaah says:

“It is He who has appointed the night a covering for you and sleep for a rest. The day He has appointed for rising.” (Surah Furqaan: 47)

Thus, the night is created for rest and the day for work and for seeking provision. Yet we do the exact opposite. We are up at night and sleep late into the day, sometimes, up to or even beyond Dhuhr time, and waste much precious time. ‘Umar Radhi Allaahu Anhu used to punish people the people who did this and say: ‘You stay up for the first part of the night, then sleep for the last part of it?’”.

If we look at how the righteous before us spent their nights, we realize that they used their nights as a means to earning Jannah; praying, reciting the Qur’aan, crying and supplicating to Allaah. However, some of us Muslims, today take their nights as a means of entertainment and fun and even, aaoodhu billaah, a means of haraam and sin.

Actually, the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) himself, did not like to stay up or even speak after Ishaa.

“The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) used to like to delay the ‘Ishaa’ prayer and he hated to sleep before it or talk after it”. (Bukhaari).

He also disapproved of staying up late and warned against it.

He (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “Beware of staying up after people’s movements settle.”

Why did he do that? Because staying up late might cause many harms. Some of them are:


1. It may cause one to totally miss the Fajr prayer

The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “Between a man and kufr and shirk, there stands his giving up prayer.” (Muslim)

2. Even if you do wake up for Fajr, it is extremely hard to concentrate in the prayer or even know what one is saying.

3. Staying up late causes health problems, exhaustion, weakness, and loss of enthusiasm. The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “Staying up late is tiring and burdensome.” (Daarimi, Tabaraani, others)

4. It also leads to lack of responsibility and laziness, as it is extremely difficult to wake up early for school, job, etc. if you are up half the night. The person ends up sleeping late into the day, missing his work, and slacking in responsibility. Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaad said: There are two qualities that harden the heart: sleeping too much and eating too much.

5. We also miss out on the most blessed part of the day is the early morning. The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) said:
“The early morning has been blessed for my Ummah.”(Saheeh al-Jaami’). That’s why whenever the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) sent out troops or an army, he would send them at the beginning of the day. But by sleeping late, we lose the blessings of this time and the profits we could have gained.

6. If we don’t sleep early, we can’t wake up in time for qiyaam ul-lail, a time for prayer, making dua and seeking forgiveness from Allaah, as the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “Our Lord descends every night to the heavens when there is only one third of the night remaining and says: Who is supplicating to me so that I can respond to him? Who is asking Me for something so that I can grant him that which he is asking for? Who is seeking My forgiveness so that I can forgive him”(Bukhaari, Muslim)

Is it befitting that we, as Muslims, miss this honorable and virtuous time and waste it either sleeping or following our desires?

7. Staying up late is also a major reason behind many of the moral crimes, community problems, car accidents, etc.

Exceptions to the rule:

The Ulama say that staying up late unnecessarily is nothing but a bad habit, unless it serves a purpose, such as praying and worshipping Allaah, seeking knowledge of Islaam, a person’s job, traveling, students preparing for exams, or other beneficial or permissible matters.
The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said:

“Staying up late is for one of three categories of people; those traveling, those praying the night prayers, or those on their wedding night.” (Abu Ya’laa).

What Islaam encourages us to do is to sleep early, preferably right after Ishaa, then wake up early in time for
our prayers (Fajr and Tahajjud, if possible) and then take advantage of the blessings of early morning for our work and provision. We are also encouraged to take a nap during the day, either before Dhuhr or after, if we are able to.

The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “Take a nap, for the shayaateen do not take naps.” (al-Tabaraani–Saheeh). Ishaaq ibn ‘Abd-Allaah said: “Taking a nap is one of the deeds of good people. It revitalizes the heart and helps one to pray qiyaam al-layl.”

Brothers and sisters, realize that staying up late is a diseased lifestyle that takes one away from the religion of Allaah and encourages the following of ones lusts and desires.

One should avoid it unless there is a legitimate reason for it. Not only should we keep our kids away from it, we ourselves need to break this bad habit and develop healthy lifestyles and wholesome ways.

May Allaah enable us to realize the harms and evils of staying up late. May He enable us to utilize our time in the most productive manner, that is most pleasing to Him.
Aameen.

Acharya Mahant Dr. Saroopji Maharaj On Why I Embraced Islam?

A prominent Hindu personality, Acharya Mahant Dr. Saroopji Maharaj embraced Islam under the auspices of Maulana Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi. Saroopji's Islamic name is Dr. Islamul-Haq. He embraced Islam with his wife and daughter. Listed below is an excerpt from Dr. Islamul-Haq's interview with the Indian publication, Islamic Voice.

Q: How do you feel after declaring your entry into Islam?

A: It is an infinite favor of The Almighty upon me that He has blessed me with this invaluable wealth of the true Faith that is Islam. I feel that I am one of the most successful and fortunate persons in the world. While groping in the darkness of disbelief, I was regarded as 'Bhagwan' (God), whereas in this new world of light, I have attained my rightful status of 'man'.

Q: You have been very close to the Hindu trend of thought. Do you think that they are scared of the Muslims?

A: The Hindu society in India is not scared of the Muslims. It rather fears Islam for its exalted merits as compared with the deficient and weak religious tenets of Hinduism. Islam's greatness consists in the fact that it liberates man from the shackles of color, feature, race, clan, language, land, riches, class, rank, and status.

Islam provides lasting and firm entity. Islam calls men to bow down before The One and Only One Almighty. That is why they dread the might of Islam which liberates man from every sort of slavery and bondage, except the aspect of subservience to The Almighty. Islam is free from all the man-made formalities and rituals.

Q: Did you ever admit the greatness of Islam even before embracing it?

A: In early 1981, Acharya Vinoba Bhave (translator of the Holy Qur'an in Hindi language) invited me to his Ashram to deliver lectures. One of those present on the occasion was Dada Dharm Adhikari. He posed an intriguing question: "Swamiji, you have studied many religions of the world. Which one do you find the best for man?" I replied: "Islam." "But", he said, "Islam is a very much tied up religion." I replied: "The very one that is considered free, ties down man to continual slavery. Man is in need of a religion that has remained 'tied-up', a religion that keeps man under restraints in this world life, but sets him free in the world hereafter. In my opinion, it is Islam alone that qualifies to be the best religion."

Q: As a soldier of Islam, what message would you like to convey to the Muslims of the world?

A: It is my solemn request to the Muslim world that they should constantly keep in view and fulfill the conditions laid down by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) for walking across the river of this world so as to reach safely its other side.

If they make the slightest deviation, they are bound to drown themselves in the river, never to be rescued. There is still time for the Muslims to concentrate their vision on the right point. If they act so, they shall, Almighty willing, be crowned with success in all that they do.

The Islamic Bulletin
P.O. Box 410186, San Francisco, CA 94141-0186
info@islamicbulletin.org

Chidambaram cautions against ’saffron terrorism’

Chidambaram cautions against ’saffron terrorism’
on August 25th, 2010

Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday asked the chiefs of various state police forces and security agencies to be vigilant against various forms of extremism, including “saffron terrorism” that he said had been behind many bomb blasts.

“I wish to caution you that there is no let up in the attempts to radicalise young men and women in India,” said Chidambaram.

Referring to Hindu extremist outfits, he said: “There is this recently uncovered phenomena of of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past.

“My advice to you is that we must remain ever vigilant and continue to build at the central and state levels, our capacity in counter-terrorism,” he said in his inaugural address to the 45th meet of the chiefs of state police and central paramilitary forces here.

Chidambaram asked them to be ever vigilant against the forces of terrorism, observing that “save for one incident, the last 21 months have been remarkably free of any terrorist attack”.

“The attack on the German Bakery in Pune was indeed a blot. I sincerely hope that the suspects will be apprehended as soon as possible,” he said.

Chidambaram’s remarks on “saffron terrorism” invited prompt reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which called it an attempt to divert attention from the government’s failures.

Masjid at Ground Zero to clear Mis-trust

Lost in the furor over the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero is a simple fact: The opposition to the center is the strongest argument in favor of it going right where it is planned.

By most accounts, much of the opposition is based on an inaccurate conflation of Islam with terrorism, stemming from ignorance about the Muslim religion, culture and people. While troubling, this is hardly surprising in a nation in which a significant minority of Americans believe that our Christian president is Muslim (and so what if he were?).

Exiling the center to another part of Manhattan will expand and deepen the gulf between the Islamic community and its neighbors.

The best way to bridge this gap is to help people understand that their trepidation is based not in reality but born of a myth that has been cruelly exploited. The Islamic cultural center can help span this chasm.

Of course, it's not fair to expect a minority community to educate the majority, especially when the majority is so hostile to it.

Sadly, minorities have long shouldered the burden of proving to the majority that they pose no threat, that they are not inferior and that they, too, deserve everything the majority takes for granted as its due -- while patiently enduring misunderstanding and even abuse.

They do all this in the face of demands that they are going too fast, pushing too hard and making life too uncomfortable for others.

That was the case in 1963 when white ministers in Birmingham, Ala., accused Martin Luther King Jr. of exacerbating racial tensions by leading protests against the city's segregation laws.

They called his actions "unwise and untimely." Dr. King responded with his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," in which he wrote: "Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was 'well timed' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.

For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' "

Nearly 50 years later, it is Muslims who are being told to wait, to go away and remain out of sight until their presence can be tolerated by others. While much has changed in the past five decades, the drumbeat against the Islamic center echoes the calls of the well-meaning but misguided Birmingham ministers.

Following in the footsteps of those who called for King and his "outsiders" to retreat, opponents of the cultural center urge that it be banished to another neighborhood because its presence near Ground Zero is unsettling and potentially dangerous.

But forcing the Islamic center out of sight will only allow ignorance and fear to fester and grow. It will keep more Americans from learning a lesson that King shared with the ministers: "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."

If the center is established in Lower Manhattan, the people most opposed to it now will eventually have a chance to learn that Muslims aren't the enemy.

That they aren't dangerous or terrorists or even, in fact, outsiders. They are the lady who smiles at them in the grocery store; the teenager who roots for the Yankees; the little girl who plays with their daughter. Muslims are their neighbors. They are Americans. They are their friends.

The Islamic center needs to be right where it is planned because that's where human change will come about -- one parent, one child, one friend at a time.

Instead of demanding that the Muslims get out, the residents of Lower Manhattan should be grateful that their fellow Americans are willing to stay put and make the effort, under difficult circumstances, to build bridges so that, as King said, "the deep fog of misunderstanding can be lifted from our fear-drenched communities."

How can we prepare for the arrival of Ramadaan?.

Many people misunderstand the true nature of fasting, and they make it an occasion for eating and drinking, making special sweets and staying up late at night and watching shows on satellite TV.

They make preparations for that long before Ramadaan, lest they miss out on some food or prices go up. They prepare by buying food, preparing drinks and looking at the satellite TV guide so they can choose which shows to follow and which to ignore. They are truly unaware of the real nature of fasting in Ramadaan; they take worship and piety out of the month and make it just for their bellies and their eyes.

Secondly:

Others are aware of the real nature of fasting in the month of Ramadaan, so they start to prepare from Sha’baan, and some of them even start before that. Among the best ways of preparing for the month of Ramadaan are:

1 Sincere repentance

This is obligatory at all times, but because of the approach of a great and blessed month, it is even more important to hasten to repent from sins between you and your Lord, and between you and other people by giving them their rights, so that when the blessed month begins you may busy yourself with acts of worship with a clean heart and peace of mind. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

And all of you beg Allaah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful

al-Noor 24:31

It was narrated from al-Agharr ibn Yasaar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O people, repent to Allaah for I repent to Him one hundred times each day.” Narrated by Muslim (2702).

2 Du’€™ (supplication)

It was narrated from some of the salaf that they used to pray to Allaah for six months that they would live until Ramadaan, then they would pray for five months afterwards that He would accept it from them.

The Muslim should ask his Lord to let him live until Ramadaan with a strong religious commitment and good physical health, and he should ask Him to help him obey Him during the month, and ask Him to accept his good deeds from Him.

3 Rejoicing at the approach of the blessed month

The arrival of Ramadaan is one of the great blessings that Allaah bestows upon His Muslim slave, because Ramadaan is one of the occasions of good in which the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are closed. It is the month of the Qur’aan and of decisive battles in the history of our religion.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

Say: In the Bounty of Allaah, and in His Mercy (i.e. Islam and the Qur’aan); therein let them rejoice. That is better than what (the wealth) they amassed

Yoonus 10:58

4 Discharging the duty of any outstanding obligatory fasts

It was narrated that Abu Salamah said: I heard Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) say: I would owe fasts from the previous Ramadaan and I would not be able to make them up except in Sha’baan.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1849) and Muslim (1146).

Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

From her keenness to do that in Sha’baan it may be understood that it is not permissible to delay making them up until another Ramadaan begins.

Fath al-Baari (4/191).

5 Seeking knowledge in order to be able to follow the rulings on fasting and to understand the virtues of Ramadaan.

6 Hastening to complete any tasks that may distract the Muslim from doing acts of worship.

7 Sitting with one ’s family members wife and children to tell them of the rulings on fasting and encourage the young ones to fast.

8 – Preparing some books which can be read at home or given to the imam of the mosque to read to the people during Ramadaan.

9 Fasting some of the month of Sha’baan in preparation for fasting Ramadaan.

It was narrated that Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to fast until we said: He will not break his fast, and he used not to fast until we said: He will not fast. And I never saw the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) complete a month of fasting except Ramadaan, and I never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha’baan.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1868) and Muslim (1156).

It was narrated that Usaamah ibn Zayd said: I said: O Messenger of Allaah, I do not see you fasting in any month as you fast in Sha’baan? He said: That is a month that people neglect between Rajab and Ramadaan, but it is a month in which people ’s deeds are taken up to the Lord of the Worlds and I would like my deeds to be taken up when I am fasting.

Narrated by al-Nasaa’i (2357); classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.

This hadeeth explains the wisdom behind fasting in Sha’baan, which is that it is a month in which deeds are taken up (to Allaah). Some of the scholars mentioned another reason, which is that this fasting is like Sunnah prayers offered beforehand in relation to the obligatory prayer; they prepare the soul for performing the obligatory action, and the same may be said of fasting Sha’baan before Ramadaan.

10 Reading Qur’aan

Salamah ibn Kuhayl said: It was said that Sha’baan was the month of the Qur’aan readers.

When Sha’baan began, Amr ibn Qays would close his shop and free his time for reading Qur’aan.

Abu Bakr al-Balkhi said: The month of Rajab is the month for planting, the month of Sha’baan is the month of irrigating the crops, and the month of Ramadaan is the month of harvesting the crops.

He also said: The likeness of the month of Rajab is that of the wind, the likeness of Sha’baan is that of the clouds and the likeness of Ramadaan is that of the rain; whoever does not plant and sow in Rajab, and does not irrigate in Sha’baan, how can he reap in Ramadaan?

Now Rajab has passed, so what will you do in Sha’baan if you are seeking Ramadaan? This is how your Prophet and the early generations of the ummah were in this blessed month, so what will you do?

Thirdly:

And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Indian students demand teachers wear burqas

CALCUTTA, India — Students at an Islamic university in eastern India have refused to allow a female lecturer to teach unless she wears an all-encompassing Muslim veil, the teacher said Thursday.

The student union has ordered all female students and all eight female lecturers at the small Calcutta campus of Aliah University to wear the veil, called a burqa in South Asia.

Sirin Middya, who described herself as a devout Muslim, said she was appointed in March but has not been allowed to teach her classes since she refused to wear the garment, which covers the entire body and face. A mesh net covers the eyes.

"The students have threatened us and have put up banners saying those who oppose the burqa rule can go back home," Middya said.

Nearly a fourth of the population of West Bengal state, where the university is located, is Muslim, and burqas are a common sight in Islamic neighborhoods.

But the garment is rare in much of India, a predominantly Hindu country, with a large Muslim minority, and it is unusual for it to cause a stir. Unlike in the West, where governments have moved to ban the burqa, Muslim dress is not typically a source of public debate.

Middya said she had been hired to teach Bengali at the city campus but had been helping out as a librarian in a separate suburban campus of the university for the last three months.

"I don't have a problem wearing the burqa, but when I wear it, it will be of my own free will," Middya said.

MIddya said she has written to the university authorities and West Bengal education minister to intervene after a new academic year began in July.

University authorities were not immediately available for comment. However, Vice Chancellor Syed Shamshul Alam told the Indian Express newspaper that they have asked the teacher to shift to another campus of the university. "This is a stray incident. ... There is no dress code in our university," Alam said.

List of Muslim footballers

A list of notable Muslim footballers is given below.

* Philippe Troussier - French Former Footballer and Now Football Manager
* Bruno Metsu - French football manager
* Bacary Sagna - French footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C.[1]
* Abou Diaby – French footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C.
* Marouane Chamakh – Moroccan footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C.
* Abdisalam Ibrahim- Somali footballer currently playing for Manchester City F.C.
* Ayub Daud- Somali footballer currently playing for Juventus F.C.
* Samir Nasri – French footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C.
* Nacer Barazite – Dutch footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C.
* Mohamed Aboutrika – Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Emad Moteab - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Ahmed Hassan - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Mohamed Barakat - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Ahmed Fathy - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Sayed Moawad - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Wael Gomaa - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Sherif Abdel-Fadil - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Ahmed Adel - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Mostafa Shebeita - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahly
* Jérémie Janot - French footballer currently playing for AS Saint-Étienne
* Hosny Abd Rabo - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ahli Club (Dubai)
* Mohamed Nagy 'Geddo' - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ittihad Al-Sakndary
* El-Hany Soliman - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Ittihad Al-Sakndary
* Hossam Ghaly - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Nassr
* Ihab El-Masry - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Al-Mokawloon Al-Arab
* Yaya Touré – Ivorian footballer currently playing for Barcelona
* Éric Abidal – French footballer currently playing for Barcelona
* Franck Ribéry - French footballer currently playing for Bayern Munich
* El Hadji Diouf – Senegal footballer currently playing for Blackburn Rovers F.C.
* Yıldıray Baştürk - Turkish & German footballer currently playing for Blackburn Rovers F.C.
* Mohamed Zidan - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Borussia Dortmund
* Nicolas Anelka – French footballer currently playing for Chelsea F.C.
* Marouane Fellaini – Belgian footballer currently playing for Everton F.C.
* Ahmed Raouf - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Enppi
* Abdelaziz Tawfik - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Enppi
* Ahmed El-Muhammadi - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Enppi
* Abdel El-Saqua - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Eskişehirspor
* Mahmoud Abou El-Saoud - Egyptian footballer currently playing for El-Mansoura
* Amir Abdelhamid - Egyptian footballer currently playing for El-Masry
* Salah Amin - Egyptian footballer currently playing for El Geish
* Mesut Ozil - German footballer currently playing for SV Werder Bremen
* Emre Belözoğlu - Turkish footballer currently playing for Fenerbahçe
* Rashid Yussuff – English footballer currently playing for Gillingham F.C.
* Amr Zaki - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Hull City A.F.C.
* Kamel Fathi Ghilas – Algerian footballer currently playing for Hull City A.F.C.
* Ahmed Abdel-Ghani - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Haras El Hodood
* Ahmed Salama - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Haras El Hodood
* Ahmed Eid Abdel Malek - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Haras El Hodood
* Ahmed Said 'Okka' - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Haras El Hodood
* Ahmed Kamal - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Haras El Hodood
* Sulley Muntari – Ghanaian footballer currently playing for Internazionale Milano
* Essam El-Hadary - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Mohamed 'Homos' - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Mohamed Abougrisha - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Moatasem Salem - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Mohamed Sobhy - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Ahmed Samir Farag - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Ahmed Khairy - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Ismaily
* Hasan Salihamidžić – Bosnian footballer currently playing for Juventus F.C.
* Mohamed Sissoko – Malian footballer currently playing for Juventus F.C.
* Mohamed Shawky - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Kayserispor
* Nabil El Zhar – Moroccan footballer currently playing for Liverpool F.C.
* Miralem Pjanić – Bosnian footballer currently playing for Lyon
* Mohamed El-Gabbas 'Doody' - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Lierse
* Kolo Touré – Ivorian footballer currently playing for Manchester City
* Hatem Ben Arfa – French footballer currently playing for Marseille
* Didier Domi - French footballer currently playing for Olympiacos
* Al-Sayed Hamdy - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Petrojet
* Walid Soliman - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Petrojet
* Mohamed Shaaban - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Petrojet
* Julien Faubert - French footballer currently playing for West Ham United F.C.
* Mahamadou Diarra – Malian footballer currently playing for Real Madrid F.C.
* Lassana Diarra - French footballer currently playing for Real Madrid F.C.
* Karim Benzema - French footballer currently playing for Real Madrid F.C.
* Frédéric Kanouté – Malian & French footballer currently playing for Sevilla FC
* Mohammed Abdellaoue – Norwegian footballer currently playing for Vålerenga
* Mesut Özil - German football currently paying for Werder Bremen
* Ayman Touhami - Morrocan footballer currently playing for Westside F.C.
* Ahmed Hossam 'Mido' - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Abdel Wahed Al Sayed - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Mahmoud Fathallah - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Hani Said - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Mohamed Abdel-Shafy - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Shikabala - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Hazem Emam - Egyptian footballer currently playing for Zamalek SC
* Moustapha Bangura – Sierra Leonean International footballer.
* Arouna Koné – Ivorian footballer currently playing for Sevilla in Spain.
* Mehdi Mahdavikia – Iranian footballer currently playing for Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.
* Ibrahim Touré – Ivorian footballer currently playing for Al-Ittihad
* Mamady Sidibe – Malian footballer currently playing for Stoke City in England.
* Ali Daei – Former Iranian footballer and coach.
* Abel Xavier – Former Portuguese footballer.
* Darijo Srna – Croatian footballer currently playing for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
* Philippe Troussier – Former French footballer and current manager.
* Franck Ribéry– French footballer currently playing for Bayern Munich in Germany.
* Khalid Boulahrouz – Dutch footballer currently playing for Stuttgart in Germany.
* Ibrahim Afellay[2] – Dutch footballer currently playing for PSV in the Netherlands.
* Hamit Altıntop[3] – Turkish footballer currently playing for Bayern Munich in Germany.
* Halil Altıntop – Turkish footballer currently playing for Schalke 04 in Germany.
* Hassan Sunny – Singaporean footballer currently playing for Tampines Rovers in Singapore.
* Tuncay Şanlı – Turkish footballer currently playing for Middlesbrough in England.
* Nihat Kahveci – Turkish footballer currently playing for Beşiktaş in Turkey.
* Emre Belözoğlu – Turkish footballer currently playing for Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
* Serdar Tasci – German footballer currently playing for Stuttgart in Germany.
* Sami Khedira – German footballer currently playing for Stuttgart in Germany.
* Hakan Yakin – Swiss footballer currently playing for Lucerne in Switzerland.
* Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye – Senegalese footballer currently playing for Stoke City in England.
* Abdoulaye Méïté – Ivorian footballer currently playing for West Bromwich Albion in England.
* Zesh Rehman – Pakistan footballer currently playing for Bradford City in England.
* Bouna Coundoul[4] – Senegal footballer currently playing for the New York Red Bulls in the United States.
* Yusuf Ali - Somalian footballer currently playing for Pure F.C.
* Hakan Şükür,
* Nuri Şahin,
* Malik Fathi,
* Edin Džeko
* Emir Spahić
* Vedad Ibišević
* Sejad Salihović
* Elvir Rahimić
* Ismaïl Aissati
* Taye Taiwo – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Marseille
* Rabiu Afolabi – Nigerian footballer currently playing for SV Red Bull Salzburg
* Dele Aiyenugba – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Bnei Yehuda
* Aiyegbeni Yakubu – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Everton
* Sani Kaita – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Monaco
* Lukman Haruna – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Monaco
* Yusuf Ayinla – Nigerian footballer currently playing for Homplayer
* Nicolas Anelka – French footballer currently playing for Chelsea F.C.
* Franck Ribery – French footballer currently playing for F.C. Bayern Munich
* Robin Van Persie - Dutch footballer currently playing for Arsenal
* Zinedine Zidane French footballer played for France, Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/711886/SAGNA-ILL-DEDICATE-TITLE-TO-MY-DEAD-BRUV.html
2. ^ http://www.wereldvanoranje.nl/profielen/profiel.php?id=1529
3. ^ http://www.hamit-altintop.com/
4. ^ http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090906&content_id=6825106&vkey=news_rbn&fext=.jsp&team=t107

[edit] External links

* [1]
* [2]
* [3]
* [4]
* [5]
* [6]
* [7]
* [8]
* [9]
* [10]
* [11]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_footballers"
Categories: Lists of association football players | Lists of Muslims

Gujarat : The Hindutva Laboratory

At a time when a progressive patina is being painted over the rule of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a reporter visiting Gujarat four years and six months after the pogroms finds a state where Muslims are being thrust forcibly into ghettos. The trauma of the butchery is as raw as ever.

The active participation of the Hindu middle class in Modi’s agenda, and the silence of the few who think otherwise, will guarantee the social and moral poverty of all Gujarat, even as it secedes from the rest of Indian society.

Meanwhile, the wilful turn of the communal wheel will deliver radicalised militants and, thereby, a further marginalisation of Muslims. The Gujarat of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has become unrecognisable. Nothing short of a massive social movement is required to cleanse the state of Gujarat.

Ahmedabad is a divided city. On one side resides fear and anxiety, helplessness and anger. Walk across Jamalpur, Mirzapur, Dani Limda, Kalopur, Lal Darwaza and other parts of the Walled City. Go to Juhapura – one of the largest Muslim ghettos in India. Scratch a little, and people want to talk.

An entire community feels under attack, with many resigned to their newfound fate of being second-class citizens. Rights are negligible, and the sense of representation non-existent. What remains strong is the cry for justice, and the knowledge they will not get it – not in Gujarat. Why? “Because”, explains one elder in Shah Alam, “we pray to Allah. That is our transgression.”



There are the borders everywhere. A patch of road, a wall, a turn across a street corner, a divider in the middle of a road – this is all it takes to polarise and segregate communities throughout Gujarat. Each town and city now has countless borders, forcibly making people conscious of their religious identity. Me Hindu, you Muslim. Or one could look at it differently: the borders on the ground merely reflect and reinforce the polarisation that has already taken place in the minds of ordinary Gujaratis.

Yet nothing prepares you for the certitude on the streets of the other Ahmedabad – in Navrangpura, Vastrapur, MG Road, Judge’s Bungalow Road, Satellite, Vejalpur. Many Gujarati Hindus think they have the answers to some of the most troubling questions of our times. The more subtle would say there is a problem among Muslims. Others argue that Muslims themselves are the problem.

They look back fondly at the ‘Toofan’, the 2002 riots, and their reminiscences have a striking thematic unity. The Muslims deserved it. They are all bloody Pakistanis and criminals. If we had more time, we would have wiped them out. See, they are crushed and scared. We taught them a lesson. And now, the world should learn from Gujarat about how to deal with the miyas. The one sentiment that is almost wholly absent is remorse. What remains, 54 months after the pogrom, is an all-pervading sense of arrogance among Hindus in the public sphere. Those who think differently possibly keep silent.

The story of Gujarat as a whole, then, is a tale of pride and prejudice on the one side, victimhood and alienation on the other. In control of this divisive agenda is the fascist government of Narendra Modi, who happily builds on this evolving social reality, and reinforces it. The everyday tragedy of Gujarat, often invisible, is in many ways more telling than the state-sponsored pogroms of 2002.

The high degree of alienation among Muslims, the stereotypes and discrimination they face, the fact that a substantial section of society is committed to the Hindutva agenda, the absence of justice and accountability, and the continued secession of the state from its basic constitutional obligations – these are all elements that go into making Gujarat, in the very words of the Hindu Right, its laboratory.
Babu ‘Bajrangi’ Patel

This is happening even as Chief Minister Modi, the principal architect of the 2002 killings, seeks to carve an image for himself as a development leader, and the chaperon of India’s best-governed state. While the former is true – that Modi guided the horrors of 2002 and the subjugation of Muslims in the aftermath – the latter is far from proven. Despite the loud applause that is beginning to be heard in New Delhi and elsewhere, the facts on the ground reveal that Gujarat is neither the embodiment of progress nor of good governance.

Babu’s bomb
If 2002 was an experiment in the Hindutva laboratory, men like Babubhai Rajabhai Patel of the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal were in the forefront of conducting it. The short, stocky Babu Bajrangi, as he is popularly known, would pass off as an average middle-class trader. He claims to be a social worker.

Sitting in his second-floor office in the Ahmedabad suburb of Naroda, Bajrangi talks about his NGO, Navchetan, which ‘rescues’ Hindu women who have been ‘lured’ into relationships with Muslim men. “In every house today there is a bomb, and that bomb is the woman, who forms the basis of Hindu culture and tradition,” Bajrangi begins. “Parents allow her to go to college, and they start having love affairs, often with Muslims. Women should just be kept at home to save them from the terrible fate of Hindu-Muslim marriages.”

Bajrangi’s Navchetan works to prevent inter-religious love marriages, and if such a wedding has already taken place, it works to break the union. When a marriage between a Hindu woman and Muslim man gets registered in a court, within a few days the marriage documents generally end up on Bajrangi’s desk, ferreted out by functionaries in the lower judiciary. The girl is subsequently kidnapped and sent back home; the boy is taught a lesson. “We beat him in a way that no Muslim will dare to look at Hindu women again.

Only last week, we made a Muslim eat his own waste – thrice, in a spoon,” he reveals with barely concealed pride. All this is illegal, Bajrangi concedes, but it is moral. “And anyway, the government is ours,” he continues, turning to look at the clock. “See, I am meeting Modi in a while today.”

One might dismiss Babu Bajrangi as a bombast when he claims proximity to the chief minister, or describes the beating of Muslim boys. But for a man of obvious stature in society he is also accused of burning Muslims alive. As the chief accused in the infamous Naroda Patiya case, one of the worst instances of brutality during the 2002 violence, he is alleged to have led the mob that killed 89 people in the area. It is a burden that rests lightly on Bajrangi’s shoulders. “People say I killed 123 people,” he says. Did you? Bajrangi laughs, “How does it matter? They were Muslims. They had to die. They are dead.”

Evidence of Bajrangi’s complicity was so overwhelming that even a pliable state administration could not save him from an eight-month stint in prison. “They cannot reduce my hatred for Muslims with that, can they? While in jail, I demolished a small mosque that was located in there,” he says with a sly, childlike grin. Bajrangi’s views on what is wrong with Muslims are unabashedly straightforward. “They are all terrorists. Refuse to sing even the national song. Why don’t they just go to Pakistan? Now, our aim is to create a society where we have as little to do with them as possible.”

Bajrangi is now out on bail. But what has allowed a man accused of such a heinous crime to walk and operate freely? Perhaps it is the manner in which the Gujarat government has, since 2002, consistently violated its constitutional obligations to safeguard life and liberty and provide justice.

Juhapura, Ahmedabad’s largest ghetto

After there was fire in a train compartment carrying Hindutva activists on the morning of 27 February 2002 at the Godhra railway station, killing 59 people, Narendra Modi decided to unleash a reign of terror against the state’s Muslims as a ‘reaction’. The cause of the fire is still not certain, though a central government enquiry committee has reported that it was accidental, and not the result of a conspiracy.

In a vulnerable political position, and unsure of future electoral prospects, Modi felt this was the right spark to ignite communal passions through the state, and blamed the incident on ‘Muslims’. He instructed senior officers to let the Hindus express their anger – he was essentially asking for the rioters to be allowed a free hand. Modi’s state machinery and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) jointly planned the attacks, with the police themselves in many places firing on the victims rather than the rioters.

The state’s support to the perpetrators of the pogrom has continued through the four-and-a-half-years since the carnage. Out of the 4252 cases registered in connection with the violence that gripped Gujarat in February, March and April of 2002, the files for more than 2100 were closed without the filing of chargesheets. A few senior police officers have revealed the manner in which the state subverted justice at every stage – by distorting and manipulating complaints at the police station, assigning investigations to the very officers accused of assisting in massacres, and allowing the accused free rein to coerce witnesses into changing statements.

With several public prosecutors simultaneously in the ranks – or even the leadership – of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates, the prosecution itself silently assisted in getting approval for bail applications. 345 cases have been decided so far, with convictions in only 13 of those cases.

After a severe indictment of the Gandhinagar state government by the National Human Rights Commission, the Supreme Court of India passed a landmark decision in 2004, ordering re-examination by a high-level, state-appointed committee of the decision to close more than 2000 cases.

The court also ordered the transfer of investigation from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation in select cases, and moved two cases out of Gujarat entirely. Muslims and secular groups are clinging on to these small victories as their last hopes for justice.

And what of the social and economic condition of the victims? The state government’s own conservative figures put the total loss of property at INR 6.9 billion. The government has distributed INR 563 million to the affected persons, which makes up about nine percent of the calculated damage.

At the peak of the riots, more than 150,000 people were in relief camps, which were summarily shut down by the government after four months. With the state washing its hands of any rehabilitation for the affected, those who could not return home have had to live in resettled colonies constructed by community organisations. Almost 10,000 families are said to remain internally displaced in Gujarat.

Pathological normalcy
Shakeel Ahmed heads the legal cell of the Islamic Relief Committee, an

offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), a conservative Muslim organisation. A well-read man who can hold forth as easily on Islamic precepts as on Indian sociology, Ahmed stares incredulously when asked about relief and justice. “It would be so foolish to expect it from the state!” he exclaims. “This was not a riot; it was a systematically planned pogrom.

If the accused get prosecuted and if relief is provided, then their entire political purpose will be defeated.” Ahmed’s suggestion is confirmed from a diametrically opposite direction, that of a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament from Gujarat: “Compensation, relief, regret – these are meaningless issues. We wanted to crush them, and we crushed them. And most Hindus are with us, as was clear from the subsequent elections. Forget about this now.” For a man of vehement convictions, it was nevertheless interesting that the MP requested anonymity. He must still fear something.

Memory is a convenient, subjective tool. While Hindu extremists tell anyone who raises uncomfortable questions about the killings to ‘move on’, they do not mind evoking the Toofan of 2002 in the most minute detail in order to get the Muslims to ‘behave themselves’. They also evoke the butchery as a ‘feel-good’ factor among themselves.

The continuous discrimination against Muslims is part of the same strategy – and it is not subtle in the least. Explains Ahmedabad-based sociologist Shiv Vishvanathan: “What happened in Gujarat was a mini Rwanda: your neighbour raped you; people killed between 9 and 6 and went home singing. It was like a football match where the Hindus won. There remains festivity around it, the state denies victimhood, and there is no erasure.” State acquiescence and connivance can only partially explain such an overriding phenomenon of exclusion.

Indeed, in the Gujarat of today, among the Hindus it is considered normal to harbour and exhibit hatred for the Muslims. To those who may ask how is it possible to paint an entire state of a population of more than 50 million with such a broad brushstroke, this point is exactly what makes the evolving Gujarat of today different from all other areas where excesses have happened in South Asia.

Here the discrimination against Muslims has the state administration’s support without even a fig-leaf of political correctness, as well as broad-based agreement on this matter among large sections of the Hindu masses. Talk to the common Hindu person on the street, from the neighbourhood guard to the autorickshaw-wallah to the shopkeeper, and the refrain is alarmingly deafening: Muslims are goondas, always doing illegal things. See, they are now bombing people everywhere. The pathological has become the normal. That is what makes societal evolution in Gujarat unique in India – and exceptionally lethal.

As elsewhere in India and South Asia, polarisation has always existed in Gujarati society. Since time immemorial, Dalits have not dared to stay inside the village core. Muslims and the intermediate and backward castes have been a bit more advantaged, but have still been kept away from the privileges of the Hindu upper castes.

But even if the notion of a composite culture is at times over-romanticised, there was at one time an undeniably pluralist culture in Gujarat. In part,
this stemmed from its coastal location and trade-based economy, which inevitably forced diverse communities together for mutual economic advantage.

Achyut Yagnik, influential author of an authoritative book on modern Gujarat, believes that communal polarisation between Hindus and Muslims began after the 1969 riots in Ahmedabad, and accelerated after the rath yatras and political mobilisation by Hindutva forces in the early 1990s.

If some had hoped that the national and international condemnation would make Gujarat’s communal rabble-rousers (with Modi as their cheerleader) pull back from their extremist agenda, this has not happened. In fact, the polarisation has intensified across the state in the last four-and-half years. If it was difficult before the riots for a Muslim to find a house to rent in Hindu areas, it is now impossible.

Sophia Khan would know. A leading women’s activist in Ahmedabad, she has had to undergo significant changes in her personal and professional life since 2002. To begin with, the polarised atmosphere in the city led Khan to shift her residence to Juhapura, the city’s large Muslim area, although her office remained in the upmarket Hindu locality of Narayanpura.

Sophia’s identity had remained a secret in Narayanpura because the office had been rented in the name of a Hindu trustee of the NGO she runs. A month ago, when neighbours in her office complex came to know of Khan’s faith, she was asked immediately to pack up and depart. She tried to put up a fight, but gave up in the face of constant harassment. “Imagine, they were not even willing to let me use the lift,” she says. Khan moved her office to a flat in Juhapura, but with that came a new complication.

A Hindu employee who was working with Khan was pressured by her family to resign, for they did not approve of her going to a Muslim area. She is grim as she intones: “My house is in a Muslim area. My office is here now. My only Hindu employee is resigning, and my work revolves around Muslims. This is exactly how they want to push an entire community into a corner.”

Vis-a-Vis

All over, people are beginning to shift to areas in which they are a part of the majority. M T Kazi is a young executive with F D Society, a Muslim trust that runs educational institutions. “Everyone is insecure,” he says. “What if a riot breaks out again?

Both Hindus and Muslims would prefer to be in areas where they are surrounded by their own kind. That way, the possibility of attack is reduced.” But the ramifications of such a trend can be drastic, says Shakeel Ahmed of JeI: “Social polarisation inevitably leads to some kind of economic polarisation. And this will have a more pronounced impact on the Muslim minority, because we are too small to create a self-sufficient unit.”

It is not even that the mental and physical dislocation of Muslims is an urban phenomenon, as many think. The rural areas in north and central Gujarat, in particular, are presently seeing a spurt in polarisation. There are 225 talukas in Gujarat, the local-level administrative divisions that encompass about 70-80 villages each.

Before the riots, there was a Muslim majority in five to ten villages per taluka, a smattering of Muslims in another 40 percent, and the rest almost completely non-Muslim. “Now, those five villages which had a Muslim majority have become concentration camps, especially in villages in the Panchmahal district,” explains Gagan Sethi, who runs Jan Vikas, an NGO working with Muslims. “Muslims in the surrounding area, who feel insecure or have been pushed out of their own places, come to these villages.”

Such rural ghettoisation is also problematic because it allows for the possibility of easy monitoring of Muslims by the state agencies, adding to the tensions within the community.

In the cities and towns, the segregation of residential locations has sharply reduced shared spaces at all levels. A visible example is the decline in the number of schools that have a fair mix of Hindu and Muslim students. Children generally attend schools that are close by, which means that these institutions are increasingly segregated.

With the newfound sense of insecurity, parents feel even more strongly about sending their kids to schools with more of “our people”. Some reports also suggest the existence of discrimination along religious lines in admission to elite schools. This troubles concerned citizens, who are worried that children may graduate from high school without having made a single lasting friendship with someone belonging to another community. The absence of contact since childhood can only accelerate the evolution of Gujarat as ‘another country’, where Hindus and Muslims live starkly separate lives and where intolerance becomes the defining characteristic.

Silent underclass
The 2002 riots were a tragic tale of visible violence, under the glare of the national media, which provoked outrage. But Gujarat 2006 is the story of invisible violence – systematic and subtle, at the state and social levels. Prejudice against the Muslims grows by the day.

Salimbhai Musabhai Patel is happy he can introduce himself as S M Patel – at least it gets him an appointment with bankers. “People think I am Hindu that way,” he says. A young entrepreneur, he runs the Patel Finance Company, with offices in Ahmedabad and Bharuch. “But that is as far as my initials can get me,” Patel continues with a resigned smile. “Once they know I am Muslim, they treat me like dirt. Forget about getting a loan.”

It is dusk, and Patel is standing with a group of other Muslim men on ‘their side’ of Mirzapur in Ahmedabad. Patel’s comment unleashes a torrent of similar complaints from the others gathered. We have no hope of getting a job in Gujarat. Government service is impossible. If we get in, we are relegated to the lowest level. The courts are against us.

Muslim vendors are harassed, while Hindus get away with crimes. Even private companies prefer Hindus. The ordinary folk think all of us are Pakistanis. The riots are long over, goes the common refrain, and sure we are willing to ‘move on’. But what do we do about the daily injustice? They want to create a society in which we just don’t matter.

This perception among Muslims, of being disadvantaged because of their faith, seems based on the hard reality of daily experience. Being Muslim in Gujarat is now a recipe for continuous harassment if you want to be anything but a member of the silent underclass.

Activist Sophia Khan had to wage a struggle to get a phone connection from the local Tata branch, because the company had black-listed certain areas. Banks have similar systems for loan applications. Most Hindu businessmen would rather not employ

Muslims, due to a combination of personal prejudice and pressure from the VHP.
For its part, the government ensures that Muslims are deprived of the most basic of amenities. Juhapura has a population of more than 300,000, with a large middle-class base. Yet it does not have a single bank, its former primary health centre was shifted to a Hindu area, and public bus transport routes now take a detour around the locality. Muslims constitute less than five percent of the high-level officers in the state’s police force, and even those officials who serve are shunted to marginal posts.

Yagnik points to how the two influential centres – the bureaucracy and local power structures – have been saffronised in the recent past. Muslims have been essentially ousted from local Panchayats, cooperatives, agrarian produce markets, government schemes and other services. There are more than 20 sub-communities among Muslims categorised as OBCs (‘other backward classes’) in Gujarat, but they face enormous difficulties in getting the required certificates that would make them eligible for various services.

Again and again, it has been revealed how municipal action is deliberately used to communalise an issue so as to hurt and provoke Muslim sentiment, which is then used as a pretext for counter-violence. Recent instances of such provocation include the demolition of a dargah in Baroda in May, and the diversion of a sewage pipe towards a graveyard in Radhanpur in north Gujarat in August.

Schools have become sites for propagating hate, with social science textbooks tailored along ‘Hindutva’ lines. Even public examinations conducted by the state government are framed not to evaluate a student’s competence, but to judge his political preferences vis-à-vis the Hindutva worldview.

In early August this year, the Gujarat State Public Service Commission conducted an exam to recruit Ayurvedic medical officers. Among the questions asked: “‘Christians have a right to convert’ – who made such a claim?”, “Which day is observed as ‘Black Day’ by minorities and ‘Victory Day’ by the Sangh Parivar?”, and “Babar, who established the Muslim empire, was a devotee of whom?” (the options were Krishna, Buddha, Shiva and Ram).

There is a point of view sometimes expressed against those who see Gujarat as Armageddon – that there are enough traditional linkages among Hindus and Muslims, despite the strains since 2002. Some will point to the fact that a web of economic relationships still binds the two communities, and they will refer to how Muslims and Hindus interact in a variety of sectors, from firecracker-making to rakhi-weaving to motor vehicle repair, all of them monopolised by the Muslims. Muslims also make the kites that dot the Gujarati sky on the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti in January.

Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, a kite-maker for the last 32 years, says that the communalisation has not turned away his Hindu customers. “But that’s because only Muslims make kites. Where will they go otherwise?” While there may be advantages in the economic necessity that has Hindus and Muslims at least nodding at each other, it is doubtful that the perfunctory transactions can act as a bridge in a society as divided as Gujarat has become.

Why here? Why Gujarat?
These instances of polarisation and discrimination are not mere aberrations, or restricted to pockets. The trend spreads across class and caste lines through the entire state, though it is relatively more intense in Ahmedabad, Panchmahal and Baroda – the core areas that shape Gujarat’s political discourse.

Certainly, there are Hindus who would prefer a society that is not so mired in conflict and mistrust. But what is important, as this reporter found out in his travels through the state in early September, is that this voice is mute. It is the Hindu Right that is setting the agenda for Gujarat, and amidst the extremism the moderate who remains silent becomes irrelevant for his inability to guide events.


What led to such a situation? The Hinduisation of Gujarat has surprised many observers: this is a region that had a pluralist culture; the people are driven largely by a mercantile ethos; it did not undergo the troubled Partition experience as intensely as did some other states; and, despite being a border state, it does not have any special reason to harbour intense bitterness towards Pakistan, a fact that could have led to animosity towards Muslims within. Instead, the answer perhaps lies in its political evolution and economic competition.

If the state is now considered the lab of Hindutva, a century ago a British ethnographer is said to have termed the state the ‘laboratory of Indian casteism’. After Gujarat became a state in 1960, carved out from the then state of Bombay, the Brahmans, Vanias and Patidars held sway over the political structure.

This hegemony was broken in 1980 with the Congress’s KHAM formula, which encompassed the Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim. The erstwhile ruling-castes retaliated, initially by instigating caste conflict. But they soon realised that the ‘lower’ castes could not be discarded, and thus began attempting to carve out a broader Hindu coalition where the ‘enemy’ would not be the Dalit, but the Muslim.
Sections of Dalits and Adivasis were slowly co-opted into the Hindutva-guided system, induced with promises of upward mobility and enhanced status, along with other political and economic dividends.

The BJP also seemed like an attractive alternative to these groups because, despite voting for the Congress for five long decades, they had little to show in terms of improvement in livelihood. These developments in Gujarat took place at a time when the Hindutva forces were consolidating themselves at a pan-India level through the late 1980s and 1990s.

The significant organisational work put in by the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat over the previous two decades bore fruit, creating a political base for the BJP that spanned across all sections of society. “While we were writing op-ed pieces and organising college protests against communalism, they were distributing millions of leaflets all over and building a base on the ground,” says an introspective Shabnam Hashmi, who runs ANHAD, an NGO that works to build communal harmony. The decline of textile mills, especially in Ahmedabad, destroyed common employment spaces shared by working-class Hindus and Muslims. These changes created an unemployed segment of society looking for a cause, and this provided the foot-soldiers of the Hindutva movement.

There are some other specificities of Gujarati society that made the polarisation easier here than elsewhere. For example, the fact that Gujarati Hindus are publicly and obsessively vegetarian has helped to create a visible marker of difference with the Muslims. First, this creates a social barrier in and of itself, and makes it possible for Hindutva outfits to capitalise on the matter of cow slaughter by Muslims. ‘100 percent vegetarian’ restaurants crowd the market streets of Hindu Ahmedabad, and the very fact that Hindus and Muslims rarely dine together in restaurants drastically reduces the possibilities of social engagement.

Mani Chowk border, Ahmedabad

While the chief agent of the polarisation was the Hindu middle class, it found its natural ally in the Non-Resident Gujarati. This group constitutes an extremely prosperous section of the Indian diaspora overseas, and flushes the RSS and its affiliates with enormous sums of money. Supporting this dynamic have been the various religious sects and preachers who crowd the spiritual market in Gujarat, as well as large and influential sections of the Gujarati-language press.

The trading culture of Gujarat might have created a pluralist, inclusive environment in the past, but the economic advantages of social cohesion seem to have been sacrificed at the altar of Hindutva. In fact, the relative affluence and stability of the economy is one reason why – based on Hindutva propaganda – a large section of the middle class veered towards religious chauvinism. The well-off had another reason to join the Hindutva bandwagon.

They saw it as an opportunity to push their Muslim economic competitors into a corner with hate propaganda. Economics played a critical role during the pogrom in 2002, when those Hindus on the rampage were keen to destroy the property of some of their rivals.

It did not help that, unlike some others states of India, Gujarat does not have a tradition of left, Dalit or even progressive student movements – which not only provided space to the Hindutva campaign, but also ensured that there was no culture
of protest.

Muslims constitute around nine percent of the state’s population, but have never had an effective political voice, as they do in UP or Bihar – another reason why the Hindu Right could so easily ride roughshod over their basic rights. The Congress Party, since the 1970s and through the 1980s, had taken the easy way out to win the Muslim vote, by encouraging conservative elements among them; it also protected certain hardened criminals who happened to be Muslims.

The Sangh Parivar cleverly used this as a pretext to convince the Hindus in Gujarat that minorities were being appeased at their cost. While Muslims were and are being targeted elsewhere in India as well, these factors have combined to create a rather unique situation in Gujarat.

One-man state
The critical state support for communal extremism following the rise of Narendra Modi, the fact that a large section of Hindu society harbours extremist notions about Muslims, and the absence of an effective political opposition to this discourse makes Gujarat stand out in the broader Indian context.

Fortunately, the particular mix of societal factors that have made Gujarat ‘another country’ – while they may exist in small areas elsewhere – do not come together at a statewide level anywhere else. Gujarat has gone into its extremist cocoon willingly and alone, and there is the hope and expectation that no other part of India will follow where Gujarat has gone.


The elevation of Narendra Modi as chief minister in late 2001 has everything to do with what Gujarat has become. He provided the match to the communal powder-keg that the state had already become. Political psychologist Ashis Nandy (along with Achyut Yagnik) interviewed Modi in 1992, and Nandy has written about how he was left shaken by the experience. Emerging from the meeting, Nandy told Yagnik that Modi met all the criteria of an authoritarian personality, and was a clinical and classic case of a fascist. A decade later, that assessment proved correct, when Modi systematically engineered the carnage against Gujarat’s Muslims.

Faced with the outrage that engulfed India after the Gujarat massacres, rather than take a defensive approach, Narendra Modi has aggressively introduced a potent mixture of Gujarati parochialism and Hindutva to cement his political foundations. His trick has been to construct a four-fold binary – of the insider versus outsider, Gujarat versus Delhi, Gujarati media versus English media, and Hindu versus the ‘pseudo-secularist’. Any criticism can be easily deflected by using this matrix.

While manipulation of the mass mindset may have helped Modi turn vilification to advantage, in intervening elections at the state and local levels the image of the Hindutva ogre is something he has decided he can do without at present. This is because Modi has his vision firmly set on the national BJP leadership, for which he has now to coin a new image for himself – that of a strong, anti-terrorism leader, focused on development and good governance. And this explains the recent brand-building exercise to portray Gujarat as the most developed state in the country.

Gujarat has always been a relatively prosperous state, and for Modi to try to hog credit for the traditional achievements of an entrepreneurial class seems excessive. If anything, Modi can be faulted for not being able to build substantially upon this base.

Economists of varied hues have doubts about the idea of Gujarat as a new economic haven, yet another of Modi’s propositions as he tries to reposition his image. Investment in the state is largely restricted to a few large players pumping in huge amounts of money in capital-intensive units, which have little trickle-down effect. Gujarat has missed out on the new economy, with a weak Information Technology base and few of the outsourcing units that are all the rage in other successful states. In addition, the state’s educational system is in a rut, the crucial local co-operatives are riddled with scams and divisions, and the state is quickly slipping on the human development index scale.

The idea of Modi as a good administrator, too, is a bogey that has its roots in his strong-leader image. In interacting directly with the state’s far-flung hierarchy, he has been accused of undercutting the authority of ministers and legislators alike. Modi can be ruthlessly efficient, but only when he wants to see results in his pet projects. “His is the efficiency of the emergency era.

This fear-induced work culture is not sustainable, because it is weakening public institutions. Gujarat has become a one-man state,” says Javed Chowdhury, a former bureaucrat of the Gujarat cadre. The good-management myth was severely bruised with the late-August floods in Surat, which were entirely due to faulty dam-water management by the state administration.

What Modi’s dictatorial style of functioning has done is to create massive dissension within his own party, as well as in the broader Hindutva parivar. But while that may somewhat upset Modi’s own political trajectory, it has had little impact on Gujarat’s communalism. The dissidents are more radically ‘Hindu’ than even Modi. Their differences with him are about power and patronage – not about Hindutva.

One of the reasons the Gujarati political discourse has been so completely captured by the saffron agenda is the abject political and ideological surrender of the Congress party. Flirting with a variety of soft Hindutva itself, the party’s Gujarat unit has decided not to take on Modi’s fascist state directly.

Congress workers, after all, were also part of the marauding mobs in 2002, and even today the party refuses to take up issues of discrimination against Muslims publicly. This has left Muslims despondent, but they have little choice. Usmanbhai Sheikh, a Muslim activist in Ahmedabad, explains: “Congress treats us like its mistress, knowing we cannot turn elsewhere.”

But the Modi government is not invincible. If the Congress is able to put together a proactive, secular agenda, and consolidate an alliance between Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims, it has a good chance of ousting the chief minister and his party, and of reversing his divisive agenda.

At the peak of polarisation during the 2002 assembly elections, after all, more than 50 percent of the population voted against Modi – a figure that would have to have included a substantial number of Hindus. A change in Gujarat’s government would come as some relief, for the state would not be as active in engineering everyday hatred. But even if the Congress party state unit were to muster the energy to take on Modi, it is doubtful that this alone would help to restore a social fabric that has been left in tatters.

The communalism in Gujarat has not only become deeply entrenched, it has become bolted to the plank of fascism. Politics-as-usual can hardly be the panacea; what is needed is a social movement for Gujarat to cleanse itself.

Modified society
It is early September. Baroda is tense. Its Muslims are scared. It is the last day of the Ganesh festival, when Hindus will take part in large processions before immersing their idols. Trouble is anticipated. Only four months ago, the demolition of a dargah had triggered riots here. Security has been beefed up across the city – the state government does not want another blemish on its record, at least not now.

Yusuf Sheikh is sitting in his house in Tandalja – also derisively called ‘mini-Pakistan’ by local Hindus, because of its Muslim majority. Worried about what might happen, he explains the undercurrent of tension: “If Muslims are out in these areas where processions are being taken out, there is a high possibility that a VHP person will throw a stone at some idol, and blame it on us. Muslims will then be called the instigators and there will be riots.” The city’s Muslims have shut their shops, stocked up on supplies and huddled down inside their homes.

Sheikh is a ground-level political activist in Baroda. An officer of the central government’s Intelligence Bureau, based in Baroda, pays him a visit to get a sense of the Muslim mood. Sheikh’s request to him is to keep an eye on the younger elements in the Ganesh processions.

The intelligence official is fairly confident that no incident would occur today. “The state government is determined not to allow violence.” he says. The government’s decision could have to do with the fact that with no elections around the corner, and Modi seeking to carve a new image, allowing a riot at present would not be politically astute.

On the broader communal situation, the officer has a ‘realistic’ take: “It is ok. See, in UP, Mulayam Yadav supports Muslims, and so Hindutva-wallahs have no say. Here it is Hindu rule. So it is the Muslims who are down.”

‘Afraid’ might better capture the sentiment of Muslims, for the Hindus in Baroda do not seem to be merely celebrating a religious festival. Trucks and minivans carry huge idols, followed by hordes of people.

Blaring music resonates from all corners, and those gathered dance aggressively to the tune of hit Bollywood composer Himesh Reshammiya. That in itself would be the nature of a Hindu festival anywhere else in India. But here, the saffron flags seamlessly merge with the Indian tricolour. Harshad, an ecstatic-looking 18-year-old, explains: “We are Hindus. And Hindus are Indians. In our festivals, you will see the Indian flag also.”

In Baroda in Modi’s Gujarat, the Ganesh festival is treated – and exploited – not as a cultural but as a nationalist event. Those excluded accept their status quietly. Silence and deserted streets greet an observer in Muslim areas of the city. Here, there is a curfew-like atmosphere.

A few local elders stand outside to ensure that no trouble ensues, while state police guard the city’s invisible borders. But while the day of Ganesh might be one when insecurity among Gujarati Muslims comes forth most visibly, they remain fearful, helpless and alienated throughout the year. We don’t have anyone. This is not our government. Who do we turn to?

But this is not a saga only of victimhood. When a community is pushed into a corner, there are bound to be consequences. Frustrated youngsters will inevitably react one way or the other. The easiest is to leave the state, but that would entail entering as a member of an underclass in an alien society in another Indian state, and few of the poorly-skilled and -educated Muslim youth would venture forth under such circumstances. Much more likely is that some will take matters into their own hands, to fight the oppression that is an all-pervading reality, or follow the siren call of militant leaders.

Where will Narendra Modi be to take the blame when the exclusion of yesterday and today invites the conflagration of tomorrow?

The response of the richer Muslims, who also have nowhere else to turn, has been to try and strike up a deal with the state government. Those belonging to the Bohra and Khoja communities, for example, are trying see if they cannot run their businesses unhindered in return for offering their political support to Modi.

But the most positive response would seem to be an emphasis on mainstream, modern education among Muslims as a means to responding to the Modi challenge. Indeed, Muslims across class and sectarian lines have turned to education as a passport to a self-confident future. “There is a realisation that we must have more skills and make ourselves more useful. That is the only way out,” says M T Kazi of the F D Education Society.

The Gujarati Muslim is realising the importance of education, of learning the language of rights, of asserting his or her presence in the marketplace. But there will remain the question of whether the larger ‘Modified’ society is willing to accommodate this pool of people when it is ready. And that is why there has been another simultaneous trend in the opposing direction, marked by the increase in the influence of conservative Muslim organisations. “They are all going into the laps of mullahs. Imagine what will happen if all these people get radicalised,” says Mahesh

However, I have taken a personal decision, "NEVER TO TAKE THE SERVICES NOR GIVE BUSINESS IN ANY WAY" to a Hindu Gujarati. This is my IDEA of a Simple Protest against the Enemies of my Community.
What about you ??????????????

Team Work of Geese‏

Can the Muslim Community, learn to WORK TOGETHER, SHARING THE JOY/HAPPINESS/SORROWS of the Ummah in these TESTING TIMES across the Globe for our Community.

Let's have a look at this video to learn more about Working Together from the Geese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImbalBnzW24

Is it Necessary to Follow an Imaam?

Can I not Refer Directly to the Hadith In this belated era, one often hears questions about the need to follow an Imaam or a Mazhab. The ear-catching slogan of “DIRECTLY” following the Qur`aan and Hadeeth is heard more frequently. The answer to such questions and the reality behind these slogans is highlighted by the following eye-opening incident, which has been reported by Imaam Ahmad bin Hambal and Imaam Tahaawi (rahmatullahi `alayhima).

Once `Urwah bin Zubair (rahmatullahi `alayh) addressed `Abdullah bin `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma) thus: “You have led the people astray Oh Ibnu `Abbaas!” When `Abdullah bin `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma) inquired about the reason, `Urwa (rahmatullahi `alayhi) mentioned a ruling pertaining to the laws of Hajj which `Abdullah bin `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma) had issued contrary to the ruling of Abu Bakr and `Umar (radhiyallahu `anhuma). `Abdullah bin `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma) replied: “This is the exact reason why you have been led astray. I am narrating from Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and you are opposing it with the view of Abu Bakr and `Umar (radhiyallahu `anhuma).” `Urwah (rahmatullahi `alayh) said to Ibnu `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma): “Indeed Abu Bakr and `Umar (radhiyallahu `anhuma) were more knowledgeable about the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam than you." (Musnad Ahmad, vol. 4, pg. 132, No. 2277, Sharhu Ma`aanil Aathaar, vol. 1, pg. 423).

In a narration of Tabraani the same incident has been recorded with a slight difference. According to this version, when `Urwah (rahmatullahi `alayh) objected, Ibnu `Abbaas (radiyallahu `anhuma) said to him: “Woe be to you! Do you give preference to Abu Bakr and `Umar (radhiyallahu `anhuma) over the book of Allaah and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam.” Upon this `Urwah (rahmatullahi `alayh) replied: “They were more knowledgeable about the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam than you and I.” Ibnu Abi Mulaykah, the narrator of this incident comments: “Ibnu `Abbaas (radhiyallahu `anhuma) did not have any answer for this.” (Al-Mu`jamul Awsat, vol. 1, pg. 42, No. 21). The answer of `Urwah (rahmatullahi `alayh) is exactly the answer to those who raise objections such as:

What is the need to follow an Imaam? Is it better to follow Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam or to follow Abu Haneefah, Maalik, Shaafi`ee and Ahmad bin Hambal (rahmatullaahi alayhim)? In reply to these objections Shaykh Muhammad `Awwaamah writes:

“We say to them: We are not pleased to have you as a substitute for these Imaams, as they were more knowledgeable about Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam than you.” In fact, when we say “more knowledgeable” we do not mean to draw a comparison, because there is absolutely no comparison between you and them in knowledge. And it is our ardent desire to cling onto the way of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam that drives us to follow their understanding of the pure Sunnah.” (Atharul Hadeethish Shareef, pg. 101).

The crux of these answers is that one does not follow an Imaam in OPPOSITION to the Quraan and Sunnah. Instead, the following of an Imaam is based purely on the intention to follow the Quraan and Sunnah, and they were far more knowledgeable of the Quraan and Sunnah than anyone in this era.

ANSWER THROUGH AN EXAMPLE: Another simple answer to these types of questions could easily be understood from a common day to day situation. Take the example of a close relative who requires a triple bypass or needs to undergo a major operation. Will an unqualified relative ever dare to research the procedure of that operation and carry it out by himself?

The answer is obvious. Rather, he will employ the services of the greatest expert in that field. Why? Since the well being of our dear one means much to us. If our Deen is beloved to us, then this should be our attitude with regards to the matters of Deen as well.

The Good News in the Bad News

The Kyoto Protocol happened because 2003 was the hottest year in Europe in 500 years, and some 40,000 people died because Europe was just not prepared for this kind of heat wave conditions.

Well, that was because it happened in Europe. In India, we had the worst drought conditions in 43 years last year, followed by the hottest April in 52 years this year (80 dead already), and we are busy celebrating GDP growth.

Forget a Protocol, we don't even have a Water Recycling Policy, that creates a market for that most precious of commodities, the one thing that could create a calamity on an unimaginable scale.

Katrina appeared in the US, just when the debate on Global Warming was hotting up, and lots of polls showed that it made a difference. And this, the year in which the Kyoto mandate is to be renegotiated, we have Europe paralysed because of volcanic ash falling from the heavens.

Have faith in Germany
I can bet that within the next five years, there will be a technology to minutely keep out all aerial debris, whether it be volcanic ash or bird hits, from the engines of aircraft. My faith is in Germany, the most important innovator in Europe. Starting in 2007, Germany quickly built the biggest solar capacity in the world (followed by Spain this year).

China will, as usual, bring forth its brute force once the government decides on it. But it was Germany that innovated (thin films solar came from Germany) both the product and the mechanism to produce-your-own solar with its feed-in two-way tariffs. That is now being copied by India, thank God.

Imagine the hottest summer in India in 500 years. We would still be tom-tomming about how our GDP kept growing, how we are no longer dependent on agriculture (in other words, we no longer have to eat). Oh, food prices will go up, but if the GDP is growing, who cares about a few million malnourished children in Madhya Pradesh.

Europe holds the key
So it is just as well that volcanic ash is spreading over Europe. That is where the vision for clean, free energy will be made in this year of the post-Kyoto negotiations. That is where a long-term objective of Climate Control (which can only happen with free energy) will be set.

It might take a hundred years, but if there is someone on this planet who can think about preventing an asteroid attack, a volcanic disaster or an earthquake, it would have to be Europe. If someone comes up with a plan to control naturally produced Green House Gases (GHG), maybe they have less work to do with man-made GHG. Think of all that methane trapped under the Arctic sheets.

India a laggard
India will wait till a water crisis hits us. When it hits us, we will find that we don't have a Water Recycling industry because we don't have a Water market.

All urban water usage is capable of being recycled up to six times, which can reduce our requirement of virgin rain or ground water by up to 85 per cent, but this is theoretical.

Surprisingly, it is establishments in islands like London and Singapore that are adopting these technologies, not anyone in Delhi. And of course, the whole of coastal India is open to water desalination.

Solar and renewables will pick up in India, if only because China has launched a massive programme, almost 20 times the size of India's to convert to Clean Energy. India will not do better than anyone else, but will do well by its own terrible standards. So what if it is too late for a few million people. They had no right to be born anyway.

Nature may also have learnt that if you want to improve the world, it should give adversity to Europe. The tsunami in India did nothing, except to fill the pockets of those who were sent to distribute blankets.

But wait and see. This Icelandic volcanic eruption was really conceived in heaven. It has killed no one I know of, hence it has no victims. Just a few sleepless Germans at various airports, gritting their teeth and taking out the backs of their envelopes to make sure this will never happen again.

Had the same thing happened in India, we would not even have noticed the ash in the air till a few planes went down. Then again, we would have blamed it on Pakistan. And spending sleepless nights at airports does nothing to us we rather enjoy the free snacks!

For example, India has excessive Black Carbon clouds, because of soot emissions. China is responsible for 61 per cent of these emissions, while India accounts for 12 per cent. But the Atmospheric Brown Clouds that are specific to South Asia, are resulting in excessive 'glacier melt' over the Himalayas, a uniquely Asian problem. That is why nobody is working on Black Carbon emissions, which has already grown to be the third biggest Green House Gas (GHG), after Carbon Dioxide and Methane.

I felt a little relieved that China is the major culprit, because that means that some action will be taken on the issue. Had it been India, we would have been fighting for our right to pollute.

Profits via the markets
A country-wise, source-wise analysis finds that the cheapest methods of reducing Black Carbon are to be found in India. The dollar-cost of reducing GHG is the lowest; if an equitable new Kyoto is found, it will create big profits for India as a whole. Provided we set up a good CER (certified emission reduction)-focused low Carbon economy. Examples are dung burning, coal stoves and household fuels, which not only affect Global Warming, but also public health standards in India.

The funny thing is, the Solar cooker will be invented in Germany, sold in India and the CERs will be bought by a German polluter to balance his (Carbon) account books. It is perhaps, not a coincidence that the cheapest Dollar-cost per ton of reducing Carbon is in India; it follows from the rest of the story about our economic productivity.

So what kind of disaster would we pray upon India, to hope that India starts to capitalise on its 'comparative advantage' in Carbon reduction? No, I don't want to pray that millions of people die in the next famine; if it is not going to be pain, could it be greed? A stiff Carbon Tax on India would set off a Carbon Reduction economy, with an efficient CER-issuance mechanism that helps India to capture much of the multilateral (market) transfers of wealth that will happen under the revised Kyoto.

The government-to-government transfers that India is fighting for may be a pittance compared to what might be possible if the market mechanism works out. Maybe the West should set its innovative mind to doing that; for once, they would be doing India a favour.

Because in a unique example, the Black Carbon emitted by South Asia has a very short life, and hence will have the maximum salubrious effects on the climate over South Asia (especially affecting monsoon cycles and glacier melt in the Himalayas). All this and Carbon Credits too

If Black Carbon reduction ranks on par with other GHG reduction, that itself would be an innovation. Suddenly, the innovative genius of Germany would be focusing on Indian dung heaps in Bihar, paid for by the sophisticated polluters of Europe.