GHUNCHA SANOBAR - Bihar Anjuman6236 Ayah (verses). The first Surah of the Quran is Surah Fateha...

Better light a candle than curse the darkness

Monthly e-Magazine ISSN 2319-4049

http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ Volume 8, Issue 08, August 2015BE AWARE, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE

GHUNCHA SANOBARSuccess Story of Bihar's first Muslim woman IPS

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PublisherBihar Anjuman BaKhabar

Editorial BoardAsrarul Haque, Seraj Akram, Mohd. Allam,

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Bakhabar : August 20152

Let us read the Holy Quran

Hajira Khan Indian School Salalah

Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

Reading the Holy Quran is very important. If you readQuran then you become more intelligent. The one whohas memorized the whole Quran is called a Hafiz-e-

Quran or jus Hafiz. There are 114 Surahs in the Quran and6236 Ayah (verses). The first Surah of the Quran is SurahFateha which is recited in each Rakaat of our Salaat. The read-ing of the Quran is increased in the month of Ramadan. TheQuran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be uponHim). The Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years.

The Holy Quran was memorized by Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and his followers, dictated to his companions, andwritten down by scribes, who cross-checked it during theProphetss lifetime. Not a single word of its 114 Surah (chap-ters) has been changed over the centuries. The Quran is inevery detail the same unique and miraculous text that was re-vealed over fourteen centuries ago. The Qur'an is the principlesource of every Muslim’s faith and practice. It deals with allsubjects that concern us as human beings, including wisdom,doctrine, worship and law; but its basic theme is the relation-ship between the Creator, Allah and His creatures. At the sametime, the Quran provides guidelines for a just society, properhuman conduct and equitable economic principles.

The Holy Quran can be translated exactly. The meaning of theHoly Quran is available in many languages. One can use theseavailable meanings till they learn Arabic. Many tools are avail-able for learning the Arabic of the Quran.

Bibliography:

1. Websites for the Quran and Arabic: http://www.under-standquran.com/, http://www.explore-quran.com/news.htm,http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/quran/, http://www.func-tional-arabic.com/


I By Aishah Iqbal I

As the days of Ramadan leave us, we get afeeling of emptiness. Many of us may haveachieved a great deal this month whilst oth-

ers may have been disappointed in how they spenttheir blessed Ramadan days. The passing of Ra-madan so quickly usually leaves the hearts of Mus-lims around the world saddened. But, what is it thattruly saddens us? Is it the end of the iftar party in-vites? The rumbling belly at lunchtime?Or perhapssomething much more important and frightening?The fear of not being able to maintain as muchibadah and concentration on the deen as in the monththat has passed, and the distractions of life that over-whelm us soon after Eid?

Whilst this is the case, like in any battle, the soldiersmust prepare themselves to win. Our battle in this in-stance is to maintain a relationship with the Qur’anand continue to build on whatever we have accom-plished this Ramadan. Even if it was not as produc-tive as you would have liked, to learn from themistakes in Ramadan and kick start a solid relation-ship with the Qur’an in the coming months isequally as important.

Abdullah ibn Masud said:“The house in which the Qur’an is not recited is like

a derelict (forsaken) house that has no one to main-tain it.” [Al-Musannaf]11

Never let your home become forsaken; so long asyou have breath in your lungs, you are able to holdtight to the Qur’an and its teachings. There are noexcuses. We all take time to ensure we smell nice,look good and eat well. So, give your soul as wellthe food it requires by nourishing it with the Qur’an,and never neglect it. Our bodies are finite entities, sofeed the soul that will hold you up when your bodyis no longer strong. Feed the soul to keep your heartawake.

Here are 8 tips to help you start, develop and main-tain a strong relationship with the book of Allaheven after Ramadan in sha Allah:

1. Treat every month as if it’sRamadanWhile the blessed days have passed, this does notmean our mentality should change. We make time inthis month because we are aware of the blessingsand importance of spending time in ibadah. How-ever, this does not mean the time outside of Ra-madan should be wasted.

“This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a

-Ramadan

As the days of Ramadan leave us, we get a feeling of emptiness. Many of us may have achieved a great deal this month whilst others may have been disappointed in how they spent their blessed Ramadan days. The passing of Ramadan so quickly usually leaves the hearts of Muslims around the world saddened. But, what is it that truly saddens us? Is it the end of the iftar party invites? The rumbling belly at lunchtime?Or perhaps something much more important and frightening? The fear of not being able to maintain as much ibadah and concentration on the deen as in the month that has passed, and the distractions of life that overwhelm us soon after Eid? Whilst this is the case, like in any battle, the soldiers must prepare themselves to win. Our battle in this instanwe have accomplished this Ramadan. Even if it was not as productive as you would have liked, to learn from the mistakes in Ramadan and kick start a solid relationship with tcoming months is equally as important.

Abdullah ibn Masud said:

[Al-Musannaf]11

8Tips to Stay Connected tothe Qur’an Post-Ramadan

Quran


Quran

guidance for those conscious of Allah.” [Qur’an:Chapter 2, Verse 2]

This verse applies to everyday; Ramadan is a specialtime to spend with the Qur’an but that does notmean we should neglect it outside of this month.Imagine every month to be like Ramadan and try toput as much passion into developing your relation-ship with the Qur’an as you can. The truth is, anyday could be our last and therefore we should opti-mize our time spent in reading and pondering overthe book that was sent as a guidance for us.

2. No excuses!We procrastinate with excuses as to why we cannotregularly recite and ponder over the Qur’an.You might “lack time” – but you are reading thiswhich means you have time to surf the net! Cut outidle activities or wake up 15 minutes earlier.You feel bad because “you don’t understand” whatyou read – find a Qur’an teacher, read translationsand tafsir or start learning Arabic.

You may think “you’ll do it on the weekend” – giveyourself the reality check of life. You may not havetomorrow so do what you need to today!

Sadly, it may just be a case of “I don’t know why, Ijust can’t get in the habit” – In order to make a habit,you must strive. The climb up the mountain is nevereasy but if you stop midway you will never reach thetop. Small steps are better than no steps.

3. Have a monthly goalAt the beginning of each month, set a target foryourself. Do you want to complete the entire Qur’anor focus on particular surahs? Is there a portion youwant to successfully memorise? Or perhaps youwant to focus on your recitation rather than a partic-ular quantity? Whatever the case may be, having anidea in mind about what your goal is will help keepyou focused to achieve it insha’Allah. This is a per-sonal goal for you, your abilities and what you are inneed of to boost your iman. Write it down in yourdiary, phone or wall – keep it around you beforeyour eyes so you always remember what the goal is.

4. Set a time for Qur’anWe can set as many goals as we like, but withoutbeing prepared or planning the journey to that desti-nation, it can be extremely difficult. On a weekly

basis, work out when you will have the time to readthe Qur’an and associated activities that you are fo-cusing on. Are you able to have a set time? It is greatif you can but if not, do not panic. Use whatevertime you have to do as much as you can.

5. Catch up on what you’vemissedSome days may be busier than others and you maynot be able to read whatever portion you had plannedfor. Hold yourself accountable for this and ensure tocatch up with what you have missed on top of theplanned activities for the next day. This is importantin ensuring you have a regular habit in place that youtry to maintain to attain the goals you have made forthat month. Even better, create a post-RamadanQur’an group with your friends to help you stay mo-tivated and connected to the Qur’an even when youfeel your enthusiasm dipping.

6. Focus on understandingAs well as reciting the Qur’an, make time to read thetranslation and tafsir. This could be by reading themon your own, or by attending classes at a localmasjid or institute. This is really an important part ofdeveloping an understanding of the Qur’an; many ofus fall out of the habit of reading the Qur’an becausewe fail to understand what it is that we are reading.

Allah says that the Qur’an is “a guidance for thepeople and clear proofs of guidance and criterion.”[Qur’an: Chapter 2, Verse 184]1

We should not miss out on obtaining this guidancebecause we do not understand the language. Make ita goal to learn Arabic, however in the meantime,utilise the translated works available to understand,absorb and implement the message of the Qur’an inyour daily life.


Quran

7. Implement what you learnThe stories in the Qur’an are full of lessons. Taketime to ponder over them and ask yourself how youcan implement what you have learned into your life?The Qur’an highlights for us the imperfections wehave, whilst giving us the ideas on how to change forthe best. Listening to the Qur’an can be healing andsoothing, however the fundamental reason for theverses to be revealed is to guide a person to thestraight path. Whatever portion you read, ask your-self how you can change your life based on it. Keepa journal with the points you have learned and howyou will work towards developing a personalitycomplementary to the Qur’an. Remember the hadithof Aishah :

“The character of the Messenger of Allah was theQur’an.” [Abu Dawud]

8. Make duaLastly, but by no means least – always ask Allah tohelp you in your quest to understand His words. Weare unable to achieve anything without Allah grant-ing us the ability to do so. The beauty of this is thatAllah can help us achieve that which everyone elsethinks we are unable to do.

Never let the words or actions of others put youdown; whatever your goals are concerning theQur’an and understanding it, put your trust in Allahthat He will make it possible. Whatever rocks, boul-ders or mountains come in your way, never forgetthat Allah knows your soul can handle the struggle.Break down whatever blocks that try to prevent youfrom grasping the Qur’an by always turning to Allahand asking Him to make the Qur’an the light of yourlife and heart!

What are your tips on maintaining a close relation-ship with the Qur’an post-Ramadan?

About Aishah IqbalBased in London, Aishah is a medical student, due tocomplete her studies next year insh’Allah. Asidefrom her studies, she likes to blog on anything re-lated to personal development including productiv-ity, fitness and health. Connect with her through herblog grains and gains

Source: http://productivemuslim.com/connected-to-quran-post-ramadan/

The reflections

I By Md ShadabAkram I

Once a dog ran into a museum- where all thewalls, the ceilng, the door and even the floorwere made of mirror, seeing this the dog

froze in surprise in the middle of the hall, a wholepack of dogs surrounded it from all sides, fromabove and below. Just in case, the dog bared histeeth -and all the reflections responded to it in thesame way. Frightened, the dog frantically barked -the reflections imitated the bark and increased itmany times. The dog barked even harder and theecho was keeping up. The dog tossed from one sideto another, biting the air - his reflections also tossedaround snapping their teeth.

Next day in the morning the museum securityguards found the miserable dog, lifeless and sur-rounded by a million reflections of lifeless dogs.There was nobody, who would make any harm to thedog. The dog died by fighting with his own reflec-tions.

The world doesn't bring good or evil on its own.Everything that is happening around us is the reflec-tion of our own thoughts, feelings, wishes and ac-tions. The World is a big mirror. So let's strike agood pose!

Contributed by Md ShadabAkram<[email protected]>


Life Lesseons

I By Abu Muhammad Yusuf I

As humans we are prone to stress although weall wish to be immune from it. While stressmay be beneficial at times however the ex-

cess of it will certainly affect our health and produc-tivity. In controlling stress our mind set is soimportant.There was once a very old Sheikh who noticed hisstudent very depressed. The wise scholar instructedthe unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in aglass of water and then to drink it. "How does ittaste?" the Sheikh asked. "Awful," retorted the stu-dent.

The Sheikh chuckled and then asked the young manto take another handful of salt and put it in the lake.The two walked in silence to the nearby lake andwhen the student swirled his handful of salt into thelake, the wise old man said, "Now drink from thelake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, theSheikh asked, "How does it taste?" "Good!" re-marked the student. "Do you taste the salt?" askedthe Sheikh. "No," said the young man.

The Sheikh sat beside this troubled young man, tookhis hands, and said, "The pain of life is pure salt; nomore, no less. The amount of pain in life remains thesame, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the'pain' depends on the container we put it into. Sowhen you are in pain, the only thing you can do is totake it out of your cup and place it in Allah’s Lake!No doubt what practical measures or action that areneeded in the situation must be taken, but we shouldthen leave it to Allah Ta’ala who is ultimately in con-trol of everything!

Always be positive and forget about the bad thingsor events of the past and think of good things, al-ways having hope that it can be better. Trying tochange the past is a foolish and crazy waste of time,"for saying 'if only...' opens the way to Shaytan(Satan)" said the Prophet of Allah (Sallallahualaiyhi-wassallam).

The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahualaiyhiwassal-lam) also said, " Know that victory (achievement)

comes through patience, and that ease comesthrough hardship."

None can destroy iron, but its own rust. Likewise,none can destroy a person, but his or her own mind-set !

Ups and downs in life are very important to keep usgoing, a straight line even in an E.C.G. means we arenot alive! The same Boiling Water that hardens theegg, Will Soften the Potato!

It all depends upon our reaction to stressful circum-stances!

Allah, The Most Wise, say;“…and in Allah (alone) should the believers trust.”(Qur’aan 14:11)

So the next time you face a problem don’t dissolve itin your small cup of water but cast it into Allah’sLake!

*****We appreciate feedback on our articles. Please sendfeedback or any constructive comments to: [email protected] subscribe to our mailing list please send a blankemail to: [email protected] please click on link found below thismessage OR send a blank email to unsubscribe@eis-

A Handful of Salt


Opinion

I By Dr Mohammad ManzoorAlam I

The epidemic called the Islamic State (IS) hasquickly spread from Iraq and Syria to Yemen,Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and, according to some

reports, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is a dangeroustrend that spells destabilisation and anarchy, cuttinga large swath across the Islamic world.

Like all epidemics break out in certain conditions ofgeneral lack of hygiene and other factors, phenom-ena like IS break out and quickly spread across bor-ders in conditions of political uncertainty and socialunrest. Lack of clarity on part of policy makers isalso responsible for it, as is foreign dominance, warand social disarray.

The situation in the Muslim world is so dismal thatanti-Muslim people ridicule individual Muslims innon-Muslim societies. They often ask, “How do youclaim that Islam is a religion of peace while everyday we see Muslims being killed by Muslims in agruesome manner across the Muslim world?” Ofcourse, we have no answer to such queries.

In the affected countries, even policy makers andstrategic analysts do not have a clear idea of who arethe IS, what is their source of funds, which countriesare their friends, which their foes. There is virtuallyno understanding of the phenomenon, no roadmap tocontain and eliminate the scourge.

The recent IS attacks on Yemen, Saudi Arabia andKuwait are most bothersome. Particularly disturbingare attacks on Shia mosques in Kuwait and SaudiArabia while the devout were in the middle ofprayers. This is a highly dangerous trend that can

provoke a civil war and divide a country irreversibly.

The attackers look at it as jihad and are misled to be-lieve that killing others by killing themselves theybecome martyrs (shuhda). There is a need to educatethe Muslim youth that suicide for any purpose is for-bidden (haram) in Islam. Besides, a sectarian war isnot jihad. Nor is attacking people in the middle ofprayers an act of piety as a Saudi aalimsaid soonafter the attack in Saudi Arabia. He rightly asked ifattacking Christians while they are in prayer during awar is forbidden in Islam, how can attacking ShiaMuslims in a mosque be acceptable.

Beyond fiqh, attacking peaceful citizens, whatevertheir religion, sect or sub-sect, is not permissible.

The attack in Kuwait is equally reprehensible. It is awell-integrated country, its social fabric as strongand resilient as in any advanced society. Its Shiapopulation, variously estimated at 15-30 percent, iswell-integrated with the rest, which is Sunni. Sowingseeds of discord in such a society is cruel, immoraland dangerous. The state stands by the victims and isdetermined to bring the culprits to the book. Thesame is true of the Saudi royalty. They are also notgoing to allow the criminals to get scot free. Westand by these governments and extend sympathy tothe families of victims and survivors.

P.S.: At the time of writing this we learn of a similarIS attack in Egypt. The disease is spreading fasterthan we thought. That requires an urgent response tocontain it.

http://iosworld.org/short_takes/Contain_the_epi-demic.htm

Contain the epidemic


Islam

I By Hajira Khan I

The last of ten days of Ramadan are very spe-cial. People do extra Ibadaat during thesedays. Iftaar parties are very unusual on these

days!! There are Tahajjud sessions in the Masajid.People finish the reading of the Holy Quran duringthese days.

During the last ten days of Ramadan, Muslimsaround the world seek to observe Laylat-ul- Qadr(The Night of Power). Muslims also get ready forEid-ul-Fitr. What makes Laylat-ul-Qadr special isthat it is the night when the Quran was revealed toProphet Mohammad (PBUH). This night also has anentire Surah (chapter) dedicated to it in the Quran.The surah states Laylat-ul-Qadr is better than 1,000months, which is 83 years and four months. On thisnight, angels descend to earth to register people’sdeeds. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said: “Who-ever stays up in prayer and remembrance of Allah onthe Night of Qadr, fully believing in Allah’s promiseof reward and hoping to seek reward, he shall be for-given for his past sins.”

During the last ten days of Ramadan, some men andwomen commit to Itikaf (seclusion) in the mosque.They detach themselves from the materialistic worldand dedicate all their time to get closer to Allah.

In the last ten day people also give the Zakat. Theyalso give the Zakat-al-Fitr (also called as Fitra),which is meant to be used to help the needy. Zakat-

al-Fitr is to be given by everyone (even if they havenot fasted), disregarding their age. For minors it isto be given by their parents and guardians.

Bibliography:

1. Hajira Khan, Ramadan at last!!! But...,BaKhabar, Vol. 8, Issue 5, pp. 23 (May 2015). Pub-lished by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanju-man.org/.

2. Hajira Khan and Sameen Ahmed Khan,Dates Round the Year, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 07, pp18-20 (July 2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

3. Hajira Khan, Iftaar Party with a Difference,BaKhabar, Vol. 8, Issue 6, pp 7 (June 2015). Pub-lished by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanju-man.org/.

4. Hajira Khan, Eidgah, BaKhabar, Vol. 8, Issue7, pp 13 (July 2015). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

Hajira Khan Indian School SalalahSalalah, Sultanate of Oman

End of Ramadan-ul-Mubarak


Life Lessons

I By Shakeel Ahmad I

It had been a hot and humid day, quite unusual fora day of March. But, when times are bad, even na-ture brings forth its own version of challenges! I

felt tired after a day spent in taking my normal classesand answering the abnormal questions of my students,at my university, and in a series of meetings, many ofthem unnecessary. As the sun was preparing to takerest, and turning pink, as if it was as tired as me, mymobile rang. “You are late, my dear, the children arewaiting”, my wife’s loving voice at the other end wasfull of anticipation. I prayed to the Almighty, forblessing my family with patience and ability to copewith life, even without me. I always wondered whymy wife does not get habituated ofevenings spentalone, even after four years of marriage, and a 2 yearold baby to play with! I reminded her, as usual, “Dar-ling, as I told you this morning, I have a meeting withmy colleagues of the Delhi chapter of Bihar Anjuman.This is a crucial one, as we need to decide on strate-gies to select the most deserving beneficiaries forBANEE scholarship. I would try to come as early aspossible.” She was at least sure what “as early as pos-sible” from me actually meant. Still full of anticipa-tion, her voice was a combination of despair andsympathy, “Ok dear, but can you hear papa-papa,from your angel, Aamina? She is already growing im-patient.”

I reached Jamia’s mosque just before maghrib. Thewudu proved to be a real refresher for me, andwashed away much of the day’s physical and mentalstresses. Subhanallah! After the prayer, I sat outsideon our usual bench under the mango tree, waiting formy colleagues to turn up. Six of them were expectedto deliberate with me on the ways and means to makethe exercise of selecting new beneficiaries of BANEEscholarship, coined as “Delhi 2010”, successful. Thescale of success was not just the selection of the bestpossible beneficiaries, but also satisfying the guide-lines prescribed by the moderators of the group. Al-though we were confident we knew the mostdeserving beneficiaries already, and there was noneed to waste our time on publicizing the news toreach all the students of the university, forming acommittee represented by the student community andthe university’s faculty and staff, and so on … But,the group moderators would not trust the candidates

recommended by us. They insisted that we follow theprocess, and select the beneficiaries only after everystudent has been informed through notices placed onall the notice boards. Our colleagues were as reluctantin going through this lengthy process as me, and wereready to violate the guidelines.

As the azaan (call for prayer) entered my ears, I real-ized it was Isha time already, and wondered howwasteful my wait had been since Maghrib. During thisperiod, I had made calls to all of my colleagues. Threeof them cited their inability to come, as they would bebusy with other engagements, and asked to be ex-cused for today. So, I was actually waiting for remain-ing three only, one of whom said he was on his way,while another onesaid he has just started and wouldbe reaching shortly. The third one was not taking thecall, at all. First, I thought he must be praying, then Ithought he must have left his mobile on silent, formaghrib prayer, and then forgot to switch to the nor-mal mode. After an hour of frantic calls, I started wor-rying about him. Why is he not responding? Is he allright? God forbid, did he meet with an accident? Is hein the hospital? Thoughts wandered haywire, and mystress level kept on rising. Better sense prevailed as Itold myself I must not call him anymore. Wheneverhe happens to see all these missed calls, he would def-initely call me back. But, the call did not come, nordid the other two colleagues.

We had decided to pray together, here, in this masjid.That’s the reason why I was getting more and morefrustrated waiting for my colleagues who were decent

Am I a fool?


Life Lessons

intellectuals, well known in the society for theirbenevolence and concern to promote Islamic values. Ikept wondering if they really deserved those tags!!I am sure my Isha prayer in the masjid would nothave been accepted, as neither the wudu nor theprayers could bring me back to normal; my heart andmind, both, remained on the boil. I remained as upsetas ever. I waited for another fifteen minutes, afterIsha, made my last few attempts at knowing if mycolleagues would turn up at all. When these calls wentunanswered – this time calls to all the three col-leagues went blank. I must have made at least four at-tempts to each of them. In order that I didn’t lose achance of connecting with them, I disconnected atleast three of my own calls from home. Finally, I de-cided to leave, feeling cheated, angry, frustrated, andhopeless.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, the moderator was onthe line asking for an update on today’s meeting. Icould not take it anymore, and screamed, “Bigbrother, I just cannot take it anymore.” I told him howI had waited for the colleagues, and how they hadcheated me. I continued, “What do these guys think ofme? Do they think I am a fool? Actually, I am. Thetime that I could have better spent with my belovedwife and with my angel daughter, I was forced tospend waiting for them. What do they think of them-selves? How long they can continue to fool me thisway? I cannot take all of this anymore. I have decidednow, I cannot work for this social cause any longer.”Silence on both sides, for quite a few seconds, was asannoying as the wait for my colleagues, but I felt a lotbetter having vented my feelings. Then the modera-tor’s voice finally became audible. He first assuredme I could leave all of this any moment I wanted to,but requested me to give him an ear for the next twominutes. He recited Surah Fateha, then continued,“Brother, the other day I experience something simi-lar. My friend had invited me to pray Asr with him inthe new masjid he had got constructed in his locality.I reached there fifteen minutes before, called him buthe did not respond. Even after the congregationalprayer was over, he did not respond to my calls. I de-cided to call off my wait, after the congregationalprayer for maghrib was over. I did not feel cheated.On the contrary, I felt concerned for him, and decidedto visit his home to check if he was fine. I did not feelcheated because another incident that happened dur-ing my university days was still fresh in my mind, andalways will. I used to smoke, and having beenbrought up in a hostel of a Christian missionaryschool, all my life, did not use to pray at all. Waseem,a classmate of mine who was associated with Tab-

ligheeJamaát used to persuade me all the time, and Ifelt annoyed. So, one day, I decided to teach him alesson. I agreed to go to the masjid, to pray along withhim. Wasted time on my cigarette and gossip, untilthe call for Iqamah, then pretended to move towardsthe washroom for wudu. As others, in wudu already,proceeded to pray, I returned to my hostel room.Waseem soon was in my room, telling me that he hadwaited for me, outside of the masjid, thinking I mighthave been praying the nawafil. I laughed at him, madefun of him, giggling my heart out. I told him howeasy it was to make a fool of him, the Tablighee id-iots. When I stopped, he asked me,coolly, if I reallythought I made a fool of him.”The moderator took a deep breath, sighed as if in re-pentance, then asked me, “Brother, who do you thinkwas foolish that day?” I immediately responded, “Ofcourse, you”. He was much quicker this time, “In-deed. Waseem invited me to a good,and he got its ajr(return)from Allah. I lost an opportunity to do good;in fact, I relinquished an obligatory act, and depositedsome sin to my account. I cheated my colleagues, andI made fun of them. Some more sins, I earned. When Ithink of the act, I shiver with fear of hellfire, becauseI also behaved arrogantly. My arrogance was not onlydirected towards my colleague, but towards Allah aswell. What a fool I made of myself?” He paused a lit-tle, as if he wanted me to speak, then continued,“Brother, how was the situation different for you,today? You invited your colleagues to share the ajrfrom the good deeds that all of you had planned to do,together. If they lost an opportunity, who turned out tobe a fool? They earned some sins also, for their ac-count of akhirah. Pray for their hidayah (blessings ofthe right path), and continue on the path of good youhave chosen. Allah has blessed you with this opportu-nity, think of how you can maximize the benefitsfrom it for your akhirah, by means of planning andexecuting it in the best ways, to fulfill this responsi-bility, and thank Allah for this excellent opportunityAllah has blessed you with.”

If he had not stopped speaking, I would have criedover the phone itself. But fortunately, he sought mypermission to leave. I did cry, and cried a lot, in sa-jadah (prostration), asking Allah to forgive me for myunislamic thoughts and immature behavior. Allah pro-claims throughout holy Quran that a believer’s faith isincomplete without good deeds, and those who getopportunities to do some good for others, and are ableto exploit those opportunities, in a way that couldplease the Almighty, must feel blessed, and thankAllah.<[email protected]>


Islam

I By Sameen Ahmed Khan I

The Jumu’ah Salat (Friday prayer) is one of the out-standing symbols of Islam. Allah Almighty hasblessed the Muslims by granting us this day as a dayof congregational prayers.

1. O YOU who have attained to faith! When thecall to prayer is sounded on the day of congrega-tion, hasten to the remembrance of Allah, and leaveall worldly commerce: this is for your own good, ifyou but knew it. [Surah Al-Jumu’ah (The Friday),62:9]

The Friday prayers are distinguished by the deliver-ance of the Friday Sermon (Khutbah). The Khutbahpertains to speaking to an audience for the purposeof convincing them and winning their approval. Theperson who delivers the Khutbah is called as Khatib(speaker). The Khutbah is one of the great symbolsof Islam and an act of worship legislated, ordainedand practiced by Prophet Mohammed (Peace beUpon Him) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs afterhim. Ever since, the Muslim Ummah has kept thistradition seeking to raise Allah’s remembrance high,honoring His Symbols and Limits, calling to HisPath and warning against defying His Command-ments.

In the very beginning the Khutbah of the HolyProphet flourished as they were the best schoolpreparing the first generation Muslims. The Fridaysermon played an important role in that. It usuallyhelped calm down disturbances, avert division, re-stored ca1mness and diverted wars which peop1e

were ready and willing to wage. The Sahaba fromthis school dispersed and delivered the message ofIslam across the world. The Prophet tradition of theKhutbah was carried on by the Rightly GuidedCaliphs.

The tradition of the Khutbah has continued to thisday but there has been a decline, which is of im-mense concern. The decline is both in the quality ofthe Khutbah and also in the lack of attention fromthe audience. Both the Khatib and the audience needto exercise greater responsibility towards the Khut-bah. Ideally, any person attending the Friday sermonin the mosque should depart without gaining benefitsfrom the Khatib that will enlighten his path with re-gards to matters of the Hereafter and this life. TheKhatib should recite some Ayah (verses) of the HolyQuran with meaning and explanation as required.The Khatib have been entrusted with a big responsi-bility of to direct and teach Muslims the eternal reve-lation from Allah. The Khatib should recite someAyah (verses) of the Holy Quran with meaning andexplanation as required. The Khatib should beaware that Allah the Exalted and Most Honored, haswarned against heedlessness regarding rememberingHim and has sternly threatened those who do so:

2. But as for anyone who chooses to remain blindto the remembrance of the Most Gracious, to himWe assign an [enduring] evil impulse, to becomehis other self: whereupon, behold, these [evil im-pulses] bar all such from the path [of truth], mak-ing them think that they are guided aright! [SurahAl-Zukhruf (Gold Ornaments), 43:36-37]

Benefits of Friday


Islam

The five daily mandatory Salat (prayers) help us toremember Allah, thank Him and appreciate Him.Allah has ordained establishing the Jummu’ah (Fri-day prayer) so that we rush collectively to rememberAllah and, consequently, earn His generous rewardsand mercy through obeying Him. The audiencegathers to listen to Khutbah which advices them todo the righteous acts and forbid evil. The Fridaycongregation enables the audience to get to knoweach other and help each other where required. TheFriday strengthens the community in more than oneway. Islam takes special care of the importance ofthe day of Jumu’ah

3. Yet [it does happen that] when people becomeaware of [an occasion for] worldly gain or a pass-ing delight, they rush headlong towards it, andleave thee standing [and preaching]. Say: “Thatwhich is with Allah is far better than all passing de-light and all gain! And Allah is the best ofproviders!” [Surah Al-Jumu’ah (The Friday),62:11]

It is essential that every Muslim should pay extra at-tention to the the Jummu’ah and the various acts pre-scribed for this auspicious day. The acts that theMuslims are com-manded on Friday in-clude:

1. Reciting the HolyQur’an; Dhikr (re-membering Allah);making Dua (suppli-cations); and sendingDurood on the HolyProphet (PBUH).

2. Muslims shouldtake a Ghusl (bath);use Miswak/Siwak (atree branch used astoothbrush) to clean the teeth; wear the best andcleanest clothes they have; and apply perfume beforedeparting for the Jumu’ah Salat.

3. It is recommended that one should clip his nailsfor Jumu’ah.

4. It is recommended to recite specific Surah (chap-ters) such as Surah-32 Al-Sajdah (The Prostration)and Surah-76 Al-Insan (The Man) during the Dawnprayer of Friday after reciting the Al-Fatihah.

5. It is aJso recommended to go as early as possibleto the mosque for Jumu’ah.

6. Walking to the mosque for Jumu’ah is recom-mended, as well as being as close to the Khatib aspossible. One is required to listen the Khutbah andrefrain from being busied by anything else.

7. Sitting in Al-Ihtiba position during Jumu’ah is dis-liked. This is sitting on the hind end with the kneesbent and held together at the stomach by one’s handsor whatever he is wearing. This position might leadto one falling asleep while the Khatib is giving theKhutbah.

8. lt is recommended for those who feel sleepy tochange places in the mosque.

9. Those attending the Jumu’ah should not step overothers (in attempts to draw near the front). This isforbidden according to some of the scholars and dis-liked according to others. This last view is due to thenumerous Hadith reported that prohibit this act.

10. lt is not proper for Muslims to attend the Ju-mu’ah wearing filthyclothes or having a badodor coming fromthem.

11. It is not proper forthe Muslim to attendthe prayer after eatingfood that causes a badodor, such as garlic,onions, radishes, and soforth.

12. One should notcome between two peo-ple sitting next to each

other, unless there is sufficient space between themthat they did not fill.

13. It is recommended for those who attend the Ju-mu’ah to pray as much as they can before the Khut-bah, until the Imam mounts the Minbar.

14. When the Jumu’ah is called for (i.e., the Adhanis called) the Muslim is not allowed to busy himselfwith anything other than heading towards themosque to attend prayer. Therefore, selling and buy-


Islam

ing while headed towards the mosque for Jumu’ah(after the Adhan is called) is prohibited.

It is a very great injustice that the Khutbah is readrapidly without understanding as if one is trying toget rid of a burden. The Khutbah deserves to be readwith a will, devotion and concentration ponderingover its meaning and implications and trying tograsp its real sense and spirit. The Khutbah must bedelivered with ease and concentration showing nohaste or hurry. The audience must listen to the Khut-bah in silence and rapt attention and with sincere de-votion, eagerness and in a receptive mood. Thisshould be followed up with making up of the mindwith all sincerity to act upon the injunctions of Allahand His Messenger (PBUH) that one has learnedfrom the Khutbah.

It is very tragic that some Khatib resort to tales ofthe dreams and jinns instead utilizing the Islamic re-sources to convey the word of Allah Almighty (thatis the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith). They even resortto the poetry and even naat. Dreams, poems andsuch tales of the individuals are not the word ofAllah Almighty and we are to refrain from it. MayAllah Almighty Guide us in understanding the sig-nificance of the Friday; knowledge and piety to de-liver effective Khutbah and the concentration tobenefit from these Khutbah, Amen.

Bibliography: 1. A website for Quran Majeed with comprehensivesearch in Arabic and numerous languages, alongwith several English translations (meanings),http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/quran/ 2. Websites for Hadith, http://www.searchtruth.com/and http://ahadith.co.uk/ 3. Tarawih Summaries in English, Hindi and Urdu,http://NawabMohammedAbdulGhani.webs.com/tarawih.html andhttp://www.ipci.co.za/information/taraweeh-quran-summary/

4. Shams Pirzada, Is it not necessary to read theQur’an with Understanding?, Idara Da’watulQur’an, Mumbai, India, 13th Edition (2011).http://scanislam.com/browse-islam/read-quran-with-understanding/ andhttp://www.quranforall.org/quran/iintrqwund.htm 5. Khurram Murad, Way to the Qur’an, Islamic BookService, New Delhi, India.http://www.sunnipath.com/library/books/B0039P0000.aspx andhttp://www.islambasics.com/view.php?bkID=29 6. Learn Arabic through Enlish, Hindi and Urdu at:Functional Arabic: http://www.Functional-Arabic.com/ and http://www.Explore-Quran.com/index.htm 7. Abdul Karim Parekh, The Easy Dictionary of theQur’aan, This Treasure-house originally in Urdu isnow available in numerous languages including:Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, English and Turkish, (ZiaPublications, Lucknow, India, Fifth Edition (2005).http://Corpus.Quran.com/. 8. Abdul Aziz Dahran, 80% of Qur’anic Words, ThisPocket-sized booklet is in Urdu and Enlish, ParekhPublications, Nagpur India (2009).http://www.eMuslim.com/. 9. An online source of Quran in different formats ac-companied with audio to suite a variety of readers:http://www.QuranFlash.com/home?en 10. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Plan your RamadanMonth, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 07, pp 24-25 (July2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ 11. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Gearing up for theTarawih, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 06, pp 23-26 (June2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/

Sameen Ahmed KhanEngineering Department,Salalah College of Technology (SCOT)Salalah, Sultanate of Oman ([email protected], http://SameenAhmed-Khan.webs.com/)


Skills

Interviews can be nerve-wracking; especiallysince the advent of the behavioral interview-where employers added a whole new level of

question to help determine not only your skill-set,experience, and goals, but to better understand yourpersonality and how you handle situations. Still, thebasics for being your best remain much the same.So, here are our top 10 tips on how to ace that inter-view:

1. Do your homework. Before you ever set footthrough the door, you should learn as much as youcan about the company you're applying with. Usu-ally, the company's website is a great place to gainthat information, but don't be afraid to ask for com-pany brochures and literature. Asking questionsabout the com-pany andwanting tolearn moreshows the em-ployer thatyou're not justinterested inthe position,but in thecompany it-self.

2. Be pre-pared. Knowthe name ofthe personyou're interviewing with and use it. Take extracopies of you resume and a list of references. In thedays before the interview, sit down and write downquestions you would like to ask. Think through yourexperience and be ready to answer questions andoffer in-depth information. Often the interviewer isnot only looking for how you meet the skill-set, butassessing your behavioral patterns as well, so be pre-pared to provide detailed and specific responses.

3. Dress appropriately. The interview dress code rule

of thumb is this: Always dress slightly better thanthe corporate dress code and the position you're ap-plying for dictates. So, if your job requires jeans andt-shirt, interview in pressed trousers and a nice shirt.You want to look clean, pressed, well-groomed, andsmartly dressed. This doesn't mean it has to be ex-pensive, but it does mean it needs to be clean and ofdecent quality. And pay attention to the shoes; agreat suit losses its power if the shoes are worn andscuffed.

4. Be on time. This doesn't mean show up for your9AM at 9AM; it means, show up at 8:45. If unsureof the location, scout it beforehand. If unsure of thetraffic situation, leave extra early. If you end up ar-riving to soon, don't wait in the lobby, wait in your

car or find a quietplace to sit and re-view your notes.

5. Keep a happymedium. Don'tramble. Questionslike, "Tell me aboutyourself" aren't anopening for you totalk about yourchildhood. Keepyour responses onfocus; discuss onlythat which is rele-vant to the job andcompany you're ap-

plying for. At the same time, make sure you sayenough. Be succinct, but don't be too short with in-formation. Talking too little is as bad as talking toomuch.

6. Stay true to the message. Your message, in this in-stance, is "Here is what I have done and what I cando for you in a way that delivers a strong return inyour investment in hiring me." This doesn't meanopen season to talk about how you are the end-alland be-all to save the company from itself; no one

How to Ace an Interview - 10 Tips for Making a Great Impression


Skills

likes a braggart. What it does mean is that you focuson your strengths, experience, and goals, and howthey fit with the position and company.

7. Avoid talking money or benefits. These discus-sions are best left for after the job has been offered.Focusing too much on them gives the impressionthat money and perks are all that you're interested in.Worse, by discussing salary at this phase, you justgive the employer the ammunition they need toscreen you out.

8. Be careful when talking about your current/previ-ous employer. While some may think that criticizingtheir past employers shows them as go-getters keento move ahead; in truth, all it does is paint you as amalcontent. So stick to the old adage: "If you can'tsay something positive, don't say anything at all."

9. Smile and stay calm. Yes, you're going to be nerv-ous; you know it and they know it. It is how youhandle being nervous that will count. Be aware ofyour body language; sit up straight and don't fidget.Smile when you talk. Look confident, make eye con-tact, and speak clearly and succinctly. Don't rushyour words and don't interrupt the interviewer.

10. Assume that for everyone you meet, it is Inter-view Number 1. That means, don't be rude the recep-tionist, and when the interviewer says, "I'd like youto meet my boss" assume that the boss has neverseen your credentials. Everything you say and dowhilst in that environment is part of the interview; sostay on your toes and act the part.

Interviewing is a learned skill, but even those of uswho've been through our share can still make mis-takes. Whether new to the job-seeking world or aveteran; by taking these 10 tips to heart, you are wellon your way to ensuring that the next interviewyou're on, you'll make a great impression.

RohingyasStranded in the

SeaFrom SADBHAV MISSION PATRIKA

The Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority inBurma has been called “the most oppressedpeople on Earth”. They suffer vicious attacks

and systematic abuse by Burma’s government.The1.3 million Rohingyas have been denied citizenshipand stripped of all rights. They are forced to live inApartheid conditions where they cannot travel, workor even marry without permission. Over 140,000people were forced into concentration campsaftertheir homes and villages were burnt to the ground in2012, and remain there today. The government ofBurma denies their very existence, prohibiting theuse of their name. Thousands of Rohingya fromBurma are fleeing under horrendous conditionsand threat of genocide. Now they are floating at seatrapped in crowded wooden boats. With food and clean waterrunning low, their lives are in danger. Govern-ments, including Thailand, Malaysia and Indone-sia, are turning their boats away. Without immediate action, the Andaman Sea is about to be-come a mass grave.

The United Nations must demand that asylumseekers not be forced to die in the open sea becausegovernments will not allow them to land. Thailand,Malaysia and Indonesia should immediately beginsearch and rescue operations for the Rohingyaand the U.S. should offer its assistance. Burmashould be warned that its treatment of the Rohingyaand their failure to protect them will lead to theimposition of sanctions by listing them as aworst offender in the upcoming State Depart-ment's annual Trafficking in Persons report.

Khudayi Khidmatgar organized a march from Ra-jghat to Baudha Stoop in Delhi to draw attentionof the people and the State on this issue.


Issue

I By Jyoti Punwani I

By failing to recognise madarsas as legitimatecentres for education, the govt is stifling thecommunity's growth.

How the state is undermining an institution vital tothe city's Muslims

Danish Reyaz runs Maeeshat, a website devoted tothe "Muslim economy", which holds regular busi-ness summits to ``integrate Muslim business withthe mainstream'', and with Prime Minister NarendraModi's Make in India campaign.

Danish is a faazil -equivalent to a Masterof Arts - from JamiatulFalah, a madarsa ineastern Uttar Pradesh'sAzamgarh district,where he studiedShakespeare, compara-tive religion (learningshlokas from the RigVeda) and evolution, inaddition to Islamicstudies. Danish saw toit that his sister becamea faazil too, muchagainst the wishes ofhis mother, who did notwant her to study.

As a child, Danish, now37, spent his afternoonsplaying with Hindukids in a temple.

They would be taken there by the neighbourhood"Dadi" when she went for her daily kirtan. Backhome in Bihar on vacation from his madarsa, hisSunday mornings were spent eating breakfast at aHindu neighbour's home, watching Ramayan andMahabharat on TV. "It's a myth that we can't adjustwith Hindus. Our education makes us so flexible."

Faizan Ahmed Nadwi wanted to be a maulvi, but heabandoned that notion because he needed to be self-sufficient. He found a job as an Arabic translator in asoftware company owned by Hindus.

Addressed as "Faizan Bhai" by everyone at work,the 30-year-old does his daily namaz (he workslonger hours to make up for it) in the company'spremises; wears kurta-pyjama-topi on the two "ca-sual wear" days when his colleagues wear jeans, andfor the rest of the week is seen in trousers which endshort of his ankles. He is content, he says, at beingable to be as true to his Islamic identity as he is tohis work.

"The learning processthat a madarsa puts youthrough equips you tograsp anything," saysFaizan. "The only obsta-cle is English. But thestandard of Englishtaught in my madarsa, theDar ul Uloom NadwatulUlema in Lucknow, wasgood enough for me to beable to master the soft-ware needed in my com-pany."

These madarsa graduatesdeviate almost entirelyfrom the state govern-ment's view of the insti-tution. The irony is hardto ignore: it appears tohave slipped past thestate that the country's

first Union Education Minister, Maulana AbulKalam Azad, studied at a madarsa.

By declaring that it would categorise the one lakhodd students from such establishments as "out-of-school" because they aren't tutored in subjects likemathematics, science and social studies, the govern-ment has stymied the prospects of needy Muslimchildren who have no other recourse but to enrol at

IS OUR SCHOOL NOT ASCHOOL?

IS OUR SCHOOL NOT A SCHOOL? By Jyoti Punwani, Mumbai Mirror | Jul 5, 2015, 01.30 AM IST

A

Top: Children at a madarsa; (above) Adham Ali (left); and Danish Reyaz (right)

By failing to recognise madarsas as legitimate centres for education, the govt is stifling the community's growth. How the state is undermining an institution vital to the city's Muslims Danish Reyaz runs Maeeshat, a website devoted to the "Muslim economy", which holds regular business summits to ``integrate Muslim business with the mainstream'', and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India campaign. Danish is a faazil - equivalent to a Master of Arts - from Jamiatul Falah, a madarsa in eastern Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district, where he studied Shakespeare, comparative religion (learning shlokas from the Rig Veda) and evolution, in addition to Islamic studies. Danish saw to it that his sister became a faazil too, much against the wishes of his mother, who did not want her to study. As a child, Danish, now 37, spent his afternoons playing with Hindu kids in a temple. They would be taken there by the neighbourhood "Dadi" when she went for her daily kirtan. Back home in Bihar on vacation from his madarsa, his Sunday mornings were spent eating breakfast at a Hindu neighbour's home, watching Ramayan and Mahabharat on TV. "It's a myth that we can't adjust with Hindus. Our education makes us so flexible." Faizan Ahmed Nadwi wanted to be a maulvi, but he abandoned that notion because he needed to be self-sufficient. He found a job as an Arabic translator in a software company owned by Hindus.


Issue

such institutions. The Sachar Committee, appointedby the UPA government in 2005 to study the social,economic and educational state of Muslims in India,reported in 2006 that 4 per cent of children from thecommunity study in madarsas.

"Why this 4 per cent?" is a question being askedthroughout the community. "We have millions ofdestitute children and child labourers. Why doesn'tthe government educate them?" asks advocate YusufMuchhala. "Why is it hell bent upon going after this4 per cent who study in institutions protected by theConstitution, a protection recognised by the SupremeCourt?"

And if it really wants to help madarsa students, saysReyaz,whydoesn't itemploythem? Itmight besur-prisedby theirskills.

Theirknowl-edge ofArabic,for in-stance,has cre-ated ademandfor them not just in Gulf state embassies, but also inGoogle India. Their familiarity with English, eithertaught in their madarsa, or learnt outside, helps themland jobs in English journalism - before he launchedhis company, Reyaz worked at the newspaper Sun-day Indian.

"The English we learnt at Jamiatul Falah was betterthan that taught in government schools," says Mum-bra businessman Adham Ali. "And our students havealways fared well in board exams. Apart from Mus-lim universities, they've been admitted into Jawahar-lal Nehru University and Mumbai University, andsome even teach there."

It is perhaps incumbent on the Maharashtra govern-ment to determine what is taught at a madarsa.

While historical institutions such as Dar ul uloomDeoband and Nadwa teach all that a school does(and more) in addition to religious studies, the small-est one in a village or slum teaches the Quran. "Thisensures literacy among the poor while also safe-guarding the survival of Urdu," says Feroze Ashraf,who runs free coaching classes for underprivilegedchildren in Jogeshwari.

Bigger madarsas teach not just the Quran and theHadees, but also Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Islamic law,inheritance, philosophy and eloquence. "Our curricu-lum is already so vast, it's difficult to include othersubjects," says Maulana Syed Ather Ali, who runsthe Daru ul uloom Mohammediya in Mumbai. "De-spite that, I've introduced computers, English, Hindi

andMarathi."

In Maha-rashtra,Akkalkuwaand Male-gaon havelargemadarsas,while innearbyMumbra,the JamiyahIslamiyyah,started 25years agoby DrAbdulHakim

Madani, teaches mathematics, science, English,Hindi and Marathi. It has 1,100 boys and girls on itsrolls. "I wanted to equip my students with all thatwas necessary for them to study further or do wellanywhere, so I included the national language aswell as the state language," says Dr Madani, a PhDfrom Madina University and a Nadwa alumnus. "Mymadarsa's magazine has sections in all these lan-guages, as well as in Arabic and Urdu. Yet the gov-ernment does not recognise the degrees given bymadarsas. Now they don't even recognise them asschools. Did they conduct a survey of madarsas be-fore coming to this conclusion?''

State Minority Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse isstrenuous in his denial that the government intendsto downgrade the status of the madarsa. "There is no


Issue

question of derecognition. We only said that the stu-dents [taught only religious subjects] are not recog-nised and that they must be brought into themainstream," he explains.

Khadse is also categorical that the exercise of cata-loguing all out-of-school children in the state is unal-loyed in its secular intent. "The government is notaware of what is taught in a madarsa and we do notwant to know as we don't want to interfere in theirreligious matters. We will not inquire into that," hesays.

When we ask whether surveyors who were sent outon Saturday to catalogue students who were deemedout-of-school were instructed to mark kids frommadarsas as students who belonged to that categoryeven if their madarsas taught subjects such as Eng-lish, mathematics and science, Principal Secretary,Education, Nand Kumar replies: "There were no in-structions given. They will not be marked as out-of-school students." But our reporters found this to benot entirely true. For instance, Mohammed AsifKhan, 10 and Abdullah Ibn Zubair, 11, both ofwhom live in Chembur, were marked out-ofschooleven though they were taught science and mathemat-ics in their madarsa during the state-wide survey (seePage 6 for accompanying story on the survey).

Other than serving an instructional purpose, themadarsa plays the role of an adhesive, binding thecommunity to the religion and its teachings."Madarsas fulfil a need of the community," saysAshraf. "The Quran is part of our lives from birth todeath; we need maulvis and qazis to conduct our re-ligious affairs. At the same time, basic madarsa edu-cation enables the poor to get jobs as imams,muezzins and ustads in masjids."

It is the community that contributes to the running ofmadarsas, through donations that can be as little asRs 50 a month. "This is the community's way oflooking after its poorest children, who are not justeducated, but also housed, fed and clothed free ofcharge in madarsas,'' says Ashraf.

In contrast, asks Ashraf, what the government's hasdone to educate Muslim children? "We didn't getanything from the government," says Maulana Mo-hammad Shoaib Koti, a scholar from Dar ul uloomDeoband, "so we aren't likely to be harmed by it de-recognising us - unless the government wants toforce us to withdraw our kids from madarsas. Where

will these children go? This is the BJP's way ofpleasing its Hindutva supporters and pushing us intoa corner."

In Mumbai's 92-93 riots, the Dar ul Uloom Imdadiyaon Mohammed Ali Road was the scene of a policeraid headed by former Police Commissioner RDTyagi, documented in the Justice BN SrikrishnaCommission of Inquiry Report into the riots. Theone question posed by Tyagi's commandos at the stu-dents and teachers was: "Where have you hiddenyour arms? You people live off India and sing ofPakistan." Teachers at the madarsa were assaulted;among the eight shot dead in that raid, was a teacherwho died pleading for water.

The Congress was in power. Today, it is the BJP,whose spokesmen, Mukthar Abbas Naqvi and SakshiMaharaj, have linked madarsas to extremism and ter-rorism.

"For us, religious teaching is very important. With-out madarsas, this tradition will die, as it has amongHindus, who seem not to care that their childrenlearning about their religion,'' says Maulana Arif Ma-sood Qasmi, who studied at Deoband. "And withthem, will also die the inculcation of moral valueswhich regular schools ignore."

Adds fellow alumnus, Maulana Samiullah Qasmi,who lives in a rented flat in Malwani: "Every time Italk about moving, my Hindu landlord forbids mefrom doing so. He says he won't get a tenant like me.In Deoband, and indeed in all madarsas, we learn tobe of service to our country and our community. Welearn about the sacrifices of ulemas in the Independ-ence movement and are taught to see ourselves aspart of that tradition.''http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/Is-our-school-not-a-school/articleshow/47941864.cms


Inspiration

Bihar's first Muslim woman IPS talks to IndiaTo-morrow.net

I By MumtazAlam I

New Delhi, 07 July 2015: It is not commonthat you come from an empowered familyand yet you feel the pain of life in a small

village and small town of an underprivileged statelike Bihar. But living with her father (an officer ofIndian Police Service (IPS) who retired as DirectorGeneral of Police) and other family members, Ghun-chaSanobar, second in her three female siblings, hasbeen moving through the state and seen the life inthe backwaters of the country from “close quarters”.

“Living with my father I could see from closer quar-ters the life in the small towns and small villages inthe country especially Bihar which is underdevel-oped – it has in fact all sorts of deprivation. So inspi-ration came from there,” says Sanobar who wasranked 424 in the list of 1236 successful candidatesof civil services examination (whose result was de-clared (on this 4th July).

She opted for civil services after doing B.E. (Bache-lor of Engineering (electronics).

Her first preference was Indian Administrative Serv-ice but with this rank, she has got her second choice– Indian Police Service. And Sanobar, 24, will be thefirst Muslim woman to become IPS officer in Bihar.Her father Anwar Hussain retired as DGP, Bihar andlives in Patna.

You come from an empowered family. Your fatherwas an IPS officer who retired as Director Generalof Police, Bihar. Don’t you think your success wasset for you?

“I will not say that. Only thing which my father’s jobhelped me to get was to have a closer view of howlife is for people who don’t have as much as you andI have. Living with my father I could see from closerquarters the life is in the small towns,” says she.

When the results were announced on 4th July andshe saw her name in the list, she first couldn’t be-lieve it.

“I could not believe it. It was really great that myname was there. It was very nice to see that.”

Had you dreamt to become a police officer one day?“No, my first choice was IAS and second choice wasIPS. With this rank (424) I will get my second pref-erence. But I am again writing for the civil servicesexamination this year to improve my rank,” saidSanobar whose elder sister Khushboo Yasmin is adoctor and younger sister ZebaParween is a medicalstudent.

Sanobar laughs out loudly when said that a Muslimwoman becoming IPS officer looks an out-of-the-box idea when a good number of Muslim families donot send their girls to schools.

She got coaching for General Studies at Vajiramstudy centre in Delhi. Geography was her optionalsubject.

Her message to Muslim girls:

Nothing is impossible, we mustdream big. We should help our-selves, instead of waiting for

somebody to come and help us.We should have determination tohelp ourselves. There are lots ofopportunities. We can do ourbest to get them. Sky is limit.

Life in small towns of underdevel-oped Bihar was my inspirationLife in small towns of underdeveloped Bihar was my inspiration, Bihar's first Muslim woman IPS talks to IndiaTomorrow.net 07 Jul 2015 06:07 PM, IST

GhunchaSanobar got rank 424 in Civil Services exam 2014.

By MumtazAlam, IndiaTomorrow.net, New Delhi, 07 July 2015: It is not common that you come from an empowered family and yet you feel the pain of life in a small village and small town of an underprivileged state like Bihar. But living with her father (an officer of Indian Police Service (IPS) who retired as Director General of Police) and other family members, GhunchaSanobar, second in her three female siblings, has been moving through the state and seen the life in the backwaters of the country from

with my father I could see from closer quarters the life in the small towns and small villages in the country especially Bihar which is underdeveloped it has in fact all sorts of deprivation. So inspiration came from says Sanobar who was ranked 424 in the list of 1236 successful candidates of civil services examination (whose result was declared (on this 4th July). She opted for civil services after doing B.E. (Bachelor of Engineering (electronics). Her first preference was Indian Administrative Service but with this rank, she has got her second choice Indian Police Service. And Sanobar, 24, will be the first Muslim woman to become IPS officer in Bihar. Her father Anwar Hussain retired as DGP, Bihar and lives in Patna. You come from an empowered family. Your father was an IPS officer who retired as Director General of Police, Bihar. you think your success was set for you?

will not say that. Only thing which my job helped me to get was to have a closer view of how life is for people who have as much as you and I have. Living with my father I could see from closer quarters the life is in the small says she. When the results were announced on 4th July and she saw her name in the list, she first believe it.


Issue

“Coming to understand a painting or a symphonyin an unfamiliar style, to recognize the work of anartist or school, to see or hear in new ways, is ascognitive an achievement as learning to read orwrite or add.” Nelson Goodman

The Muslim Indian community is todayplagued with various maladies, includingpoverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and political in-

security. Perhaps M. A. Jinnah had foreseen andprophesied this state of the Muslim Indian commu-nity, and had vehementlydemanded the partition ofthe Indian Subcontinent.Jinnah may or may nothave been justified in hisdemand for a separatestate; however, Partitionhas in no way solvedthese problems; neither inIndia nor in Pakistan. Atthe same time, it is cogni-tively absurd at this junc-ture to divulge, introspect,and resent on a historicalrhetoric beyond our con-trol. Today, our mentalcerebration almost alwaysstops us from extricatingthe effect of Partition andits emotional implicationson the sorry state we cuttoday. Why is any thoughtof the future so haunt-ingly dismayed by thepast? Why cannot ourthought process be alien-ated from this rhetoric impediment? The primaryreason is that we acutely lack cognitive empower-ment; and love to mix emotions and thinking [akamixing drinking and driving??].

Cognitive empowerment might be a heavy andloaded term for many; however, it needs a high levelof consideration. Before we define it, let’s talk aboutthe different types of learning and thought processes.Benjamin Bloom, a noted scientist in the field oflearning psychology, has laid down three domains oflearning in the taxonomy that he has developed:

• Cognitive: Deals with intellectual learning abilities• Affective: Deals with emotions and behavioral skills• Psychomotor: Deals with physical move ments, coordination, and use of motor skills

Note that the learning we are talking about here isnot related to appearing and passing an exam; ratherextending to acquiring the skills to visualize, think,perceive, deduce, interpret, and act cogently in agiven situation. All these three domains of learning

play a major role in develop-ing the cognitive thinking anddecision making skills of anindividual. For example, howwe react to an adverse situa-tion, say confronted with aperson abusing, which reflectsa combination of emotionaloutburst, combined with an in-tellectual action requiringphysical movement. The reac-tion could be highly emo-tional, by replying in the samelanguage or slapping theabuser; wherein the affectivedomain dominates the decisionmaking ability, combined withpsychomotor skills. In veryrare cases, the reaction mightinclude ignoring the personwith the thought that he/shehas done some wrong to him-self/herself, not to me – andcontemplating to avoid a simi-lar situation in future. If wegain the ability to ascertain the

requisite levels of cognitive, affective, and psy-chomotor involvements and control our thoughtprocess and actions accordingly, that is when Iwould define as having attained cognitive empower-ment; which is evidently promoted by Islam as well.

The irony with the Muslim Indian community todayis that we precariously allow the affective domain todominate in our thought process and decision mak-ing skills. This has a direct bearing of the environ-ment that we are generally exposed to. Err; pleaseallow me to call it ghetto, not environment!! Wehave been brought up in a ghetto that constantly re-

On Cognitive Empowerment


Issue

minds us that learning starts and ends with literacy –the ability to read and write. Unfortunately, learningstarts much beyond simple literacy. Unfortunate inits sense because the intellectuals and frontrunners ofthe Community have never delved in this surprisingverity – and we are often too happy and content withour efforts towards making the Community literate;maybe with a few degrees and certificates – nothingbeyond that.

It is this ghetto that compels us to argue for reserva-tions and other leverages; perceiving them as meansto an end. Unfortunately again, these are ends inthemselves, barriers that prevent us from movingany further. What we do with reservations and simi-lar leverages is elevate ourselves on the same plat-form of abjection and wretchedness; when we shouldhave actually thought of moving forward, not stay-ing at the present location on an elevated platform. Itis this ghetto that surreptitiously tempts us towardsthe coziness and security of being enclosed within aself-defined boundary of progress; bravely negatingthe external veracity. We are belittled by the sameghetto to view engineering, medicine; maybe man-agement and mass communication these days, as theconviction to success, while pompously ignoring anyother unconventional but promising career.

Cognitive empowerment can be developed with asincere will combined with the ability to retrospectand question. Questioning leads to arguments, de-bates, and inductive and deductive reasoning. It hasalso been encouraged in our religion. The gloriousIslamic history is witness to the birth, development,and implementation of this cognitive empowermentand reasoning; which might have obligated AllamaIqbal to proclaim that “the birth of Islam is the birthof inductive reasoning; an intellectual revolt againstthe speculative philosophy of the Greeks”. However,we have perhaps misplaced it somewhere. We needto search and reconstruct this intellectual revoltagainst the contemporary, and recognize, see, hear,and induce the reality in new ways. Let’s make thiseffort to understand a painting and a symphony de-tached from our conventional thought process. Itwould mark a renaissance to break open our ghettothought process and regain our lost cognitive em-powerment – not seemingly similar to gaining ourlost glory, as per some think tanks. Till then, we havemiles to go before we sleep…

-----

Sadbhav Activist NajmaHaider Leaves a Void

From Sadbhav Mission Patrika

Sadbhav Mission has lost one of its pil-lars Mrs. Najma Haider in the early hoursof June 27, 2015. She wasa prominent life

member of the mission and a prime mover,along with her husband Shri Ghulam Haider, ofSadbhav activities in Delhi. She had an intestineproblem that could be detected only on the lastday. When surgery was performed it was too late.She was 70.

She was born on December 10, 1944 in Jauli,Muzaffarnagar, UP. Her illustrious father ShriS. Dilavar Raza sent her to St. Johns School,Thana (Bombay). In 1963 she got married andmoved to Delhi. She advanced her educationand taught in Dev Samaj High School andModel Islamic school. Afterwards she startedTiny Toddler Nursery with great love for children.She brought up her own children Raza,Taslima, Zia and Sameera in such a way thatthey, despite havingoutstanding professional ca-reers along with their spouses, Mrs. Sarbat ara, Mr.Qamar Hahdi Zaidi, Mrs. Farah and Mr. ahmad aretrue bearers of Gandhi, Nahru, Azad legacy.

Mrs. Najma Haider had deep concern for peo-ple in distress. Sabih fatma and her three youngsiblings received her full patronage, when theylost their mother in an accident from a stove at anyoung age, until they got settled. So was the patronage given to three rickshaw puller broth-ers Atul, Subodh and Jagsa from Calcutta.

In the aftermath of December 6, 1992, whenfear and apprehension gripped Delhi, she carrieddoor to door campaigns and street marches touplift human spirit. She was one of the chiefactivists of Okhla mibilization group that did com-mendable work to promote harmony. It is a matterof deep sorrow that we have lost her when weneeded her most to counter the rising tide of sec-tarianism.


Islam

1. Quran has used the term ool-ul-amr for allthose who are part of an Islamic Political Sys-tem, whether they are the representatives of the

Muslims in the parliament or their administrators.They are eligible for this position if they have thefollowing quality in them, as the Quran specifies:

“When they come across a matter of peace or dan-ger, they make it known to everyone. And if they re-ferred it to the Prophet and the ool-ul-amr, thenthose among them who had the ability of istimbaatwould have soundly understood the matter.” (4:83)

From the above verse, it is clear that they shouldhave the ability of istimbaat.In Arabic istimbaat means to `grasp the truth of amatter’. The ool-ul-amr must necessarily possessthis ability so that they can delve into matters per-taining to religion and state and be in a position toform an opinion by analyzing them.

2. They should also be distinguished in the society asregards their character and integrity. To quote theQuran:

“The most honoured of you in the sight of God is themost pious among you.” (49:13)

It is clear from this verse that the believers alsoshould only regard the pious and abstemious amongthem as eligible to such a position. The Prophet(pbuh) has explained this fact in the followingwords:

“When people having the best character are yourrulers and your rich are generous and your system isbased on consultation, the surface of the earth is bet-ter for you than its core and when people having theworst character are your rulers and your rich arestingy and your affairs are entrusted to women thecore of the earth is better for you than its surface.”(Tirmazee, Abwaab-ul-Fitan)

3. It should be taken into consideration while elect-ing a Muslim Ruler as well as other representativesthat they do not have greed for an office in the gov-

ernment. The Prophet (pbuh) has unequivocally de-clared such people as ineligible. Abu Musa reports:

“I [myself] and two people from my banee `am cameto the Prophet (pbuh); one of these two said: OProphet of Allah grant us an office from the politicalauthority which God has granted you. So said theother person also. The Prophet replied: By God weshall not grant any person office in this system whoasks for it and has greed for it.” (Muslim, Kitaab-ul-Imaarah)

The above tradition has been reported in anotherway as well:

“The Prophet replied: in our consideration, the mostdishonest among you is the one who asks for an of-fice. After hearing this Abu Musa apologized to theProphet and said: I did not know why they hadcome. Abu Musa says that the Prophet did not en-trust either of them with any responsibility until hisdeath.” (Abu Daud, Kitaab-ul-Khiraaj-wal-Imaarah)

The Prophet (pbuh) has also stated the reason for thisdecision. He told HadhratAbdurRehman Bin Sam-rah:

“Abdur Rahman! Do not seek a post. If it is grantedto you because of your desire your shall [find your-self] handed over to it and if it is granted to youwithout your desire, the Almighty shall help you.”(Muslim, Kitaab-ul-Imaarah)

This condition shall also be kept in consideration forelection in the Majlis-i-Shooraa (parliament). There-fore, it cannot be tolerated in an Islamic State thatpeople should come forward and present theirnames, go about proclaiming their qualities and serv-ices in streets and employ other means, which arenow considered an essential part of this show, to al-lure the public. In Islamic ethics this shameless atti-tude is not permissible at all.

4. The Quran specifies certain other qualities as wellfor a person who is elected from theseool-ul-amr as

THE QUALITIES OFOOL-UL-AMR


the Ameer (head of the state) of an Islamic State: Heshould have a commanding and an awe-inspiringpersonality and should be the most distinguishedamong them as regards integrity, wisdom and intel-lect. These qualities have, therefore, been cited bythe Quran as the real reason behind the nominationof Taaloot (Saul) for the supreme leadership of theBanee Israel:

“Indeed Allah has chosen him to rule over you andhas gifted him abundantly with wisdom andphysique.” (2:247)

It is evident from this that such elements are not suit-able to head an Islamic State who lack intellect, wis-dom and masculine attributes, who instead of beingventuresome and enterprising are passive and recep-tive by nature, and who instead of influencing othersare more liable to be influenced*.

The reason for this is that the ruler of an IslamicState is not only one who heads them, he also leadsthe believers in Prayers, Haj and Jihaad. Moreover,he is an example, a model a guide and a father to hisnation. He is the voice of its conscience, a represen-tatives of its ideology, a symbol of its collectiveawareness–someone whom its sense of honour ispersonified. It is vital, therefore, that he be someonewho instead of delicacy has the ability to take theinitiative and who instead of resignation and tender-ness possess stoutness and tenacity. Whether he beaddressing the shoora, the Juma congregation or hissoldiers in a battle, it is his authoritative yet majestic,dominating yet gracious and awe-inspiring yetbenevolent personality which commands the loveand respect of all. It is this towering stature of aMuslim ruler because of which the feeble feel se-cure, the old feel revitalized and the young are in-spired to daring deeds.

From the above qualities of the ool-ul-amr, it is clearthat an Islamic Political System by nature is an aris-tocracy which is based on the piety, wisdom and po-litical acumen of the personnel which constitute it.Therefore, it is necessary that a person who is devoidof these abilities should not become a part of it.

NORMS FOR LEADERSHIPAfter assuming an office in the government theProphet (pbuh) has decreed that all the officials ofthe government must necessarily follow three princi-ples:

Firstly, the head of an Islamic State and his adminis-trators shall have the same standard of living as thatof a common citizen.

Secondly, there doors shall always remain open tohear the grievances and problems of the general pub-lic.

Thirdly, the Friday prayers must be led by the headof the state in the federal capital and by his adminis-trators in other cities.

These principles are based in established historicalfacts. During the Prophet’s time and the period of theRightly Guided Caliphs these principles werestrongly adhered to. Today also, they must necessar-ily be followed by our leaders and administrators.It is because of these norms of leadership that, in thewords of the Prophet Jesus, an Islamic State is calledthe `Kingdom of God’ and whenever it is establishedon earth, people receive the blessings of theAlmighty from the heavens above and the earthbelow.

Islam


News

Total of 291 students (last year, 257) could make itthis year, in the matric (10th Bihar and Jharkhandboard exams) from the 17 centres that remained

active during current academic year, alhamdolillah. Un-fortunately, 15 students out of a total of 291 could notmake it. Most of these are students who studied in theRCCs for less than 9 months during the current year. Thestudents who have consistently been with the RCCsfrom 8th grade (in the centres which started more than 2years before) have done excellently well, thus making acase for “catching them young”.

Nine (9) RCCs produced 100% pass results – betteringthe performance of last year when seven (7) RCCs hadachieved this feat. RCC Chapra @ Olhanpur village (inSaran district of Bihar), sponsored by the AligarhAlumni Association ofWashington DC, throughthe efforts of Dr.RaziRazi-uddin, proved to be thebest performing RCC interms of maximum num-ber of 1stdivisioners (and100% pass rate). None ofthe RCC Chapra studentswere among 3rddivision-ers or failed students – allthe 26 students appearingin the 10th board examachieved either 1st divi-sion or 2nd division.

All the 3 (three) RCCssponsored by the AligarhAlumni Association ofWashington DC achieved100% pass result this year– 74 students in allcrossed the critical thresh-old of passing 10th boardexam under their sponsor-ship alone.

With 19 first divisioners, RCC Ranchi’s performance-came a close second to RCC Chapra @ Olhanpur, whileRCC Samastipur @ Tajpur was placed in the third posi-tionwith 16firstdivisioners.

A total of 144 students could achieve first division,which is an excellent improvement from last year’s95.This year,99students received second division and 33

students scraped through with a third division. The pass-ing rate of all RCCs combined is 94.8%, better than lastyear’s 93%, and continues to be far better than most ofthe commercial coaching centres that we surveyed. Thelevel of students who join the RCCs has always beenvery low, because they come only from the governmentschools (as a policy of RCCs) wherein teaching hardlytakes place. Unless these poor students,with no access toquality education, are coached with a noble objective tohelp them cross the threshold of 10th board, the percent-age in higher studies cannot be increased.

A whopping jump in performance was witnessed byRCC Ranchi, which came second this year, producing100% results and 2nd largest number of 1stdivisioners;this centre had seen 6 students failinglast year, the first

year of its operation. Thisproves the genuineness ofour belief that the academiclevel of the students atentry level of RCCs(as theycome from governmentschools) is almost zero – allthe students in such newcentres are those who nevergot an opportunity to learn,because governmentschools do everything ex-cept teaching. We mustcongratulate RCC Ranchi-for having achieved such abrilliant improvement intheir 2nd year of operation.It does require a lot of gutsto take up the challenge oftransforming the non-meri-torious lot into the meritori-ous ones - that is churningheroes out of zeros.

The top five (5) scorers,this year, come from RCCs @ Arwal,Samastipur, andRanchi. Top scores have also witnessed an improvementfrom last year (83.6% being the highest for Taushif Razaof RCC Arwal, while Md. Abuzar of RCC Samastipurcame a close 2nd with 82.6%). Twenty (20) studentsachieved more than 75% marks, a remarkable feat forthese “zeroes” from government schools.

RAHBAR Coaching Centres Continue to Produce FarBetter Results than Most Commercial Coaching Cen-tres for Matric exam:

Twenty (20) students achievegovernment schools.

Sl No. RCC 1st

Div 2nd Dev

3rd Div Fail Total

Appeared Total Pass

%age Pass

1 Saran-Chapra 20 6 0 0 26 26 100%

2 Ranchi 19 1 0 0 20 20 100%

3 Samastipur 16 7 0 0 23 23 100%

4 Arwal 14 4 0 0 18 18 100%

5 Ramgarh-Chitarpur 10 9 6 0 25 25 100%

6 Patna 9 6 4 0 19 19 100%

7 Hajipur 6 10 2 0 18 18 100%

8 Nawada-Kawakol 3 0 0 0 3 3 100%

9 Dhanbad 0 5 7 0 12 12 100%

10 Muzaffarpur 12 7 0 1 20 19 95.0%

11 Aurangabad-Rafiganj 8 8 1 1 18 17 94.4%

12 Motihari 7 8 1 2 18 16 89%

13 Bhagalpur 7 12 2 3 24 21 87.5%

14 Siwan 4 6 4 2 16 14 87.5%

15 Hazaribagh 1 4 2 1 8 7 87.5%

16 Darbhanga 5 3 3 2 13 11 85%

17 Kishanganj 3 3 1 3 10 7 70%

Total 144 99 33 15 291 276 94.8%


Islam

When Adam, peace be upon him, was cre-ated he was alone. Allah did not give hima video game to play and pass his time

with. Allah did not give him friends to have fun, playfootball and wander around in Jannah. Right? Hegave him a wife. This itself is enough to show theimportance of a spouse in our life.

When Adam's wife committed an error and Adamto followed it and then realised their mistake he didnot blame is wife not did he divorce her. Right?Rather, Adam learnt words of repentance from Allahand then both of them repented together.

The Prophet, (peace be upon him) took his wifealong during his journeys even when he went to thebattle.

This is 'togetherness of a couple' that the Qur'ancalls it 'Hunnalibasalakumwaantumlibasu la hunna’.They are your garments and you are their garments.Don't ever think that a marriage without fight canexist. Allah has so many varieties in his treasure thatno two person's finger print match, not even eyes.The same is with nature, habits and style. They haveuncountable variety. Yet we search for similarities."Our thoughts don't match" are common dialogueswe hear from many couples who are unhappy witheach other. Many proposals are rejected on the basisof "our ideas don't match".

A man like Umar bin Al Khattab(r.a.) tolerated theshouts of his wife. A complainer who approachedhim to complain about his own wife heard loudvoice of AmeerulMo'mineen's wife, so he went back.

Looking for an ideal spouse is certainly not likelooking for a gold coin in the dark with the help of atorch. Rather it is picking up from what is availableand be content with her/ him. Well I don’t mean thatyou may even marry an 'ultra unIslamic' person. Ifyou marry a person who is spiritually inclined to-wards deen and still raw then it can be like a rawgold and you may polish it to increase its value. Iknow couples who were not too Islamic in theirearly marriage life but later on both of them learnt

and grew together in Islam. My friend Faisal Akhun-zada is a very fine example. The husband and his fa-mous model wife walked out of stinking glamourworld together and today they are still togetherlearning deen..Mashallah.So keep your eyes open and also your heart broadand over look the weakness of your life partner be-cause after all you have to stay together in Jan-nahto..for ever...

Sa'ad bin Ubadah was a sahabi..hisgheerah was un-matched... If any of his wife sat on his horse hewould never sell this horse. If any of his wife sat ona camel he would make sure that he would slaughterhis camel. He was a man of gheerah.He would nottolerate any one to sit on the horse or camel onwhich his wife sat. His gheerah was admired. Peoplehonoured his gheerah so much that if he divorcedany of his wives, no sahabi would marry that lady.RadiAllahuanhu ..Allah be pleased with him.

What is 'Togetherness' in aMarriage life?


Q&A

AnswerSalam (Peace) Dear Mark,

Thank you very much for your question and for con-tacting Ask About Islam.

You have in fact touched on a very important andtimely point that is normally raised by Muslims andnon-Muslims. Why do Muslims face the qiblah (di-rection of the Kabah) while praying.

The simple answer to this is that Muslims do notworship their qiblah, neither they do face it for anyreason apart from being commanded to do so. Butwhy are they commanded to do so? What is the wis-dom of facing one direction in Prayer, is it just fac-ing a direction or something more than that?

Let's explore some as-pects of the wisdom ofGod in this bearing inmind that since the wis-dom of God is unlimitedand we are limitedhuman beings, we willalways remain short ofcomprehending it fully.

Facing the qiblah is firstof all a test to our abilityto obey the commands ofGod even when we failshort from understanding His wisdom. Muslims, asservants of God, are required to submit to Him.

One of the proofs of submission is to trust the factthat He has got wisdom in everything even if wecannot perceive this wisdom. When we face the qi-blah with this intention of submitting ourselves toGod, we hope that we have succeeded in the test.

Another aspect is the fact that the qiblah is a sign of

the spiritual unity of Muslims. At the time of Prayer,Muslims all over the world are lined in circles bigand small facing one direction and feeling belongingto this center and belonging to each other. This cre-ates some kind of spiritual unity amongst all Mus-lims all over the world and leaves them with a senseof belonging to each other.

On the individual level, it is well known that Hajj isone of the main Islamic deeds and the fifth pillar ofIslam. Muslims all over the world who are not inHajj face Makkah five times a day to re-voice theirwish and love to perform this great ritual of Islam.

It is as if they are repeatedly renewing their pledgethat they will be doing it one day, sooner or later.Even if they cannot physically be there, they are

spiritually there five times aday when they face theKabah.

Another important point,which I think very impor-tant today, is the fact thateveryone in this world hasgot a direction in his life,whether physical or spiri-tual. Some people take theirreligious beliefs as their di-rection and try to expressthat in a certain way. Somepeople take their ideology

as their direction in life and try to express that in oneway or another.

Only when people lose the direction, they face lossand disruption. Since Islam is the religion ofmonotheism and since Muslims believe thatAlmighty Allah is beyond space and place, abovetime and perceptions, we cannot face the heavens inour Prayer because it is impossible and difficult, butwe raise our hands seeking help from God.

What is the Significance of the Qiblah?What is the Significance of the Qiblah?

Question and answer details Name of Questioner: Mark Reply date: 2014/06/12

Question: Why do you Muslims face the qiblah while praying? What is the significance of that? Why is the Kabah appointed as the qiblah?

consultant: Ahmad Saad Answer Salam (Peace) Dear Mark, Thank you very much for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam. You have in fact touched on a very important and timely point that is normally raised by Muslims and non-Muslims. Why do Muslims face the qiblah (direction of the Kabah) while praying. The simple answer to this is that Muslims do not worship their qiblah, neither they do face it for any reason apart from being commanded to do so. But why are they commanded to do so? What is the wisdom of facing one direction in Prayer, is it just facing a direction or something more than that? Let's explore some aspects of the wisdom of God in this bearing in mind that since the wisdom of God is unlimited and we are limited human beings, we will always remain short of comprehending it fully. Facing the qiblah is first of all a test to our ability to obey the commands of God even when we fail short from understanding His wisdom. Muslims, as servants of God, are required to submit to Him. One of the proofs of submission is to trust the fact that He has got wisdom in everything even if we cannot perceive this wisdom. When we face the qiblah with this intention of submitting ourselves to God, we hope that we have succeeded in the test. Another aspect is the fact that the qiblah is a sign of the spiritual unity of Muslims. At the time of Prayer, Muslims all over the world are lined in circles big and small facing one direction and feeling belonging to this center and belonging to each other. This creates some kind of spiritual unity amongst all Muslims all over the world and leaves them with a sense of belonging to each other. On the individual level, it is well known that Hajj is one of the main Islamic deeds and the fifth pillar of Islam. Muslims all over the world who are not in Hajj face Makkah five times a day to re-voice their wish and love to perform this great ritual of Islam. It is as if they are repeatedly renewing their pledge that they will be doing it one day, sooner or


Q&A

When it comes to Prayer, we are commanded to facethe place that received the first words of the Quranand witnessed the connection between the heavensand the earth, the place that witnessed the early daysof Islam and the emergence of this great religion.

But why the Kabah? That is another important pointto speak about here. Muslims do not face Madinahwhere lies the grave of the Prophet (peace be uponhim) simply because we do not worship the Prophet.Muslims are not grave worshippers.

Muslims face the Kabah because it is the first holyhouse ever built for mankind, established by Adamand raised by Abraham. So they connect themselveswith these great prophets (peace be upon them all)and renew this lineage that extends from Adam toMuhammad.

We confirmby this thefact thatIslam is thetrue religionof God thathas been re-vealed to allprophets andmessengerseverywhereand hasbeen final-ized byMuhammad.The startwas withAdam at theKabah andthe end waswith Muhammad also at the Kabah.

In between these two great prophets, there was an-other great prophet; that is Abraham, the father ofthe Abrahamic faiths who raised the building of theKabah following the instruction of God.

Our facing the Kabah in prayer is another token oflove to this great prophet and confirmation of ourlink with other Abrahamic faiths through our link toAbraham himself.

The fact that the Holy Mosque in Makkah is the firstmosque ever built for mankind and the first place of

worship is confirmed by the Quran as AlmightyAllah says what means:

{Most surely the first house appointed for men is theone at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the na-tions.} (Aal `Imran 3:96)

Of course, the word 'Bakkah' here is another name ofthe Holy City of Makkah. The verses of the Quranalso confirm the link with Abraham as it goes:

{In it are clear signs, the standing place of Ibrahim,and whoever enters it shall be secure, and pilgrimageto the House is incumbent upon men for the sake ofAllah, (upon) every one who is able to undertake thejourney to it; and whoever disbelieves, then surelyAllah is Self-sufficient, above any need of the

worlds.} (Aal`Imran 3:97)

Honoring theKabah is notsomething in-vented byIslam. It hasbeen a veryold tradition inArabia whereArabs inher-ited from theirforefatherswho go backto Prophet Ish-mael and hisfather prophetAbraham thatlove and re-spect for thatholy place.

Muslims are reviving this great tradition as requiredby God to confirm this long chain of Prophets andthis link between the heaven and the earth.

I hope this answers your question. Please keep intouch.

Salam.

http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-islam/faith-and-worship/aspects-of-worship/167670-the-significance-of-the-qiblah.html


Opinion

I By Dr Mohammad ManzoorAlam I

On its own, yoga is like other systems of exercisethat promote physical, mental and emotional wellbe-ing. Despite its origins in a Hindu religio-culturalmilieu, its widely acknowledged “founder”, Patanjli,was said to be an agnostic. Even then, practices likeSurya Namaskar (literally, bowing to the Sun), thatmakes it look like Sun worship, and emitting theHindu sacred word Om during breathing exercisesmake it belong to the vast body of Hindu religio-spiritual ritual.

However, there is more toRSS-BJP’s exuberant supportof Yoga Day celebrations ashas been pointed out by oppo-sition parties’ leaders. Theyhave alleged that behind theYoga Day celebrations theSangh was trying to mobiliseand indoctrinate people in ajingoistic way against non-Hindus. Political leaders andmedia commentators havedrawn attention to provoca-tions like those the BJP MPAdityanath, an uncouth oafwith a foot-in-the-mouth af-fliction, likes to make againstMuslims. This man declaredrecently in a grand, magisterialway, “Those who refuse to doSurya Namaskar must go toPakistan.”

Certainly, it is a remark against Muslims, who can-not, should not, will not, engage in Sun worship orsnake worship, or any other worship, except the wor-ship of Allah. It is in moments like this that the ulte-rior agenda of all things emanating from the Sanghentail becomes clear. They try to infuse even an in-nocent thing like yoga with a mischievous spirit. AsI said, on its own, nobody has an objection to yogicexercises if things like Surya Namaskar and chantingof Om are not imposed on monotheists.

In fact, there are many Muslims who do yogic exer-cises regularly without, of course, resorting to SuryaNamaskar andOm chanting. The Subcontinent’s pre-

mier Islamic seminary, DarulUloomDeoband, hassaid that for Muslims yoga is good enough, minuspractices like Surya Namaskar and Om chanting.This stands to reason even though yoga’s genesis liesin ancient Hindu milieu. Exchange of good ideas be-tween Islam and other cultures is an establishednorm as indicated practically by the United ArabEmirates, which has marked two days for Yoga Daycelebrations, instead of one day by any other coun-try, including India, the home of yoga.

That Islam does not frown atsuch exchanges is obviousfrom the widespread use ofprayer beads (also known asworry beads) by the devoutacross the Muslim world,even though the beads origi-nated in Buddhist ritual.Likewise, the fast on Ashuracame into Islam after cen-turies of its observance inJudaism. The Prophet(PBUH) introduced it toIslam saying Moses (PBUH)belonged to Muslims morethan he did to Jews.

As it stands, cultural ex-changes are fine with Mus-lims, but politicisation ofsuch things is not. Going be-yond all limits of legitimacyand decency, the Sangh hastried to drag the Vice-Presi-

dent of India into controversy. BJP general secretaryRam Madhav tweeted that Vice-President Moham-mad Hamid Ansari’s “absence” from the yoga ses-sion was noted. Obviously, it was a slur on theVice-President, with the sly implication that he hadkept himself away from it because he was a Muslim.Naturally, this was noted by leaders of non-NDAparties. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Com-munal polarisation is the only thing that Modi, AmitShah and Ram Madhav know…Whatever the BJPand the PM do is aimed at communal polarisation.”

He added, “This obnoxious tweet by Ram Madhav,knowing fully well the constitutional position of theVice-President, is a deliberate and mischievous at-

Yoga is ok, yoga-politics is not


tempt at polarisation and at giving yoga a communalflavour.”

Soon the Vice-President’s office clarified that theministry dealing with the event had not invited theVice-President in the first place. Minister of State forAYUSH, ShripadNaik, whose ministry was lookingafter the Rajpath yoga event, apologised for thetweet. He also explained, as the PM was the chiefguest at the event the Vice-President was not invitedbecause his constitutional position being superior tothe PM’s, the PM cannot be the chief guest in hispresence.

This shows not only the constant slander campaignagainst the Vice-President, but also an attack on thedignity of the second highest of constitutional officein the country. And, this is not for the first time theyhave targeted Vice-President Ansari.

Earlier, on the eve of Republic Day, they spread therumour that Mr Ansari had not saluted the nationalflag. That, too, was an attempt to show that as aMuslim his loyalty to the nation was suspect. In thatcase, too, the VP office explained that the protocolrequired that he should not salute the flag while thePresident was doing it.

Recurring attacks on the VP like this indicate that itis not the significance of Republic Day or the valueof yoga that is on BJP leaders’ minds, but some ulte-rior agenda as Jairam Ramesh has pointed out.

http://iosworld.org/short_takes/Yoga_is_ok.htm

Unequal justice

Ademocracy is known by its fair play to all itscitizens and equality before law. Sadly, ithas become a pattern in India that some go

scot free and others are heavily punished for com-mitting the same crime. The judiciary, helped bygovernment, has gone soft in cases involving the richand the resourceful and hard in those involving thepoor, the resourceless, the minorities.

The revelation by former Special Public ProsecutorRohiniSalian, assigned the 2008 Malegaon blasts,said that right after the NDA came into power, shebegan to be pressurised to go soft on the Hindutvaactivists charged with these attacks. Unable to meetthe government’s demand, she has resigned. She hassaid an NIA (National Investigation Agency) official

had personally met her with the demand.

Families of victims (all Muslims) have said theywere not surprised to know about Salian’s disclo-sure. The state was not interested in delivering jus-tice right from the beginning as all the accused werewell-known people connected to RSS and allied vio-lent, Hindu right-wing organisations. In this case thelate HemantKarkare, then chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), had found the involvement ofretired and serving officers of the Indian Army aswell.

After the takeover of Modi government victims andtheir families were apprehensive that more aggres-sive attempts would be made to derail the case. Con-gress leader Digvijay Singh has said that during UPArule the Sangh and its political arm, BJP, had beentrying to put pressure on Manmohan Singh to helpsoften the case against the Hindutva votaries chargedwith this crime. BJP’s top leaders had tried to bullythe UPA government before they came down to po-lite arguments.

To say the least, it is not the sign of a democracy’shealth when the justice delivery system is sought tobe undermined by powerful people. Following simi-lar tampering with cases in Gujarat courts againstperpetrators of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002, theSupreme Court had fruitfully and laudably trans-ferred some of the cases to courts outside the state. Itimmensely helped the cause of justice.

The attempts to derail justice this time are more omi-nous and difficult to deal with. Such insidious andmala fide acts by government agencies are systemicand deeply entrenched in power, beyond the capabil-ity of weak and vulnerable victims to rectify. Onlyinstitutional checks and larger public movements caneffectively stop them. Nothing of that sort, regret-tably, is in sight at the moment.

All that we have is the hope that good sense will pre-vail in the government and it will refrain from sink-ing further in the morass of corruption and cronyismin which it has got caught so early in its tenure. TheNDA government stands charged with the same sinswithin a year of its rule which took nearly eightyears to catch the UPA. The government will do wellto avoid such controversies and let justice prevail forthe good of the country and for its own good.

http://iosworld.org/short_takes/Unequal_justice.htm

Opinion


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Assam YouthLynched in Dimapur

On March 6, 2015 a youth accused of rape waslynched by the mob in Dimapur, Nagalandafter dragging him out of police custody.Later reports said that the accusation was false. What became headline immediately is the iden-tity of the accused killed. Anchors in news chan-nels immediately declared him as 'illegalBangladeshi immigrant' (IBI) quoting com-ment from officials. Director General of Police,Nagaland, L.L. Doungel,called him an 'IllegalBangladeshi Immigrant (IBI)' which the Naga-land Chief Minister refuted later.

Media hardly bothered to take note of the fact ordo the minimum investigation to ascertain hisidentity if it matters. Sarif belongs to a familyin Bosla Village in Karimganj District of

Assam. His father late Syed Hussain Khanworked forthe Indian Air Force and retired fromAir Force Station, Kumbhirgram (Dist CacharAssam). Sarif's mother draws her familypension from IAF. Sarif's late brother ImanUddin Khan was in Indian Army, took part inthe Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999. Hewas injured in the war and succumbed to his in-juries later. Sarif's two other brothers are alsopresently serving in Indian Army - HavildarJamal Uddin Khan is in Assam Regiment,posted at Diphu and Kamal Khan is a person-nel in Assam Regiment and presently postedat a location in Arunachal Pradesh.

Branding of Bengali speaking Muslims inAssam as 'Illegal Bangladeshi' is not rare butregular. You will have similar impression if youfollow the reporting of mass displacement in Bodo areas of Assam

GHUNCHA SANOBAR - Bihar Anjuman6236 Ayah (verses). The first Surah of the Quran is Surah Fateha...

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