Testosterone Challenged US

US is now officially emasculated. Who else will assign the front-line combat duty to its women?

It is sure the they will be basking in the glory of their exalted actions. Might even be choking with emotions of finally having done the needful for women's liberation and  empowerment.

Silly people have not figured out why there are sporadic fatal shootings in their society but they continue to take steps guided by the same philosophy that is doing them in.

Silly people do not realize what calamity they have brought on women by assigning them non-combat duty in the forces and now they have gone one step further.

We also keep hearing from the same silly society about experimentation like male pregnancy.

That it is a society gone bonkers is known for some time now but we hear of no corrective steps. On the contrary we keep hearing about one silly decision after another.

Of course we Muslims do have a personal axe to grind - we are at the receiving end of their onslaught and hardly anyone is fooled by their diplomatique about freedom, democracy and the so called war on terror but any one having any trace of humanity will be heart broken at the spiraling down of American society.

Dear US you are not an inspiration. Not that we were looking for one.

Freedom in Islam

This is not an in-depth or thorough analysis of how Islam gives you freedom.

It is a simple but very effective and useful example of freedom granted to us by Islam.

It is an example of how Islam liberates you.

In fact without Islam you can not even define freedom - sorry to say that. Or may be not.

***

Mufti Taqi Usmani Sahab (DB) said in one of the speeches that we believers should not indulge too much of speeches.

This was shocking to yours truly.

How will Islam spread or even maintained without speeches?

Then his brother Hazrat Rafi Usmani Sahab (DB), Mufti-e-Azam Pakistan, upped the ante. It turned out that their Shaikh Dr Abdul Hayee Arifi Sahab (RA) always advised them to avoid giving speeches.

If you have an urge to spread Islam then there is no alternative but to speak.

And two very honorable Muftis, the best of our times, are telling us to do just the opposite.

It is not easy to reconcile oneself with this idea.

But where is the freedom here? In fact every one will fairly conclude that yours truly is talking about the opposite - restriction. Patience dear brothers and sisters. (Pyaro is the word used by our beloved Elders in place of the word dear!)

Mufti Rafi Sahab (DB) also added that their Shaikh told them not to speak on topics assigned by the people. Their Shaikh told them to put the balm where there is the injury.

There is the freedom dear brothers and sisters. You have been liberated from the tyranny of people - they assigning you topics and you doing their bidding.

You might feel that this is not what you were looking for.

But yours truly did not promise you what you were looking for. Till our last breath we are bound by Shariah.

And once you accept that you are bound by Shariah till your last breath, from the depths of your heart, then it liberates you from the tyranny of the people and all of creation of Allah (SWT).

That is a consequence of Fadkhili 'Abaadi wadkhuli jannati - so be My servant and enter my Jannah.
When you decide to be a Slave of Allah you are allowed to enter Jannah - the freest place you can imagine.

Verily our Lord is Most Merciful, Most Beneficent.

Taking Islam from CERN

Yest that is possible - to get Islam from the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Have a look at this story.

Also, I was lucky enough to get to visit CERN in Geneva last summer with my school! Because I had a small faith in Allah SWT at that time, and because the scientists spoke about the creation of the universe, what I believed made just more and more sense, and I now want to talk to a Muslim expert on physics if I get a chance to.

Islam from Space and Time

Special theory of relativity was a in some sense a boon for mankind.

Firstly because of its intrinsic value as a piece of scientific knowledge. We marvel at it even today.

Secondly for putting time in its place. The pun is irresistible.

Time is such an over powering thing in life that it shakes your faith. "Who created God?", asks the atheist.
We take time to be absolute. And there lies the problem. If time is absolute then it can impinge the way it want on anything else, including God.

That special theory of relativity removed that omnipotence of time it should be taken as a helping hand for faith. Time is not absolute and it is inextricably combined with space. This demolishes the tyranny of time once and for all.

You can not talk of time without space. Time does not have tyranny over space, at least. Why make it tyrannical over everything? In particularly God. Ergo Islam is a possibility.

I suppose that is enough for now.

Kalim Aajiz

This is a difficult post to prepare for yours truly.

Kalim Aajiz is an Urdu poet from Bihar who spent his active career as a teacher.

Over bearing feature of his life is killing of his very loving mother and very dear sister in the riots of 1947 and dumping of their bodies in a well.

He chose to express his sorrow in Urdu poetry, specifically ghazal.

His first collection of poems is called Woh Jo Shayari Ka Sabab Hua ( That Which Caused Poetry).
In the beginning of that book there is a reasonably detailed description of the fateful event - the narration looks as if it is being executed in slow motion. It was excruciating reading for yours truly. But you are nevertheless thankful to him as well as marvel at his grit to gather courage to go through the motion of writing the story. If it was not for it then we would ever have been bereft of the cause behind his conduct. You can see that there are no signs of smile on his face, let alone laughter. He would recite his ghazal in the Mushayaras with a pain and feeling that looks out of this world. And then he would disappear. His style is mature and reminds of the old era of Urdu poetry. Very ruthless literary critic, Kaleemuddin, honoured the poet by not using his usual dissection on his work.

In this video he recites a poem called Supplication (Du'a) that he says was not answered. Even this poem is rather heart breaking. Dear Aligs, or rather their families, laugh at the end of the poem but they should be forgiven because they really do not know what they were doing.

For the benefit of those who do not know Urdu he tells that last night he has again made supplications earnestly. After that he starts reminding that he has not asked for this and this. This list is surprisingly complete and one is left aghast that he has not asked any of the significant things that one can imagine. One is left wondering what this crazy man has supplicated for? He then reads your thoughts and says the very same words. Then he divulges the supplication in a metaphor that is exquisitely delicate and admits that he has asked for someone's love.

Life is difficult. For some it is more difficult. For some it is cruel. For some it is very cruel. Kalim Aajiz falls in that category. But there is no complain - Aajiz is a man of Sabr - patience and steadfastness. The same Sabr that Allah (SWT) asks us to show.  Aajiz has lived his life with Tablighi Jama-'at. When one is overwhelmed by vagaries of life then Aajiz is role model to look up to.

And no, yours truly has not been able to do justice to his story.

Shibli Academy Orientalist Seminar - 4

For background material see here.

Title : Islam Aur Mustashriqeen (Islam and Orietalists)

Vol : 4 (Compiler : Maulana Abdur Rahman Parwaz Islahi)

A Compilation of Maulana Shibli Nomani's Responses to Orientalism.


1. Preface by Syed Sabahuddin Abd-ur-Rahman
2. Palmer's Allegation Against Abbasid Caliph Haroon Ar-Rasheed and its Refutation
3. Arabic Translations of Other Nations and Orientalists
4. European Orientalists and the Library of Alexandriya
5. Algeria
6. Mechanics and Muslims
7. Rights in Islam of People of Other Religion
8. Objection Against Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) in Relation to Dhimmis and its Rebuttal
9. Hiding the Islamic Civilization by Jurji Zaydan
10. Preview of Translation of Drapper's Conflict Between Religion and Science
11. Is Hanafi Fiqh Derived from Roman Law?
12. Is Islamic Law Influenced by Roman Law?
13. An Overview of the Conquests of Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA)
14. European Claim Against Authenticity of Noble Qur'an
15. State of Compilation of Noble Qur'an
16. Orientalists and Prophet (PBUH)'s Biography

Shibli Academy Orientalist Seminar - 3

For background material see here.

Title : Islam Aur Mustashriqeen (Islam and Orietalists)

Vol : 3 (Compiler : Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman)

Papers Received on the same topic after 1982  Darul Musannifeen Shibli Academy seminar on orientalism.

1. Russian Orientalism : Asad Shahab
2. Islam and Orientalists : Professor Habibul Haq Nadwi
3. Reading of Seerah and Orientalists : Dr Nisar Ahmed
4. Hazrat Ibraheem (AS) and Orientalists : Maulana Hifz-ur-Rahman
5. Answers to Orientalists Objections in Syed Sulaiman Nadwi's Ardh-ul-Qur'an : Maulwi Umair-us-Siddiq Nadwi
6. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Orientalists : Maulwi Ubaidullah Koti Nadwi

Shibli Academy Orientalist Seminar - 2

For background material see here.

Title : Islam Aur Mustashriqeen (Islam and Orietalists)

Vol : 2 (Compiler : Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman)

Contains the papers read in 1982  Darul Musannifeen Shibli Academy seminar on orientalism.

1. Preface : Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman
2. Different Stages of Orientalist Thought : Professor Khaliq Ahmed Nizami
3. Orientalists and Islamic Sciences : Shaikh Nazir Hussain
4.  Professor Ignaz Goldziher : Maulana saeed Ahmed Akbarabadi
5. Orientalists, Orientalism and Islam : Dr Sharfuddin Islahi
6. Sir Hamilton A. Gibb : Professor Zia-ul-Hasan Farooqi
7. Historical Perspective of Orientalist View of Islam : Professor Khwaja Ahmed Farooqi
8. Orientalists and Islam (Part - 1) : Dr Musheer-ul-Haq
9. Qur'an and Orientalists : Mr Syed Athar Hussain
10. Brown and Islam : Dr Amir Hasan Abidi
11. Story of Abraham in Npble Qur'an and the Orientalist Objections : Ziauddin Islahi
12. Joseph Sacht and Principles of Fiqh : Muhammed Tufail
13. Orientalists and Seerah of Prophet (PBUH) : Dr Imaduddin Khaliq
14. Orientalists and Islam (Part - 2) : DrAnwar Jundi
15. Orienlaists Objections on Our Modern Academic Institutions : Maulana Qazi Zain-ul-Abideen Sajjad Merathi
16. Orientalists and History of Turkey : Dr Akmal Ayyubi
17. Orientalists' Services and Limitations : Syed Wahiduddin
18. A Glance at Mongomery Watt's Muhammed (PBUH) in Makkah : Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman
19. Science of Traditions and Orientalists : Dr Taqiuddin Nadwi Mazahiri
20. An Overall Scan of the Topic of Islam and Orientalists : Maulana Abulais Islahi
21. Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi's Views About Orientalists
 

Shibli Academy Orientalist Seminar - 1

For background material see here.

Proceedings of 1982 Seminar on Islam and Orientalists held at Dar-ul-Musannifeen, Shibli Academi

Title : Islam Aur Mustashriqeen (Islam and Orietalists)

Vol : 1 (Compiler : Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman)

Page 2-37         : Seminar
Page 37 - 50     : First Session of the Seminar
Page 51 - 70     : Second Session of the Seminar
Page 71 - 91     : Third Session of the Seminar
Page 92 - 107   : Fourth Session of the Seminar
Page 108 - 136 : Fifth Session of the Seminar

Speakers/authors included : (1) Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (RA)
(2) Dr Mahmood Tantawi (3) Hakim Muhammed saeed (4) Maulana Abdul Quddus Hashmi Nadwi (5) Mufti Syed Syyahuddin Kakakhel (6) Dr Syed Salman Nadwi (7)  Syed hamid ( Vice Chancellor, AMU, Aligarg) (8) Professor Khaleeq Ahmed Nizami (9) Dr Ibraheem Quraishi, Thiland (10) Dr Zafar Is-haq Ansari (11) Shaukat Sultan (12) Dr Yusuf Qardhawi (13) Maulana saeed Akbarabadi (14) Zia-ul-Hasan Farooqi (15)  Professor Amir Hasan Abidi (16) Dr Musheer-ul-Haq Nadwi (17) Maulana Taqiuddin Nadwi (18) Dr Abid Raza Bedar (19) Maulana Ateequr Rahman Usmani  and many more.

Delving into the content is left for later, Lord Most High willing.

Shibli Academy Orientalist Seminar

In spite of the revelation from Allah (SWT) that you shall found closest to you the people who call themselves Christians the western world, the Christian world, has by and large love to hate you relationship with Islam. Christian crusades against Islam and Muslims in nomenclature might be a thing of past but in practice their physical and intellectual assault on Islam and Muslims continues till date. After European cultural, social, scientific and industrial revolution Christian nations managed to colonize nearly all of Muslim lands physically. This was accompanied by and reinforced subsequently by academic dynamics called orientalism geared for intellectual subjugation of Islam and Muslims.

Though both physical and intellectual over powering of Muslims is a fact of history and can not be out rightly denied but Muslims were quick to realize the deception of Christian intelligentsia and orientalism was engaged head on by the giants of Islamic thought. At the level of debating the Christian preachers  were taken on by Maulana Rahmatullah Kairanvi (RA) and Dr Wazir Khan in India at a great risk to their own well being - so much for the freedom of speech of the Christian west.

At the level of scholarly refutation it was great Sir Syed Ahmed Khan himself who took up the task of debunking the Christian deception about Islam and Muslims. He took a break from his task of institution building to indulge in in-depth analysis of orientalist onslaught. Then it was his protegee Allama Shibli Nomani who carried on the torch and deflated the most deceptive orientalist writings followed by his own student Allama Sulaiman Nadwi (RA). In deed Edward Said with his Orientalism is a very late arrival on the scene in this juggernaut of counter intellectual enterprize against the western Christian movement to undermine Islamic creed and Muslim society.

In recent past we have seen one more onslaught on Muslim world by the very same forces, this time in the name of so called Islamic terrorism. We are so close to these events at this moment that any historical perspective is impossible but one can venture to assert that the Christian west, masquerading as secular ideology, is slowly coming to unpleasant to them realization that neither Islam nor Muslim world is any more pliable for them.

But yours truly is jumping the gun. This series of post is about a seminar that was held in early eighties at Dar-ul-Musannifeen, Shibli Academi, Azamgarh, UP, India. Its proceedings were late to be published but these eventually did see the light of the day and by now at least seven volumes are in possession of yours truly. These posts intend to list an overview of the content, not an in-depth review of the material but only the topics covered, of these volumes.

These volumes are in Urdu. 

Take Care of AMU Youth

Verse 135 of Surah Nisaa is:

135. O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even
as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be [against]
rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts [of your
hearts], lest ye swerve, and if ye distort [justice] or decline to do justice,
verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

The US Harvard University has posted  it  at a wall facing  the law faculty’s main entrance. (Source)

Can we do similar things to give moral and spiritual strength to our youth? Yours truly has been talking, to whomever listens, about a Hadith Project at AMU. Noble Qur'an and authentic Traditions of beloved Prophet (PBUH) can strengthen moral and morale fiber of today's youth better than any ideology designed by human mind. Yours truly has been mulling on the plan to have relevant Verse and Traditions in the campus at the waals where students can see and read them. In Hostels, schools, colleges of the university, departments, faculties, offices, play grounds, any where.

Dear Aligs kindly take up this cause and do the needful - encourage the relevant authorities to take steps in this direction.

Perils of Intellect

Hazrat Dr Hanif Kamal Sahab (DB) has just put the following Urdu couplet on Ashrafia:

Transliteration:
'Ilm se badhti hai aql, aur aql hai bad-dimagh
Jo bujha deti hai seenon mein muhabbat ke chiragh

Translation:
Knowledge enhances intellect, intellect is pig-headed
It extinguishes all the lamps of love from hearts

***

More than those people who are obsessed with intellect, reason, logic, rationality and all that it is we who should absorb the import of above couplet by Josh Malihabadi. If we have a sure faith (yaqeen) of this import of above couplet in our hearts then Lord Most High willing the strong gusts of obsession with intellect, that are rather powerful today, will have no effect on us. In fact we shall get courage to pull away the ground beneath their feet. Lord Most High willing.

North India is Cool

North India is cold actually.
Many of the cities registered minimum of 1 degree Celsius.
But yesterday we did get to see the sun in Aligarh.
And little bit of it is shining just now outside as yours truly types these words an 3:15Pm.
It is good to see the sun.
The good thing is that this year the winter has reached peak at its normal time.
In last few years winter was peaking a little late - it was rather disorienting.

Talk to West

According to a BBC report a former Turkish army chief, Gen Ismail Hakki Karadayi, has been detained over a military intervention that ousted a pro-Islamist government in 1997. The report also has the curious statement:

Turkey's military has long seen itself as the guarantor of the country's secular constitution, analysts say.

This is western perspective.
Seen as a guarantor by whom? The west.
Who desires the secular traditions? The west.
There is an Islamic perspective also.
Muslims want to practice Islam. They want to implement it even at government level.
Even Turkey wants that.
The west managed to implement its agenda on Islamic populace for long.
They would like to continue that.
Reports like above have the attitude that emanates from this desire to impose their calling on Muslims.
The analysts mentioned in above statements have the same ideology and the same desire.
Ideology and desire that by design is against Islam.

We are living in those times when they are faced with the stark reality - they have to accept that Muslims want Islam. And the Islam undiluted by the west.

More than the west we Muslims have to realize that.
We got to tell them that we want to implement undiluted Islam in our life.
We got to tell them that they have no say in that.
We got to tell them that it shall not be appreciated if they try to sabotage implementation of Islam in our lives.

And we need not be scared of them any more about they getting angry - they would like to be angry but they have lost energy for that. It is not that they have lost the wish to be disdainful and detractors of Islam. Emotional and psychological make up remains the same.
It is the energy that has gotten exhausted.
We Muslims have nothing to do with that - Allah (SWT) has deflated the balloon.

As a result soon we shall see that they would like to have some Muslim interlocutors so that they can make their dealings and affairs with Muslim world. We can now call it the Islamic world. The sacrifices of Muslim Ummah, by the Grace of Allah (SWT), have earned that right.

And all thanks are due to Allah (SWT) for that.

So talk to the west with confidence. Lord Most High willing they shall listen.
 

Faith is Better Part of Valour

There is a proverb that says that discretion is better part of valour.
The import is very clear that valour does not consist of blindly ramming yourself into dire situations. If you do not have a chance in the face of a danger it is alright to beat the famous hasty retreat.

But the proverb leaves out the essential bit - common folk wisdom may not take you to the truth.
To reach the truth you need faith.
And that is better part of valour.

Valour does not always bring you the victory.
Every martyrdom is valour.
But every martyrdom does not result in victory.
And victory is associated with faith.
Human efforts, including valour, seem so inadequate when one analyzes any significant victory.

If  Allah (SWT) provided one valour then it is a significant blessing.
And one should be thankful to Allah (SWT) for that.
And then there is victory - that is another blessing. It is usually connected with valour but all valour does not cash into victory.

Faith is a different thing altogether.
Any one leaving this world even with a grain of faith will ultimately be granted an entry into Jannah.
And that is a victory.