King starts anti-Muslim crusade in U.S.

During an exclusive interview with Press TV's U.S. Desk on Friday, author and Professor of Law at Washburn University, Liaquat Ali Khan, said that King is “arguing that there is a threat from the entire Muslim community and that mosques have become centers of radical Islam.”

Khan went on to say that King, the Chairman of the House for Homeland Security Committee, is taking actions similar to those of Republican U.S. Senator, Joseph McCarthy, back in the 1950s.

“Joseph McCarthy also did not make any distinctions and everybody who criticized US policy was considered a communist spy,” Khan opined.

After expressing his concern over King's ignorance of the fact that Muslims in America are from various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, Khan added, “So this broad sweep is very, very, disturbing. It doesn't respect Muslims as individuals."

Khan voiced that he was disturbed even more that the “House leadership has done nothing to stop him from launching this new crusade against the Muslims."

King has been quoted in the past of having complained that there are too many mosques in the US, and that 85 percent of American mosques and their leaders are radicalized, a figure not backed by accredited statistics.
Resource: http://islamonline.com

Egypt: Arabs to urge UN to impose no-fly zone on Libya

CAIRO, (Xinhua): The Arab League (AL) on Saturday decided in an emergency meeting to urge the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone on Libya to protect the citizens.

The AL held the emergency meeting in its Cairo headquarters at the ministerial level on Saturday to discuss the serious situation in Libya with a no-fly zone proposal on the agenda.

In a statement released after the closed-door meeting, Arab foreign ministers called on the UN Security Council to take its responsibility toward imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and provide safe area to protect the Libyan people.

This decision came as a regional endorsement of a no-fly zone, which was demanded by Libyan rebel forces amid continuing fighting against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year old rule.

The decision was welcomed by all Arab countries except Algeria and Syria, according to an Arab diplomatic source.

The statement said ministers decided in the session to open communication channels with Libya's rebel Transitional National Council based in Benghazi.

The ministers appealed to the international community to provide urgent humanitarian aid to the Libyan people.

AL general secretary Amr Moussa said in a press conference after the meeting that the decision was a precautionary and humanitarian measure to protect the Libyan people, adding it was not to give a license to any foreign military intervention.

"If the Libyan regime accepts the no-fly zone decision, there won't be any kind of deterioration of the conflict, and we don't expect that Libya will refuse the UN resolution," said Youssef bin Alawi, the Omani foreign minister who chaired the meeting.

Security Council's action will be protective and will end when the Libyan crisis is resolved, bin Alawi added.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which are also members of the AL, were in favor of imposing the no-fly zone. They described Gaddafi's leadership as "illegitimate" on Thursday and called for dialogue with the Transitional National Council.

"The communication and cooperation with the Libyan transitional council is regarded as an acknowledgement of legitimacy," Moussa said.

In his opening speech, bin Alawi urged Arab nations to interfere before the situation aggravates to the worst, saying rapid action from the Arab states is required to avoid more bloodshed in Libya in accordance with the international legitimacy.

Catherine Ashton, EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on Saturday she will meet AL Moussa on Sunday to discuss the situation in Libya and the wider north African region.

Ashton emphasized the importance of a "collaborative approach" with the AL.

On Feb. 22, the AL suspended Libya's participation in its future meeting and affiliated bodies after the bloody clashes swept the country since Feb. 16, until Libya authorities respond to people's demands.

The UN Security Council on Feb. 26 unanimously adopted a resolution to impose sanctions on Libya, including an arms embargo against the Libyan authorities and travel ban and asset freeze directed at Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his key family members.

My Leap of Faith for You - Love and Faith Redefined

Albert Einstein not often cited for ideas outside the realm of science. But I recently came across an insightful statement formulated by him (the quotation above) that sparked a synapse some where in my mind about the relationship between religion and love.

If the laws of gravity do not apply to love, that is, if human beings are not attracted by mere earthbound love, then I am left with two questions: First, if it's not love that brings two people together, than what does? Second, if love alone, or at least the popular conception of it, does not attract two individuals, than what does love pair-up with to bring human beings into each other's intimate spheres? So the questions can be distilled to a single inquiry: How do people fall in love? Contrary to popular belief and Hollywood, falling in love does not happen spontaneously like a raging forest fire or something. How do I speak with such certainty when trashing the notion of romanticized love you say? Well, isn't it apparent? Look around you! When walking down the road, do you see people randomly bursting into passionate paroxysms? I mean, it's not like your taking the subway one day and you engage the person next to you just like that. It takes time to develop real love.

So what does taking time mean anyway? Well, it means that usually your feeling of deep love will not present itself the moment you first meet someone. No. Love needs to be given a chance to be cultivated and grown by an extended relationship, which is where marriage comes in as an active mechanism that allows such a seedling to germinate and eventually grow tall.

The truth of the matter is that something else is required to get love going. Like an engine or a chemical reaction, some kind of catalyst is needed to jumpstart the lifelong development that love requires. What is this enigmatic catalyst? Well, let's turn to the seventh verse of the forty-ninth surah of the Qur'an, Al-Hujurat (look at the first excerpt above).

From this verse and many similar ayahs in the Qur'an, we learn that Allah has integrated faith into our very hearts. Many people would interpret the idea of faith being "adorned" in our hearts as a kind of symbolic statement, but the fact of the matter is that our hearts are physically tuned to reverberate to the sounds of faith, the feeling of pure wholesomeness that belief brings with it. Establishing a loving relationship not only requires visceral attraction (an earthly desire), but also a huge input of faith, which answers our opening questions.

Perhaps this is too simplistic of an answer for you? Let's get a bit empirical, shall we? From my observation, as well as many other Muslims, it seems as though there is a huge contrast in marriage patterns between modern-day Muslims (you and I) and the early Muslims (570 CE / 632 H). I often find myself thinking, perhaps a little optimistically, of how relatively easy marriage was accomplished in early Muslim communities (think Madinah and afterwards Makkah). Men and women were often wedded at relatively young ages and decisions of whether to marry or not were likewise relatively brief and punctual.
For example, it wasn't really that long after Ah proposed to marry Fatimah that marital requirements were met and arrangements were finalized. And mind you, these weren't cold, hard arrangements met with corporate speed, nor were they swooning over one another in a fashion akin to Romeo and Juliet. No, this man and this woman made a mutual decision to love each other and that is a fact. They decided to put hands and hearts together in this earth and plant a seed there and nurture it to something large and beautiful, and that something bloomed into a blossom of love and tenderness into eternity.

And so from our more empirical discourse, we can start to make connections. We can begin to understand Einstein's statement about love not being contained by worldly constriction or law (gravity). No. Love is a heavenly attribute, a gift that God has saturated our hearts with. And mingling with love in the core of our hearts is faith. So what is faith but love, and what is love but faith. They both originate from the same pulsing locus, that miraculous muscle, for lack of a more transcending word, that sets into motion our bodies and our senses. They are one expression, even as their Originator is One.

And so we must ask ourselves the crucial question: How do we fall into real love? How do you find that true inamorato, if you are a Muslimah, or inamorata if you are a Muslim, in the modern, urban, and lonely landscape that you live in? Well, keep on looking sugar 'cause you aint gonna find nobody if you keep looking for the rest of your allotted time in life.

You cannot float through life with a belief that one day your one true love will come waltzing through your bedroom door. No. On the contrary, if you want to love someone, then you have to make that decision to defy mere dunya-related gravity. You have to grasp the fact that because faith and love are, so to say, a package deal, when you make an authentic decision to love someone, you are making a leap of faith.

There will be a point in your life's path that will tumble down into a deep ravine, and until you decide to put your faith in an individual human being and take that scary leap of faith, you will not continue to move in a positive direction. So think about fighting gravity, think about taking love and faith seriously.
Source: http://www.islamicity.com

Muslims in Oz protest against proposal to ban burqa

Melbourne, September 20: Muslims, including women and children, in Australia have staged a march in Sydney to protest against a proposal to ban burqa in the country, condemning it as part of the West's "war on Islam".

Women with veils and placards rallied in hundreds showing "my burqa - conviction not coercion" and "leave my mum alone - we love niqab" yesterday in a park in Punchbowl, southwestern Sydney, according to media reports here.

The protest against calls to ban the full face covering was organised by a coalition of Muslim groups including Islamist political party Hizbut Tahrir, which favours the creation of an Islamic caliphate, and the fundamentalist Ahlus Sunna wal Jamaah Association.

Muslim Americans have a history before 9/11

New York, New York - I live in Harlem on a street that is home to three churches and a mosque. The mosque is next door to one of those churches and when male congregants mingle on the sidewalk, it’s impossible to tell who had just been in church and who in the mosque. It’s only some of the women’s headscarves that tell you.

Muslim Americans were not invented on 11 September 2001. Our history with New York, and the rest of the country for that matter, far precedes those attacks. Some of the earliest arrivals were on slave ships that crossed the Atlantic.

Yet the anti-Muslim hate metastasising across the United States these days is ferocious in its determination to drive a wedge between the “American” and the “Muslim” of our identities.

In just one week, a cab driver was stabbed in New York by a passenger who asked him if he was Muslim; a drunk burst into a New York mosque and urinated on prayer rugs; a brick was thrown at an Islamic centre in Madera, California; and a fire at the building site of a mosque in Tennessee was being investigated by the FBI.

“What's going to happen to me, our mom, sister-in-law, and all the women in the States who wear a hijab [headscarf] and don't need to be asked if they're Muslim first?” my sister Nora, a graduate student, asked.

It’s not just about Park51, a proposed Islamic centre and mosque in Lower Manhattan, two blocks away from Ground Zero. There are at least four other planned mosques across the country, miles away from “hallowed ground”, facing anti-Muslim opposition.

Some have tried to blame Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of Park51, for provoking still-hurt feelings over 9/11. But depicting him as the imam who kicked the hornet’s nest would display unforgivable amnesia in the face of the manufacture of “Muslim” as a slur in this country.

Despite an appearance by US President George W. Bush at a mosque after 9/11 to show he didn’t hold all Muslims responsible, his administration proceeded to do exactly that: military trials for civilians, secret prisons, the detention of hundreds of Muslim men without charge, the torture and harsh interrogation of detainees and the invasions of two Muslim-majority countries.

When Republicans “accused” US President Barack Obama of being Muslim during the 2008 presidential campaigns, Democrats didn’t utter a single “So what?”

A one-time strategist to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, suggested she “go negative” on Obama in 2007 when she was campaigning for president – painting him as too foreign and exotic to lead America at war. She did not heed the advice but her campaign did leak photographs of Obama wearing traditional Somali clothes.

Those incidents and others were steps up a ladder of bigotry that is now delivered with the gravitas of political office. When a former vice-presidential candidate and ex-governor (Sarah Palin), a former House Speaker (Newt Gingrich), and various House members peddle in the most lurid caricatures of Muslims it is not difficult to understand the current crescendo of bigotry.

I have not forgotten acts of violence or attempted terrorism by Muslim Americans over the past year. The Muslim American community has not tiptoed around them. It issued several condemnations but also refused to be held guilty by faith affiliation.

And we refuse to disappear. We will not allow the bigots to pick apart the fabric that is America. Those Muslims mingling outside the mosque on my street are a microcosm of America. We vote – and our votes count, especially in swing states. That taxi driver stabbed in New York is one of the thousands of Muslims who comprise 50 per cent of NYC cabbies.

We’re America’s teachers, comedians and even its current beauty queen, Rima Fakih.

And we’re also America’s doctors. My sister-in-law, an obstetrician/gynecologist, and I were watching one of those medical dramas when she told me an anecdote that neatly sums it all up: “I was delivering a baby the other day and the father was watching via Skype cam. He was a soldier in Afghanistan. And I thought, here I am: a Muslim doctor in a headscarf delivering a baby whose father is an American soldier in Afghanistan, a Muslim country.”
Source: http://islamonline.com

Why We've Given Less To Pakistan's Flood Victims

By and large, Americans haven't opened up their wallets to help victims of the flood disaster in Pakistan. According to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, charitable donations by individuals, foundations and companies totaled just $25 million as of Aug. 30.

By comparison, the center's data show that Americans donated $900 million to relief efforts in Haiti within five weeks of the earthquake there.

Disaster relief experts were nearly universal in agreeing that there are at least three reasons why fundraising for this disaster has been challenging.

The first has to do with the nature of the disaster, says Randy Strash, the strategy director for emergency response at World Vision, a Christian relief agency with worldwide operations, including programs in Pakistan.

Fewer Donations For Floods

“Earthquakes, regardless of their location, under the same circumstances will raise 10 to 15 times more from the private donors than a flood,” Strash says
The slow-moving nature of floods, combined with typically lower death tolls, removes a sense of urgency in many donors’ minds, Strash says. He says many people use the number of dead as a "barometer" for the severity of a disaster.

Fewer than 2,000 people have been reported killed by the floods in Pakistan, compared with an estimated death toll of over 200,000 in the Haiti earthquake. But disaster experts warn that the humanitarian situation in Pakistan may be even more serious than in Haiti because millions more people have lost their homes and livelihoods in the flood.

The Media's Impact
The relatively lower amount of news coverage in Pakistan may be another factor.

“There hasn’t been that much media coverage relative to the kinds of coverage that we certainly saw in Haiti and many other disasters,” says Nan Buzard, senior director for disaster response at the American Red Cross.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism said there was 10 times as much U.S. news coverage of the earthquake in Haiti as of the floods in Pakistan.

Buzard said without a stream of stories and vivid images playing over and over on cable TV, public awareness of a disaster is low and donations are correspondingly weak.

Experts also point to donor fatigue. Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy estimates that about 40 percent of American households donated money to disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

“The fact that people were so generous with Haiti and we’re in a difficult economic environment at this time, I think makes it more difficult for people to give to Pakistan as a result,” says Michael Delaney, the director of humanitarian response for Oxfam America.

Lessons From The Past, Religious Contributions

But the experience of past disasters suggests that donors are sometimes capable of repeated, generous giving. After a large earthquake struck Pakistan in October 2005, Americans donated $150 million for relief efforts there, according to data from Indiana University.

Those donations came a little over a month after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, prompting nearly $2 billion worth of donations. Americans also gave about $900 million for relief efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami that struck in late December 2004.

Only one charity contacted by NPR reported no difficulties raising money for Pakistan.

Islamic Relief USA doubled its fundraising goal to $10 million after a surge of donations, says spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed.

“The majority of our donors are Muslim and this happened right before the month of Ramadan, [which is] the time for Muslims to be generous and to give money to the people that are in need,” Ahmed says.

Religious and cultural affinity also very likely played a role in the strong fundraising efforts by charities in the United Kingdom, which has large Pakistani and Muslim communities. The Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella group of 13 British charities, reported on Aug. 27 that its flood relief appeal had raised about $61 million.

But there are also concerns religion may have played a role in another way. The campaign to halt a planned Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan and anti-Muslim remarks by politicians may have made some Americans wary of giving money to Muslim Pakistan.

Una Osili, director of research for Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, says religion “is a factor.” But she emphasizes that it’s difficult to measure its impact on fundraising. Americans’ perceptions of Pakistan probably also played a role in the relatively low level of giving, she adds.

“There is a strong association with Pakistan and terrorism right now and that may also explain the differential response that we have observed,” Osili says.

Dwindling Relief

With donations running low, charities operating in Pakistan say they may not be able to continue supporting their programs there. World Vision has raised $1 million in private donations but has a $20 million relief effort under way. The charity hopes to raise an additional $11 million and fund the difference from its reserves. But unless donations pick up soon, it may have to scale back its operations in Pakistan, says Strash, the group’s strategy director.

He says the low level of giving is discouraging, but adds: “At the same time, giving is voluntary. You can’t force people to give; you have to present the case as strongly as you can.”

United Nations officials warned this week that millions of weakened flood survivors could face disease and hunger. Strash hopes Americans will see the gravity of the situation and find a way to reach a little deeper in their pockets.
Source: http://www.islamicity.com

CAIR Asks Fla. Tea Party to Drop Anti-Islam Speaker

Keynote speaker is leader of hate group who says Muslims should be barred from public office

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/16/10) -- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called on a Tea Party group in Florida to drop an extremist anti-Islam speaker who has stated that Muslims should not be allowed to hold public office, that an American Muslim "cannot be a loyal citizen" and that Islam is the "real enemy."

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the group Emerald Coast Tea Party Patriots has invited Brigitte Gabriel, the head of the anti-Islam hate group ACT! for America, to be the keynote speaker at its "U.S. Constitution Freedom Rally" on August 21 in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

SEE: U.S. Constitution Freedom Rally

CAIR is also calling on political candidates scheduled to appear at the event, including GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio, to cancel their appearances unless Gabriel is dropped as a speaker.

That request comes just a day after CAIR offered support for an NAACP resolution passed earlier this week asking the Tea Party movement to condemn racism within its ranks.

SEE: CAIR Backs NAACP Resolution on Tea Party Racism

CAIR has also learned that California "Tea Party activists" are scheduled to be trained by ACT! for America on July 20 about "how to be an effective activist against Political Islam and its threat to our way of life."

SEE: ACT! for AMERICA: Basic Training Class 101

"Now is the time for Tea Party leaders to clearly demonstrate that their movement will not allow itself to be associated with bigotry of any kind, including Islamophobia," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Hooper noted that along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs "have no soul" and that Muslims worship "something they call 'Allah,' which is very different from the God we believe [in]."

SEE: A Case Study in Sincere Hypocrisy: Brigitte Gabriel
Video: Brigitte Gabriel Says Arabs Have No Souls

Earlier this year, a person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida was caught on video bragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer.

SEE: Person at ACT! for America Table in Fla. Brags of Desecrating Quran

Gabriel told the Australian Jewish News: “Every practising Muslim is a radical Muslim.” She also claimed that “Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word. . .it's the vehicle for Islam. . .Islam is the problem.”

When asked whether Americans should “resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation," Gabriel said:

"Absolutely. If a Muslim who has -- who is -- a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day -- this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Source: http://islamonline.com

U.S.-Muslim relations one year after Obama’s Cairo speech

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

From the moment President Barrack Obama, a powerful orator, took office, he seemed eager to change the tenor of America’s relationship with Muslims worldwide. With his very positive rhetorical outreach in the early months of his presidency he raised a lot of expectations. On June 4, 2009 President Barack Obama delivered a speech in Cairo that elicited a near euphoric response from most officials and editorial writers across the Muslim World.

Not surprisingly, during 2009, the first year of his presidency, the approval-rating of American leadership increased by a significant margin in most Arab and Muslim countries when compared to 2008, George W Bush’s last year in office.

The numbers rose (according to Gallup June 1, 2009 polling) most impressively in Tunisia (from 14% to 37%); Algeria (25% to 47%); Egypt (6% to 25%); Saudi Arabia (12% to 29%); and Syria (4% to 15%). However, in Lebanon (25% to 22%) and Palestine (13% to 7%) they continued to fall.

During the last 17 months, Obama administration has taken a number of measures to woo the Muslim world.

1. The Obama administration is revising national security guidelines that strip references to “Islamic radicalism” and other terms deemed inflammatory to Muslims. President Obama and other administration officials stopped using terms like “Islamic extremism” shortly after taking office and are now purging “Islamic radicalism” from the National Security Strategy policy document.

The current National Security Strategy document, prepared by the Bush administration, states that “the struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century.” President Bush had gone further and used such meaningless terms as “Islamo-fascism” to justify his now doctrine of the war on terror and pre-emptive strike.

2. In April, Obama administration reversed guidelines that singled-out passengers on flights arriving from 13 Muslim countries, and Cuba, for mandatory screening. The guidelines were implemented in January 2010 after the attempted bombing of an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.

3. Swiss-Muslim scholar Dr. Tariq Ramadan entered the US for the first time in six years after being barred by the Bush administration. Dr. Ramadan, who has been critical of US foreign policy, told the New York Magazine he believes Obama has shown he knows how to communicate with Muslims, but not much else. “Obama has the vision and the words, but does he have the power? This is problematic,” Ramadan said. “It seems he is limited.”

4. The Obama administration has dispatched American Nobel Prize winners to advise Muslims scientists, economists and other professionals on how to improve their research and better manage their institutions.

5. At the end of April, the US government hosted a Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Doha, Qatar, with some 500 mainly Muslim entrepreneurs attending.

6. Obama's outreach has included appointing Deputy Associate White House Counsel Rashad Hussain as special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. "As a hafiz [memorization student] of the Quran, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community," Obama said in the announcement. President George W. Bush first named a representative to the OIC in 2008 under similar objectives of outreach to the Muslim world.

However, one year after Obama’s widely-publicized speech in Cairo, Muslims remained skeptical about his administrations’ core policies towards the Muslim world, particularly the Arab-Israeli dispute. To borrow Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Center of the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID), the “hope and excitement in the Islamic world” that greeted Obama’s speech “began to turn into disappointment as people realized that turning promises into reality is not always easy or possible.”

Obama’s policy towards the Muslim world hinges on a number of major factors: the issue of Palestine; American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq; US drone attacks in Pakistan with heavy civilian casualties and the U.S. policies towards Iran.
Reference by:http://islamonline.com

In Search of Muslims in Bengal

By Nigar Ataulla
During the heydays of the DD, Satyajit's Ray's films were a treat to watch. Kolkata appeared totally serene. But today real life Kolkata seems to be eons away from that reel life portrayal.

Negotiating streets of Kolkata and West Bengal on my voyage of discovery of Bengali Muslims was no mean task. So there I was (my husband in tow), groping through crowded roads, traffic snarls, overflowing drains, heavily dented trams and honking taxis. We wriggled our way into the Indo-Arab Cultural Association. Even before I could catch my breath, I was unleashing my advice for Sabir Ghaffar, the enthusiastic youngster and general secretary of the Association: 'Why don't you compile a directory of Muslims in West Bengal just like our Millat Directory from Bangalore'. The Association helps Bengali Muslims 'to connect to their Arab roots'. But I wished the youth could have made much prudent use of their resources and energy by probing the reasons for mass poverty that is so omnipresent in West Bengal. It has brought out an Islamic colouring book so far.

Our next stop was Madrasa Aliah, founded in 1781 in Calcutta by Warren Hastings. He ran the institution out of his own pocket for 18 months till he was reimbursed by the Bengal Government. It was founded in Baithak Khana near Sealdah. But is currently located to the north of Wellesley Square renamed Haji Md. Mohsin Square in the Taltala area. Its first head was Mulla Majduddin who was succeeded by Muhammad Ismail in 1791. The school taught Persian, Arabic and Muslim Law (Fiqh) and its graduates were hired as interpreters for the British Raj. After facing financial crises, Captain Ayron a retired British army officer was appointed in 1819 to be on the Madrasa management committee for helping the Board of Revenue. Upon further financial and administrative deterioration, another European head, Aloys Sprenger, was brought in 1850.

The Madrasa has now been turned into Aliah University by an Act in 2007 and through section 3(3) has been conferred status of a minority educational institution under the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education, Government of West Bengal. Aliah has set up Centre for Vocational Studies and taken up several programme for the skill development among minorities.

No one seems to be more ardent believers in biodiversity on roads than Kolkattans. Roads just outside the Aliah University were lined up with huts with plastic roofs and spaces were shared with all kinds of cattle by humans.

When queried about the way to West Bengal Urdu Academy, a passerby had the following to say: Seedha jayen, ek kachre ke dheir ke pas wali imarat hi Urdu Academy hai!. (Go straight, the building near the heap of garbage is the one you are trying to locate! Grime infested books on the Victorian era shelves with garbage piles underneath the creaking staircase presented the tell-tale picture of the state of language in West Bengal. The West Bengal Madrasah Board has though huge space at its disposal, vies with the Urdu Academy for the dubious distinction for the most unkempt places. A grogy-eyed officials looked totally non-plussed at our request for any publication from the Board and promised to send them by post. We are still expecting the knock of the postman!

Murshidabad, on the southern bank of river Bhagirathi is four hours away from Kolkata by rail. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Later Bengal nawabs retained this as capital. Royal buildings bear the glory of those halcyon days. The administrative headquarters of the district is at Berhampur. It was in 1704 that Nawab Murshid Quli Khan shifted the seat of government from Dhaka to Maksudabad, which was rechristened Murshidabad after him. The family of Jagat Seth maintained its position as state bankers at Murshidabad from generation to generation. Even after the conquest of Bengal by the British, Murshidabad remained for some time the seat of administration. Hastings removed the supreme civil and criminal courts to Calcutta in 1772 only to be brought back in 1775. In 1790, under Lord Cornwallis, the entire revenue and judicial staffs were fixed at Calcutta. Of historic interest are Nizamat Kila (the Fortress of the Nawabs), also known as the Hazaarduari Palace (Palace of a Thousand Doors), built by Duncan McLeod of the Bengal Engineers in 1837, in the Italian style, the Moti Jhil (Pearl Lake) just to the south of the palace, the Muradbagh Palace and the Khushbagh Cemetery, where the remains of Ali Vardi Khan and Siraj Ud Daulah are interred. Though Hazaarduari palace is in fine shape, Wasif Mahal, the palace of the last nawab is rotting in filth! Worse still is the fate of rich treasure of manuscripts that are decaying in the palace. According to a descendant of the nawab, a store-keeper here, the palace is under the state Government administration. Paid guides dole out all kinds of spurious and dubious versions of history. But the truth that may be lying buried in the manuscripts, needs to be unearthed. But who will unravel the truth?

Malda or formerly English Bazaar, is still five-hours away towards north of Murshidabad. An English factory was set up here in 1771. Malda is the base for visiting Gaur and Pandua. Gaur, capital to three dynasties of ancient Bengal—the Buddhist Palas, the Hindu Senas and the Muslim Nawabs—has seen three distinct eras of glory. Pandua, once the alternate seat of power to Gaur, has the third largest concentration of Muslim monuments in Bengal. Historical monuments include the Jami' Masjid (1566) and the landmark Nimasari tower across the river. During the 18th century, it was the seat of prosperous cotton and silk industries.

Gaur, 12 km south of Malda, right on the Indo-Bangladesh border, offers rich feast of history and archaeology. Monuments on the must-see list are Bara Sona Mosque, Dakhil Darwajah (built in 1425), Qadam Rasul Mosque, Lattan Mosque and the ruins of the extensive fortification. Pandua, 18 kms north of Malda, another important site of archeological importance has some impressive Muslim architecture including the vast Adina Mosque built by Sikander Shah in 1369. It is one of the largest mosques in India.

But present day Muslims of West Bengal, wallowing in poverty and illiteracy, seem to be the unworthy inheritors of the glorious past. No aspect of Muslim life in Bengal today offers anything positive that could provide room for hope.
Reference by: http://islamicvoice.com

Muslims should avoid Namaz on road

By Andalib Akhter
New Delhi:
A section of Muslims under a banner of Zakat Foundation of India have appealed the community not to offer Namaz on roads. They said that offering Namaz at places where it could cause disturbance to the members of the society is against the basic principles of Islam.

The appeal came following a row over a mosque of Aravali Apartment in Alaknanda in south Delhi where residents objected to people offering namaz beyond Mosque premises claiming it blocked traffic in the area.

Lately the residents had filed a contempt petition against Delhi Police after the Delhi High Court passed an order in January last year asking the cops to ensure that the prayers were offered within the walls of the mosque. However, the HC dismissed the contempt petition after getting an assurance from the police that the area beyond the mosque boundary will be kept free of the namazis.

A senior police officer told this correspondent that the problem of namazis going beyond their premises is found in all part of the country. The mosques do not have the capacity to accommodate so many people due to which they are forced to offer prayers on the road. Police have to take extra care when people offer namaz on the road and big manpower is used to prevent any untoward incident.

In a statement after meeting with scholars, the president of Zakat Foundation of India, Dr. Zafar Mahmood said the community should outline a mechanism that devout could offer prayers without disturbing the traffic and the society. He asked Muslims to be sensitive to the needs and difficulties of the other members of the society. 'The namaz on roads or footpaths disturbs not only non-Muslim but Muslims too. The children, elders and the sick are more affected if traffic is blocked on roads. He appealed to the Muslims, particularly the Imam and Mutawallis of mosques to send a list of mosques where people offer nemaz beyond the premises of the mosques, in order that alternative arrangements could be thought of.
Reference by:http://islamicvoice.com

Muslim Heritage Film wins International Movie Award

London:
A short film about the scientific heritage of Muslim civilisation has won a series of international awards. 1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets, starring Oscar-winning screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley, won four awards at the International Visual Communications Association (IVCA) ceremony held in London on 26th March.

Judges commended the short film saying it was “in a league of its own” awarding it four prestigious awards:Gold Award for Best Education Film, Gold Award for Best Photography, Silver Award for Best Drama, Silver Award for Best Original Music.

The movie was produced by the Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation (FSTC) and The Edge Picture Company as an introductory film for the 1001 Inventions exhibition that was launched at London's Science Museum in January 2010.

In the movie a group of young school children take a field trip to a dusty old library after their teacher challenges them to research the era known as the “Dark Ages” civilisation, a chore they resent until they meet a mysterious librarian (Kinglsey) who takes them on a journey to the past to uncover the thousand years of scientific and cultural excellence that took place outside Western Europe between the 7th and 17th century.

The film 1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets can be seen as part of the 1001 Inventions exhibition at London's Science Museum, and can be viewed online at www.1001inventions.com. The exhibition is free to the public, seven days a week, and runs from the 21st January to 30th June 2010.

For further press information please contact: Junaid Bhatti on junaid@1001inventions.com
Reference by:http://islamicvoice.com