Looking Beyond Babri Demolition: A Remarkable Change In Post-Babri Generation Muslim Mindset, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Looking Beyond Babri Demolition: A Remarkable Change In Post-Babri Generation Muslim Mindset

By Mohammed Wajihuddin

he remembers neither the denouement of that black Sunday nor the countrywide dance of death in its aftermath. Growing up in Deoband, the UP town that houses Islamic seminary Darul Uloom—which, despite its lofty history of producing a galaxy of nationalist ulema, has often been pilloried for its regressive fatwas—one would have expected the boy to catch the virus of minority victimhood.

But Zohair, now 19 and a student of mass media in Mumbai’s Burhani College, has a different perspective. “Babri masjid is not an issue with me,’’ he declares. “I want to get educated and excel in my field.’’

Zohair belongs to the post-Babri generation of Muslims who have undergone a remarkable change in mindset. This generation, reaping the opportunities of globalisation, genuinely believes that the past cannot hold it back. For its members it is career rather than an obsession with rebuilding the destroyed mosque that is paramount.

The indications are everywhere. At a meet at Urdu Markaz, a cultural centre in Dongri, a group discussed the three-day career festival that begins on January 8. “We will have stalls for career counselling, workshops on different career options and speeches by role models on how to excel in different professions,’’ says Aamir Edresy of the Association of Muslim Professionals, which is holding the career fest in co-ordination with Anjuman-e-Islam.

http://newageislam.com/looking-beyond-babri-demolition--a-remarkable-change-in-post-babri-generation-muslim-mindset/islamic-society/d/2205

Is there a radical Muslim mindset?, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Is there a radical Muslim mindset?

Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN

21 Sep 2008, 0007 hrs IST

Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan Qasmi comes from a family of freedom fighters. As a hakim (Unani doctor) and head of Anjuman Minhajul Rasool, a socio-religious organisation, he is highly respected in Mograpada, a Muslim ghetto in Andheri, Mumbai. In the small hours of September 1, roughly 50 plainclothes policemen, members of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), came looking for Subhan Qureishi alias Tauqeer, the alleged mastermind of the serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi. The cops woke the maulana and began to interrogate him.

When the cleric denied all knowledge of Qureishi or Tauqeer, they dragged him like a common criminal to his bakery, a few minutes walk from his house. Qasmi was not allowed even to wear a pair of slippers and don his customary skull-cap. It was only later that a police search of the maulana's house yielded a photograph album showing the cleric with several senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi. The police realised he was probably well-connected. They left in a hurry, issuing dire warnings of hell to pay if Qasmi spoke out about the raid.

http://newageislam.com/is-there-a-radical-muslim-mindset?-/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/782

Kashmir: 'Islam is not a slave', Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

Kashmir: 'Islam is not a slave'

Mohammed Wajihuddin

24 Aug 2008, TNN

The chant of "freedom for Islam" is actually a gross misinterpretation of a faith which unambiguously calls God "Rabul Almeen (lord of the universe)" and Prophet Mohammed "Rahmatul Almeen (blessing for universe)". "Like the Hindutva hardliners hinduised the Shrine Board for Amarnath yatris, Geelani has used a political slogan to provide the separatist movement with a pan-Islamic colour. Muslims might have been enslaved or free in the last 1,400 years, but Islam has never been a slave to anyone. Since it's not a slave, it doesn't need to be freed," says Islamic scholar Asghar Ali Engineer. "Islam is democratic in spirit and has no conflict with secular, composite nationalism, an idea that the likes of Geelani vehemently oppose."

In Geelani's warped views, all Muslims must strive for and live in an Islamic state. "It's as difficult for a Muslim to live in a non-Muslim society as it is for a fish to live in a desert," writes Geelani in Rudad-e-Qaf, his prison memoir. Bangalore-based Islamic scholar Yoginder Sikand, who has written extensively on Kashmir's composite culture, met Geelani a few months ago in Srinagar. "When I asked him to explain his theory of Muslims' discomfort in a non-Muslim society, he said that it was ordained by the Quran. If the separatists succeed, Kashmir will turn into another Talibanised Afghanistan," says Sikand.

http://newageislam.com/kashmir---islam-is-not-a-slave-/islamic-ideology/d/625

Muslim organisations talk sense again: Nothing against N-deal, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Muslim organisations talk sense again: Nothing against N-deal

By Mohammed Wajihuddin & Faizan Ahmad, TNN

10 July 2008, 0340 hrs IST

There's a feeling among clerics that some ill-informed maulvis have issued statements against the deal without understanding it. "The deal has nothing to do with Muslims or any other community. It's about using nuclear fuel and if India gets strengthened by this, how are Muslims hurt?" asked Mumbai-based Shia scholar Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizvi.

Some Muslims have apparently shown wariness toward the deal because of "rumours" that Israel would gain from it.

"I've heard Israel will somehow get strengthened because of the deal. Since most Muslims oppose the Jewish state, an impression has been created that they are against the deal," said Mumbai-based cleric Maulana Abu Zaffar Hassan Nadvi. "Let the country decide whatever is in its best interest. Let's not see the deal from the prisms of community or religions."

http://newageislam.com/muslim-organisations-talk-sense-again--nothing-against-n-deal/islam-and-politics/d/194

Don't mess with my madrasa: “A madrasa must not be rich enough to become corrupt”, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Don't mess with my madrasa: “A madrasa must not be rich enough to become corrupt”

Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN

Maulana Qasmi is among the swelling army of clerics who have resolved to stonewall the government's bid to modernise the madrasas. Last year, the Centre, under the aegis of the National Commission for Minority Institutions (NCMI), proposed the establishment of a central madrasa board to bring thousands of Islamic schools across the country into its fold. The heated debate generated then has again sprung to life with NCMI'S chairman, Justice MSA Siddiqui, undertaking an extensive tour of the country to advocate modernisation of the madrasas.

Last week, Justice Siddiqui was in Mumbai, where he met half a dozen ulema and Muslim NGOs. Stressing that there was no coercion ("We will not push the board down the throat of the community; we are merely asking clerics to read the proposed Central Madrasa Board act and give objections and suggest changes"), he said that the affiliation to the board would be optional. The board itself, once ratified by an act of Parliament, will get a corpus of Rs 500 crore from the government—good money which can put the perennially cash-starved madrasas into modernisation mode with computers, trained faculty for science, mathematics and English at al.

http://newageislam.com/don-t-mess-with-my-madrasa--%E2%80%9Ca-madrasa-must-not-be-rich-enough-to-become-corrupt%E2%80%9D/islamic-society/d/206

IAS coaching centre for madrasa students on cards, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

IAS coaching centre for madrasa students on cards

CLERICS TO LEND HELPING HAND

By Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN

Markazul Maarif, a Crawford Market-based institute which coaches clerics in the English language and literature, has shown interest in guiding students appearing for the civil services exams. “Before Dr Qasmi showed us the way, we didn’t even think that this could be possible. Now madrasa students have another avenue to aim for,’’ said Markazul Maarif ’s director Maulana Burhanuddin.

Coming from a poor family in Siddharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Dr Qasmi did “fazilat’’ (post-graduation) from Darul Uloom Deoband located there. As his madrasa degree didn’t make him eligible for the civil services exams, he did his BA in Unani Medicine and Surgery from Hamdard University in Delhi. He later completed his MD from Aligarh Muslim University and in, the fourth and last attempt, cracked the IAS exams last year.

Dr Qasmi’s success is being hailed as an example worth emulating. Now, instead of finding excuses, mostly imaginary, the clerics have closed ranks to kick off a programme which will encourage more Muslim students to try for the civil services.

http://newageislam.com/ias-coaching-centre-for-madrasa-students-on-cards/islamic-society/d/233

The Ulema Strike Back: Will they succeed in making terrorists unacceptable to Muslim society?, War on Terror , NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

The Ulema Strike Back: Will they succeed in making terrorists unacceptable to Muslim society?

By Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN

Suddenly, condemning the heinous acts of terrorists appears to be the in thing among Muslim religious leaders. On February 25, the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom at Deoband, held a massive rally where it denounced terrorism with the words: "The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace." The seminary followed this up with a fatwa against terrorism at the May 31 Delhi conclave, which was welcomed as historic and progressive-a change from the criticism the seminary has seen in the past for its controversial, regressive fatwas. Apart from the Delhi rally, the Jamiat has helmed rallies in Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Surat which have also drawn crowds.

A day after the Delhi conclave the Jama Masjid United Forum (JMUF) convened an international seminar on terrorism at a five-star hotel in Delhi. Shutterbugs went crazy when the Dalai Lama, a speaker at the seminar, hit the stone steps of the Jama Masjid. The Tibetan spiritual leader flashed his famous childlike smile and also threw in a few homilies about Islam's message of peace.

http://newageislam.com/the-ulema-strike-back--will-they-succeed-in-making-terrorists-unacceptable-to-muslim-society?/war-on-terror/d/97