What about Takfir, Divine Mercy, Hell, Heaven, So-Called Jihad, Radicalism and Misinterpretations of the Quran and Hadith, and Battling Radical Ideologies?

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 29 April 2023 Muhammad Raafat, an Islamic Scholar, Responds To the Question in an Interview with Al-Bawaba News Main Points 1. Allah Almighty did not give the keys to Heaven and Hell to anyone. 2. The mercy of Allah Almighty extends to everything. 3. Extremist groups are trying to interpret the texts according to their deviant thinking and whims. ------ Muhammad Raafat, a writer and researcher in comparative religions, holds a master’s degree in comparative religions from Zagazig University. In an Arabic interview with Al-Bawabah News about extremist groups and extremist ideology, he stressed that extremist groups are striving to interpret the texts in accordance with their whims and erroneous thinking, so as to serve their purposes...

‘Maulana’ Sajjad Nomani Wants To Put Breaks On Muslim Women Empowerment

Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy April 28, 2023 Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) is shocked by the blatantly anti-women diktat of the spokesman of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, ‘Maulana’ Sajjad Nomani. In a video clip posted on YouTube (https://youtu.be/tyO5E8MgQEQ), the influential cleric with a large following among Muslims across the country can be seen and heard issuing the edict: “Do not send your girls to college unaccompanied, not even with a hijab. This is haram, haram (forbidden, sinful). On this night of holy Ramzan, I send this curse on parents who send their daughters to a coaching centre or college unaccompanied: unless they mend their ways, may Allah condemn them to hell.” Nomani further declared: hijab or burqa is not enough… it is the duty...

When Sympathy Cheapens You

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 29 April 2023 " Khwahish-e-Hamdardi Ne Mere Kirdaar Ko Daaghdaar Kar Diya." (The Desire For Sympathy Has Besmirched My Character) - Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi " Seek The Warmth Of Sympathy. Chances Are, You'll Get The Coldness Of Apathy." -Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, Persian poet, also wrote some stories " Sympathy Always Has An Element Of Condescension." Anon We all have come across and disliked those who seek sympathy. This habit is indeed irritating. Many people are in the habit of telling others about their pains, sorrows and sufferings. While it's good to share one's pain with near and dear ones, one must remember that all aren't your close ones or dear friends. Moreover, we all have our own pains and troubles and when someone starts narrating...

Sudan: Misplaced Aspirations of Two Army Generals Turned A Country Into A Hell

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 28 April 2023 Gen. Al Burhan And Gen. Dagalo Bay For Each Other's Blood Main Points: 1. The Sudan Armed Forces and Rapid Support Force fight for supremacy. 2. More than 500 people have died in the crossfire. 3. Dictator Omar al Bashir had formed RAF to prevent any coup by the army. 4. RAF was used by Bashir against pro-democracy protesters. 1. 5.Three day ceasefire ends tonight. ----- People have used the relative lull in fighting to go outside their homes (Reuters) ----- Sudan, a country of 40 million people of whom 97 percent population is Muslim.is going through a civil war due to the ego clash and misplaced aspirations of two army generals. The African country that was ruled by dictator Omar al Bashir till 2019 and had seen a...

Malabar Revolt: Fictions In History Narration

By Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam 28 April 2023 One century has elapsed after tragic anti-colonial resistance at Malabar in Northern Kerala rocked British colonialism. Still, communal controversies are doggedly unleashed to tarnish the event as a Muslim communal frenzy and drive religious divisions. The great revolt against the oppressive British Raj has not given its historical due and is employed to tarnish the valiant participants of this resistance movement. The latest recommendation of the Indian Council for Historical Research to remove the 387 martyrs' names from the national martyrs' list is one among the many moves to efface its historical significance. Malabar revolt was a chain of anti-colonial appraisals from 1921 August to 1922 February in three Taluks of Malabar. Many...

Islam Is An Environmentally Friendly Religion

By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam 27 April 2023 The War And Violence Have Caused The Condition Of The Ecosystem To Deteriorate. The Availability Of Clean Water And Food Is Decreasing Main Points: 1. Islamic teachings have much to educate people about their relationship with nature. 2. Animals and birds are important components of the environment. Islam teaches that they should not be killed unjustly. 3. Water is essential for human life, and one of Islam's teachings is not to pollute it, which can cause diseases like liver and stomach inflammation. 4. Islam prohibits littering in public, as it makes the atmosphere dirty and poisonous. 5. Islam commands protection from air pollution by burying the deceased, which is done to prevent impurity and odour from...

A Facial 'Fig-Leaf' For A Muslim Woman

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 27 April 2023 One must appreciate Tabassum Shaikh for topping the Karnataka PUC State Exams. Now it's incumbent upon her to publicly condemn hijab as a sign of oppression and Islam's religious chauvinism. One may say that she's too young to be so vocal against a practice which's as old as Islam is. But then, Malala Yousufzai was even younger and was in a country which's religiously too backward and prehistoric. Tabassum must realize that she's a brilliant girl, a topper at that and she has achieved this by shedding hijab. Her peers who were reluctant to do away with hijab, left their modern education for the orthodox Islam. No one knows them. But whole India knows Tabassum and everyone is lauding her efforts for standing first-class-first. We often say...

How Religions Whip Up Mass Hysteria

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 26 April 2023 One Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who runs the Good News International Church in Shakahola, Malindi, Kenya, made the news after a massacre took place in the Shakahola forest. People were left shocked after Kenyan police found dozens of bodies in the eastern part of the country. Soon after this, Paul Mackenzie was arrested as he allegedly asked people to starve themselves so they could meet Jesus and attain heaven. He reportedly converted people to his beliefs and engaged them in fasting. This has shocked the whole world. Believers from affluent countries might argue that since this happened in Kenya, a rather poor African country where tribal superstitions and shenanigans overwhelm religious beliefs, this is a rare and isolated incident that has nothing...

Adieu Tarek Fatah: You Took On The Mullahs, But Succumbed To The Hindu Right

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 25 April 2023 I may sound outright caustic, but the fact remains that a majority of Muslims across the globe have heaved a sigh of relief and said, good riddance, following the demise of Islam's trenchant and most vocal critic Tarek Fatah. Tarek Fatah ----- As his name ' Fatah' (triumph) suggests, Tarek triumphed over the primitive and parochial religiosity of Islam and its palpable obscurantism that still exists even after more than 14 centuries. Never given to mincing words, Tarek called a spade a spade, nay a shovel and took the marauding bison of Islam by the horns. Tarek was a relentless crusader and an indomitable champion of human rights. He was an indefatigable reformer who was often mistaken for an apostate (Murtad) or atheist (Ilhadi). Unlike...

Tarek Fatah: Abused By Fanatics, Admired By Liberals

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 25 April 2023 I may sound outright caustic, but the fact remains that a majority of Muslims across the globe have heaved a sigh of relief and said, good riddance, following the demise of Islam's trenchant and most vocal critic Tarek Fatah. Tarek Fatah ----- As his name ' Fatah' (triumph) suggests, Tarek triumphed over the primitive and parochial religiosity of Islam and its palpable obscurantism that still exists even after more than 14 centuries. Never given to mincing words, Tarek called a spade a spade, nay a shovel and took the marauding bison of Islam by the horns. Tarek was a relentless crusader and an indomitable champion of human rights. He was an indefatigable reformer who was often mistaken for an apostate (Murtad) or atheist (Ilhadi). Unlike...

Yati Narsinghanand's Outbursts

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 24 April 2023 Today is very auspicious both for Hindus and Muslims as Akshya Tritiya and Eid-al-Fitr fall on the same day. So, condemning anyone from any faith will make me an insensitive person. Yet, I'm having to condemn this Yati Narsinghanand for urging his followers to attack Mecca and seize Kaaba! If this is not sacrilegious, what else is? This fanatic labours under the misconception that Kaaba was originally a Hindu temple! He calls it Makkeshwar Mahadev Mandir. Yati Narsinghanand ----- Discerning readers might be aware that there was one joker by the name of P N Oak. This Poona-based 'historian' wrote a useless book, ' Some blunders of Indian Historical Research ' in 1966. That book was an unadulterated diatribe against Muslims and Christians and...

Of The Month Of Ramazan Just Gone By

By Prof. M. A. Sofi, New Age Islam 24 April 2023 The Good Deed Being Performed Voluntarily Ought To Fall Within The Ambit Of Duties Towards Fellow Beings (As Part Of Haqooq-Ul-Ibad) And Has To Be Distinguished From The Mandatory Ones Involving Duties And Rights Towards Allah (Haqooq U Allah) Which Are A Binding On The Faithful Like Five Times Prayers, Haj Or Zakat Etc. ----- With the holy month of Ramazan of 2023 just gone by, it’s intended to share certain personal experiences based on how people look at and conduct their lives while following the obligation of fasting and prayers during Ramadhan. The need for sharing my thoughts is motivated by the vice-like grip of the Pesh Imams, aka priests, on the masses and how almost everything being uttered by them finds instant traction with...

Javed Akhtar Is A Belligerent Atheist

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 23 April 2023 While the entire nation celebrated two festivals, Akshay Tritiya and Eid on April 22, the wet blanket Javed Akhtar said that he wanted to see a few festivals for atheists as well. He urged fellow atheists to come up with some fresh ideas. Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi ------ This is called monomania. Javed's atheism is too loud and exasperating. It's belligerent atheism. In a bid to flaunt his 'unadulterated' atheism, he condemns festivals, not knowing that festivals have nothing to do with any religion. All festivals are manifestations of exuberance. If an atheist celebrates Eid or Akshay Tritiya, will he or she become a Muslim or a Hindu? Just the way neo-converts zealously condemn all the practices, customs and rituals of their earlier religion(s),...

Zakaat: A Source Of Welfare For The Muslim Community; But It Requires An Overhaul In Muslim Mindset From The Flawed Notion Of 'Piety' And 'Righteousness' To Genuine Concepts Islamic Charity And Purification Of Heart

By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, New Age Islam 21 April 2023 Viewed From The Perspective Of “Fi Sabilil-Allah” (In The Path Of God), Zakaat Is A Source Of Welfare For The Muslim Community. Main Points: 1. Common perception of 'righteousness' which consists of extreme externalism, an outward conformism or formal conformity to the legal codes and customs. 2. What was reflected in the attitude of the Pre-Islamic traditionalist Jews is deeply entrenched in the common mindset of Muslims today. 3. A flawed notion of 'piety' and 'righteousness' is deeply seated in the majority of the contemporary Muslim society across the world. 4. The institution of Zakaat as the fifth pillar of Islam, is an important case in point. ----- “You shall not attain righteousness unless you spend on others...

Variegated Timings of Suhoor and Iftaar

By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam 21 April 2023 Islam lays a strong emphasis on proper time management. Cursing time has been abhorred. The whole life of a believing Muslim revolves around the proper time management. The five prayers are supposed to remind Muslims at specific times to remember Allah, purpose of creation while being a constant reminder of the fact that all their deeds should be revolving around pleasing Allah. Despite such a comprehensive emphasis on time management, Muslims have very poor skills at managing this greatest resource. Also the poor management of time is manifested in the variegated timings of prayers in various mosques, the initiation (Suhoor) and breaking fast (Iftar) timings. No one seems to give it a comprehensive thought. The different timings...

The Rulings of Eid ul Fitr: Thirty Lessons of Ramadan – Concluding Part 30

By Mufti Abdul Malik Misbahi, New Age Islam Translated by Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam 21 April 2023 The glorious day of joy and gladness known as Eid ul Fitr is when the Almighty Lord rewards His obedient servants. A Muslim works for one whole month to obey the commands of his Lord Allah Almighty; at times, he observes Sehri, at other times, Iftaar, at other times, Taraweeh, at other times, he fasts, and at still other times, he is immersed in worshipping, praising, and glorifying Allah Almighty. The followers continue to obey their Lord Almighty until His divine mercy grows excited and summons them to celebrate the festival as the divine recompense for their dedication. This festival is known as " Eidul Fitr." Allah, the Almighty, says: “All this is so that you may complete...