BaKhabar, July 2014

Better light a candle than curse the darkness
Monthly e-Magazine ISSN 2319-4049

http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ Volume 7, Issue 07, July2014 BE AWARE, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE
33 Blessings and Benefits of Ramadhan Fasting
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Bakhabar : July 2014 2
Contents
33 Blessings and Benefits of
Ramadhan Fasting 08
A Grand Political Dilemma 11
A Wife is Not a Girlfriend 16
Combating Rape 12
Dates Round the Year 18
Did Muslims Fight to Convert
People 03
Myths about Muslims unmasked
05
Sustaining Spousal Love 28
Uniform Civil Code 22
Shariat 26
Q & A
Name of Questioner: Bob
Reply date: 2014/04/10
Question: Can you tell me about the battles
fought in which Mohammed led (Uhud etc...) ? Why
were they led? Was it really just to forcefully convert
people to Islam or else people were killed? I don't
believe much of what I read on those websites, as
they try to make Christianity's history look pure and
bloodless, when that is so not the case. So I thought
I'd try to check this web. I'm sorry I just have one
more question, and I know these questions are what
you get all the time, and are really frustrating, but it's
about the Crusades. Christians justify the crusades
by saying that if it didn't happen, Muslims would
have gone on conquering lands and killing people
that didn't follow Islam. What do you say? ... Again
sorry for throwing all these questions at you all at
once, I'm an atheist who's pretty much interested in
Islamic history, I'm only starting to realize that most
of what I learnt on Islam is propaganda and lies
made by some fundamental Christians. Thanks for
your time.
consultant: Shahul Hameed
Answer: Salam dear Bob,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask
About Islam.
War has always been a difficult subject for objective
analysis. Given the nature of humankind, one cannot
imagine a world without wars. What we can do is to
have a code of rules for war.
Islam provides such rules, which remain ever nobler
and more realistic than any other code existing for
the conduct of war.
Concerning the rules of fighting as outlined in
the Quran and taught by the Prophet Muham-
mad (peace be upon him), the following points
may be noted:
In war as in peace, the injunctions of Islam are
to be strictly observed. Worship does not cease
during times of war. Islam maintains that what-
ever is prohibited during peace is also prohib-
ited during war.
Allah says in the Quran what means:
{Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight
against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loves
not, aggressors.} (Al-Baqarah 2:190)
The above permission to fight clearly lays down the
following conditions: (1) Never commit aggression;
fighting is allowed only for self-defense. (2) Fight-
ing must never be against non-combatants or non-
fighting personnel.
The Prophet used to instruct his followers during
battles and tell them not to be embittered or inclined
to commit treachery. He asked them to spare non-
combatants, particularly children and hermits. Fol-
lowing the example of the Prophet, Caliph AbuBakr
gave the following instructions to the commander
who led the campaign to Syria:
"Do not betray, be treacherous or vindictive. Do not
mutilate. Do not kill children, the aged or women.
Do not cut or burn palm trees or fruit trees. Do not
slay a sheep, a cow, or camel except for your food.
And you will come across people who stay in her-
mitages for worship; leave them alone to what they
devote themselves to."
Justice is highly valued in Islam and no Muslim is
allowed to violate it even in times of war against
their bitterest enemies. From the early days of Islam,
medical assistance was available to all irrespective
of religion or creed and was even given to the ene-
mies. The medical profession itself was specially
honored in Islam, and it was the duty of the Muslims
to offer help in this regard to all.
Did Muslims Fight to Convert People?
Question and answer details
Q & A
A well-known example is that of Saladin who gave
medical help to his opponent Richard the Lion-
Hearted of England, who was seriously ill during the
Crusades. He sent his own doctor and personally su-
pervised Richard's treatment until he became well.
This is in contrast with the behavior of the invading
crusaders. When they entered Jerusalem on July 15,
1099, they slaughtered seventy thousand Muslims,
including women, children, and the elderly: "They
broke children's skulls by knocking them against the
wall, threw babies from roof tops, roasted men over
fires and cut open women's bellies to see if they had
swallowed any gold."
This description was given by Edward Gibbon, the
famous historian; and here you get an answer to the
claim that if Christians had not fought the Crusades,
the Muslims would have gone on killing people who
did not accept Islam. And in modern times, this ex-
ample is paralleled by the atrocious behavior of the
Serb army in Bosnia, to quote just one instance.
The battles fought by the Prophet were all for self-
defense or for ensuring the freedom of practicing
Islam. And no battle was fought by the Prophet for
imposing Islam on the people.
Indeed, God in the Quran has commanded not to
compel any one to accept Islam. There are several
Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet that prove
this. Because, Islam specifically and categorically
teaches that unless a person accepts the truth of
Islam with understanding, there is no meaning in
his/her outward show of allegiance.
Islam is staunchly against any war meant for colo-
nization or occupation. On the contrary, it permits
fighting for the sake of liberation from oppressors
and occupiers.
And once a people have been liberated, they are al-
lowed the freedom to choose their religion, and if
needed Muslims should fight to ensure this freedom.
I hope this answers your question. Please keep in
touch.
Salam.
http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-
islam/ethics-and-values/muslim-character/167820-
did-muslims-fight-to-convert-people.html
Khabron ki Khabar
Seraj Akram
Desh me ab koi corruption par baat nahi karta
Lagata hai sarkar badalte hi corruption khatm ho gaya,
ya iske khilaf bolne walon ka kaam khatm ho gaya,
aap uska fayeda uthane ka time hai.
Videshi paisa lane ki mang karne wala baba bhi
khamosh
Shayed paison ke len den sare aam karne phansne ke
bad ab itni himmat nahi iske khilaf bat karne ki.
Election me haarne ke baad laaloo Prasad aur nitish
kumar me nazdiki barhi
Kaash yah samajh election se pahle aati to shayed itni
buri haar ka saman in dono ko nahi dekhna parta, aur
agar yah dono mil kar assembli ka election lare to phir
inki kameyabi ke imkan kafi barh jayenge.
Iraq me Shia-Sunni ekhtalfat ko hawa denay ke liye
phir halat saazgaar
Aur sari duniya ke muslim tamashayi ki tarah logo ko
marte dekh rahe hain
Maharasthra me muslim ko 5% reservation dene ka
wada
Congress ki itni durgati hone ke bawajud jhuta wada
karne se baaz nahi aaye.
Indian Civil Service ke imtehan me is bar bhi Muslim
3% se niche rahe.
4% ki lakeer aisi ho gayi ho jaise lakshman rekha
khinch di gayi ho, sari koshishen ek taraf lekin muslim
ka fisad is se barhta hi nahi. Koshis me kami hai ya
koi aur wajuhaat hain.
Madhya Pradesh me Byapam ghotale me kayi BJP aur
RSS kay neta shamilek khabar
Yahi hai asli nationalism, apna pet bharo desh ka
chahe jo bhi ho.
Mahngai din ba din barhti ja rahi hai
Wah jaadoo ki chhari kaam nahi kar rahi hai shayed jis
se election jitte hi mahngai kam karne ka wada kiya
gaya.
Islam
I By Prof Nivedita Menon I
I
n the context of massive propaganda campaigns,
the subtle use of stereotypes, and the fact that
both the Western and the Indian media share cer-
tain basic biases, many people end up believing in a
range of myths about the adherents of the worlds
second largest religion. This is a quick attempt at ex-
posing those myths.
Myth: Muslim countries are never secular. Mus-
lims do not tolerate minorities in their countries
but demand minority rights in other countries.
The worlds largest Muslim majority country is In-
donesia (total population approximately 25 crores,
larger than Pakistan). Indonesia is a secular democ-
racy. Indeed, its population is almost a mirror image
of Indias 88% Muslim, 9% Christian, 3% Hindu,
2% Buddhist, etc. (as compared to India, which has a
population that is 80% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3%
Christian, etc.) Indonesias national slogan is Unity
in Diversity. Yes, Indonesia has occasional riots and
bomb blasts, but so does India.
In reality the majority of Muslim majority countries
in the world are secular. Several large examples in-
clude Turkey, Mali, Syria, Niger, and Kazakhstan.
Despite having Islam as state religion,
Bangladeshs government is also secular in law. The
same is true of many other countries. Only six coun-
tries in the world claim to use Islam as the basis of
their law making and their total population is
roughly the same as the population of Indonesia,
Turkey and Kazakhstan combined. In other words,
the vast majority of Muslim majority countries are
secular, and the vast majority of Muslims live under
secular governments.
Myth: Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but
most terrorists are Muslims.
Even if we accept the governments definition of
who is a terrorist in India, this is entirely untrue. In
India, less than a third of the organisations banned as
terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Preven-
tion) Act are Muslim organisations. Internationally,
the group that engaged in the most suicide bombings
in the world was the LTTE in Sri Lanka a mili-
tantly atheist group whose members are mostly of
Hindu and Christian origin.
It is also not true that Muslim organisations engage
in the most violence in India. Between 2005 and
2014, as per the South Asia Terrorism Portal, twice
as many people were killed in terrorist incidents by
Northeastern militant organisations and left wing
extremism. These are all non-Muslim organisations,
and the largest Northeastern organisation in this pe-
riod (ULFA) has a mostly Hindu, upper caste leader-
ship.
Besides, the definition of terrorism that the gov-
ernment uses is contradictory. Killing twenty people
by a bomb blast is considered terrorism, but the
killing of thousands of people in 1984 or more than a
thousand people in Gujarat in 2002 (or, for that mat-
ter, the killing of 40 people in Muzaffarnagar, 68
people in Orissa in 2008, etc. etc.) are not. All riots
involve planning, stockpiling of weapons and sys-
tematic attacks. Why then are they not considered
terrorism?
Myth: Muslims have always been fundamental-
ists and are more religious than followers of
other religions.
Recent history shows that this is a lie, and also ex-
poses where current Muslim fundamentalism
comes from. Just forty to sixty years ago, in most of
the major regions of the world with high Islamic
populations Indonesia, the Middle East, north
Africa the strongest political forces were secular
leftists. This took many forms: the Indonesian Com-
munist Party, the Nasserite and Baathist regimes in
Egypt, Syria and Iraq, the Iranian government of
Mohammed Mossadegh, etc. In these countries, es-
pecially in the Middle East, it was the United States
and its client states (such as Saudi Arabia) that spon-
sored, financed and armed right wing and religious
fundamentalist organisations, precisely in order to
counter the strength of the secular leftists whom they
opposed. Israels role in propping up Hamas to
counter the PLO is also well known. This reached its
height in the 1980s with the war in Afghanistan, with
the US bankrolling and training the people who later
founded Al Qaeda. It was during this period as well
Myths about Muslims unmasked
Islam
that the US financed and supported the Zia regime in
Pakistan in its Islamisation drive. The current
strength of the Islamic fundamentalist movement in
the Middle East is a result of American strategy,
which involved finishing off all leftist resistance
while tolerating and encouraging Islamic fundamen-
talism.
Above all, to repeat the key point, Islamic funda-
mentalism is a political phenomenon created by a
particular history just like Hindutva, Christian fun-
damentalism and every other form of right wing
movement. The myth of the inherently fundamental-
ist Muslim owes a lot to European mythmaking
around the Crusades and subsequent efforts to prop
up their empire in India. But people continue to re-
cycle colonial self-justifications as if they are true.
Myth: Muslims always start violence. Hindus
only retaliate or act in self defence.
Every single group that has ever engaged in mass
killings has claimed to be retaliating or defending
themselves. TheSeptember 11 attacks in the US
were justified as retaliation for the killing of lakhs
of people in Iraq (through sanctions) and in Palestine
by the US and Israel. If you believe the emails being
sent before the Delhi and Ahmedabad bomb blasts in
2008, the blasts were retaliation for police atroci-
ties and the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat. In
2008 Christians were massacred in Orissa in retalia-
tion for the killing of a VHP leader. Going back fur-
ther in history, the Nazis justified the Kristallnacht-
their first state-sponsored riot against Jews, in which
thousands of synagogues and homes were destroyed
by claiming it was retaliation for the murder of a
German diplomat and necessary to defend them-
selves against international Jewry.
The reason for this is simple the only way to con-
vince people to commit inhuman atrocities against
other people is to make them believe that they are
defending themselves or paying back. The sheer
inhumanity of talking about retaliation is obvious.
Would those who claim Hindus only retaliate be
comfortable if a Bihari militia were to massacre Ma-
harashtrians as retaliation for attacks by the MNS
and the Shiv Sena? Would they accept if Northeast-
ern armed organisations carried out massacres of
Delhiites in retaliation for atrocities and racism
against Northeasterners in the capital? It is a mark of
how low we have come as a society that so many
people go around mouthing these slogans today, as if
gangrape and massacres can ever be justified by re-
taliation and self-defence.
Myth: Hindus do not kill based on their religion.
Only Muslims do, because their religion requires
them to.
In Gujarat in 2002, in Delhi and other cities in 1984,
in Bhagalpur in 1989, and in most other riots, the
overwhelming majority of those who died were from
minority communities (Muslims, Sikhs, etc.) Then
we have the recent instances of bomb blasts by Hin-
dutva organisations. The majority of the killers in all
of these incidents were Hindus, and the organisa-
tions that drove the killings called on them to kill
non-Hindus. Would it be accurate to say they killed
because Hinduism required them to do so? No,
clearly, in all those instances, the attackers and the
organisers were political groups seeking political
goals (and dressing them up as religious goals). This
is exactly what far right Muslim groups do too.
Every religion has groups that urge conflict with
other religions, and holy texts in every religion con-
tain things that endorse atrocities (just look at what
the Manu Smriti says about women and Dalits, or
the Old Testament of the Bible says about massacres
of non-Jews). This does not mean that followers of
those religions follow those texts literally. The vast
majority of Muslims, like the vast majority of Hin-
dus, Christians, or any other group, has never killed
anyone and never will.
Myth: Muslims are united and act together, while
Hindus are divided and weak.
Every election study ever done has found that Mus-
lims vote in the same manner as any other commu-
nity votes for facilities, on the basis of the
candidate, whether they like a political party, etc. In
practice also Muslims are no more united than any
other group; they have internal divisions on reli-
gious, caste, gender, regional, language and count-
less other lines, just like any other community in
India. If Muslims were united, one would expect
that they would be represented well in Parliament. In
fact, Muslim MPs constituted only 5.5% of the out-
going Lok Sabha, even though they are more than
13% of the population.
If anything, in todays cities the idea of Muslims all
live together has been created by discrimination
against them and them being forced to live in partic-
ular ghettos. Meanwhile, in voting, people worry
Islam
about their own physical safety; just as a Bihari will
not vote for a Shiv Sena candidate, most Muslims
would not vote for the BJP. This is, once again, com-
mon sense. A party which has built itself around call-
ing you foreigners, terrorists and anti-nationals is not
likely to win your vote.
Myth: The government favours Muslims and
pampers them.
On the contrary, official data indicates systematic
discrimination against Muslims. The Sachar Com-
mittee found that availability of bus stops, roads,
bank branches etc. is lower in Muslim majority
areas, even when compared to nearby villages with a
Hindu majority. Muslims on average received only
2/3 the loan amounts disbursed to other minorities.
The proportion of Muslims living in pucca houses is
lower than the general population, both in cities and
in villages, even if compared to others at their level
of poverty. Muslims form less than 3% of the IAS
officers and 4% of IPS officers, even though their
population is about 13% of the total. Overall, the
Sachar Committee concluded that on average Mus-
lims are at roughly the same socioeconomic level as
Dalits and adivasis.
Similarly, in a study published in the Economic and
Political Weekly in 2007, the authors responded to
548 job advertisements from private sector compa-
nies with three identical applications one with a
high caste Hindu name, one with a Dalit name, and
one with a Muslim name. Even though the applica-
tions were otherwise identical, the Dalit name was
approximately one third less likely to get called for
an interview, and the Muslim name was two thirds
less likely. In both the public and the private sectors,
Muslims are denied opportunities across the board.
Myth: But Hindus cannot buy land in Jammu
and Kashmir!
Non-Kashmiris cannot buy land in J&K just as
non-Himachalis cannot buy land in Himachal
Pradesh, outsiders cannot enter Nagaland without
permission, non-Uttarakhandis can buy only small
plots in Uttarakhand, etc. Many parts of India have
these regulations to protect local populations. The
issue has nothing to do with religion.
Myth: The Muslim population is increasing faster
than the Hindu population, especially because Mus-
lim men can have many wives. Their aim is to be-
come the majority.
The National Family Health Survey has found that
young Muslim women have the same fertility rate as
young Hindu women of the same economic level.
The slightly higher growth rate for Muslims overall
is due to the fact that, on average, Muslims are
poorer than Hindus. Common sense would also indi-
cate this. Kerala, which has a Muslim population of
approximately 25%, also has the lowest population
growth rate of any State in the country. Poverty and
lack of facilities are far more important than religion
in deciding how many children you have. The fertil-
ity rate of Muslims in States like Tamil Nadu and
Kerala is far below that of Hindus in Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar or Rajasthan, for instance.
As for Muslim men marrying many wives, it is
blindingly obvious that this can make no difference
to population growth, since if one Muslim man has
two wives, that means some other man will have no
wife (given that the populations of men and women
are roughly equal). Meanwhile, the NFHS found (in
the only survey that looked at this) that approxi-
mately 5.8% of Hindu men have multiple wives,
while only 5.73% of Muslim men do.
Myth: Muslims got their country when Pakistan
was created, now they should leave our country.
The first active political leaders to talk of separate
countries for Muslims and Hindus were those who
would later be part of the Hindu Mahasabha. Bhai
Paramanand, later president of the Mahasabha, de-
manded this in 1905. The demand for Pakistan did
not emerge from the Muslim League until 1940, and
then as well it was a political demand by a political
party. Huge numbers of Muslims opposed the idea of
Pakistan, including the biggest Islamic religious
school in India the Deoband seminary and Presi-
dent of the Congress party, Maulana Azad, who was
one of Indias greatest freedom fighters. The demand
for Pakistan was a demand by a political party, not a
demand by Muslims as a whole.
In short, its simple: Muslims are human beings,
with as much diversity and free thinking as any other
group of people. In this climate of intense hate-mon-
gering against Muslims, its necessary to reject these
racist myths and instead stand up for a world that
values human dignity.
*Nivedita Menon teaches Politics at School of Inter-
national Studies, JNU, Delhi
http://muslimmirror.com/eng/myths-about-muslims-
unmasked/
Ramadhan
T
he blessings and benefits of Ramadhan Fast-
ing are too many to be counted. If one does
recognize them and realize their importance,
he wishes to have the month of Ramadhan to be
throughout the whole year.
These blessings are given by Allah to the fasting
Muslims, who are to fast with full faith and expecta-
tion.
These blessings and benefits of the month of fasting
during Ramadhan have been grouped and summa-
rized into different categories. They are summarized
here without commentary. It should be remembered
that all of these blessings were taken directly from
Holy Quran and Hadith.
The following is a partial list for the blessings and
benefits of Ramadhan Fasting:
01. Taqwa:
O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fast-
ing) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for
those before you, that you may become Al-Mut-
taqun (the pious) [Quran 2/183]
1. Fearing Allah (SWT)
2. Practicing the Revelations of Allah (SWT)
3. Accepting the little things that one has achieved
4. Preparing for departure from this world to the
Hereafter
5. Self-discipline
6. Self-control
7. Self-restraint
8. Self-education
9. Self-evaluation
By accepting these criteria and by practicing them,
the Muslim will achieve the concept of Taqwa in his
private and public life.
02. Protection:
1. Avoiding Immorality
2. Avoiding anger/outcry/uproar
3. Avoiding stupidity
4. Avoiding all makrooh/mashbooh/haram
By achieving these good manners, a Muslim will
come out of fasting a better human being in the soci-
ety.
03. Revelation of Holy Quran:
The Holy Quran was revealed during the month of
Ramadhan.
The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the
Qur'an, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for
the guidance and the criterion (between right and
wrong) [Quran 2/185]
The Holy Quran is meant to be:
1. A Guidance to mankind
2. A Manifestation of right from wrong
3. A Summation and culmination of all previous
revelations
4. A Glad-tiding to the believers
5. A Healer
6. A Mercy
04. Doors of heaven are open (Hadith Ahmed,
Nasai, Baihaqi)
05. Doors of hell are closed (Hadith Ahmed,
Nasai, Baihaqi)
06. Devils are chained down (Hadith Ahmed,
Nasai, Baihaqi)
07. Fasting with Iman (faith) and expecta-
tion:
Such type of intention leads to forgiveness by Allah
(SWT) to the individual's sins. (Hadith Ahmed, Abu
Dawood, Ibn Majah)
08. Door of Rayyan:
There is in Paradise a door called Al-Rayyan. It is
for the fasting Muslims. Only those who fasted the
month of Ramadhan are the ones to enjoy the bliss
of Paradise inside that area.
09. Rejoices:
There are two types of rejoices for the Muslims who
fast. These are:
1. When breaking fast
2. When meeting Allah (SWT) on the day of Judg-
ment .(Muslim 6/2568, Ahmed)
Blessings and Benefits of Ramadhan
Fasting: How many will you reap?
33
Ramadhan
10. Mouth Smell:
The smell of the mouth of the fasting Muslim will be
better than the smell of musk during the day of
Judgement.
11. Glad-Tidings:
These glad-tidings are given to the well-wishers
while the ill-wishers are to be stopped during fasting.
12. Ramadhan -to- Ramadhan:
Whoever fasts two consecutive months of Ramadhan
with good intention will receive forgiveness for the
mistakes committed throughout the year.
13. Multiplication of Rewards:
Doing good = 10x, 70x, 700x or more during the
month of Ramadhan.
14. Feeding Others:
Whoever invites others to break the fast, and who-
ever takes care of the hungry, needy, during the last
ten days of Ramadhan will receive equal rewards to
the fasting person(s).
15. Blessing of Iftar:
Dua is accepted by ALLAH (SWT) at Iftar time.
16. Blessings of Sahoor (The late night
meal)
The Prophet (pbh) said, "Take suhur as there is a
blessing (Barakah)in it." (Bukhari 31/146) : This
meal time gives the opportunity for:
1. Night Prayers
2. Zikr, Remembrance, Contemplation
3. Recitation of Holy Quran
4. FajrSalat in Jamaat
5. Dua of Fajr
17. Night Prayers:
Whoever performs the Night prayers with sincerity
and good intention will receive forgiveness of his
past mistakes. He who observed prayer at night dur-
ing Ramadan,because of faith and seeking his re-
ward from Allah, his previous sins would be
forgiven.(Bukhari , Muslim 4/1662)
18. Shafa'at (Pleading One's Case for For-
giveness (Hadith Ahmed):
Whoever fasts Ramadhan will receive on the day of
Judgement the Shafa'at of:
1. Ramadhan (Hadith Ahmed)
2. Holy Quran (Hadith Ahmed)
19. Ihya (Passing Nights Awake):
Last ten days of Ramadhan. When a Muslim makes
this type of effort, he will get rewards, forgiveness,
and multiples of blessings.
20. Itikaf (Retreat):
A Muslim who performs Itikaf during the last ten
days of Ramadhan will get:
1. Blessings and rewards
2. Peace of mind
3. Contemplation and evaluation
4. Better citizen
21. LailatulQadr (The Night of Power):
Whoever observes it with sincerity and good inten-
tion will get the following benefits:
1. Forgiveness of mistakes .(Bukhari 1/34)
2. Better than 1,000 months The night of Al-Qadr
(Decree) is better than a thousand months [3/97]
3. Dua
4. Zikr
5. Prayers
6. Reading Holy Quran
7. Rewards
8. Blessings
9. Better human being
22. Generosity : Kindness, hospitality, vis-
itation, etc.
All of these and many more are among the benefits
of Ramadhan.
23. Zakat al-Fitrah (Charity on Eid Day):
The benefits of paying such as charity to the needy
are tremendous, among which are the following:
1. Purity
2. Feeding the needy
3. Sharing happiness
4. Improving human relations
5. Improving society
24. Sadaqah (Charity):
The benefits of paying sadaqah are many. These are
summarized as follows:
1. Purity
2. Flourishing of wealth
3. Improving economy
4. Circulation of wealth
5. Elimination of inflation
6. Elimination of poverty
Ramadhan
25. Fasting and Health:
By fasting, one gets the following benefits:
1. Purification of body from toxins
2. Reducing of weight
3. Purity of brain
4. Rejuvenation of body
5. Living of life with happiness
6. Looking younger
26. Change of Lifestyle:
By living a different life style, one gets rid of the
monotony of life and hence enjoys his life span.
27. Sharing:
Of hunger, thirst and rituals with others in the soci-
ety.
28. Eid-ul-Fitr (Feast) :
Sharing of happiness and visitation of one another as
members of the society.
29. Graveyards Visitation:
One will get the following benefits by visiting grave-
yards.
1. Dua for the deceased
2. Preparing oneself for departure from this world
3. Feeling respect for the deceased
4. Making the person to be humble in his life
30. Every breath is Tasbiih.
Every breath and even sleep is Ibadah and awarded.
31. Umrah in Ramadhan:
Performing umrah during the fasting month of Ra-
madhan is: Equal to one Hajj (pilgrimage) 'Perform
Ùmra when Ramadan comes, for Ùmra in Ra-
madan is equal to Hajj (in reward) [Bukhari 3/10,
Muslim 7/2884]
32. Historical Successes and Victories in
Ramadhan:
Muslims throughout their history received many
benefits during Ramadhan the month of fasting,
33. Learning lessons from historical inci-
dents
that happened during Holy Ramadhan the month of
fasting
5-Day Mathematics Workshop
for Madarsa Teachers Held In
Delhi
Sadbhav Mission and Hamdard Education Soci-
etyorganized a 5-Day Mathematcis workshop
for MadarsaTeachers at Talimabad, New Delhi
from May 25 to 29, 2014.Mr. Syed Samar Hamid
extended his full cooperation and Dr.Ismail Ghazi
worked immensely hard to mobilize teachers and
made all the arrangements. 65 people participated
in theworkshop, 9AM to 4 PM, with great enthu-
siasm. Of these 20were women, including 7
Hindu girls/ teachers with educationupto B.A.,
B.Ed., and M.A.
Prof. V.K. Tripathi gave thelectures while Mrs.
Poonam, Mr. Mohammad Inam, Dr. Ashok
Kumar, Dr. Pawan Kumar, Dr. Manoj Kumar, Dr.
RohtashSingh, Dr. Deepak Tripathi and Mr.
Satish Rajouria conductedthe tutorials with great
involvement. We covered angle,triangle,
Pythagoras theorem, constructions, field
book,circular chart, decimals, unitary method,
billing, banking,compound interest, area and vol-
ume, Mr. Mohd. Saquib gavean exciting talk on
drawing based on geometry.
Erose Chairman Mr. SAS Kirmani gave a fasci-
nating lecture onmagic of numbers. Patna Collec-
tive activist Ms. ShahrukhAlams talk on social
issues touched every heart. VKT gave alecture on
world history in last 1000 years.
The valedictory function was equally memorable
duethe presence of Mr. Syed Samar Hamid and
eloquentspeeches by the Chief Guest Prof. Akhtar
ulWase andHumdard Public School Proncipal
Mrs. Siddiqui.
The total expenditure of the workshop, including
participants lunch(Rs. 8900) and transport (
9000), folder, books, instruments etc. was
Rs.27,000. Of this, Hamdard Education Society
shared Rs. 5000, besides all theresponsibilities
and Dr. Viveksajal contributed Rs. 2000. Dr.
Ashok Kumar,Dr. Pawan Kumar and Dr. Rohtash
provided snacks on three days.
Guest Coloumn
I By Dr. V.K. Tripathi I
O
n January 6, 1990 we had made a commit-
ment deep in our hearts to develop grass-
roots resistance against communalism which
we saw as an ideology blurring our perception and
an instrument to polarize masses to perpetuate ex-
ploitation and political dominance. We realized that
communalism operated at many levels, through
shrines (religious hierarchy), education, administra-
tion, polity, market forces, media and violence. A
genuine secular effort must evolve multi-pronged
strategy to counter sectarianism at various levels.
We, in last 24 years, focused on educational and re-
lief activities without touching communalism at any
other level.
There too our efforts remained localized to few
pockets. Their impact on political scene was never
articulated seriously. We did campaign during elec-
tions but that was like educating voters on certain is-
sues. In recent Loksabha elections we raised ten vital
issues and carried six weeks of campaigning in
Delhi, Lalitpur and Vadodara distributing 24,000
fliers LoksabhaChunaavkeMudde and An Appeal
for Self Enquiry in the Context of Loksabha Elec-
tions. People appreciated our fliers. However, when
they asked us which party or candidate they should
vote for we had no answer as we had no connection
to any political party, nor had full liking for any
partys policies and practices.
Besides Sadbhav Mission there are progressive
groups of great integrity and commitment to secular-
ism, freedom and equality in the country. However,
their number and resourcefulness, when compared to
right wing groups, is minuscule. Further, their politi-
cal preferences are different. I would consider 60%
having Marxist leanings, 20% socialist leanings,
20% Gandhi Nehru legacy. The former two can not
reconcile to Congress polity and practice, hence,
they remain passive during elections, except in few
states where they have political formations of their
choice. Some in the third category support Congress
but mostly on surface. This state of indifference to
polity is worrisome as state power has over-riding
influence on lives of people and its concentration in
the hands of sectarian and corporate elite is danger-
ous.
The secular groups need to connect to workers of po-
litical parties that have the legacy or ideology of
freedom, secularism and equality and help strength-
ening their ideological understanding and commit-
ment that they severely lack today. They may tell the
leaders of the parties to form separate cells for farm-
ers, workers, artisans, women, dalits, minorities and
tribals and build leadership among them. Other ac-
tions awaiting us are:
1) Building News Network: Secular groups are
bringing out monthly or quarterly magazines. They
need to increase their circulation and frequency.
Some issues could be in the form of pamphlets or
bulletins. Along with this, campaign must be built on
freeing media from corporate control.
2) Building People-Centric Culture Network: Pro-
gressive groups engaged in theatre, music and arts
and doing excellent work. Their realm needs to be
enlarged. The goal is to spread the culture of self-en-
quiry, freedom, harmony, truth and equality that is
integral to the working classes and has labor as its
core component.
3) Preserving Sanctity of Academic Institutions: In
last 23 years the number of engineering, manage-
ment and other colleges has increased many fold.
More than 90% of these colleges are private and
mostly owned by business houses with link to sectar-
ian ideology. In government colleges too there are
people of such ideology and their influence may rise.
The lamp of freedom and equality needs to be lit
there along with sharing the educational concerns of
faculty and students. Resisting efforts to communal-
ize curriculum would be an integral part of this cam-
paign.
4) Cooling Down Passions: Elections aroused sectar-
ian passions all over the country. These need to be
cooled down so that the voices of sanity and justice
prevail. Muzaffarnagar and Bodoland, that witnessed
massive violence, need special efforts.
{Dr. V.K. Tripathi, is Professor of Physics @ IIT-
Delhi}
A Grand Political Dilemma
Society
I By Sameera Syed I
On the night of Wednesday May 28th, two teenaged-
girls were brutally gang raped and murdered in the
Badaundistrict of Uttar Pradesh whilst searching for
a place to relievethemselves outdoors. Five men
were arrested in connection tothe case thereafter, two
of whom were police officers whorefused to investi-
gate the disappearance of the girls.The nations out-
rage against rape and violence againstwomen, which
commanded headlines after the events of Dec.2012,
once again reached the forefront of media coverage.
Undoubtedly, there is reason to be outraged. In its
2012Annual Report, the National Crime Records
Bureau reported24,923 rapes to have occurred that
year, out of a populationof 585 million women. Even
more deeply upsetting is thenotion that a huge pro-
portion of rapes are left unreported eachyear, with
various scholarly estimates claiming that between54
to 90% of rapes are left undocumented.
The aforementioned grotesque act of violence in
UPhas highlighted numerous challenges in prevent-
ing andcombating rape nationally. Some of these ob-
stacles include:
(1) Rampant corruption of the police, particularly
with regardsto FIRs and criminal investigations,
(2) A lack of improvedsanitation facilities putting
women at greater risk of assault,
(3) A highly inefficient justice system, particularly in
cases ofviolence against women,
(4) An unrelenting, widespreadculture of misogyny,
and
(5) An absence of urgency to ensurejustice and
safety for all women. Considerations for each ofthe
above issues are as follows:
(1) An article from June 6th the Times of India ex-
aminedthe immense difficulty faced in lodging FIRs
in Uttar Pradesh.Across the state, and arguably
across the nation, it iscommonplace for police offi-
cers to refuse to register criminalcases that are
brought to them. Caste partly plays a role inthese re-
fusals, with complaints of those from marginalized-
groups regularly being dismissed by law
enforcement officials.
It is clear that the longstanding police culture which
allowssuch rampant corruption to occur needs to be
addressedimmediately. Potential courses of action
include: trainingpolice forces to begin a systematic
shift away from corruptbehavior; strengthening in-
ternal monitoring mechanisms toimprove upon po-
lice accountability and performance; anddigitalizing
the FIR system to allow for transparency andfurther
accountability. The key here, and with allrecommen-
dations below, is that policymakers at the local,state,
and national levels need incentives to zealously pur-
suesuch reform options in the first place. This is
where repeatedengagement from the common man,
NGOs, grassrootsmovements, and the private sector
come into play.
(2) According to the Progress on Drinking Water
andSanitation report from the World Health Organi-
zation andUNICEF, 792 million Indians in 2012 did
not have access toan improved sanitation facility,
meaning a facility that ensureshygienic separation of
human excreta from human contact.
Further, India remains the country with the highest
number ofpeople (597 million, or approximately
50% of the population)practicing open defecation,
which is defecation in fields,forests, bodies of water,
or other open spaces. One of manyharmful conse-
quences of open defecation is that women, inparticu-
lar, are forced to find remote, secluded locations
torelieve themselves, oftentimes at night. The im-
mense lack ofimproved sanitation facilities in the na-
tion thus contributes towomen being at greater risk
of assault, as seen in the Badauntragedy. Improved
sanitation and eradication of opendefecation are
therefore two additional areas for policymakersto ac-
tively target, particularly in terms of providing safe-
facilities for women that are both accessible and
appropriatefor their use.
(3) Nation-wide outrage following Dec. 2012
prompted theGovernment of India to produce the
Verma Report, part ofwhich discussed reforming ju-
dicial policy on gender violence.However, according
to an article published by OxfordUniversity Press in
February 2014, the government has failedto actualize
most policy recommendations in the VermaReport,
particularly in terms of implementing quicker trials
Combating Rape:
Challenges andConsiderations
Society
andenhanced punishment in cases of sexual assault
againstwomen. In addition, the INR 10 billion
Nirbhaya funds,approved by parliament in last
years budget to ensurewomens safety and secu-
rity, have yet to be used. Thejudiciary therefore
needs repeated prompting and pressure atthe local,
state, and national levels to address the
following:the gross shortage of courts, judges, and
prosecutors, whichlead to trials that last for years;
unrestrained intimidation ofvictims and witnesses;
and the arbitrary dismissal of rapecases before a
verdict is even reached.
(4) It is needless to say that unbridled misogyny is
one ofour greatest adversaries when struggling to
combat rape. Howcan we expect our populace to
treat women with respect anddignity when even our
elected officials assert the notion thatboys will be
boys? When commenting on injustices against-
women, Dr. AshutoshVarshney states, A womans
body asthe site of cultural purity is the predominant
theme in theancient Sanskrit epics, and dishonoring
a woman is equal todishonoring a family and even
a culture. As a result, policeauthorities and com-
munity members often see their first dutyafter a
rape as protecting a womans modesty and a fami-
lyshonor, instead of giving her justice. While the
idea of aninherent purity to womankind is innocu-
ous by itself, failing togive women justice in favor
of protecting their modesty is whathelps breed mi-
sogyny. This challenge is one that no policyrecom-
mendation can holistically tackle. The onus is ours
toconfront injustices against women, whether its in
ourhouseholds, communities, schools, places of
worship, etc.
(5) Last, but not least, the countless discussions of
rapeand violence against women that are broad-
casted by themedia lack one very important ele-
ment: a sense ofunequivocal urgency in combating
this tremendous problem athand. How many girls
need to be assaulted, raped, andmurdered before
this issue is genuinely considered a topnational pri-
ority? Rather than waiting for an answer to
thatquestion, let us each individually and all col-
lectively makean urgent appeal for others to rec-
ognize that justice andsafety for women are
paramount. Whether through ourspeech, written
words, or actions, let it be known that violencea-
gainst women is preventable, not inevitable.
v
{Sameera Syed, in Patrika, a Sadbhav Mission pub-
lication}
Har Mirch
Seraj Akram
Ramadan kay aate hi mubarakbadi ka silsila
shrou.
Aur jinko rahne ko ghar nahi, khane ko anaj
nahi aur laraai dango ke wajah se jaan ki hi-
fazt nahi uske bare me sochne ka aur uske lie
madad karne walon ki taadad kahi kam banis-
bat mubarkbadi dene walon ke. Logon ki tak-
leef ka ahsas dilane wale maahe Ramzan me
ahsas ke bajaye mubarbadi ka shor zyadah ho
gaya hai.
Ibadat ke mahine me ibadat ke sath sath
dawat ka bhi khoob ehtamam kiya jata hai,
Agar khate pite logo ko lazeez khane khilane
par kharch karne ke bajaye garibon par
kharch kiya jaye to shayed kahin zyadah
sawab hasil ho sakta hai. Saikron tanzeemain
paise ekattha karke pure Ramzan ka iftar kit
garibon me taqseem karti hai jisk kharch 4
hazar se zyadah nahi pure mahine ke liye. Ab
sochie dawat zaruri hai ya in garib khandano
ki mahine bhar ke liye kifalat aham hai.
Rewayati josh aur jazba apni jagah lekin kya
waqayi Ramzan ki asal rooh ab baqi rah gayi
hai ya sirf dekhawa ho raha hai, jo jitna paisa
wala hai wah usi dhang se iftar ka ahtemam
karke apni shanakht qayem kar raha hai.
Dawaton ke ahtamam ke beech hazaron
lakhon logo ka iftar ya sehri khanay ke liye 2
roti ka hona in mezbanon ke liye sochne ka
maqam nahi. Ramzan dawat ka mahina hai ay
bhaichargi aur hamdardi ka? Jo log dono kam
karte hain to kya dawat ko kam ya khatm
karke sirf garibon ki madad karna zyadah
zaruri nahi.
Islam
I Arbaz Fahad I
A conversation between two Non Muslims
S
teve: - Hey buddy; Islam is a constant threat to
our ideals of peaceful co-existence!
Daniel: - Yeah mate, probably the most outdated, vi-
olent and intolerant religion on the earth.
A conversation between two Muslim youths
Rafiq: - Damn the Americans and Israelis! They are
constantly killing our brethren in Palestine, Iraq and
Afghanistan. The Russians are inflicting untold mis-
eries on the people of Chechnya and Bosnia; the In-
dians arent sparing us in Kashmir!!
Mohsin: - The whole world is conspiring against the
Muslims; Jihad is the only way to teach these infi-
dels a lesson!
Meanwhile, a wooden plate is hanging on the ceiling
of the mosque. The inscription on it is printed in
beautiful Arabic, though no one seems aware of its
meaning. It says:-
WaAllahu yadAAoo ila dari alssalami wayahdee
man yashao ila siratin mustaqeemin
And God Calls to the home of peace, and guides
whom he wills onto a straight path
The contrast between the words of the Quran and
the actions of the Muslims is appalling. Let me make
one point crystal clear; Islam and Muslims cannot be
weighed on the same pedestal! Islam calls towards
the establishment of global peace and exhorts people
to exercise the heavenly virtues of tolerance, pa-
tience and respect for the beliefs of other communi-
ties. Muslims on the other hand are famous for their
narrow mindset, intolerant attitude and sadistic activ-
ities.
Whenever a matter of importance crops up, there are
two ways to deal with it. One is to adopt the commu-
nity point of view, and the second is to pick the
Quranic point of view. Why are Muslims messing
up with their international and social affairs? Simply
because, they form their opinions in a fit of mis-
guided passion, completely disregarding the
Quranic way to deal with the problem. For example,
lets summarize the global issues of the Muslim
community-
Palestine/Kashmir/Iran/Afghanistan/Iraq/Chechnya-
Bosnia issues, accusing the Western nations and their
media on grounds of conspiring against the Muslims
and interfering in their socio-religious political af-
fairs. Now, lets shift our focus on the solutions we
have developed to solve our problems. Reality
stings, but we need to admit that a group of mis-
guided leaders have used the pretext of atrocities on
the Muslims of Palestine to justify terrorism and vio-
lence, which has greatly tarnished the reputation of
Islam. Muslims prove their staunchness in faith by
bombing innocent people and kidnapping school
girls. Wow! We surely are paying a wonderful tribute
to our prophet. The same prophet, who was sent as a
mercy to the whole of humankind-Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics included. These
problems have hooked their head up, just because we
have time and again adopted the community point of
view which is shaped by a particularly influential
group and have disregarded the word of God, which
transcends the limits of time and space.
The Quranic path is of absolute peace, forbearance,
patience and maintaining equilibrium of mind in
testing conditions. The Quran stresses that Peace is
not a timely initiative; it is the eternal law of nature.
The Quran reflects that Man is himself responsible,
for the corruption that has jaded the earth. God
says:-
Truly! Allah wrongs not mankind in aught; but
mankind wrong themselves. Quran 10:44
Threats and conspiracies are a constant proportion in
this world. Even, the prophet and his immediate suc-
cessors had to deal with conspiracies and intrigues.
The need of the hour is to exceed beyond the lines of
conspiracy and emerge victorious. God has created
this universe on the principle of competition and
struggle- be it in individuals or among communities.
The enigma of competition began from Haabil and
Qaabil and will last until the final confrontation be-
tween Masih and Dajjal. In face of trials, tribula-
tions, scheming and plotting God commands the
believers to remain steadfast and patient. God says
Islam is Peaceful,
Muslims are violent
Islam
But if you preserve patiently and guard against evil,
then that will be a determining factor in all affairs
Quran 3:186
After a prolonged period of time, a community loses
its sense of consciousness and their perceptive abili-
ties begin to disintegrate. The rooh of Deen is missing
from them. They live in false hopes and entertain fic-
tional hopes of their revival. They are far removed
from the notions of reality and authenticity. God says
in the Quran
Allah will never change the grace, which he has be-
stowed on a people, until they change, what is in their
own souls Quran 8:53
The immediate task ahead
1. Revival of faith- To in surge a conscious revo-
lution among the Muslim youth. To produce individu-
als, whose faith rides to the level of positive work.
2. Refrain from all notorious activities- which
disturbs the realistic approach of people, and may in-
cite their passions to the level of obsession
3. Complete abstention from any sort of political
activity, and to thrust all efforts towards our academi-
cal progress and personal development
{Arbaz Fahad <arbazfahad@rediffmail.com>}
Please Do Not Eat Too
Much Junk
Hajira Khan, Indian School Salalah, Salalah, Sultanate
of Oman
Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Alice.
She never ate vegetables and fruits. She only ate junk
food. She used to eat chocolates, biscuits, chips and
drink colas. One day her mother told her not to eat
too much junk, but she did not obey. One day she ate
the chocolate in the night. The next day she got a very
bad toothache. So they went to the dentist. He told
that, we must take out the cavity tooth. She was
scared to take out the cavity tooth. After taking out
the cavity tooth she began to cry. Then she learnt her
lesson, that eating too much junk is not good for
health.
Moral: Do not eat too much junk food. It makes you
weak.
"Yeh Amcha Paper Hai,
Baba!"
He was a successful timber merchant from Nagpur,
while at the same time a passionate student of the
Quran. Every time we held a summer camp, he
would come all the way to Bangalore, at his own
cost, to deliver the Dars al Quran. Maulana Parekh
Saheb, as he was fondly called, was also a patron of
the YMD.
An incident he related during one of his talks still
resonates in my ears. A Maharashtrian Dalit woman
once came to his office hawking oranges, which she
carried on her head in a basket. As she lay the bas-
ket on the floor, one could notice a newspaper
folded and tucked in the basket along with the or-
anges. Maulana Parekh asked her, Bai, do you
know how to read? She replied in the negative.
Surprised, he asked her, Then, how do you manage
to read the newspaper in your basket. She replied
quaintly, Yeh Amcha paper hai (this is our paper).
Maulana Parekh was astonished at her commitment:
despite not being able to read, she would still buy
the newspaper, with the express intention to support
the cause.
How many of our educated and well-read class can
say the same when it comes to supporting Muslim
newspapers and magazines.
I can also recall a talk by the late Sheikh Abul
Hasan Ali Nadwi which he delivered during Juma in
the Lal Masjid in Bangalore some 20 years ago. (I
clearly remember that the late Muslim League
leader, Janab Ibrahim Sulaiman Sait, was also pres-
ent in the congregation). Among other things,
Sheikh Ali Miyan, lamented the lack of a single
Hindi or English national daily newspaper pub-
lished by Muslims in India. He surmised the reason
for this, saying, This is because we do not consider
this (the act of publishing newspapers and maga-
zines) a religious duty (Yeh iss wajhe se hai kyon ke
hum isko deen ka kaam nahi samajthe hain).
They passed away, into the benign presence of their
Lord, reminding us of our duty. Will we pay heed!
Khalid Noor Mohammed
<khalidchinoy@gmail.com>, in a message sent to
NRI Indians Group
T
he character and personality of a girlfriend is
quite different from the character and person-
ality of a wife. She who had been a good girl-
friend, might succeed as a wife, or might not. In
most cases that does not happen. Not because she
can never be a good wife, but because, the disap-
pointment is oppressive. Similar is the case when we
compare the boyfriend against the husband, writes
SYED IQBAL ZAHEER in Young Muslim Digests
June 2014 edition.
Satan has a million guiles. One of them is that of an
innocent relationship between a boy and a girl. They
believe (or pretend to believe) that their relationship
is pure, free of any sexual overtones and undertones,
and full of sisterly or brotherly affection and liking.
Many parents close their eyes when their children
fall into this trap. They think it is a harmless rela-
tionship.
In actual fact, this kind of relationship (between non-
mahrams) is only possible between children who are
not conscious of their selves. If the two are above 9
or 10, when sex-consciousness begins to develop,
their relationship will definitely take sexual over-
tones.
Relationship developed during this age leaves a deep
imprint on the mind. In most cases they fall into
what is called as boyfriend/ girlfriend syndrome;
or, the first-love syndrome. If they do not get mar-
ried, the longing for each other remains until death.
But the situation changes drastically, in most cases,
after marriage. For, a wife is not a girlfriend.
There is something strange about these firsts of
life. We tend to clearly remember the first things in
our lives. The day the first cycle was gifted by the
father and you went out to proudly display it to your
pals, the first train journey, the first day in college,
the first childs birth, and so on. The events stick to
memory and recalling is sweet.
The first dating is similar. Married people with chil-
dren and grandchildren, at the borders of senescence
still recall their first date with clarity and fondness.
The reasons should not be difficult to guess. First
cycle, first train journey, etc. are momentary events.
They do not involve ones mind, body, or emotions,
but marginally. But human contacts leave their sig-
nature at the deepest level of mind and heart. If they
are prolonged, many memories get attached to them.
And when it is male and female, and it is their first
contact with the opposite sex, when they are teens,
then, the memorys fondness is deeply emotional,
deeply etched in mind.
If they were in love, or thought so, but did not get
married, then, the story is incomplete, the train-jour-
ney was cut short, the disappointment is bitter, and
will last the rest of their lives. Marriage is the only
cure. But, most such marriages fail.
Love is the central theme of life. So much so, that a
true Sufi doesnt bother about heaven and hell. It is
enough of a reward for him that he should meet with
his Lord. Christianitys motto is God is love.
Rightly so, but, unfortunately, the first Christian hav-
ing died on the cross, seems to have taken the elixir
with him, leaving behind an empty bottle.
At all events, neither the Sufi is wholly right in his
belief, nor the Christians who have been the most
bloody with humans, throughout their history, and
evince all intentions to carry with their journey on
the holy grail. May we not fall in their path of love
Amen.
The point we are trying to drive at is that love is
truly the central theme of life, but not a very success-
ful guile if used as a slogan, little believed in. But
the boy and girl, recently conscious of sex, little sus-
pecting of how the society can convert their God-
gifted innocence into artful fiendishness as they
grow, how the
modern world
can train them
into becoming
selfish bugs,
and how the ad-
vancing age al-
ters its
demands, tend
to believe that
they are in true
love. Beliefs
blind, when
they are not ra-
tional. Peoples
A Wife is Not a Girlfriend
blind belief in stone gods is an example. In Islam, ra-
tional love is valued more than emotional love. In
case of teens in love, none of the defects of each is
visible to the other. The Devil sits on their eye-
lashes. More: dreamy eyes see merits that do not
exist. Their minds are locked, not the hearts, as it is
commonly believed.
Little surprise then that, having fallen into the trap of
first love, if they get married, they end up in sepa-
ration in majority of cases. Separation time is at
most five years. Disappointment follows disappoint-
ments. In some cases, regretful feelings visit them on
the first morning after marriage. The boy had never
seen his sweetie as he sees her now, leaving the
bed yawning with pimples at a few wrong places,
the hair disheveled, eyes filled with yellow smut,
and the earlobes a little bit out of shape.
They are yet to begin their married life in earnest.
They are yet to have a conversation as long as they
used to have earlier. Never again they will have it.
Before marriage it was, he: I love this lake, and
she, me too (the lake is stinking with filthy water).
Or he, I hate fish, they stink, and she, I am not
particularly fond of them. (She enjoys them). Or, I
love computer games, and she, I suppose they are
a good pastime, (she hates them, anyway).
So, it is artificiality through and through. Both are
falling upon each other trying to be agreeable to each
other. Both wish to submerge their personalities into
the others. Films give them dialogs, and, as bonus,
dreams of happy life thereafter, forever and forever.
Although, as pointed out earlier, some regret creeps
in the morning after marriage, they remain sup-
pressed during coming months and years. But, grad-
ually, as and when personalities open up, realities
become visible, disenchantment grows, differences
harden up. There was that pre-marriage time when
the two wished to submerge in the others personal-
ity; these are times, when each begins to assert his or
her personality. Confrontation is inevitable.
The character and personality of a girlfriend is quite
different from the character and personality of a
wife. She who had been a good girlfriend, might suc-
ceed as a wife, or might not. In most cases that does
not happen. Not because she can never be a good
wife, but because, the disappointment is oppressive.
And of course, the reverse is also true, that is, what
is true of a girlfriend is also true of a boyfriend. A
husband is not a boyfriend. He may succeed as a
husband; he may not. In pretty many cases, he does
not. Not because he could never be a good husband,
but because of his anger.
A girlfriend has to have two qualities: talk smart,
look pretty; where talk smart is more important than
look pretty; for, the boyfriend is partly blind. But a
wife too must look pretty, but she should also be re-
sponsible, and should not be a chatter box. She must
go as often as possible where she had never been
once before marriage: the kitchen. When she says,
Your dinner is in the fridge, the honeymoon is
over, arrogance is visible in her face, and anger is
visible on his face. There are pretty many things that
a wife has to do, and be. Before marriage, her world
was her boyfriend. After marriage, there are a dozen
men and women around, with whom she must inter-
act rightly. The list of demands on her is long, and
grows. The main point is, she is not a girlfriend. If
she tries to remain the happy-go-lucky buddy she
once was, she will neither be happy, nor enough
lucky.
Rare it is that a boyfriend and girlfriend got married,
and they proved to be successful husband and wife.
And, where success is seen by the outsiders, it is be-
cause they both assure each other that the time for a
change is gone, and so, they must simply learn to
live with each other each hiding disappointment
from those who had advised against the dating,
against the marriage. But the rise in the cases of sep-
aration, tells us that pretty many smiling faces in
public carry scorn in private.
Another point: they dream of successful marriage.
Come to your senses. When life itself is failing, and
failing miserably, at the widest of panorama, as in
our times, then, how can husband-wife relationship
succeed? If the choice had been blind, which it was,
then, you are in a blind alley. If you escape bumping
your head into a wall, you will hurt your toe hitting a
stone. Successful marriages make a high demand on
man and wife. But that is not the topic here. Teenage
boys and girls must be strictly kept apart.
Any talk of innocent relationship between a boy and
a girl, is simply rubbish. It is kitten-puppy relation-
ship. Watch them when they have grown into moral
and mental maturity. Watch them turn into enemies.
Watch them laughing boisterously. Watch them, be-
cause that wont happen too often.
Source: http://www.youngmuslimdigest.com/editor-
ial/06/2014/wife-girlfriend/
Health
I By Hajira Khan & Sameen Ahmed Khan I
T
he Muslims world-wide have the tradition to
end the Siyaam (fast or fasting) by taking
date fruits. This is based on the saying of the
Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon
him), break your Siyaam by eating dates as it is pu-
rifying. About twenty fruits and fruit bearing plants
have been identified in the Holy Quran, but it is the
date-palm which is referred the most. It is men-
tioned twenty times, in eight places individually and
in twelve places with other fruits. The twenty plants
mentioned in the Holy Quran include: date palm, fig,
ginger, grape, garlic, henna/camphor, lentil, manna,
olive, onion, pomegranate, summer squash, sweet
basil, athel tamarisk, tooth-brush tree, arak, mustard,
acacia, cucumber, gourd, leek, cedrus (cedar or Lote-
tree) and Euphorbia. The Bitter Thorn and Blessed
Tree are yet to be identified. The Bitter Thorn is the
tree in the Jahannum (hell) and is mentioned in
Surah Al-Ghashiyah (88, meaning The Overwhelm-
ing Event): 6-7. The Blessed Tree is mentioned in
Surah Al-Ra`d (13, meaning The Thunder): 29. The
Quranic botany continues to be an active area of re-
search. The date palm is mentioned by name twenty
times, in eight places individually and in twelve
places with other fruits. The corresponding twenty
Ayah occurring in sixteen Surah of the Holy Quran
are: Al-Baqarah (2): 266; Al-Anàm (6): 99, 141; Al-
Ra`d (13): 4; Al-Nahl (16): 11, 67; Al-Isra (17): 91;
Al-Kahf (18): 32; Maryam (19): 23, 25; Ta Ha (20):
71; Al-Mu'minun (23): 19; Al-Shuàra' (26): 148; Ya
Sin (36): 34; Qaf (50): 10; Al-Qamar (54): 20; Al-
Rahman (55): 11, 68; Al-Haqqah (69):7; and Àbasa
(80): 29 respectively. Throughout the holy month of
Ramadan-ul-Mubarak, dates are a common ingredi-
ent in the Muslim diet. Let us have a closer look at
this familiar fruit, which is also known as the tree of
life and king of the oasis. The botanical name of the
date-palm is Phoenix dactylifera. In Arabic the date-
palm is known as Nakhl, and the fruit is known as
Tamar. We shall note the names in several other lan-
guages: Tamar (Hebrew), Khajur (Hindi, Urdu, and
several Indian languages), Khurma (Persian, Urdu),
Kharjur (Sanskrit), Khejur (Bengali), Finik (Russ-
ian), Datil (Spanish), Date (Italian), Datteir (French),
Daten (German), Datum (Dutch), Datas (Portugese)
and so on.
The history of date-palm cultivation can be traced to
eight thousand years. Every part of the date-palm
has good use: The wood and leaves provide timber
and fabric for houses and fences; the leaves are also
used for making ropes, baskets etc; the stalk is used
as fuel. The fruits famous for their delicious and
sweet taste are taken directly or processed to pro-
duce vinegar, pickle, bakery items and flavours. The
date seeds are used as cattle feed after they have
been softened by soaking and crushing. The date-
palms are usually un-branched. It is interesting to
note that the branching occurs only in the male
plants! The date-palm trees grow as high as hundred
feet with leaves up to fifteen feet. There are typi-
cally a dozen bunches of dates per tree. A bunch
weighs about seven kilograms and has a thousand
dates. The life of a date tree is over hundred and
fifty years. There are about a thousand varieties of
dates. Some of these are facing possible extinction.
The date fruits vary in size, shape and colour. Each
of these numerous varieties have different name in
Arabic. According to the estimates of the World
Food Agricultural Organization, there are over hun-
dred million date-palms in the world, producing two
million tons of dates each year. About 65% of these
are grown in the Arab countries.
Dates are very delicious and easy to store as they are
light. Date is one of the most valuable foodstuffs.
Date consumption is one of important sources of
supplying minerals and vitamins and elements in a
very balance nutrition regime. About 70% of the
fruit is sugar. Dates are excellent sources of numer-
ous minerals including: iron, potassium, magnesium,
sulphur, copper, calcium and phosphorus. Besides it
has several vitamins, fibre and proteins. A hundred
of dates provide the body about 277 kilo-calories
shortly after eating it. An individual needs about
2500-3500 kilo-calories (traditionally, one loosely
says calories omitting the kilo!) per day. This is the
medical explanation why the dates are consumed at
the end of each Siyaam (fast).
Because of its rich chemical content the dates have
been used as a medicine since ancient times. The
tradition among the Arabs and the Muslims to place
chewed (to soften) dates in the mouth of new born
babies, carries great virtue and benefit. Date is ef-
fective in treatment of infantile paralysis and it is
Dates Round the Year
Health
recommended to give some grains of date to children
suffering infantile paralysis. Dates strengthen the
nervous system. Because of the magnesium present
in them the dates are good for the kidneys. Dates are
also helpful in treating
sore throat and all the
pulmonary infections.
Persons suffering dia-
betes can use dates in-
stead of industrial
sugars like cane sugar,
since the existing mag-
nesium within dates
help the operation of
pancreas and kidneys on
the other hand vitamin
B2 within dates absorbs
sugar components of
other foodstuffs. Dates
are also good for heart
and respiratory prob-
lems.
As stated in the
Hadeeth, the Holy
Prophet (peace be upon
him) said, Whoever
eats seven ajwah dates
in the morning will not
be harmed by poison or
black magic for the rest
of that day until the
night. The Prophet
(peace be upon him)
also said, The ajwah
date is from Paradise
and it is an antidote
against poison. The
ajwa variety of dates is
very effective in com-
bating cardiovascular
problems. Nutritious,
health, medical and in-
dustrial value of the date
is not fully recognized.
The researchers all over
the world is searching
and investigating in the
matter.
Dates are excellent choice of food for the pregnant
women and those who have just given birth. This
fact is indicated in the famous and the very beautiful
passage of the Holy Quran
(Surah 19, Maryam, Ayah 23-25)
And [when] the throes of childbirth drove her to the
trunk of a palm-tree, she
exclaimed: Oh would
that I had died ere this,
and had become a thing
forgotten, utterly forgot-
ten! Thereupon [a
voice] called out to her
from beneath that [palm-
tree]. Grieve not! Thy
Sustainer has provided a
rivulet [running] beneath
thee; and shake the trunk
of the palm-tree towards
thee: it will drop fresh,
ripe dates upon thee.
(English Meaning by
Muhammad Asad from
://www.IslamiCity.com/)
This was the prescrip-
tion given to Virgin
Mary at the time of birth
of Jesus, the blessed
Prophet of Allah. It was
a prescription to make
the delivery easy and
comfortable.
Date seeds are soaked
(for softening) and
ground and used as an
excellent animal feed.
Their oil is suitable for
use in soap and cosmet-
ics. Date palm seeds
contain 0.565.4% lau-
ric acid (useful in chem-
ical analysis,
particularly for finding
the molar masses). They
can also be processed
chemically as a source
of oxalic acid (used in
dyeing processes and
bleaches). The seeds are
also burned to make charcoal for silversmiths, and
can be strung in necklaces. Date seeds are also
ground and used in the manner of coffee beans, or as
an additive to coffee. Experimental studies have
Dates (variety: medjool) Nutritive
Value per 100 grams
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) National Nutrient Data Base,
http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata
Principle Nutrient Value Percentage of RDA
Energy277 Kcal 14%
Carbohydrates 74.97 g 58%
Protein1.81g 3%
Total Fat 0.15 g <1%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Dietary Fiber 6.7 g 18%
VITAMINS
Folates15 g 4%
Niacin 1.610 mg 10%
Pantothenic acid 0.805 mg 16%
Pyridoxine 0.249 mg 19%
Riboflavin 0.060 mg 4.5%
Thiamin 0.050 mg 4%
Vitamin A 149 IU 5%
Vitamin C 0 mg 0%
Vitamin K 2.7 g 2%
ELECTROLYTES
Sodium 1 mg 0%
Potassium 696 mg 16%
MINERALS
Calcium 64 mg 6.5%
Copper0.362 mg 40%
Iron 0.90 mg 11%
Magnesium 54 mg 13%
Manganese 0.296 mg 13%
Phosphorus 62 mg 9%
Zinc 0.44 mg 4%
PHYTO-NUTRIENTS
Carotene- 89 g --
Crypto-xanthin- 0 g --
Lutein-zeaxanthin 23 g --
RDA: Reference Daily Intake or Recommended Daily
Intake, which is considered sufficient to meet the di-
etary requirements of most individuals.
shown that date seeds exhibit anti-genotoxic and re-
duce DNA damage caused by certain chemicals.
In recent decades, the plants mentioned in the Holy
Quran and the Hadith (Prophetic Traditions) have ac-
quired a special interest of the gardeners, botanists
and the scientists in general. This has lead to the
creation of special gardens which are commonly
known as the Quranic Botanical Gardens, serving
as exhibitions and dedicated research centres. The
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization) is also taking an interest
in such gardens and has set up one in Qatar. A
unique biological garden featuring the plants men-
tioned in the Holy Quran has been created in the Ed-
ucation City, Doha (capital of Qatar). Known as the
Quranic Botanic Garden, it is under the umbrella
of the global Qatar Foundation Green Project. This
Quranic Botanical Garden comprises of all the plant
species mentioned in the Holy Quran, and those in
Sunnah (Deeds of the Prophet) and Hadith (Sayings
of the Prophet). It also exhibits botanical terms men-
tioned in the Holy Quran, explaining them in the
context of modern science. It regularly holds confer-
ences and other events.
It is high time to cultivate some Quranic/Prophetic
plants in and around Muslim institutions such as
Masajid (mosques); Madaris (Islamic
Seminaries/Schools); Eid-Gah Grounds (grounds
dedicated for Eid Salaat/Prayers and other Gather-
ings); Qabrastan (Graveyards); among others. The
government ministries and state forest officials
should be introduced to the importance and the need
for cultivating the Quranic/Prophetic plants. Such
initiatives will benefit the complete region in more
than one way. After all, the plants have medicinal
use and a commercial value through local markets
and exports. If an agency such as UNESCO can take
interest, when will others be inspired?
The research on date-palms is an active field estab-
lishing old sayings and leading to numerous new dis-
coveries. An old Arab saying goes: the uses of
date-palm are as many as the number of days in the
year. With all the rapid advances more and more
nutritional values of dates are being understood. Do
not miss to end your Siyaam (fast) with dates when
the sunset appears. It is your date with dates! The
dates are round the year!
Bibliography:
1. A website for Quran Majeed with compre-
hensive search in Arabic and numerous languages,
along with several English translations (meanings),
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/quran/
2. Websites for Hadith,
http://www.searchtruth.com/ and
http://ahadith.co.uk/
3. Mohammed Iqtedar Husain Farooqi, Plants
of the Quran, Sidrah Publishers, Lucknow, India
(2003).
4. Mohammed Iqtedar Husain Farooqi, Medici-
nal Plants in the Traditions of the Prophet Muham-
mad: Scientific Study of the Prophetic Medicine,
Food and Perfumes (Aromatics), Sidrah Publishers,
Lucknow, India (2004).
5. Quranic Botanic Garden, Doha, Qatar,
http://www.qf.org.qa/explore/heritage-
centers/quranic-botanic-garden
6. Sameen Ahmed Khan, A Date with Dates,
Youth Observer, pp. 4 (October 2005 Ramadhan
1426 AH). Supplement to Oman Observer, Vol. 24,
No. 328 (Saturday the 08 October 2005). (OEPNPA:
Oman Establishment for Press, News, Publication
and Advertising in co-operation with the Ministry of
Education).
7. Sameen Ahmed Khan, A Date with Tradition,
Radiance Viewsweekly, Vol. XLIV, No. 17, pp. 28-
29 (1-7 October 2006).
8. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Olive the Blessed
Tree, Radiance Viewsweekly, Vol. XLIV, No. 18, pp.
22-23 (8-14 October 2006).
9. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Olive the Blessed
Tree, Youth Observer, pp. 12 (November 2006
Shawwal 1427 AH). Supplement to Oman Observer,
Vol. 25, No. 355 (Saturday the 04 November 2006).
(OEPNPA: Oman Establishment for Press, News,
Publication and Advertising in co-operation with the
Ministry of Education).
{Hajira Khan, Indian School Salalah, Salalah, Sul-
tanate of Oman
Sameen Ahmed Khan, Engineering Department,
Salalah College of Technology, Salalah, Sultanate of
Oman
(rohelakhan@yahoo.com, http://SameenAhmed-
Khan.webs.com/) }
Health
Ramadan
13 Jun 2014 05:06 PM, IST
By MumtazAlam, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi, 13 June 2014: In last 10
years, both Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes maintained their
share in the Civil Services as per their
share in the national population. Mus-
lims share always remained below
one-fourth of their population share.
However, share of all these communi-
ties have almost remained static for
last 10 years (2004 -2013).
In the Civil Services Exam 2013
whose results were announced by
Union Public Service Commission on
Thursday, in all 1122 candidates were
declared successful highest number in last 10
years. Out of 1122, Scheduled Castes are 187
(16.66%), Scheduled Tribes are 92 (8.19%) and
Muslims are 34 that is 3.03%.
In terms of numbers, it is first time in last 10 years
that SCs, STs and Muslims have got highest number
of their candidates selected.
From Civil Services Exam 2004 to 2013, in all 7575
candidates were successful 1228 i.e. 16.21% of
them were from Scheduled Castes, 635 (8.38%)
from Scheduled Tribes and 245 (3.23%) from the
Muslim community.
As per Census 2001, the population of Scheduled
Castes was 16.2%, Scheduled Tribes 8.2% and Mus-
lims 13.4%. By Census 2011, SCs were 16.6%, STs
8.2% and Muslims 13.43%.
Percentage-wise, the year 2011 was the best for SCs
as it got 17.25% of the successful candidates while
for the STs, the year 2004 was best when it got
11.13% share. For Muslims, the year 2007 saw best
performance as 4.23% of the total successful candi-
dates were Muslims.
Wasiqur Rahman is Bihar
M.B.B.S. topper.
ALIGARH June 4: Another
feather was to the cap of pres-
tigious Ali- garh Muslim
University as Wasiqur Rah-
man became the topper of
Bihar Med- ical Exam con-
ducted by Bihar Com-
bined En- trance
Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB).
A resident of Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, Wasiqur
has passed out 10+2 examination in 2014 with 91
percent marks from Aligarh Muslim University. He
has now emerged as a role model for the MBBS as-
piring students of AMU.
The proud son is giving all credit to his father Saud
AzamRahmani who is Block Agriculture Officer in
Muzaffarpur. His mother JahanaKhatoon is Head-
mistress in a Middle School of Bihar government.
Wasiqur Rahman said that he was committed to-
wards self-study as per fixed time schedule for 6 to 7
hours daily. He now wishes to become a Cardiolo-
gist. (Dr. RahatAbrar)
Civil Services:
Share of SCs, STs and Muslims remains static for 10 yrs
Share of Communities in Civil Services (2004- 2013)
Year Total No. of SCs (%) STs (%) Muslims (%)
Successful
Candidates
2004 422 64 (15.16) 47 (11.13) 13 (3.08)
2005 425 57 (13.41) 41 (9.64) 12 (2.82)
2006 474 80 (16.87) 36 (7.59) 18 (3.79)
2007 638 109 (17.08) 53 (8.30) 27 (4.23)
2008 791 130 (16.43) 61 (7.71) 31 (3.91)
2009 875 127 (14.51) 76 (8.68) 21 (2.4)
2010 920 148 (16.08) 74 (8.04) 31 (3.36)
2011 910 157 (17.25) 78 (8.57) 30 (3.29)
2012 998 169 (16.93) 77 (7.71) 28 (2.80)
2013 1122 187 (16.66) 92 (8.19) 34 (3.03)
Total 7575 1228 (16.21) 635 (8.38) 245 (3.23)
Politics
I By Hasan Kamal I
U
niform Civil Code is not confined to Family
Laws only. It is not related only to marriage,
divorce and division of inheritance. This is a
wide legal topic that encompasses many worldly af-
fairs. It would also be wrong to assume that it is only
Muslims and their religious practices that will be tar-
geted by a Uniform Civil Code while others will not
be affected.
It happened in 2004. Parliamentary elections had
been announced. Lal Krishna Advani had made a
loud proclamation that if his party wins the elections
Uniform Civil Code would be implemented. By the
way this slogan had echoed in 1999 too. But one
wonders why during NDAs five years rule it was
completely ignored.
Anyway, after hearing Advanis proclamation some
of us sent him a message, by telegram, that if a docu-
ment or a blueprint about Uniform Civil code had
been prepared we should be informed about it and
that we were willing to talk about it. We stressed that
democratic principles required that on matters of na-
tional interests only after a discussion and exchange
of views should any conclusion be derived. We did
not get any response but after that, throughout whole
election campaign, the slogan of Uniform Civil Code
was never heard again.
This time round, after BJPs resounding victory, this
slogan has echoed once again. It is unwise and un-
reasonable to react like a child who, after being told
that the crow has bitten his nose off, starts running
after the crow and does not try to see and feel his
nose. Would it not be wise to ask those who are rais-
ing the slogan for a Uniform Civil Code, what their
concept of a Uniform Civil Code is? And whether
they have prepared any blueprint of a Uniform Civil
Code? If they have, then it should be made public so
that it may be studied and scrutinised so that it could
be seen which clause or clauses of it are acceptable
to everyone and which are unacceptable, who they
are unacceptable to and why? Getting agitated with-
out this exercise and carried away by anger would
mean that we have blindly fallen into the trap laid
for us by those who raised this slogan and this is
what exactly they want.
First of all it is very important to understand that
Uniform Civil Code is not confined to Family Laws
only. It is not related only to marriage, divorce and
division of inheritance. This is a wide legal topic that
encompasses many worldly affairs. It would also be
wrong to assume that it is only Muslims and their re-
ligious practices that will be targeted by a Uniform
Civil Code while others will not be affected. Mus-
lims think that because no other community opens
its mount against Uniform Civil Code hence this slo-
gan is raised just to hurt their feelings. Such a fear is
neither totally wrong nor wholly justified though.
The fact is that every community, including many
sections of Hindu community, will also be affected
by this. If others do not say anything against it, it is
because Muslims have already opposed it so there
remains no need for others to oppose it? The slogan
mongers are aware of Muslim sensitivities to provo-
cations. They want Muslims to become agitated and
thus provide them the opportunity to tell the world,
See, Muslims do not want to live by the laws of the
land. Their audience have no idea which law is
being talked about. However their audience have by
the way heard Muslims proclaiming that they will
not abide by the law. Obviously this creates a very
Uniform Civil Code:
Reasonable and unreasonable fears
Politics
negative opinion about Muslims. This serves the pur-
pose of the claimants and Muslims get the brunt.
India is a multi-religious country. Here even the fol-
lowers of the same religion have such diverse cus-
toms and practices that one sect appears totally
different from the other. Until recently the accepted
norm had been to recognise the customs and tradi-
tions that had been practiced for centuries as part of
a religion, a community or a section and let them re-
main intact and allowed to be practiced. After the
imposition of a Uniform Civil Code will this remain
so? For example in some parts of Kerala and south
India a marriage between a real maternal uncle and a
niece is considered to be very auspicious. Obviously
in the northern, eastern and western parts of India it
will be regarded as abhorring, heinous and a sin. In
some parts of the country a marriage between boys
and girls of the same gotra [sub section of a caste]
can lead to social boycott or blood feuds. The ques-
tion is: will the Uniform Civil Code ban such a sys-
tem or will it allow such marriages for everyone?
Similarly there is a custom among Sikh community
that, after the death of the elder brother, a younger
brother puts a chadar [head scarf] on the widow of
his elder brother which means that the elder sister-
in-law has now become wife of this younger brother.
Rajindra Singh Bedis novelette ChadarEkMeli Si is
a masterpiece on this issue.
In some parts of Nagaland [in the Garo tribe] there is
a custom according to which when the husband dies
the widow becomes the wife of her eldest son-in-
law. All of these customs have come into practice to
avoid division of landed property specially the agri-
cultural land. How will the Common Civil Code deal
with such issues? What will be the result if these
customs are tempered with? And if they are allowed
to be practiced as they are then will it not defeat the
very purpose of a Common Civil Code?
Kanyadaan is also a centuries old practice. Under
this system the dowry a girl is given at the time of
her wedding is considered to be her final and full
share from ancestral property. After this there re-
mains no share for her in parental inheritance.
Until recently similar custom was prevalent among
Muslims with regard to agricultural and immoveable
property as well. All India Muslim Personal Law
Board changed it in 2004 in accordance to Shariah.
Before the abolition of Zamindari system a custom
similar to Kanyadaan and dowry being given to a
girl at the time of her wedding was prevalent among
Muslims as well. This was amended when some
Muslim organisations, Muslims for Secular Democ-
racy on top of them, launched strong protests against
this anti-Shariah division of immoveable property.
Now a Hindu girl too, if she so wishes, can demand
her share in ancestral property but this can only be
done through court of law. However, it is not clear
whether she can also claim a share in her parental
property that has increased in value after her mar-
riage. What will be the stand of Uniform Civil Code
on this issue?
This should also be borne in mind that it is possible
to give equal share in cash and moveable property.
But when it comes to agricultural land situation be-
comes very grave. The partition of agricultural land
or of an orchard is a matter of life and death for a
farmer. A farmer cannot tolerate his sons-in-law de-
manding their shares in agricultural land or insisting
to sell it. As has been said above the very practice of
such customs was to stop the possibility of division
of a farmland. There can be severe repercussions if
any Uniform Civil Code attempts to interfere in such
matters.
Another issue is of income tax and ownership of the
land. So far an undivided Hindu Family gets some
concession in income tax. Such a family has to pay
lesser income tax than others and has the right to
own more land than others. Will the Uniform Civil
Code plead for such rights to all Indians or will it
abolish these concessions to a section only so that,
with regard to rights and duties, all Indians become
equal. If the Uniform Civil Code does not touch
these aspects then it will be a very weak legislation
and will have to face many kinds of legal challenges
in law courts.
As such the slogan of a Uniform Civil Code can
have great attraction for some and may look dreadful
to others but as far as practical aspect is concerned
its ground is very uncertain and unclear. For as long
as its scope is not clarified it will remain confusing.
Is it targeted at particular issues and topics or seeks
to treat all Indians as equals? Therefore it should be
insisted upon that the blueprint of the Uniform Civil
Code be publicised so that each and every aspect
coming in its ambit could be satisfactorily discussed.
Such a demand is the right of every Indian citizen
that no one can deny.
Translated by Urdu Media Monitor.Com from
Rozanama Rasitriya Sahara 14 June 2014
Ramadan
I By Sameen Ahmed Khan I
I
ntroduction: Prophet Mohammed (Peace be
Upon Him) used to eagerly wait for the month of
Ramadan-ul-Mubarak. When he would site the
moon for the months of Rajab and Shabaan, he
would make the Dua: Oh Allah Almighty take us to
Ramadan-ul-Mubarak. This points to the importance
of Ramadan-ul-Mubarak and the uncertainty in our
life. Let us note the fact that many of our relatives
and friends from the previous Ramada-ul-Mubarak
are no more with us (they have died). Those who
are around are a year older and may be having health
issues to do a complete justice to the auspicious
month of Ramadan-ul-Mubarak. It is time to seri-
ously plan for this Ramadan-ul-Mubarak. Many Ra-
madan have come and gone! Time to reflect: what
did we achieve or not achieve in the previous Ra-
madan-ul-Mubarak? Let us try to catch this one, In-
shallah. The following Hadith is an eye-opener:
The Three Aameens:
Kaab Ibn Ujrah (RA) relates that Rasulullah (peace
be upon him) said Come near to the mimbar and we
came near the mimbar. When He (peace be upon
him) climbed the first step of the mimbar, He (peace
be upon him) said Aameen, When He (peace be
upon him) ascended the second step, He (peace be
upon him) said Aameen, When He (peace be upon
him) climbed the third step, He (peace be upon him)
said Aameen When He (peace be upon him) came
down, We said O Rasool of Allah (peace be upon
him), we have heard from you today something
which we never heard before He (peace be upon
him) said When I climbed the first step, the Angel Ji-
braeel (alaihi as-salam) appeared before me and said
1.Destruction to him who found the blessed month
of Ramdhan and let it pass by without gaining for-
giveness upon that I said Aameen.
2.When I climbed the second step, he said, Destruc-
tion to him before whom thy name is taken and then
he does not make Dua for Allahs blessing on me (by
saying, for example , Sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam).
I replied Aameen.
3.When I climbed the third step, he said Destruc-
tion unto him in whose lifetime his parents or either
one of them reaches old age, and (through failure to
serve them) he is not allowed to enter Jannah. I said
Aameen.
Note that in this Hadith, Jibraeel (alaihi as-salam)
gave expression to three curses, upon which Rasulul-
lah (peace be upon him) said Aameen every time.
May Allah Almighty in His infinite mercy grant us
His help and save us from these three dangers.
Planing the Ramadan: In this short note, we shall
consider some tips for making the month of Ra-
madan-ul-Mubarak as productive as possible. First
and foremost we need to have a powerful intention
and intense Dua to have a good Ramadan accompa-
nied with a concrete plan. Subject to feasibility, take
time off from office. The choice of the Masjid
(mosque) and the company we keep during the Ra-
madan is of paramount importance. Choose a
Masjid which has arrangements for the Salaat of
Tarawih, Juma and possibly Tahajjud. Try to locate
a Masjid within reach, which has very good scholars,
to guide us through the Ramadan. Some Masajid
have numerous Ramadan activities done seriously in
a spiritual atmosphere.
The key is to have a good plan. Decide on what to
do in this Ramadan. The Holy Quran was revealed
in the auspicious month of Ramadan. So start with
reading of the Quran with Tajweed. We need to
memorize the Holy Quuran. This is to be accompa-
nied with meaning and Tafseer (commentaries and
exegesis). A book on Seerah of the Holy Prophet is
a must for a better understanding of Islam. It is use-
ful to employ the technique of Time Blocking, that
is allocate time for each activity planned. Plan dif-
ferent activities and block time for each activity day
by day and within the day hour by hour. For in-
stance, reading the Holy Quran after Fajar. If noth-
ing urgent crops up proceed with it. Lack of a plan
leads to the procrastination that is an attitude of de-
laying and postponing. Break the plan into MITs
(most important tasks) such that it helps in executing
the plan and having a very productive Ramadan.
MIT before anything else! Have a positive attitude
even if you have missed the Suhoor (predawn meal).
Make Dua all the time. Avoid strenuous work on
such days. Productivity begets productivity! Lazi-
ness begets laziness! Small successes keep one mo-
tivated and productive. Have a decent routine.
Humans are creatures of habit! Routine (morning,
after Fajar and before work; during
work/office/school; and evening routine after the
Plan your Ramadan Month
Ramadan
work) is a must. The routine serves as an autopilot!
Is my routine the best it can be? Be conscious of
your routine. Try expanding the routine realistically
to accommodate more tasks. Think of some activi-
ties after Tarawih and before going to sleep. Spare a
few minutes before the sleep and after waking up.
Have goals and help others.
Sadaqa is often interpreted as an act of charity (giv-
ing help financially or in kind). One needs to do a
Physical Sadaqa in the sense a kind action/deed:
helping a needy person; visiting the sick or the
graveyard. Smiling is also a kind of Physical
Sadaqa. Physical Sadaqa gives a human touch and
helps us the situation of the needy. An online dona-
tion lacks these aspects. One also needs to think of a
long term charities: sponsor for a long term some as-
pect such as schooling of a kid; medicines for an old
patient or so. Control our tongue from gossip and
slander; apologise when the tongue is misused.
Keep our tongues moist with remembrance of Allah
Almighty.
Time and tide wait for none! As time progresses, we
need to reflect on the challenges we are facing and
how best to improve in the rest of the Ramadan.
What goals we have achieved and what are the re-
maining goals? How to prepare for the last ten day
of Ramadan? One is not to be disheartened or dis-
couraged, look ahead and do the best in the remain-
ing days of the Ramada. Making most of the last ten
nights: Plan; make a Dua list; make it very special
by doing Itikaf or some major activity like a charity
project or so. In order to make the Itikaf productive,
choice of the Masjid and the company is crucial.
Choose good company (scholars and righteous peo-
ple); avoid friends as it leads to socializing (chatting,
gossiping and killing time). Avoid technologies
(laptops; Internet; mobiles etc) as they are likely to
distract. Itikaf is about seclusion: avoid petty con-
versations in person and over the phones. In the last
ten days, we need to be extra focused. Searching for
the Shab-e-Qadar and making long Dua would be a
major activity. One should not be distracted by the
superfluous functions organized in some Masajid on
the 27th night of Ramadan. Treat this as your last
Ramadan!
Concluding Suggestions: The night preceding the
Eid is also known as Shabe-Jaiza or Lailatul Jaiza,
the Night of Reward. Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) had said: Whoever stands up (in wor-
ship) in the nights preceding the two Eid expecting
rewards from his Lord, his heart will not die when
the other hearts will die (reported in Ibn Majah).
On this night we are to refrain from the avoidable
market atmospheres. To benefit from this opportu-
nity, we should perform as much Ibadah in this night
as we can and pray for our needs. Ramadan is the
month of training and not an end. We need to prac-
tice in the remaining months, and make best use of
the training we have undergone. Continue fasting
with six days of Shawwal; Mondays and Thursdays;
three mid-days of each Islamic lunar month (13th,
14th and 15th). We need to continue the Nawafil
Salaat particularly in the night. Practice charity
round the year. It is useful to keep an envelope or a
box for charity. Consistency is the main idea after
Ramadan. May Allah Almighty Guide us to plan
and act in the Ramadan and rest of our lives, Amen.
Bibliography:
1.A website for Quran Majeed with comprehensive
search in Arabic and numerous languages, along with
several English translations (meanings), http://www.is-
lamicity.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 and http://www.ipci.co.za/information/taraweeh-
quran-summary/
4.Shams Pirzada, Is it not necessary to read the Quran
with Understanding?, Idara Dawatul Quran, Mumbai,
India, 13th Edition (2011). http://scanislam.com/browse-
islam/read-quran-with-understanding/ and
http://www.quranforall.org/quran/iintrqwund.htm
5.Khurram Murad, Way to the Quran, Islamic Book
Service, New Delhi, India. http://www.sunnipath.com/li-
brary/books/B0039P0000.aspx and http://www.islamba-
sics.com/view.php?bkID=29
6.Learn Arabic through Enlish, Hindi and Urdu at: Func-
tional Arabic: http://www.Functional-Arabic.com/ and
http://www.Explore-Quran.com/index.htm
7.Abdul Karim Parekh, The Easy Dictionary of the
Quraan, This Treasure-house originally in Urdu is now
available in numerous languages including: Hindi, Ben-
gali, Gujarati, English and Turkish, (Zia Publications,
Lucknow, India, Fifth Edition (2005).
http://Corpus.Quran.com/.
8.Abdul Aziz Dahran, 80% of Quranic Words, This
Pocket-sized booklet is in Urdu and Enlish, Parekh Publi-
cations, Nagpur India (2009). http://www.eMuslim.com/.
9. An online source of Quran in different formats
accompanied with audio to suite a variety of readers:
http://www.QuranFlash.com/home?en
Sameen Ahmed Khan (rohelakhan@yahoo.com,
Engineering Department, Salalah College of Technology
(SCOT), Salalah, Sultanate of Oman
H
ADITH (2nd in first primary source)
In last 3 issues of Bakhabar a general overview of
the Quran was given. Quran is the first prime source
of legislation (processing of making and enacting
laws) followed by Hadith. Hadith is a narrative
record of the sayings or traditions of Muhammad (S)
and his companions (R).Consequently, it is of three
types:QaullandFail(saying &action) of the Prophet
(S) and Taqreer(unopposed actions of the companion
by prophet).These three are in order of merit and im-
portance. Hadith is the interpretation and elaboration
of the Quran. For example, a 5-time prayer a day as
time-bound obligatory is confirmed by Quran but its
whole method is confirmed from Hadith. The same
is more or less with other worship and non-worship
matters.
The Prophet (S) said,
"The best people are those
living in my generation,
and then those who will
follow them, and then
those who will follow the
later.(Sahihain).
So, the best period are:(1)
Period of the prophet (up
to 10H), (2) Period of Sa-
haba (up to around 110H)
(3) period of Tabyeen (up
to about 170H). Accord-
ing to 2nd meaning of Ha-
dith:(1) Period of the prophet (S), and his
companions, (2)Tabyeen (up to 150H), (3) Tab-e-
Tabyeen (up to 220H).
PS:A period till 300 years Hijra is known as Salaf-
Saleheen (pious predecessor), i.e. this period con-
cludes with the death of the last Saha Sittah books
author Imam Nesayi.
TADWEEN (COLLECTION) OF HADITH
There is no single word for Tadween in English.
Tadween Hadith mainly includes collection, compi-
lation and codification. Let us see it century-wise as
follows:-
1ST CENTURY HIJRAH (Period of Hadith in
Memory and Practices)
First 10 years was the period of the prophet (S).
Then is the period of KhilafatRashida (11-50 H). Pe-
riod of Sahaba ends at the death of the last Sahabi
AbuTufail (Aamir bin Wathila) in around 110H.
If we go back just 100/200 years back we find one
literate out of 100 men. What about 1400 years be-
fore. It may be 1 out of thousands. There were only
about 11 Ansar who knew reading and writing. Islam
is a practical life. Literacy in Islam means applica-
tion of Shariat in ones life. A graduate Muslim fails
to working on Islam is illiterate or worse in the eyes
of Allah. Similarly, a Kafir (Ph.D holder) is illiterate
in the eyes of Allah
Almighty or worse than
an animal.
It is the feature of only
Quran that it was mem-
orised word by word
and it came into exis-
tence in an official book
during the period of 1st
caliph Abu Baker (R)
and the same was
rewritten and arranged
chapter-wise by the
order of the 3rd caliph
Uthman with seven
copies which were distributed in the Arab world. Its
compilation and making it in a book form was hav-
ing reasons behind it.
As for Hadith it was neither memorised as Quran nor
came into any formal book. Instead,Sahaba were dis-
couraged from writing down anything from the
Prophet (S) except the Quran. It was a temporary
mandate from the Prophet (S). Later on when Sahaba
became familiar with the Quran and numbers of
scribes increased the ban was relaxed, but the print-
ing facility was not available at that time and it was
very difficult to write few on bones, leaves and skin.
Leaning of a number of Hadith was easier than writ-
UNDERSTANDING OF SHARIAT (ISLAMIC LAWS)
E.g. , Quran, Sunnah and Ijma (consensus ofSahaba)
Part IV {Continued from previous issue..}
ing down a Hadith. Yet few prominent Sahaba had
written down some sayings of the Prophet (S). They
areAbuhurairah (R), Jabir bin Abdullah, Ali, etc, but
I am unaware if their manuscripts are available
today.We see that the 2nd Caliph Omar (R) used to
also prohibit Rewayat Hadith (narration of
Hadith)under the impression that the Quran may be
mixed up with Hadith.
Although a very few Hadith were written down dur-
ing lifetime of the Prophet (S) and during period of
Sahaba,the vast majority remained committed to
their memories and practices. Later generations
learnt it from their memories. A pupil of Abu Huraira
(R),Hammam B. Munabbih (d110H)has written
about 138 Hadith called SahifahHammamwhich
was edited by Dr.Hamid and published. This Sahifah
is believed to be only book of Hadith of 1st century
in its original form.
Hadith meaning preservations were in memories and
in practices, not necessary its words. Ibn Masoud (R)
used to say (likewise or
like that or so) after reading Hadith,
or (as the prophet (s) said) is read. Meaning of Ha-
dith transmitted from one generation to another in
the language of Rowat (Narrators) till it came into
books forms in 3rd century onwards whereby Hadith
was recorded in the language of last Ravi (narrator).
In another words, Hadith spread verbally from one
Sahabi to others and through transmission by inheri-
tance as news to the following generations, i.e. Sa-
haba to Tabyeen to Tab-Tabyeen (Muslim who has
honour to meet with Sahabi&Tabyeen respectively)
and so on.
At that time, the learning process was quite different
from today. All reading materials used to be stored in
memories of scholars and in their practices. They
were not in favour of writing down but to learn.
Some used to hate writing. Senior Tabyeen used to
have Shabas company (preferably of his town) for
years to learn Hadith. They used to visit them too in
their places of living
in Arab peninsula.
Junior Tabyeen did so
with their senior
Tabyeen.
According to an esti-
mate, 1,060 Sahabi
from around 100,000+have reported the Hadith, out
of which 500 Sahabi has reported only one Hadith.
The maximum Hadith (5,374) was reported by Abu
Hurairah(R) followed by other six SahabaKiram: Ibn
Omar 2630,Anas bin Malik 2286, Aisah 2210, Ibn
Abbas 1600, Jaber bin Abdullah 1540 and Abu
Saeed Khidri 1170(R). Rest have reported less than
1,000. It is wrong to judge the level of knowledge of
a Ravi with their (narratives). Although only
142 Hadith have been reported from Abubacker (R)
and 146 from UthmanGhani (R) they were caliphs
and among top knowledgeable Sahabi.
Sahaba not only remained in Madinah or Makkah
but started to move from prophet time and mainly
duringKhelafatRashidah. So, they carried whatever
they have learnt from the Prophet (S) to different
parts of Arab world. Tabyeen have learnt Hadith
from their memories and practices. Famous Tabyeen
Scholars are: Mohammad bin SadAzzuhri (d.124H),
Qatada (Basrah, 61-118H), Akrama (Medinah,
d.105H), Dahhak (d.100H), Hassan Basari (21-
110h)i, Mujahid bin Jubair (Makkah 21-104), Say-
eed bin Almusayeeb (Madinah 14-94), Ibrahim
Nakhi (Kofa, 45-96), Sayeed bin Jubair (Kufa 46-
95,) Aamir Asshabi (Kufa, d.100H, Ataa bin
AbiRabah (Makkah, d.114 and Abu Hanifah (80-
150). Similar to Sahaba some Tabyeen have also
been reported to have writtendown Hadith.
Khalifah Umar bin Abdul Aziz (61-101 H) appointed
during his caliphate two Madani prominent scholars
of Hadith Shaikh Abu Bakr bin Al Hazam(65-135 H)
and Shaikh Muhammad bin ShihabZuhri (D124H) to
write Hadiths.
This first collection consists of mostly the Hadiths
that were attributed to the Prophet (S) by two narra-
tors in the middle, e.g. Sahabi&Tabyee. Some were
attributed even by one narrator. Since the period was
nearerto the period of the Prophet (S) and the narra-
tors were either Sahabi or Tabyeethere was no possi-
bility of Hadith for its being weak or false. Only
their old age memory was sometime
questionable.During this period Hadith were as:-

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c. ti en th
IBy S Farooqi I
You just spent the last half an hour on the

phone! What were you discussing that made
you laugh so hard? Ive been waiting for your
conversations to end, just to have a scrap of your at-
tention.
Have you ever known someone who is inherently in-
secure?
Being in a close relationship with such a person can
be rather stifling. This is because insecurity gives
birth to character and personality traits that make a
person demand from others more than they can give.
E.g. those who are insecure suffer from low self-es-
teem, frequently copy those around them, cling to
the loved ones, dislike being alone, and want to feel
needed by their loved ones all the time.
They often complain of being ignored or under-
mined, wallow in self-pity, and regularly guilt-trip
their dear ones for supposedly neglecting their rights
or being harsh.
Actually, they suffer from fears based on a sense of
inherent worthlessness, which makes them consis-
tently undermine and ignore their own positive qual-
ities and strengths. They link their sense of
self-worth to others need of them, which means that
the minute their family or friends get busy in doing
something that does not involve them, they feel ig-
nored or devalued.
Consequently, they thrive on ensuring that people
keep in need of them all the time, in some way or
the other.
Now imagine being married to an insecure person.
Whether it is the husband or the wife who is inse-
cure, the result is usually disastrous, as it affects the
couples marriage detrimentally. The more self-con-
fident partner starts to feel tied down and manipu-
lated. He or she ends up feeling guilty even for
enjoying normal life activities, because their
spouse makes them feel bad for giving any attention
or time elsewhere.
An insecure spouse becomes controlling and inter-
fering, clinging to their partner and often making
them feel suffocated and trapped.
Insecure spouses refuse to give their spouse a
healthy personal space that the latter needs to
thrive and grow as an individual.
What is space?
Any adult needs space to succeed; to enable Allah
let them grow and morph into what they are destined
to be. This space comprises of their personal inde-
pendence and freedom of choice within the broad
boundaries of all actions and endeavors that are per-
missible in Islam.
Whether it is their time, profession, choices in cloth-
ing, lifestyle, or ways of making and spending
money, as long as their choices do not result in the
disobedience of Allah, they are supposed to be free
to do as they please - as responsible, sensible and
mature adults.
A healthy marriage allows - rather, facilitates - the
growth and personal success of both spouses. The re-
sult of a happy marriage shows on both of them in
the form of good health, self-confidence, increased
productivity and a more buoyant disposition and
demeanor.
The more caring, respectful and trusting each spouse
is of the other; the more the latter grows, thrives and
matures because of the union.
The Insecure Spouse
Newlywed husbands and wives should remember
that, in the early years of marriage, being clingy,
possessive, interfering, and jealous and controlling,
can cause damage to their mutual love. It is com-
mon, though, for one spouse to be more insecure,
and hence more controlling of the other.
Small things, such as how much time a spouse is
giving to someone else on the phone, chatting and
emailing, be they a family member, friend, or col-
league; all this might lead to an insecure and clingy
Sustaining Spousal Love
Quell Insecurity, Give Space
S
spouse the wrong way.
Their job or profession; how many social outings
they attend without their partner - can begin to rub
an insecure and clingy spouse the wrong way.
This is especially true for the bored wife who has lit-
tle to do to fill up her spare time; who constantly
waits for her husband to get home in order to oc-
cupy herself instead of doing something worthwhile
to pass her time. Such a wife dislikes being left alone
by her husband at social gatherings, even if he is giv-
ing time to a relative he meets only once in many
years.
As for the insecure husband, he gets jealous even if
his wife steps outside the home without him, or talks
to someone else, on the phone or online, in his pres-
ence. He uses the authority that Islam has afforded
him, to promptly place restrictions on his wife as
soon as they get married, primarily by stopping her
from going out without him, or from meeting her
family on a reasonable basis, or even pursuing per-
missible hobbies, education, or work that does not
violate any laws or commandments of Allah.
Insecure wives and husbands thus keep an eye on
their spouse all the time. They check the latters
email inboxes and mobile phones to survey their text
messages and emails, ensuring that there are none
from the opposite gender. They hang around when
their spouse talks on the phone, fearful that some-
thing secret might be discussed behind their back.
When their spouse is out elsewhere, especially if
they are enjoying themselves with others, they keep
calling to ask them when they will return home.
If not checked, in the first year of marriage these
minor self-esteem issues can blow up quickly, esca-
lating into bigger relationship problems.
There are ways of giving each other space, in order
to retain their individual identity whilst still main-
taining and enjoying a close emotional bond in the
marriage.
The First Few Years - Make or Break
The first 2 or 3 years of marriage are different from
the succeeding ones, in that, most spouses desire ex-
clusive time with each other.
These years are usually slow, with a lot of spare time
sans the distraction and diversion of babies. Some-
times, wives find themselves getting bored, and if
their husbands do not take them out, or are busy in
work, they can get very frustrated, clingy and home-
sick (wanting to go to their parents home).
When together, the couple should try to enjoy di-
verse activities e.g. they can take road trips, go on
quiet nature walks, visit museums or libraries, or un-
dertake inexpensive domestic travel in their spare
time, such as holidays, to keep themselves occupied.
When one spouse is busy, or needs to give his or her
time elsewhere e.g. to study for an important exam,
or attend a conference in another city, the left-be-
hind, idle partner should be careful that they do not
start moping around and complaining of boredom.
Rather, they should take this free time as an oppor-
tunity to do something that they are otherwise unable
to do when their spouse is around. These things
could be like catching up with family and friends,
reading a book, attending an online webinar or short
course, sleeping in, writing a journal entry/blog post,
pursuing a hobby (e.g. gardening), working on a
project or deadline, spring cleaning their room, or
even cooking or baking.
Maintaining the Balance
It is very important to be able to differentiate be-
tween a spouses genuine complains and nagging
stemming from insecurity. Time apart should be re-
stricted only to necessities, especially in the first
few, formative years of marriage. Socializing with-
out ones spouse should be a once-in-a-while occur-
rence, not a regular feature or daily habit. For
spouses who are insecure by nature, it is imperative
that they realize that their inherent insecurity will
cause problems for their own selves.
They should not just curb any negative thoughts,
doubts and fears about their husband or wife that
come into their heads, but should also find produc-
tive pastimes to fill up their spare time, when their
spouse is occupied elsewhere.
As they say, an idle mind is a devils workshop. And
Muslim marriages are prime targets of the Shaitan.
As far as personal space goes, the more of it one
gives to their life partner, the more love, care and re-
spect they get in return.
S Farooqi[www.islaaminfo.co.za]
From The Times of India
CHENNAI: At a time when Muslim organisations
and political parties are holding rallies and public
meetings seeking to increase reservation in govern-
ment jobs and educational institutions in the state
and Centre, a mosque in Chennai has taken a differ-
ent route to achieve this.
MoulanaShamsudheenQasimi, chief imam of
Makkah Masjid on Anna Salai is a proud man today
as his efforts have borne fruit in the first attempt. He
started a training academy for civil services aspirants
within the premises of the mosque. AzhagiyaKadan
IAS Academy was started on the third floor of the
mosque with 28 aspirants in 2011. Today, one of its
students, Mohammed Ashraf JS, has cracked the
UPSC examination in his first attempt with a rank of
1,032.
Shamsudheen says that no other mosque in the coun-
try has a civil services exam training academy inside
its premises. The academy provides coaching, food,
accommodation, books and study materials to stu-
dents free of cost. It spends more than Rs 40 lakh per
year to run the academy, and all funding comes from
members of the community.
Ashraf, who was working for Chennai Metro Rail
Limited, quit his job in 2012 to make his childhood
dream of joinng the civil services come true. Ashraf,
who finished civil engineering in Anna University in
2011 is from Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, where
his father runs a welding workshop. After complet-
ing his graduation, he joined CMRL for a salary of
Rs 28,000 a month.
He was one of the 28 students shortlisted from the
1,200 applications the academy received. He joined
the academy in August 2012 and took the UPSC
exam in May 2013. Though he was ranked as 1,032
when the UPSC examination results were announced
on Thursday, it is seen as an achievement by the
community members. The academy is expected to
play a huge role in motivating young Muslims in fu-
ture.
Shamsudeen said, "Muslim students should be moti-
vated by Ashraf's achievement. We want more stu-
dents to come forward and join the academy. Right
now, we have 50 students studying here. Next year,
we plan to take in 100 students."
Ashraf said he was able to crack the exam only be-
cause of the academy and the environment it pro-
vided. "Muslim parents should change their mindset
of sending children to foreign countries as labour. In-
stead, they should give them a good education. We
have only 2% representation in IAS. It can be in-
creased only through education and making use of
academies like the one I studied in," Ashraf said.
Students who want to enroll for the next (2014-15)
batch can register online at www.akias.in from June
15 to August 12.
Student of academy run by Chennai
mosque cracks IAS
The Stark Truth
The Loksabha results have confronted us with stark truth. Cor-
porate sector and middle classes influenced by sectarian ideol-
ogy and armed with the power of media and internet can put any
one on the throne. The masses are devoid of a grassroots net-
work that could safeguard their interests and culture.
The danger has been brewing for the last 23 years when corpo-
rate sector started wielding increasing authority and owning TV
channels. They showed their media power three years ago when
they lifted Anna Hazare, and later Kejriwal, to the sky and made
the Central Government end on the knees.
A year ago they projected their choice for prime ministership
and poured glamour around him. They went to the extent that
even Prime Ministers Independence Day speech from the Red
Fort was overshadowed by ModisLallan college speech. They
gave some coverage to Rahul Gandhi, but only to reinforce by
contrast Modis strong man and development man image. Mid-
dle classes carried massive drive on the internet in his favor.
Now the government of their choice has come to power.
May Modiji do good work. But the point is different. For the
first time the entire drive of polity is in the hands of corporate
sector and media. In place of compassion, equality and freedom,
the forces of arrogance, hatred and show off are dominating. Po-
litical workers and basic issues were never so irrelevant in elec-
tions as this time. Bodoland and Muzaffarnagar violence reflect
that rioters are united and strong while the ones to resist them
are weak.
To address these challenges we need to review our position on
polity and culture with utmost seriousness and build appropriate
networks. By Dr. V.K. Tripathi
T
otal of 239 students could make it this year, in
the matric (10th Bihar and Jharkhand board
exams) from the 16 centres that remained ac-
tive during current academic year, alhamdolillah.
Unfortunately, 18 students out of a total of 257 could
not make it. Most of these are students who studied
in the RCCs for less than 9 months during the cur-
rent year. The students who have consistently been
with the RCCs from 8th grade (in the centres which
started more than 2 years before) have done excel-
lently well, thus making a case for catching them
young.
7 RCCs produced 100% pass results all of them
are from Bihar none of the Jharkhand RCCs could
reach this level of performance. RCC Chapra @ Ol-
hanpur village (in Saran district of Bihar), sponsored
by the Aligarh Alumni Association of Washington
DC, through the efforts of Dr. Razi Raziuddin,
proved to be the best performing RCC in terms of
maximum number of 1st divisioners (and 100% pass
rate). None of the RCC Chapra students were among
3rd divisioners or failed students all the 24 stu-
dents appearing in the 10th board exam achieved ei-
ther 1st division or 2nd division. Same numbers
were achieved by RCC Muzaffarpur - 13 first divi-
sioners, highest number among all RCCs and 12 sec-
ond divisioners; however, they could not help 3 of
their students from failing in the exam.
A total of 95 students could achieve first division,
while 132 re-
ceived second
division and
12 students
scraped
through with a
third division.
The passing
rate of all
RCCs com-
bined is 93%,
which was not
achieved by
many commer-
cial coaching
centres that we
surveyed. The
level of stu-
dents who join the RCCs has always been very low,
because they come only from the government
schools (as a policy of RCCs) wherein teaching
hardly takes place. Unless these poor students,with
no access to quality education, are coached with a
noble objective to help them cross the threshold of
10th board, the percentage in higher studies cannot
be increased.
A whopping 6 students failed from RCC Ranchi, the
centre which was started this year, proving the gen-
uineness of implementing our policy and the academic
level of the students at entry level of RCCs all the
students in such new centres are those who never got
an opportunity to learn, because government schools
do everything except teaching. So, even though this is
a sad news for the RCC Ranchi, we congratulate them
for having tried their best during the few months they
got. It does require a lot of guts to take up the chal-
lenge of transforming the non-meritorious lot into the
meritorious ones - that is churning heroes out of zeros.
Two RCC students scored perfect 100% in Maths
they are Saba Perween of RCC Hazaribagh (Jhark-
hand), and Shadab Alam of RCC Ramgarh (Jhark-
hand). Although RCC Ranchi could not stop 6 students
from failing (highest fail percentage among all RCCs).
It has the special distinction of producing the highest
overall scorers. Nagma Perween and Baby Afrin scored
the two highest scores among the all the RCCs. Jhark-
hand RCCs produced 70% of top scores in the top 10
list of RCC students (considering main subjects only),
beating Bihar
RCCs by a wide
margin. RCC @
Arwal produced
the highest
overall scorer in
Bihar - Md.Zee-
shan Alam re-
ceived the
highest overall
marks, coming
3rd among all
RCCs (includ-
ing Jharkhand
RCCs).
RAHBAR Coaching Centres Continue to Produce Much Better Re-
sults than Most Commercial Coaching Centres for Matric exam:
Sl
No.
RCC 1st Div
2nd
Dev
3rd Div Fail
Total
Appeared
Total
Pass
%age
Pass
1 Saran-Chapra 12 12 0 0 24 24 100.0%
2 Hajipur 9 17 2 0 28 28 100.0%
3 Arwal 7 5 0 0 12 12 100.0%
4 Patna 7 10 0 0 17 17 100.0%
5 Kishanganj 4 2 1 0 7 7 100.0%
6 Motihari 4 9 0 0 13 13 100.0%
7 Darbhanga 3 6 1 0 10 10 100.0%
8 Samastipur 7 15 1 1 24 23 95.8%
9 Nalanda-Asthawan 0 5 0 1 6 5 83.3%
10
Ramgarh-
Chitarpur
3 9 1 1 14 13 92.9%
11 Hazaribagh 5 2 2 1 10 9 90.0%
12 Bhagalpur 2 6 1 1 10 9 90.0%
13 Dhanbad 7 8 2 2 19 17 89.5%
14 Muzaffarpur 13 11 0 3 27 24 88.9%
15
Aurangabad-
Rafiganj
2 10 1 2 15 13 86.7%
16 Ranchi 10 5 0 6 21 15 71.4%

Total 95 132 12 18 257 239 93.00%

RAHBAR Coaching Centres (absolutely free coaching) produce 2nd
and 4thAll India toppers in 2014 diploma engineering entrance exam for
MANUU son of a labourer, and daughter of road-side vendor now look forward to a bright future
Bihar Anjumans RAHBAR Coaching Centres have the honour of producing a high success rate in the 2014
diploma engineering entrance exam for MANUU, getting more than 30 students short-listed for admission.
All India 2ndtopper is from RCC Darbhanga, and the 4th topper is from RCC Patna.
RAHBAR Coaching centres were able to transform 33zeroes of yesterday into heroes of today, this year,
thus adding to the 67 of previous three years (6 in 2010, 16 in 2011, 18 in 2012, and 27 in 2013), taking the
total to 100, now.
33 students of RAHBAR Coaching Centres make history in 2014, with ShahidObaidullah of RCC Darb-
hanga getting 2ndAll India Rank (1st in Bihar) and NahidParween of RCC @ Patna bagging the 4thAll India
rank in MANUU polytechnic entrance exam of 2014. In 2013, the 6th rank was bagged by RCC Patna stu-
dent, Khadija Mastoor, while there were 4 students in top 50.
RCC Muzaffarpur took RCC movement to new heights by getting 12 of its students in the qualifying list of
same all India exam.
Six (6) of the top 50 ranks have
been bagged by RCCs managed by
Bihar Anjuman, three of these by
RCC Muzaffarpur alone.Thanks to
the exceptional efforts of Janab-
Shoaib Khan Sb, IPS, who has de-
voted his precious time to the RCCs
and considered the children studying
there as his own. His study materi-
als for the polytechnic entrance
exams as well as the 10th board are
playing a great role in making the
RCC students better their achieve-
ment every year.

S

S

6
16
18
27
33
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
RCC students Qualifying Polytechnic
Entrance Exams

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