Listen To The Muslim Woman’s Voice, Islam, Women and Feminism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam, Women and Feminism

Listen To The Muslim Woman’s Voice

By Zakia Soman

This sort of socio-economic backwardness could not have taken place overnight. Successive Governments have failed in their responsibility to enable Muslims to participate in India’s democracy. The nexus between the vote managers posing as community leaders and the supposedly secular political parties has ensured that the Muslim community remains mired in poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and insecurity. Living with communalism has become the fate of the ordinary Muslim. Since 1947 the community has been pushed to the margins, so much so that some experts feel that they are the Dalits of tomorrow. Worse, unlike the Dalits, Muslims do not have any legacy of social mobilisation and political consciousness. The Dalits were fortunate to have visionaries like B.R. Ambedkar and Jotiba Phule. Muslims have no leadership worth the name; and whoever claims to be a community leader should own up to the all-round failure.

There are two important reasons, among others, for this dismal situation. One, the failure of the state to fulfil its welfare responsibility towards citizens in spite of the guarantees given by the Constitution; and two, the failure of the Muslim leadership, if one believes it exists.

We are all aware how our democracy is marred by a corrupt and insincere polity which has no interest in the welfare of any of its excluded citizens, be it the Dalits, the Adivasis, the Muslims, the labour or the women. In the case of Muslims this is coupled with the failure to safeguard their lives and properties from communal violence. The discrimination faced by Muslims because of communal mindsets, particularly among the police and sections of the bureaucracy, is a commonly lived reality. Why else would the Sachar Committee recommend a full-fledged sensitisation programme? The community has little or no access to welfare schemes largely because of this communal mindset, apart from a general lack of education within the community. The rise of communal and fascist political parties has added to Muslim fear and insecurity.

http://newageislam.com/listen-to-the-muslim-woman%E2%80%99s-voice/islam,-women-and-feminism/d/2221

Unveiling Zakir Naik: Terror cannot be fought with Terror, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Unveiling Zakir Naik: Terror cannot be fought with Terror

BY S A H RIZVI

Dr Naik, don’t fool people with these extended logics. There are so many tools to fight injustices and you belong to a country which won its independence through non-violence in the face of aggressive British imperialism. Had Mahatma Gandhi also felt that terrorism was the only way to get the British out of India, we may have remained confined in the yoke of colonialism as yet.

Did Prophet Muhammad (SAW) retaliate against the woman in Makkah who used to throw garbage on him everyday whenever he passed by. On the contrary, he went to enquire about her health once she fell ill. The Prophet (SAW) earned her goodwill this way and won the heart of the people. It is your action and ‘seerat’ that speaks and not retaliation.

Dr Naik, communalism cannot be fought with communalism; the only weapon you have is secularism. Terrorism and extremism, which you justify, has to be fought with reasoning and logic and not by terror. India, our country is a glaring example of fighting terrorism for well over three decades and yet we maintained our unity, pluralism and identity.

No Zakir Naik. Stop this non sense. You are living in pluralistic society, a nation which has assimilated so many cultures and has given you the freedom of speech and even allowed your abominable Peace TV on air. Don’t let it fritter away with your concoction and later self denials. You also live in a world which has now grown into a global village so there are rooms for everyone, every ideology to prosper.

http://newageislam.com/unveiling-zakir-naik--terror-cannot-be-fought-with-terror/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/988