George Galloway Takes Chritopher Hitchens To Launderette

 Christopher Hitchens does not loose debates. See, for example, how he, together with Stephen Fry, cleans the floor with Catholic Church people. (One, Two, Three, Four, Five). A blogger termed this debate Slaughter at the Podium.

And then there are exceptions. Half a decade ago, one day, George Galloway had Christopher Hitchens for snacks. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12).

Lord Macaulay

1st Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay, Member of Her Majesty (The Queen of England)'s Most Honourable Privy Council (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859)'s Minute on Indian Education on February 2, 1935 has the following, by now very infamous, quote:

We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern,  --a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.

 Reference: Bureau of Education. Selections from Educational Records, Part I (1781-1839).  Edited by H. Sharp.  Calcutta: Superintendent, Government Printing, 1920. Reprint. Delhi: National Archives of India, 1965, 107-117. 

By now this is known to nearly everybody in India that he had some hideous plans for intellectual subjugation of Indians. The irony is that by and large Indians in general and Muslims in particular are following the same route-the algorithm proposed by Baron Macaulay. And shamelessly. Your poor Alig would like to say a few things, in later posts, about Macaulian Blogs by Muslims, Lord Most High willing. For now a single comment will be sufficient. Both the Wikipedia page on this ideologue as well as his infamous Minute have the same sugar coating that is so widely used by the US of A and his allies to keep Islam and Muslims under their thumb-including their resources. The differences are very very minor. At that time they were protecting our interests and now they are protecting their interests. For the record tiger has indeed changed its stripes. To conclude if they are protecting their interests shouldn't we have the right to protect our interests? This is a simple idea but from the state of affairs it, for sure, will not sound very sweet to the ears of the beleaguered west.

Muslims Are Coming!

Please make a judgment for your self but your poor Alig thinks that the west has gone, long back, hyper with its Islamophobia. The example we'd like to take in this post concerns blogs by Muslims. MI5 is only one of so many intelligence agencies of the world that are working overtime to put Muslims in a spot. In 2008 they commissioned a study to make an assessment of most influential Islamic sites. Twenty were chosen but soon the study was made public.
Here is the news report by Heide Blake.
Here is that list of Twenty Most Influential Islamic Sites.
Here is the document that was made public last year in 2010.
The study was based on traffic flow to and from various Islamic sites.

But the UK intelligence is really bust. Reason being that at least one of the blogs was not Islamic at all. It was just an academic blog by a woman called Esther Bin Dawud-most probably a Jewish person. The blog is called Islam in Europe and it appears in the blog roll here.

Nevertheless effect of this study was there. Everybody, or nearly so, became circumspect. You do not want to be in the bad books of MI5 and the like-all of them cooperating more than ever imagined. So Islam in Europe has changed its head mast picture. Have a closer look at it. May Allah forgive us.

Fake and Genuine Islamic Sites

The fakes are here.
The genuine are here.

Courtesy: Syed Sirajuddin Suhail

Islamic Time Management

Time management

I asked him a question on how should I be managing my time. I have always been such a failure at it! He gave the following crisp advices:

-          Go to sleep right after Isha salaat and wake up in tahajjud. Complete all your reading and writing tasks at that time. That has been the routine of our akaabireen.

-          Never attend any gatherings after 9 pm. If there is a gathering at your place, make sure its ends before 9! He further said that nowadays most of the gatherings are not segregated so one can easily apologise the host beforehand for not being able to attend it. Secondly, one could very well visit earlier, give a present and politely inform the host why they needed to leave. The biggest ‘calamity’ that has befallen the urbanites in this day and age is that they have stopped sleeping early, and the be-barkati this produces in one’s life, and time, is clearly evident in our messed up daily routines.

-          Keep away from mobile phones! Only answer text messages and keep a separate time slot for this activity. Do not let your cellphone’s message beep distract you when you are at work. Let your acquaintances know politely that you do not attend to phone calls because if you simply stop answering the phone without letting them know beforehand, that would be a very rude gesture. [This is a very important tip for all those teachers out there who are constantly being contacted (read: bugged) by their students for one reason or the other. Attend to their queries, but do not let your time get washed down the drain!]

 

Source :  Traveler in Desert

Internet Muslimah

Naeema A is an inspiration. She manages to do the things that are at the core of the present blog, that is, to remain connected with Islam in the present fitnah filled environment. Her blog appears in our blog roll at Thus Spake Hazrat Shaikh. In the next post we intend to copy some time management advise skimmed by her.

Life of a Muslim

Moulana Yunus Patel (1946-2011)

(Article for Daily News paper in Durban, South Africa – written mainly for non-muslim readership)

The sudden demise of a leading, renowned and well-respected Durban Scholar and Cleric, Moulana Yunus Patel on a pilgrimage journey in the holy city of Makkah has plunged the community in deep grief and sorrow. Aged 65, Moulana Patel (1946-2011) is survived by his widow, two daughters, a son and their spouses and children.

He was a dedicated, selfless, community service-orientated person, who stayed up till the late hours of the night, almost everyday of his life to render assistance to all who called upon him. Never was any person turned away from his door. In the recent years, despite suffering a series of heart attacks and the resulting impact on his health, he continued serving the community and humanity without any consideration for his own wellbeing.

He was a much-sought-after-person in the community, in his capacity as a social counselor, especially for solving marital problems, youth-related problems, family disputes, depression and the like.

Imam (Prayer leader) of the Masjid-un-Nur (Mosque Congregation) in Asherville, Durban with a magnetic appeal, he was very moderate and balanced. Open hearted towards all and sundry, Moulana Patel will be sorely missed by the thousands whose lives he had touched.

Moulana Patel served the Jamiatul Ulama KZN (Council of Muslim Theologians) in various positions over several decades. He served as the President of the Council for a number of years and resigned due to ill-health towards the latter part of his life.

He was particularly passionate about providing guidance to the community on living a life based on morality, ethics, justice, honesty, mercy and kindness towards one and all. He emphasised the great importance of compassionate and loving treatment of husbands towards their wives and advocated strongly the importance of the family unit. He travelled extensively around the country and to many parts of the world - USA, UK, France, Mauritius, Reunion, Kenya, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and neighbouring states to preach and advocate this very message, where his message was well received and greatly appreciated.

His was a familiar voice on numerous radio stations - the local Radio Al-Ansaar, Channel Islam International & Radio Islam International among others. Through his popular radio programs as well as audio-streaming from his very popular website, he was able to touch the lives of thousands of people nationally and internationally.

Indeed, immediately upon his demise, messages of condolences began pouring in from around the world from thousands who mourn the demise of a person who was so well-loved and respected.

He was a man who lived by his words, and practiced what he preached. He lead a verysimple, frugal life. He was an embodiment of humility, selflessness, generosity, mercy, kindness and concern for others. He was extremely accessible for the most ordinary of people at all times.

He dedicated many years of his life towards education, which was a burning passion of his life. Moulana Patel established a girl’s school as well as a boy’s school in his community where hundreds of learners have studied and continue to do so. Besides this, he was regarded as a patron and a spiritual guide to scores of organisations, institutions and societies.

He was also the author of numerous books and his book titled “Kick the habit” is very popular in motivating drug addicts to give up drugging, alcoholics to give up drinking, gamblers to give up gambling and smokers to give up smoking. His very popular website www.yunuspatel.co.za is a wealth of information on moral and spiritual upliftment.

Through his extensive travels and services, he put Durban on the map. The city of Durban and the country at large will be poorer at the loss of a person who advocated the principles of good citizenship and peaceful co-existence between communities in almost every talk, lecture and sermon that he delivered. His demise has indeed left a deep void that will be difficult to fill.

We take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, associates and congregation in their moment of grief and bereavement. May the Almighty continue to bless his soul and shower him with divine mercy, love and benediction.

Mufti Zubair Bayat

President, Darul Ihsan Community Centre, Durban, South Africa

Source: Darul Ihsan
See Also : TSHS, SF

From DB To RA

Dear Alig (second person singular),
Do you feel irritated when Islamic topics are introduced?
You should not. Aligarh Movement is part of Islam. Completely. This is what is meant by the Crown of Unity of God on your head.
So to introduce the sad news-a well known Caliph of Hazrat Hakim Akhtar Sahab (DB) passed away in Makkah Al-Mukarramah yesterday after Maghrib Prayers. He was Maulana Yunus Patel from South Africa whom we used to call Damatbarkatuhum (DB) till yesterday and now we have to call him Ramatullah Alaihi (RA). See here, here, here, here and here.

Verily we are for our Lord and unto Him is our return.

Tipu Sultan

Dr Abu Tamim is an inspiration.
He digs out the most interesting and most relevant information for you.
For example he found the link to the Rohingya Muslims.
Before that to Pasmanda Muslim Forum.
And today for Islam in Kerala.
There is a nice article on Tipu Sultan on the last site. And more, of course.

Thank you Doctor Sahab.

Muslims and Morality in Russia

Muslims adhere the most to morals. See here.
And all Praise is to Lord Most High for that.

Balancing Act

When one has bad habits one is in trouble.
One needs self correction in this situation.
This self correction does not come from self help books. One must go to a Shaikh.
There is even more difficult thing. That is balancing. To learn that, or even to identify situations whether it is the situation that requires balancing or self correction, one again has to go to Masha-ikh.
As a bonus for reading so far here is a saying from Hakim-ul-Ummat Hazrat Thanwi (RA) where a situation requiring balancing is identified.

I neither like pride nor have any affinity for such humility in which there is disgrace. I do not house (in this khanqāh) anyone who is haughty, nor does a displayer of false humility find any place here, nor such a person who adopts such humility in which another becomes acquainted of his being selfless. This is also one branch of pride.

Everything should be balanced, and an easy way to attain that is that one neither adorns a style which instills pride, nor forces humility upon oneself. Be free in your disposition and do as per ones natural habit. This manner will be devoid of both pride and false humility otherwise whichever side one inclines toward will yield that quality.*

  Malfuzāt Hakīmul Ummat Malfuz # 176 – vol. 8 pg. 179

*i.e if one inclines more towards pride then it will yield the quality of pride in him and he will transgress its bound and vice versa.

 Source: Q.A.F.I.L.A.

Hu Songshan

Islam in China is a favourite topic with your poor Alig. So here is the opening paragraph about Hu Songshan  at Wikipedia.

Hu Songshan (1880–1956), a Hui, was born in 1880, in Tongxin County, Ningxia, China. His father was a Gansu ahong belonging to the Khafiya menhuan. When he was 18 he joined Wang Naibi of Haicheng. He became imam of the Yihewani (Ikhwan in Arabic) sect at age 21 which was founded by Ma Wanfu. He opposed cash payments for religious services, and wasteful rituals. Being a member of the Yihewani, he was against Sufism and the menhuan, so much that he destroyed his own father's gongbei built at Tongxin

Though it looks difficult to comprehend but it is clear that he was a Salafi. During Haj he was mistreated (again as per Wikipedia) and so he turned nationalist. No Islamic China but Nationalist China was his later attitude.

Now what will you say about those Muslims who mistreated him during Haj? For sure these people took the historical step. And they shall answer their actions before Lord Most High.

Divide and Rule

British had this hideous policy in India-divide and rule.
It back fired rather badly.
Indians united and gave the exit pass to the British. And Indian Movement for Freedom became a legendary phenomenon. A phenomenon that is still baffling the people who should understand and describe it.
But the hideous mentality of the materialist colonial masters (club them with the rest of Europe and the US) was not frozen.
They continue the their colonialist ambitions by other means. Media and diplomacy.
One division they have created is the division of man and woman.
Women in society are prone to end up in disadvantageous situations. This is a social problem. Should be solved socially. Those who ignore these problems do so that only to their own loss and consternation. And they are answerable on the Day of Judgment.
This situation, that women have problems that are peculiar to them, has been thoroughly exploited to rule the Muslims. Here is a news article, from some time back, where this situation manifests itself.
See how perfectly Lord Macaulay succeeded? The reporter is either Indian or of Indian origin and the activist too is Indian, a Muslim and a woman to boot.

Verily we are for our Lord and unto Him is our return.

Can Spring Be Far Behind?

If winter comes then can spring be far behind?
The guys get down to brass tacks at Sunni Forum.
The current topic is dowry. This link is about Dr Abu Tamim's reaction to the issue.
Here is the Sunni Forum thread.
This menace is consuming the Muslim society too-in a full fledged way. It is scary.
Somebody said that if you do not become a person who invites (dayee) then you will become an invitee (madoo). If you do not invite people to be away from social illness then you shall be invited to social illness.
That has happened in case of dowry. Muslim society has gulped it hooks and all.
Prevention is better than cure but the prevention stage is far behind and the cure is also in desperate state.
This is winter talk.
What is spring?
The solution to the curse of dowry was designed in the form of article 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
This article itself is draconian. Many unscrupulous people have used it to destroy whole prospering families. This problem is present at the moment at somewhat similar level of seriousness as the dowry problem-the problem that it was designed to solve.
A single statement by the daughter-in-law like I'll show you can send the whole in laws family into chill. A single complain to the police can destroy a career shaped with years of hard work at medical college combined with management institute-reducing the groom to casting pebbles in a pond.
Take the example of a boy from a very respectable family. The wife did it to him-complained to the police. The police acted on weekend combined with holiday. Once the action is taken it is irreversible. For a whole week the boy and the family did not get bail. Everybody on girl's side was a lawyer-or too many of them were lawyers. Mercy of Allah Most High so acted that bride's cousin's marriage proposal got canceled-boys got scared to marry in that family. But not all are so fortunate.

Silly Fuller

Here is the paragraph from Alhumdulillah:

Some facts you may not know about Turkey:

"Jews have a long history within the Ottoman Empire. They found refuge there after they were expelled, along with Muslims, from Catholic Spain in 1492. In fact, as Soner Cagaptsy states, 'in the seventeenth century more Jews lived in the Ottoman Empire than in the rest of the World collectively.' For Jews the historical experience of life in the Muslim world was generally much more positive than it was in large parts of Europe."

Over 120,000 Jewish people live in Turkey today and continue to support the Turkish State, to the extent that the Turkish-Jewish community in Israel remains overly pro-Turkish.

(Fuller, G. 2009. The New Turkish Republic, p. 155)

What does this author expect? They should betray the country they live in?

Qurratulain Hyder

The cover, badly reproduced Education Book Company, of original Urdu novel called Co-Travelers of the End of Night (Aakhir-e-Shab Ke Hum Safar) has the signature Hyder. She painted herself. May be she was great painter, may be not but the cover looks as professional they used to be. Or as they are. This is only a tidbit from her creativity.

Today's Urdu daily Roznama Rashtriya Sahara has a full page article on Qurratulain Hyder by Farooq Argali in his series on Pride of Women (Fakhr-e-Khawateen). The front page anchor for the article created a flutter-will the author be able to do justice to Anny Apa-that was her nick name. Or Annie-as they would call her in the English journalism circles. Somebody reminded her that Annie is an anagram of inane-they sole cross-word puzzles, these English journalists, when they are not bringing the governments down. But Anny Apa was anything but inane.

Your poor Alig did not get a an opportunity to say salaam to her but it was known that she was not an easy person to get along with. That is just as well. The reason is that the amount of research and physical work that went into creating her work was stupendous. It can give inferiority complex to a main stream research worker in history and archeology.

So coming back to the article under consideration-the author proved the suspicion to be wrong in the middle of the first paragraph. Here are his words:

Here a unique professional Muslim women was born who with her extra ordinary intelligence, knowledge and creativity divulged, in her novel and story writing, such a wide ranging historical, social and political understanding and understanding of human awareness and insight that in the subcontinent no other community could produce a person like her.

(To be finished.) 

Professor Abdur Raheem Kidwai

Abdul Majid Daryabadi was not a Maulana.
But perceptive Maulanas revered him as a Maulana.
Mostly people use the title Maulana before his name. This is amply justified. In fact Nadwa accepted him as an honorary Nadwi.
Now the matter of fact is that he had for daughters.
And his brother had four sons. Clear?
Good now the home work is where did he marry his four daughters?
You got it right. Four daughters married to four of his nephews.
Son of one of those daughters is now a Professor at the English Department of your beloved Alma Mater.
He is professor A.R.Kidwai.
His research work is on Byron-because he has used some concepts that are taken from Islam-or something like that.
And then there is some more work that he has done.
Or much more work.
Like the book, with Manazir Ahsan, on Muslim response to Rushdie. Very civil response to an obscenity.
And the constant book reviews that appear in Muslim World Book Review. This periodical is a fitting tribute to Islamic scholarship where Muslim scholars use the Muslim idiom to analyze the things around us, the books, from a Muslim perspective at a level that sooner or later will bust the orientalist juggernaut.
Lord willing.
Then there is his work on English translations of the Holy Qur'an. We have an old article, from 1993, at a Middle East journal where he has taken stock of English translations of the holy book.
This article has developed into a book now was published way back in 2007, in excellent production quality, from Saudia. Unfortunately there is outlet on the internet from where it is available. Some enterprising person should do something to make it available to the masses. (Please leave the author to do his work.)
Here is a link covering his lecture on this matter at Oxford.

Farooq Argali

Lately your poor Alig has started liking a writer named Farooq Argali.
We do not know whether he is an Alig or not. Will be nice to know.No we are not familiar with his earlier writings. (Alright?)
We got familiarized with his writing with his series in Roznama Rashtriya Sahara called The Pride of the Nation in which he out lines the life and times of many Muslims who made notable contributions and sacrifices.
It saves you lots of time and effort. His was not a deep analysis but a simple narration-in deed any deep analysis would only destroy the purpose of that series.
Those articles were published in a book form that was recently released with some fanfare.
Another introduction with the same author, for your poor Alig, was with the book What is There in Islam? (Islam Nain Kya Hai?). This was a collection of life stories of those, mostly western, people who came to Islam. This too requires extensive reading to put such a book together. And the subject matter has to be put in a light sort of manner because though the journey back to Islam is most rewarding but it is most excruciating also. And that is what he managed to do.

Like a Research University

There are nearly half a dozen detectors and hence research groups at Large Hadron Collider at European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) at Geneva.
A group might contain 1500 scientists.
Ken Bloom puts the things in perspective by telling that it is like a research university in its own right.
Compare the number with the total number of university faculty at AMU that is around 1200.

Polygamy

Blogger Madni is educating us about polygyny here.
The number of posts on that blog, as of writing, is five.
Number of followers is seventeen.
Now that is tremendous popularity.
This brother has stumped two of our favourite blogs Islam in Europe and The Reference Frame (both painful to visit) in the follower vs number of posts ratio.
Now do not cry yourself hoarse-calling the subject matter an anachronism. Take this opportunity to get yourself familiarized with a concept from Islam. The benefits are more than the harms.