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Malaysia Violences, Hindu Rights and Indian ?Interference?
2007-12-08 09:54:00
Let us first note that the banner under which the disaffected and discriminated Hindus are fighting is “Hindu Rights Action Force”, and not “India n Rights Action Force.” And that, my friends, is the right thing to do. They are Hindus, and not Indian s. Few generations ago their ancestors (not they) were Indians, but the people who ...
More About: Malaysia , Hinduism

Babri Masjid - Way Forward
2007-12-07 17:38:00
Presented here is a proposal/plan to amicably resolve the Ram Mandir/Babri mosque issue that continues to ignite communal passions in India for so long. Currently, a bulk of this plan is from the point of view of the Indian Muslims, though it may not be agreeable by all Muslims. Our basic proposal is that the Indian ...
More About: Politics , Masjid , Featured , Communalism , Ayodhya

Remembering Babri Masjid
2007-12-06 16:49:00
Who had even heard of it? A nondescript little used mosque somewhere in the city of Ayodhya in central India . On 6 Dec 1992, Babri Masjid became the mosque that no one in India would ever forget, a national wound that 15 years later, still throbs, still pierces the hearts of those who lost forever ...
More About: Politics , Fundamentalism , Fanatics

Dan dana dan Modi
2007-12-06 16:47:00
It was 1:15, just 15 minutes for Jummah, and I was still 10 minutes away from the mosque. My rickshawala was trying to avoid the drizzle that followed the heavy downpour. The fabulous city was free of any water stagnation, thanks to the wonderful drainage she has (you know everything beautiful has to be a ’she’). My rickshaw was on the pedestrian path (non-powered vehicles are not allowed on the main road). Parallely there was was a cycle-wala who was dressed in kurta payjama and he also had a beard. One passerby suddenly stopped and asked for a lift to the mosque, cycle-wala agreed that there were now 2 people on the cycle. They had barely moved few meters when another passerby asked for a lift, the cycle-wala again obliged and there were now 3 people on the cycle. I was alone on the rickshaw. This insignificant and trite sight could easily have been ignored by me but you know there election due in Gujarat and Mr. Modi is firing all cylinders. The first pe...

How Do We Bring Ram Back To Ayodhya?
2007-12-06 10:42:00
Some events are momentous. A day gets labeled with it. Forever. Before 9/11/2001 happened in USA, India had its very own 6th December 1992. An entire generation of Indians has been shaped by that one day. It created divisions that are yet to be bridged. It afflicted wounds that yet to be healed. And it heaped insult upon the idea of India. It was a day when someone wrote in front of our house ‘hey Ram ye teri kaisi maaya, tere desh meN kaTuoN ka saaya’. A word added to my adolescent vocabulary. A slogan that will stay with me forever. May be that was the whole point. Kaifi Azmi was speaking for a lot of us when he penned down Dusraa Banvaas (Second Exile). Indeed Ram has been exiled from his own city. 15 years have passed since then. The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we bring Ram back to Ayodhya ? Click to listen. duusraa banvaas Ram banvaas se jab laut ke ghar meN aaye yaad jangal bahut aayaa jo nagar meN aaye raks-e-diivaangii aaNgan meN jo dekhaa hogaa ...
More About: Back

Flashback 1992: 15th Anniversary Of Babri Masjid Demolition
2007-12-05 09:34:00
In many ways it is just like any other Lucknow winter day. Sun has come up and my mother is watching her pickles dry on the roof. Our neighbor, Shukla-ji?s daughter has come for a lazy winter afternoon conversation with my mother and is oiling her hair. I am struggling with unsolved papers from previous ...
More About: Anniversary , Masjid , Flashback , Fanatics , Featured

Indian Muslims Nominated For The Brass Crescent Awards
2007-12-04 11:21:00
Good news. We have been nominated in the Best Group Blog category at the 4th Annual Brass Crescent Awards . What are the Brass Crescent Awards? They are named for the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights. Today, the Islamsphere is forging a new synthesis of Islam and modernity, and is ...
More About: Indian , Muslims , Featured , Indian Muslims

Madrasa Reforms and the Deobandi Ulema?s Response
2007-12-03 22:26:00
Recent years have witnessed heated debates on the question of reforms in the system of madrasa education in South Asia. Spurred principally by a chain of political developments, governments, policy making institutions, think tanks, journalists, public intellectuals, social activists as well as the ulema of the madrasas themselves have been  discussing the issue, often speaking ...
More About: Islam , India , Book Review , Deobandi , Featured

My Name Is Mo
2007-12-02 19:45:00
Whats in a name? you say. Quite a lot apparently, as Gillian Gibbons, a 54 year old mother of two discovered when she allowed her class of six and seven year olds to select a name for their teddy bear, in the Unity School in Khartoum, Sudan. One of the boys named the bear after himself, ...
More About: Politics , Islam , World , Prophet

Amar, Akbar, Anthony
2007-12-02 00:30:00
I was just going through my Hindi movie collection to pass a dull wintry afternoon. With my hot cup of chai and some nice mirchi bhajias to tempt the palate, I sorted through the ‘oldies’, all part of my nostalgia melee when the winter blues descend on me. Ignoring the snow and sleet outside, I picked up the copy of Amar Akbar Anthony , and a wave of nostalgia washed over me. I remember the first time we saw it, we rushed into Gaiety Galaxy as the credits were running, late as usual, mom and kids, great fans of the pikchars we watched as often as we could. If we rushed right after school , we could get the 12:30 pm show (saade baara baje wala show). I remember now all the things I did not think then. I did not think for example, that there was anything weird about three brothers who professed three different religions. I did not think it odd that the Muslim and Christian brothers had absolutely no resemblance to any Muslim or Christian I knew, but were outright caricature...

Travesty of Justice - Sudanese Caricature of the Islamic Law
2007-12-01 03:32:00
Sadly a majority of people practice double standards. They tend to judge others more harshly, but find excuses for their own failings. Collectively, other races, countries and religions are judged harshly, while we turn a blind eye to whatever we construe as our own. I suffer from a reverse malady. I am sad at injustice ...
More About: Islam , Islamic , Justice , Sudan , Fanatics

Winter Breakfast in Old Delhi
2007-11-30 04:02:00
Paya-Nihari under the shadow of Jama Masjid Shahjahanabad was a city of emperors and courtesans, kaftans and the Kohinoor, beef and ghee. This morning I am searching for its past splendor. The ancient alleys of Matia Mahal bazaar, under the watchful eyes of Jama Masjid, are redolent of morning meals. Kesar-flavored milk. Sewai. Jalebis. Soon a ...
More About: Culture , Heritage , Winter , Breakfast , Delhi

No To Appeasement Politics
2007-11-29 04:42:00
Taslima Nasreen has nothing to do with Nandigram, but for some illogical reason she was moved out of Kolkata as an answer to months of protest against the Nandigram violence in West Bengal. This is the latest in a long list of examples of politics of appeasement practised in India since its independence. By shipping Nasreen ...
More About: Politics , Terrorism , Fanatics , Featured

Tasleema Nasreen Vs MF Hussein?s Case
2007-11-28 14:35:00
The current episode of Taslima Nasreen once again has brought out the hypocritical attitude of many Indians. I am amused about the hullabaloos made by the BJP, the Sangh Privar and some others for this Bangladeshi writer. However, when it comes to dealing with the economic migrant from our neighbouring court, the same set of people ...
More About: Case , Fanatics , Communalism

Islamic Volleyball at Hazrat Nizamuddin
2007-11-27 05:13:00
Besides its Sufi shrine, Thursday qawwalis, and Karim restaurant, Hazrat Nizam uddin has another attraction ? Islamic Volleyball . Each evening young Muslim men collect in an open courtyard called Urs Mahal to play this American game. Many of these players have long wiry black beard; some are clean shaven with chocolate looks; all have strong arms, ...
More About: Culture , Heritage

Allah Ishwar Tere Naam
2007-11-24 16:46:00
There was a funny petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Kerala unit of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha protesting that the oath taken in the name of ?Allah ? was in violation of the constitution which says that oath can be taken only in the name of God or solemnly affirmed. The petition claimed that ...
More About: Islam , India , Featured

Kolkata violence: Irresponsible Jamiat playing with fire
2007-11-22 14:17:00
Kolkata was in flames on Wednesday. Mercifully the violence didn’t spill out of control. As TV channels started flashing the ‘alert’ about Army called in Kolkata and later the images of All India Muslim Forum activists, I really got worried. If it was a protest over just Nandigam, I could understand. But the way Jamiat brought ...
More About: Politics , Violence , Kolkata , Fire , Nandigram

How Muslim political movement is killed in India
2007-11-22 06:44:00
Contrary to popular belief Muslim leadership do exist in India . They make their presence known by street protests, writing articles in newspapers and lobbying ministers and government officials for local or national issues concerning Muslims of India.   Nandigram where a number of Muslims killed, raped, their houses destroyed have become the latest rallying cry of ...
More About: Society , Politics , Political

Nandigram: ?Paid Back In Their Own Coin?
2007-11-21 17:51:00
When Modi was asked after the 2002 Gujarat massacre he infamously replied invoking Newton?s third law of motion. Now is the turn of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. When asked to reply to the killings and rape that happened in Nandigram he replied that they have ?paid back in their own coin?. In Gujarat it was the right ...
More About: Politics , India , Paid , Back

Interview with a Nadvi Maulana
2007-11-21 04:27:00
Maulana Salman Hussaini Nadvi, Dean of the Faculty of Shariah at the renowned Nadwat ul-Ulama madrasa in Lucknow and member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, is a senior Indian Muslim scholar. In this interview, he talks about various aspects related to madrasas in contemporary India.   YS: Today, madrasas in general suffer from a bad ...
More About: Terrorism , Interview , Maulana , Featured

Satyamev Jayte: but anyone listening?
2007-11-20 18:10:00
Truth will prevail but only if we are ready to listen and follow it. Here is an example of kahi-ansuni, chiragh tale andhera, etc. etc.
More About: Picture of the day , Listening

BJP Enters Portal Of Power In South
2007-11-17 03:59:00
So at last BJP has realized its ambition of forming government in the South by installing its chief minister in Karnataka. And of course this became possible thanks to Deve Gowda and his Janata Dal (Secular). A political party which broke off from its parent party as the other section (Janata Dal United) had decided ...
More About: Power , Portal , Featured

Defying the myths: the rational, educated, secular, prosperous suicide bomb
2007-11-14 16:24:00
Suicide terrorism. A term that in today?s political climate carries a certain image, like the one depicted to the left. One of irrationality and illiteracy, with fanaticism, religious zeal and 70 virgins promised in heaven for the martyr. Etymology The term “terrorism” comes from Latin terrere, “to frighten” via the French word terrorisme, which is often associated ...
More About: Science , Politics , Terrorism , Islam , Fundamentalism

I Found Myself Between?.
2007-11-13 19:13:00
Click on the image to enlarge.
More About: Humor , Pakistan , Satire , Musharraf , Featured

Travel, Kannada and Untouchability
2007-11-13 16:22:00
I was traveling from Bangalore to Kolkata few days ago. On my way, I saw a few things, which I thought I might share. Travel South India is very sensitive about it’s languages and culture. They feel that the North Indian (Hindi) culture is trying to eat up their culture and language. Sometimes these justifiable concerns ...
More About: Society , Hinduism , Kannada

Indo-US Nuclear Deal: To Be Or Not To Be?
2007-11-13 04:49:00
The current stand by the Left leaders to put an indefinite hold on the Indo -US nuclear deal while awaiting its ratification by the India n Parliament, is a good opportunity to go over the grievances and assertions of both sides regarding this two year long attempt by the US to share its technology and nuclear fuel ...
More About: Nuclear , Deal , Featured

The Imperial Graveyard
2007-11-10 06:08:00
During a recent visit to Delhi I managed to find some time to visit Humayun?s Tomb. I had heard about the renovation work that had happened there and though during my earlier visits to Delhi I had visited most of the other landmarks I never happened to visit the Tomb. I was in for a surprise. ...
More About: Culture , Heritage , Graveyard , Imperial , Featured

Happy Diwali 2007
2007-11-08 08:54:00
Indian Muslims wishes all its readers a joyous and prosperous Diwali . May this festival of lights bring happiness to each one of us. DEEPAWALI GREETINGS Like the caring arms of an affectionate mother, The two crescents of this blessed lunar month; Hold in warm embrace the two glorious faiths, Which are governed by the fascinating Moon. If one preceded the joy ...
More About: Picture of the day , Happy , Lights , Featured

Blood Brothers
2007-11-07 12:12:00
?You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.? - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi M.J. Akbar’s Blood Brothers is more than just a novel. It’s a nostalgic account of Indian history as seen through a Muslim family. The novel revolves ...
More About: Book Review

Pakistan: Back To The Past Again
2007-11-07 06:19:00
Will the future ever arrive in Pakistan ? It is back to the past again. Technically, President Musharraf has declared an emergency, but in reality, it is a coup against the democracy creeping in; which he reluctantly promised eight years ago. This time General Musharraf overthrew the government of the other infernal co-resident in his body, ...
More About: Politics , Back , Past , Featured