Noteworthy

This is so so relevant No one could have summed it better than this quote. I love it

NEVER CRY FOR ANY RELATION IN LIFE BECAUSE FOR THE ONE WHOM YOU CRY DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR TEARS AND THE ONE WHO DESERVES WILL NEVER LET YOU CRY….TREAT EVERYONE WITH POLITENESS EVEN THOSE WHO ARE RUDE TO YOU, NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT NICE BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NICE…….. YOU CAN ‘T MAKE SOMEONE LOVE YOU. ALL YOU CAN DO IS BE SOMEONE WHO CAN BE LOVED, THE REST IS UPTO THE PERSON TO REALIZE YOUR WORTH…….. NEVER SEARCH YOUR HAPPINESS IN OTHERS WHICH WILL MAKE YOU FEEL ALONE, RATHER SEARCH IT IN YOURSELF YOU WILL FEEL HAPPY EVEN IF YOU ARE LEFT ALONE….. ALWAYS HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IN LIFE. THERE IS SOMETHING POSITIVE IN EVERY PERSON. EVEN A STOPPED WATCH IS RIGHT TWICE A DAY………

I sometimes feel MAD. And this madness is usually directed against someone. I am not going to talk about why I hate that person and what should be done to get over it. I was just wondering the thought process that goes inside me. I first think about all those points which are favourable to X and why X can never be sad. I then correlate those points to the situation that I am going through. X betrayed me when I needed it the most. I was alone pondering over my future whereas X was making merry with its friends. X would have made fun of my naiveness and how idiot I was to trust it. X can never fall for anyone because it has that resistance in itself. X is more concerned about itself and turns his back to people’s sufferings but still people love X. They adore it and offer every help possible to console X in times of distress. People who support X are the elitist; they are snobbish, they are erudite and someone who would never prefer to be my friend. They can do things which I cannot, they can talk about things which I cannot, they have access to happiness which I don’t and above all because of their snobbishness they will loath my attempts to get into their company. They are X’s friends so all of them are also entitled to never be sad in life. Their life is perfect; each and every one of their happiness will be satisfied. They have resources at their disposal but I have to create both the resources as well as ways to achieve them.

On the other hand I have been subjected to abject deficiency in terms of fulfillment of desires and knowledge about things which matter in life. I cannot talk about the latest movies released but X expected me to come out with a review. I cannot talk about how smart some celebrity C is but X expected me appreciate it’s adulation of C. X expected my family to be affluent but my father happens to be just a central government employee so our mentalities cannot match and thus I cannot be a part of that elitist network of friend X has. X and it’s circle of friends were born and brought up in a city so are aware of complexities of a city life whereas I have always lived my life away from the complex and august city life. I am ignorant of how to conduct myself in the society, how to communicate, how to be gregarious and above all how to be a human, the city way! Before coming to Chennai I had never seen a traffic light! I used to gawk at every multi-storey building I happen to come across. I was in awe when I saw the capsule lift in the Spencers. I was totally mesmerized by the glittering shopping complexes here. I had tough time coming to terms with the city transport, the fast life and above all my city but-still-down-to-earth-friends unlike X’s friends who are arrogant.

Like any naiveté I invested lot of my emotions in my friendship with X. I took it to be my best friend, shared my emotions hoping it to empathize with my woes and treated it above all. But for X I was just another country guy trying to meddle in its private affairs. I was a subject of their jokes for the way I talk, walk, conduct myself and my ignorant mind which was in a state of awe at the grandeur of mannerism I was a witness to. Finally X ditched me and with that crashed all my emotions, all my hopes and all my expectations. I was perplexed, hurt and emotionally drained at this sudden betrayal of trust. For X it was just another thing but for me, my world was lost. A world that I had dreamt of….away from home…away from shackles of orthodoxies…away from the nearly nomadic town life….a world I had seen on TVs and movies…a world were people were happy, satisfied and exposed to opportunities in life…a world were I can put my abilities to test against the very best.

Those dreams were shattered!

Will continue this article in a series of 2 more posts and the final one will be “Inside a killer’s mind”

So what’s the fuss all about? Bloggers are castigating Islam as a belligerent religion which has no respect for human rights. They base their claim on human rights violation in many Gulf countries. They argue that Hindus in Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia, don’t have the right to build temples. And that

Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, certain regions of Africa and Indonesia and see how the “weaker party� that is, non-Muslims have been treated in those regions? Is there freedom of religion? Is there freedom of speech? Can you openly practice your faith? What about civil laws?

All these days I have been trying to dig in the ground realities regarding violation of human rights in Saudi Arabia. Well the thing is there are rules

It states in 6.e Religious freedom to every one and prohibition of any exercise of force in this respect, in response to God’s Sayings in the Glorious Koran: “Let there be no compulsion in religion,” (II, 256) and “Wilt thou then compel mankind against their will to believe!” (X, 99). These sayings show how the use of pressure on man’s religious freedom is denounced.

but what should be of concern to us are the practices. But then I wonder how do I justify my point when the Saudis and most of the Arab states don’t follow the Islamic guidelines. Fine I will try to argue rationally without being prejudiced or biased. I have based this post on the comments here

As far as religious rights are concerned, the Saudi adhere to the ardent Wahabbi school of thought. They are opposed to the sufi sect in Islam and their practices, the Shias and every other sect which don’t fall under Ahle-sunnah-wal-jamaat. People take out processions during Muharram in India but its strictly banned there and similar celebrations. They have been strict with other religions as well, they have allowed churches and synagogues but not temples or gurudwaras. The reason being idol worship. Then they have strict rules regarding women, both muslim and non-muslim, covering themselves. But I think these strict rules are only in SA or perhaps Yemen, other Arab states are more liberal in this regard especially Dubai and Oman.

One more question amazes me. There have no reports of riots in Gulf, even when the Babri Masjid was demolished or during the Gujrat massacre. Hindus would have been ideal prey in the Gulf but nothing of that sort happened. I have never heard about mass atrocities or discriminations against non-muslims. In fact they do differentiate between a white and a non-white. So they have no soft corner for Indian Muslims even. Arabs don’t have the crowd mentality that few organizations in India are known for. A commenter Bob has this to say

And regarding the discussion going on here i have few things to add. Western culture has been far superior to any of the islamic countires or india. I say this because look at the organizations representing hindus in india, vhp and rss. they spilt venom agaisnt the minority, people like our previous home minister led a rath yatra that led to riots, chief minister of a state is fanatically against minorities and just see the kind of acts committed during riots my hindu zealots. (they have raped women, burned houses with people in it even an ex-mp was not spared, burned cars with family members in it, tear open the womb of a pregnant woman and what not). so if india were to be a hindu nation then i am damn sure these fanatics would have ruined this country in no time. minorities would have been subjected to atrocities beyond imagination.

I say all these based on the fact that vhp and rss are representors of hindus and majority of hindus patronize these organizations, which is certainly not the case with christens or even muslims.

The very basic structure of India and Muslim countries differ. India was formed on the basis of being secular so any comparison is unjustified. Noemaun has something interesting to add-

SA is a muslim country. It is islamic. Thus the religious rights of those who come there for work will be curtailed. Jews living in southern parts of saudi for centuries are given special rights because they are citizens. India is not a hindu country. It belongs to muslims as much as it belongs to hindus. Thus no sane hindu would claim that India should also have rules like them. But then fanatic hindus dont even recognise the fact that we muslims are a part of India. So I as a Indian muslim, see no need why hindus should be given any more freedom in SA to have temples.

I dont care to prove my allegiance to India. We as muslims in India do not need the mercy of a group of fanatic hindus to exist. We can not be forced by threatening us of gujarat like incidents. Death comes from Allah. And we know how to protect ourself. So if all indian muslims decide not to sing vande mataram, then indians will have to accept it. period. The fact that we muslims are ourselves debating whether to sing it, actually gives room for discussion.

First of all I do not even accept that non-muslims are being treated badly in the muslim countries. They do not deserve any special rights as they do not belong to the country. Who is asking hindus to go all the way to SA if it does not have temples. Not as bad as muslims are themselves being treated in their land in various parts of the world. Just as you would not accept that there is discrimination in India, I do not take your statement for granted. Some form of discrimination will always be there. But you exaggerate things to an extent beyond which your statement has no value.

When they talk about Gandhiji’s statement

Mahatma Gandhi made about human nature – that if you want to find out the true nature of a person, find out how he treats a weaker person

to that I ask which religion treats poor and downtrodden better that Islam? Does any other religion in the world has the concept of Zakaat? The way Arabs have supported the Palestinians is praiseworthy. Tons of food goes to Africa after Haj evey year.

I wouldn’t written a word if the post heading would have read like “are muslims peaceful?”. It’s because I acknowledge the fact the Muslims around the world have much to amend. Until and unless they try to change themselves and thus affect opinions, Islam will continue to come under fire.

I thank commenters Schacht,Noemaun,Bob,Polite Indian,Atlantean and The Illusionist for taking part in the discussions. Well just to end this quote

Opinions are like assholes — everybody has one

BTW when i say frivolous opinions i mean those in the posts that sparked this controversy not those valuable comments on my blog!! Sorry for the confusion

Ok when everyone is talking about Vande Matram so I thought of chipping in with my issues. I have absolutely no problem with vande mataram being sung by Muslims. Muftis these days have got into the habit of fatwaising every damn thing remotely related to Muslims. I wonder what satisfaction they get by doing that. I remember that they even issued a fatwa against Sania Mirza for wearing short clothes and how un-Islamic it is. Those terrorist organization also chipped in..behte gange me sab ne haath dhoya..even threatened to kill her and so her security cover was increased. So what if she wears short clothes or even a bikini, she never claimed it to be Islamic or tried to insinuate this notion of modernity in Islam. She acted according to her wishes and as an individual she has every right to do so. Why is someone concerned about her being according to Islamic principles or not? Every Muslim knows that she is being non-conformal to the rule of Shariah. There was absolute no necessity of the fatwa. So this puerile attitude of the mullahs brought shame to the religion because of infidels who are waiting to pounce upon any given opportunity to castigate and malign Islam.

Without further digression lets get down to the main issue at hand. Many have argued that Vande Matram is taken from Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s novel Anand Math published in 1882 which has provocative statements against Muslims

“He: Your task is accomplished. The Muslim power is destroyed. There is nothing else for you to do. No good can come of needless slaughter.

“S: The Muslim power has indeed been destroyed, but the dominion of the Hindu has not yet been established. The British still hold Calcutta.

“He: Hindu dominion will not be established now. If you remain at your work, men will be killed to no purpose. Therefore come.

“S: (greatly pained) My lord, if Hindu dominion is not going to be established, who will rule? Will the Muslim kings return?

“He: No. The English will rule.”

Satyananda protests, but is persuaded to lay down the sword.

“He: Your vow is fulfilled. You have brought fortune to your Mother. You have set up a British government. Give up your fighting. Let the people take to their ploughs. Let the earth be rich with harvest and the people rich with wealth.

“S: (weeping hot tears) I will make my Mother rich with harvest in the blood of her foes.

“He: Who is the foe? There are no foes now. The English are friends as well as rulers. And no one can defeat them in battle. (emphasis added).

“S: If that is so, I will kill myself before the image of my Mother.

“He: In ignorance? Come and know. There is a temple of the Mother in the Himalayas. I will show you her image there.

“So saying, He took Satyananda by the hand.”

Here is the translated version of original song

“I bow to thee, Mother, richly watered, richly fruited,

cool with the winds of the south,

dark with the crops of the harvests,

the Mother!

Her nights rejoicing in the glory of

the moonlight, her hands clothed

beautifully with her trees in flowering

bloom, sweet of laughter, sweet of

speech, the Mother, giver of boons

giver of bliss!

So now the question is why should muslims bow to bharat mata?

If the English translation is to be trusted then the word ‘vande’ has been translated to ‘bow’ so that means I bow to the virtual mother called bharat mata not as a god but as a mark of respect. There is famous Hadith which says that Heaven lies beneath the foot of your mother so what’s the problem with Muslims respecting a mother? But the catch is a different translation. Vande has been derived from Bengali word Vandana, which means worship. So if Vande Mataram implies that worship of bharat mata then its contrary to my beliefs and something which I would never do. We as a Muslim cannot worship someone except Allah. So deitifying Bharat Mata is something against our religion. It is perfectly acceptable in Hindu religion because the concept of Bharat Mata is same as the concept of God in Hinduism. In fact the term bharat mata was coined so as to incite nationalist passions to oppose the British rule. Making bharat mata as a goddess, people tend to associate fight for freedom as a religious duty. As a Muslim we are bound my ardent religious laws and Quran is not reviewed occasionally as the Bible.

So now the question is why the fuss over trifle issues. There are many issues of immediate concern facing muslims rather than singing a nationalistic ballad. Fine I would interpret vande as bow and go ahead with it. No one passes fatwa against the non-religious traditions that have set-in the society. I have never seen a fatwa against forceful marriages, women exploitation and the lack of education among Muslims. No one is concerned about the economic empowerment of Muslims but when it comes to these trifle issues you have fatwas from every nook and corner of the country. I really appreciate Darul Uloom Deoband’s silence on the issue. As far as I know it is the most sensible and radical organization among others. Barelvies are the most non-sensible and every inane fatwa can be attributed to them like every bomb blast is associated with muslims!

Terming the controversy as a religious problem of the Muslims, Maulana Sadiq said there were 56 Muslim nations in the world but nowhere do their citizens say that they worshipped Saudi Arabia, or Iran or Syria. If it was proved wrong then he would lead the Muslims in the worship of the country, he said.

Now comes the BJP. I was not surprised to see the CNN-IBN video showing BJP leaders struggling to sing the song. BJP men can’t sing Vande Mataram

BJP is now looking for issues to revive the maimed party. They wouldn’t leave any stone unturned to castigate muslims and questioning our loyalities to the nation. For them singing of Vante mataram is imperative to one’s loyalty to the nation. I wonder how?