everything_under_the_sun

Phantom Alliances

2010-01-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

Hinduvtvawadis rage against the phantom marx,mullah,missionary and macaulayputra alliance.
Muslims rage against the mythical crusader,zionist,hinduvtva wadi alliance.
Sections in the US rage against real or imaginary Islamists plot to take over the West

Memo to whom it may concern

2008-08-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

To all those who pity me claiming I am a 'victim' of Islam because my ancestors converted to Islam (under duress or willingly) well don't be. I am proud of being a muslim - but not arrogant as arrogance is to consider oneself superior to others.
I am grateful I was born in a muslim family and continue to a 'muslim' . Yes some of my fellow muslims have gone wrong (terrorism) and that makes me cringe sometimes but I am still proud and humbled to be a muslim.
My Dua is may Allah (SWT) grant Hidayah to other people too.

Indian BPOs refuse to hire UPites/biharis and Muslims !!

2008-03-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

According to a article in the Mumbai Mirror ,BPOs have been verbally instructing Career Consultancies not to send them

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=200803072008030703131748825e3ee6d#

Dr Zakir Naik

2008-02-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

Now Dr Zakir Naik is not a Alim in the traditional sense - having gone to a madrassa or having gained ijazas from other Alims. He is a 'Daee or a muslim missionary in the style of Ahmad Deedat. His answers are rather simplistic and do not appeal to more sophisticated audiences. However they appeal to many ordinary muslims who feel reassured of their Iman after listening to his talks.
His recent stand on Yazeed ibn Muawiyah has turned him into divisive figure . Morever Non Muslims consider him disrespectful to thier own religious traditions and rather abrasive .
So is he doing more harm or good to the Ummah ?
Allahu Alim (Allah knows)

On Tehelka Tapes

2007-11-12T03:27:00.000-08:00

It is nauseating how the hinduvtvawadis are trying to spin the Tehelka tapes .
I wonder what "National Interest" is served by this ?
Silly comparisions to Kashmir and West Bengal are being made to deflect attention from the Gujarat genocide.
Gujarat is the ultimate Hinduvtva laboratory and a warning of the real face of the BJP/Sangh Parivar.

Clueless Intelligence 'Experts'

2007-03-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

B. Raman who was Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi and frequently comments on Indian affairs bizarrely calls the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) a jihadi organisation .

He suggests that Tablighi Jamaat links of the Pakistani cricket players must be explored in the Bob Woolmer murder case.Makes one realize how clueless these supposed Security and terrorism experts are and how their pronouncements must always be taken with a fistful of salt.
Any expression of muslim religiosity is now being looked upon as being subversive and provocative.

On Gujarat

2006-10-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

Ahmedabad-based sociologist Shiv Vishvanathan on Gujarat'2002: “What happened in Gujarat was a mini Rwanda: your neighbour raped you; people killed between 9 and 6 and went home singing. It was like a football match where the Hindus won. There remains festivity around it, the state denies victimhood, and there is no erasure.” State acquiescence and connivance can only partially explain such an overriding phenomenon of exclusion.

From this month's cover story on Gujarat'02 in Himal Magazine.
One of the reasons I will never ever vote for the BJP.

Prejudice against muslims in public institutions

2006-04-05T04:35:00.000-07:00

This news item sheds light on a major issue.That of anti- muslim prejudice which exists in Indian public institutions.Some would suggest that this is a one off case.There is substantial difference in the perception of this issue.Most non muslims tend to downplay it while within muslim circles it is considered a major issue.A prominent Muslim businessman has said (off the record) that if it were'nt for corruption and political connections it would be even more difficult for muslims to do any business due to the communalism and prejudice of the lower bureaucracy and administration.
Admittedly this prejudice has grown due to recent acts of terrorism. Earlier the jan sanghis and assorted rightwing Congressis made life difficult for muslims.They used to go after muslims for revenge against historical Muslim invasions and the partition of India.Now minority appeasement and terrorism are the reasons cited.Some of the prejudice is also due to class bias as there is a huge underclass of muslims. Other reasons cited are treatment of minorities in Pakistan,bangladesh and Saudi Arabia or the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits.
All this talk about muslim appeasement by the rightwing obscures the very real fact that muslims are economically and socially backward.
See for example a recent survey here
A recent article in the Guardian makes the same point.
Some of this backwardness is self inflicted by the lack of interest of many muslim parents in the education of thier children. So what do we do ? Some muslim intellectuals like former IAS Officer Saiyad Hamid have suggested reservation of muslims in government jobs .The AP government had promised reservation but it was struck down by the AP High Court.However public opinion seems to be strongly against reservation so I don't think this will happen.

Tags
India Muslims

2006-02-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

Ayaz Amir in Dawn has take on the Denmark Cartoon issue.
Muslim masses in general want their rulers to stand up to the West. Hence the popularity of the tyrant Saddam Hussain and Usama bin Laden in some sections of the Muslim world.They are admired not for their actions but for having the guts to face up the West.The Americans and others instead of admitting this pretend that the radicals "hate freedom". Current Muslim leaders are seen as ineffectual and do not seem to articulate the anger which Muslims feel.In a simplistic manner the reasoning goes : Since our governments do not do anything we will have to do something ourselves .People lose touch with Fiqh and then go astray.They forget the virtues of Sabr (patience) and depending upon Allah and go off on a tangent.

Political Compass

2005-11-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

Try out this quiz at http://politicalcompass.org
My political compass :
Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.36

Palestinians have access to the beach...

2005-09-29T04:41:00.000-07:00

Palestinians get access to the beach for the first time since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza strip .Despite living so near to the sea shore,they did not have access to the sea thanks to the occupation
link

On Sania Mirza

2005-09-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

Recently The Times of India had a news item on the ulema's criticism of Sania Mirza

I share conservative Muslims' ambivalence on Sania Mirza
I find myself supporting Sania Mirza and hoping that she wins sometimes . Why do I do that ?
Is it because of the feeling of Assabiyyah (tribalism) because she is an Indian Muslim ?
But yes the tennis dress she wears does violate traditional Islamic guidelines on modesty.Any practising Muslim who has a feel for the letter and spirit of the Shariah will corroborate that.The ulema are only doing thier duty by pointing out what is wrong with her dress .Now the ball is in her court Sorry I could'nt just resist this :-)

Anyway only Allah knows her intentions and whether she is a devout Muslim or not .
As expected , progressives like Feroze Mithiborwala could not resist making a jab at the Darul Uloom Deoband .The Darul Uloom Deoband ulema are well known for their ultra orthodox stand .Despite the recent controversies associated with the Darul Uloom Deoband ,I still have great respect for the ulema .I believe they have have much greater Taqwa than me . It is neccessary for us to be linked with Sunnah - the tradition of the Prophet (PBUH) and keep a perspective on preparation for the Akhirah (Day of Judgement ) through the ulema .

On chauvinism

2005-08-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

George Monboit has an excellent post on patriotism ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1545421,00.html

The Friedman Watcher

2005-08-02T05:25:00.000-07:00

Siddharth Varadarajan has a review about Thomas Friedman's new book
http://svaradarajan.blogspot.com/2005/08/im-sorry-but-worlds-still-round.html

Read The Guardian's review here
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1487965,00.html

2005-07-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Now Amir Taheri goes after beards and Hijab :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1709661,00.html

He argues that "Growing a beard has nothing to do with Islam"
He seriously needs to do some research
See for instance :
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543064

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/beard.htm

http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/text.asp?type=question&qid=708

I won't even talk of Hijab because much has been already been said on the issue.

2005-07-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

Worth reading stuff in Today's Guardian ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/comment/story/0,16141,1536885,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1536780,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1536779,00.html

Thomas Friedman yet again

2005-07-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

Read what Thomas Friedman has to say today in The NYTimes
Why does he continue to repeat inflammatory quotes in his articles ?
Also note that he quotes from MEMRI
For the truth about the israeli propaganda site - memri read interesting info here link
As an aside I did not like his new book .He is rather selective in his interpretation .For example he says globalization started off in 1492 Ancient India had trade links with West Asia and East Asia.The Islamic civilization was the first global civilization.Thus the Arab traveller Ibn Batutta could travel from present day Morocco to India and beyond and not feel totally a stranger.
link

more on this later ...

science_religion

2005-07-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

science_religion

Read the interview of Science Reporter Editor Biman Basu here
http://www.vigyanprasar.com/comcom/inter30.htm

2005-07-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Scientific American is now being published in India by the India Today Group Yippee !!!
http://www.sciam.co.in
However it is very expensive - Rs 100 a copy.
Now when is the New Scientist coming to India ? http://www.newscientist.com
For a long time there has been a lack of general science magazine(s) in India.
Science Reporter published by CSIR is the only one around.
Sometime back Science Today (later 2001) used to be published by (I think) the Times of India group but was dicontinued. The rest (Junior Science Refresher ,Junior Science Digest etc...) are sundry competition magazines which are full of MCQs for IIT -JEE and other competitve exams.

For those interested in understanding the relationship between Islam and science
look for Nuh Ha Meem Keller's article(s) on www.masud.co.uk
Harun Yahya also writes on these topics .

introduction

2005-06-01T03:43:00.000-07:00

I am a alumnus of AMU ,aligarh and working in the IT industry for the past 5 years ....
In these pages I will post my thoughts on issues of my interest
world affairs ,Islam ,history and IT