Babri Masjid: Opportunity for Muslims, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeIslam.com

Spiritual Meditations

Babri Masjid: Opportunity for Muslims

By Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam

Another option being discussed in the Press and possibly being considered by the government relaters to the recommendation of the high-powered Congress committee set up to suggest new and more credible sops to beguile the Muslim vote-bank. This is to club all the title deed cases pertaining to the Ayodhya dispute and present an omnibus case to the Supreme Court under Article 138(2) of the Constitution for expeditious disposal within a fixed timeframe. The Article binds the parties to accepting the final judgement.

The hope is that the militant Hindus would not be inclined to challenge such a decision in view of the Supreme Court ruling that what lies at the bottom of the dispute is the question of ownership of the disputed property. It is said these options are not mutually exclusive; negotiations can continue while the Supreme Court grapples with the property dispute.

Despite my almost incorrigible optimism, I find this situation quite perplexing. We have known the Muslim leaders for quite some time now. They have kept the Muslim masses embroiled in virtual non-issues for nearly half a century. I have been personally watching them closely since 1972 when I joined the Jamaat-e-Islami-run Radiance Viewsweekly as a trainee journalist.

http://newageislam.com/babri-masjid--opportunity-for-muslims/spiritual-meditations/d/1514

Indian Muslims: Hear the new voices, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Indian Muslims: Hear the new voices

By Aijaz Ilmi

May 07, 2009

Steeped in a volatile mix of anger and destitution, subject to being “suspect” for far too long, Indian Muslim communities are finally showing signs of fighting back against preconceived prejudices. When respected Ulema start to speak out about secular traditions and democratic structures, a strategic shift based on community feedback is apparent. Whether this wave of positivity will turn into a tsunami of inter-cultural bonding is yet to be assessed.

The unceremonious dumping of Ajmal Kasab’s lawyer Abbas Kazmi by many community institutions — such as the Islam Gymkhana in Bombay — is best be read as another signal from the community to distance itself from terror. The earlier statement denouncing him from the local Shi’a council (“Defending a terrorist is also against the essence and teaching of Islam”) should be seen as a precursor to the avalanche of protest that will continue to follow Kazmi.

Those of liberal views might justifiably baulk: the Constitution of our country, and its time-tested judicial system, insist on presenting a fair defence for all accused; but it nevertheless is the case that the community is making a sincere effort to de-link itself from the misguided brand of Islam that the Taliban and the Indian Mujahideen propagate.

http://newageislam.com/indian-muslims--hear-the-new-voices---/islam-and-pluralism/d/1387

Sultan Shahin responds to Dr Mookhi Amir Ali's comments on the retrieval of Babri land and the clamour “Masjid Wahin banayenge”, Interfaith Dialogue

Interfaith Dialogue

Sultan Shahin responds to Dr Mookhi Amir Ali's comments on the retrieval of Babri land and the clamour “Masjid Wahin banayenge”

Now let us take another example. Suppose we feel that while our constitution is a lovely document, gives us all our rights, without any discrimination of any kind, the guardians of that constitution are not capable of implementing it fully either because they are not committed enough or even strong enough, in the face of a total lack of faith, indeed antagonism to that constitution among millions of people in the country who would prefer either an Islamic or a Hindu Raj. The job of the votaries of this constitution would be to try and persuade both the votaries of Islamic Khilafat and Hindu Raj to the virtues of a secular, multi-cultural Indian constitution, the only one that will clearly work in India. While we are engaged in this task, would it suit us that the fact of this constitutional system’s weaknesses – that the implementing authorities are not committed or strong enough – is brought out, put on record and debated. Would that not merely weaken the constitutional system further? If we believe that this constitutional system suits us most and that we desperately need it to be implemented in all sincerity, then does it make sense for us to weaken it further, while we are engaged in the task of persuading our fellow-citizens that this is the best system for our country?

http://newageislam.com/sultan-shahin-responds-to-dr-mookhi-amir-ali-s-comments-on-the-retrieval-of-babri-land-and-the-clamour-%E2%80%9Cmasjid-wahin-banayenge%E2%80%9D--/interfaith-dialogue/d/891

India is democratic and secular: Don’t look for Islamic, Islamic Sharia Laws, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Sharia Laws

India is democratic and secular: Don’t look for Islamic politics but do use your vote, Darul Uloom, Deoband’s fatwa

Asalamwalakum , sir I have many question regarding politics for that I want fatwa as per holy Quran, Hadish and sariet . My question is given below 1. What is the meaning of voting? 2. Can we vote for a criminal, drinker ( Sarabi ) and rapist ? 3. If a party have their constitution on the basis of Gandhi, Lohia or other people, we can vote for them? 4. If a party have their constitution on the basis of Holy Quran, we can vote for that party? 5. We have many parties for vote in election out of one is on the basis of Holy Quran and other on the basis of other historical people (Hindus), which is right for vote. 6. If a person knows the activity of Bhartiya Janta Party and he is giving their vote for B.J.P. he is Muslim, Munafik or non Muslim? 7. we have two people for voting one is from the party which is on the basis of Holy Quran but this people is non Muslims but he is saying that i will work as per holy Quran and other people is Muslim which is from other parties and the history of these parties is anti Muslims which person is right for vote? Please give Fatwa as soon as possible.

http://newageislam.com/india-is-democratic-and-secular--don’t-look-for-islamic-politics-but-do-use-your-vote,-darul-uloom,-deoband’s-fatwa-/islamic-sharia-laws/d/729

Kashmir: Don't Think the Unthinkable, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Kashmir: Don't Think the Unthinkable

Think the Unthinkable

By Vir Sanghvi

August 16, 2008The exception to this trend has been Kashmir. Contrary to what many Kashmiris claim, we have tried everything. Even today, the state enjoys a special status. Under Article 370 of our Constitution, with the exception of defence, foreign policy, and communication, no law enacted by parliament has any legitimacy in Kashmir unless the state government gives its consent. The state is the only one in India to have its own Constitution and the President of India cannot issue directions to the state government in exercise of the executive power of the Union as he can in every other state. Kashmiri are Indian citizens but Indians are not necessarily Kashmiri citizens. We cannot vote for elections to their assembly or own any property in Kashmir.

Then, there is the money. Bihar gets per capita central assistance of Rs 876 per year. Kashmir gets over ten times more: Rs 9,754 per year. While in Bihar and other states, this assistance is mainly in the forms of loans to the state, in Kashmir 90 per cent is an outright grant. Kashmir’s entire Five Year Plan expenditure is met by the Indian taxpayer. In addition, New Delhi keeps throwing more and more money at the state: in 2004, the Prime Minister gave Kashmir another $ 5 billion for development.

http://newageislam.com/kashmir--don-t-think-the-unthinkable/current-affairs/d/578

Exit Musharraf: Full of sound and fury signifying nothing - That's life, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Exit Musharraf: Full of sound and fury signifying nothing - That's life

By Ayesha Tammy Haq

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Much is being said about trying General Musharraf for all he has wreaked on this country. There is a great deal to hold him accountable for, Kargil, high treason, threatening an elected prime minister, making himself head of state in complete violation of the Constitution, violations of the oath he took under the Constitution when he joined the armed forces, engaging in politics while a soldier in the employ of the Government of Pakistan, illegal extension of service beyond the age of superannuation, contempt of court of the most heinous kind by insulting, threatening, suspending and arresting the Chief Justice of Pakistan and his family on March 9, 2007, and the removal and arrest of all the superior court judges along with their families on Nov 3, 2007. The charge sheet was never written for us to see but it is something we have all lived through and are all acutely aware of.

What we are also aware of is that we have removed a dictator not through military intervention where he has handed over his presidential baton to the army chief al a Ayub Khan, or be blown up like Zia-ul-Haq, but by the citizenry showing that real power lies with them. The events of the past year and a half, the movement spearheaded by the lawyers and taken to the nation by the media has forever changed the country and the way we do politics. We have discovered that we have a voice, we can effect change and we can hold those in power accountable.

http://newageislam.com/exit-musharraf--full-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing---that-s-life/current-affairs/d/597

Sorry Safdar Nagori, you are just a megalomaniac-turned-terrorist, not a Mujahid by any reckoning, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Sorry Safdar Nagori, you are just a megalomaniac-turned-terrorist, not a Mujahid by any reckoning

By Sultan Shahin, editor, NewAgeIslam.com

One doesn’t need a degree in Psychology to see that this is the language of a demented megalomaniac, a sort of Hitlerian, Fascist personality, which doesn’t care a fig about what his actions are going to mean to the humanity or what he claims to identify with and represent, i.e. “his community”’. Too much of a megalomaniac, in his psychopathological delusions of grandeur, he apparently doesn’t have the humility – taught so repeatedly by Islam’s Holy Book and Prophet’s traditions - to ask himself: “Who has given me the authority to decide that my community is persecuted and we have no option but to take up arms against the state and the country’s secular democratic constitution, that too, a constitution that gives us more rights – including the right to organise our personal life in accordance with our religious laws - than that of any other non-Muslim majority country in the world including all the democracies in the West.”

http://newageislam.com/sorry-safdar-nagori,-you-are-just-a-megalomaniac-turned-terrorist,-not-a-mujahid-by-any-reckoning/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/621

A war Based Not On Reason But On Passion, Not On Principle But On Politics, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

A war Based Not On Reason But On Passion, Not On Principle But On Politics

by Alan Grayson

Also under our Constitution, you will search in vain for any provision that authorizes a lengthy military occupation of a foreign country. In fact, the Constitution does not authorize a standing Army, much less an Army standing in Kabul. In the Bizarro world in which we live, we have 27 attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of 35 million Americans getting health coverage, but no one challenges the constitutionality of an undeclared war (see Article I, Section 8 on that) that has now entered its second decade.

http://www.newageislam.com/war-on-terror/alan-grayson/a-war-based-not-on-reason-but-on-passion,-not-on-principle-but-on-politics/d/7298