Interview with Aamir Bhai on www.orkutheroes.com

Aamir Edresy is a man with the mission on orkut. Founder of Association of Muslim Professionals community Aamir is on the way to make an NGO for the noble cause of Muslim youths. Aamir Edresy is invited on Orkut’s hall of fame to give more from the assoc of Muslim professional and the future of this community which is one of very active community on orkut.
Welcome Aamir to Orkut’s Hall of Fame.

Its my pleasure that you invited me in this community. Thanks for such a warm welcome and the opportunity for an interaction. It will be my pleasure to talk about AMP, its Objectives, its Vision/Mission and My team. This will be a great opportunity for me to reach more and more people to help AMP. Thanks once again Zazo!!!

Infact its our pleasure to have you here with us. Can you please tell us about your professional and family background?

First of all I would like to say that, its a great idea to take interview like this. I was not aware of this concept before and it really rocks…Thumbs up to you Zazo. I come from a middle class business family. I am a Computer Science Graduate, Started my education from a Urdu Medium School and completed my graduation from Pune University. My parents wanted me to prepare for IAS after my graduation but I opted to go for job because of some personal reasons… And I still regret on my decision. I started working as a Lecturer in Saboo Siddik Engg College in Mumbai. After That I joined a small Software company as a Software Tester and gradually reached to a position of Team Lead. Currently I am working in a MNC as a Sr. Software Test Engg. I am married with one of the most wonderful, affectionate, considerate, intelligent and most importantly simple girl I found in the universe. We have a cute little daughter, and she has become the most important part of my life since last 3 years. In my free time I love to do social Work.

So how AMP(Association of Muslim Professional) started?

The importance of Social and Community service was always in my mind since my childhood days. This was because of my valued upbringing and my schooling system. Thanks to my Parents and Teachers!!!
Having an Organization which is Representative of all Muslims in India, and is as patriotic as any other Indian Organization, was/is my dream. After Sachar Committee Report it was always on top of my Priority list. We have seen the rapid growth of Internet technologies. It has touched life in many ways and it is impossible to imagine life without internet in today’s world. We have to make the best use of available technology for our community’s development. We want to utilize internet and technology to improve the life in some of the poorest parts in India.

I had many options to start with like Yahoo Group, Google Group, Orkut Community and many more. I found Orkut the best. AMP started on 6th December 2007 on Orkut.

http://www.orkut.co.in/Community.aspx?cmm=42562614

The driving motto of AMP is to urge the people to come together and pool their resources for maximizing the benefits to the Indian Society in General and Muslim Society in particular.

You will be surprised to know that many of our non Muslim brothers are also with us in this noble mission. Thanks to all of them.

Very soon we are going to register AMP as a NGO.

So is Muslim professionals community require any rule to follow for joining? Do you except memberships from all or a person should be only Muslim and professional. Can’t a student join it?

Nice Question Zazo. There are different membership types in AMP.

To become a basic member of AMP, one needs to be

1) Indian
2) Muslim and
3) Professional

that doesn’t mean that the person who doesn’t fall in all above category can not become a member. If someone is not Indian or not Muslim he should get recommended by at least 3 of our basic members or by a moderator and then moderators will think of taking him in or not. These members will be considered as our advisory members.

And yes, even students can become Member of AMP. Students are the biggest force for us. And they are the ones who will play important part in implementation of our programs Insha Allah.

We are also planning to start corporate membership. We will be having different membership types depending upon the donations. Please keep on visiting AMP Community to know details.

These rules can change in future.

What are the main discussions going on or i can say what is the objective of this community? How much you succeeded till now in Association of Muslim Professionals?

Aim:
We can bring together Muslims from all walks of life to interact and act jointly with an objective to educate, motivate, inspire and instill confidence in our young generation. We can join hands to eradicate miseries and evil practices from our society. Our objective is to see that the community puts its unspent energy to constructive use to make India the Super Power in the World.

Vision:
To be a model Muslim community which is:
* Educationally excellent
* Socially progressive and Culturally vibrant
* Politically influential
* Economically dynamic

Mission:
To play a leading and active role in the development and long term transformation of Muslim into a dynamic community taking its pride of place in the larger Indian society.

Currently we are focusing more on networking the people. Simultaneously we have formed some sub committees which will look after the specific tasks assigned.

We are also looking for some good people who can look after all the activities in other cities of India. Infact we have started it in some cities in India like Nasik, Pune, Bangalore, Aurangabad and some parts of UP etc.

We started on 6th December 2007 online and we are very close to 800 Members. I think this as a Big Success in a world of orkut communities where people only come for fun and Masti. In our community you will not find any single thread for fun/ masti/ jokes/ sheroshayri and games.

Offline also we have made around 500 members only in Mumbai. The list includes some big names from all walks of life.

All this has become possible because of all our dedicated and sincere members. I am very thankful to all of them. May Allah reward all of us for our efforts.

In start we want to work as a facilitator to other existing NGOs. Once we will feel that we are properly established than we will start our own projects Insha Allah.

Aamir what are your thoughts on Muslim society in general? Do you think there should be more development needed in some particular area ? If yes then what are those areas of development?

Very wast question indeed. Let me try to give precise answer.

The major issues of Muslims can be categorized into (compiled by one of the finest member of AMP)

1. Educationally Backward.
2. Health Issues
3. Security of Muslims
4. Issues related to Finance (Includes Zakat Management, Wakf Management, Need of more funds for Community development)
5. Social Issues
6. Less Media Representation
7. Lots of issues faced by Muslim Scholars (Alims)

Muslims may be portrayed world over as religious and devout but they are widely detached from the teachings of their own faith. The first word of the Holy Quran was not Namaaz (Prayers), Roza (Fasting), Hajj (Pilgrimage), Zakat (Charity), and certainly not Jihad (Struggle), which is bringing unwanted infamy to them. But, it was Iqra, which means Read.

The number of Muslims in India rank second highest in the world, only next to Indonesia, and almost equal to the population of the United States , if their population is tallied properly (Muslim leaders allege that Indian Muslims are deliberately undercounted). Dozens of countries have less population than Muslims in India, including next door neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh. But what do Muslims feel about themselves – a rudderless boat or critical mass.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, the stories of India’s success are reported very wildly but Muslims of India seem to be suffering from the hellishly helpless syndrome, which is leading them to the current state of colossal intellectual inertia and nudging them to radicalism and extremism. I can state that it is the best of the time for India, but it is the worst of the time for Indian Muslims.

Who is to blame? State and central governments, Hindus, creation of Pakistan syndrome, discrimination, Islamophobia, Sangh Parivar? The litany of negative excuses will go on as they are recounted at most of the Muslims Meetings.

In my view, nobody should be blamed but Muslims themselves. If Muslims had any respect for the first word of the Quran, they would have had sent their children to study at the nearest government schools, pathshalas, madarsas, colleges, or
universities, where almost free education was available, whether they were giving in Urdu or Hindi, Kannada or Bangla, Tamil or Telugu. Although these schools might not have had good chairs to sit on or clean sheets on the floor to squat on, the graduating students would have had the ability to move on further and mentor their next generations as the parents of Dalits and Backward groups have been doing.

And the solution to all these starts with Education..Iqra…

Iqra does not mean teaching only Arabic and Urdu, or Quran and Hadith or producing only Hafiz and Maulana, who may know all the by laws of the Jannat (heaven) and hereafter, but ignorant of the constitution of the country where they are currently
breathing in. All world languages are God given. Iqra also means to educate your kids to become a good wage earner, a nice human being, an exemplary role model for the society, a scientist who could develop medicines for dreadful diseases, The current world is also God created, and it has been in existence for millions of years, and most likely it will prosper for another millions of years, Insha Allah. Are Muslims going to be simply a visitor to an ongoing worldly circus or will they also contribute and improve it?

Courtesy to someone (I dont remember the name) Muslim should start doing IQRA-giri.

Being educated and rich should be fashionable among Muslims too.

And one more thing,

I would like to request all my Hindu brothers and sisters to help at their best to uplift condition of the Muslim Community. India can not become a Super Power leaving its 13-18% population in misery. No one likes to have an uneducated neighbor, friend and countryman.

Its duty of all Hindus and Muslims to unite and help each other to make more powerful India.

What are your future plan in developing the community “Association of Muslim Professionals”? Where you will concentrate more in spreading the words? online or offline?

I will start with a Sher of Galib

Hazaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam naikle
Bohat nikle mere arman phir bhi kam nikle

Till now the journey is very good Masha Allah. And we hope and pray for even better days to come. Currently our focus is Mumbai and Maharashtra. We will Insha Allah reach out to whole India

As I told you earlier we are focusing more on networking. We want to reach and work in each and every Muslim basti/area/mohalla.

Muslim lacks knowledge and information. You know the schemes as simple as Pre metric scholarship scheme by government of India doesn’t reach to Muslims properly. We want to fill up that gap by having our representative in each and every area.

As per our vision statement we want to start working towards Educational, Economical, Social and Political empowerment of Muslims in India.

We have formed sub committees to plan out our activities in Educational and Economical Fields. There are some best of Minds heading those committees. And Insha Allah very soon you will see some good projects running.

On ur question to online and offline ppl, I would like to tell u that Online ppl will be used as resources for implementation of our projects and offline ppl (mainly) will be benefited by those projects.

In AMP active people have a chance to cooperate with each other in carrying out their missions - of uplifting the Muslim condition without physically being in one place.

For example in scholarship program, we can connect sponsors and the students even though they are in different parts of the world. Similarly, members from Mumbai can raise money for a coaching center in Delhi in matter of days. Without use of internet, this is not possible for people of Mumbai to heed to the advice of someone they didn’t know or had never met.

Moderators and most of the active people of AMP have never met each other but are able to work collectively using the technology available to us.

How you manage your time in Doing this social work and handling the community Association of Muslim Professionals?

Thats the main reason to go online and we have taken help of Orkut.
Its really fantastic!!! May god bless the inventors of Orkut.

Aamir who is your idol? or you dont have any?If you have, Please share that outstanding personality who really inspired or motivated you.

Thank you for asking this question. I will give you the list of people who have inspired me. All for diffrent reasons which is very clear to everyone in the world.

1) The Great Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan
2) Shri Dhiru Bhai Ambani
3) Mr. Mohammed Yunus from Bangladesh
4) Mr. Narayn Murthy

Aamir what is your favourite pass time? any likes or dislikes?

Passtime, what is that . Really speaking I dont get free time to do anything else.
Though if have time I like to sleep so much….I like to listen old hindi songs and gazals with good lyrics.

Coming to my last question I want to ask that what help support or contribution you expect from the members of AMP?

A- 1) Time
2) Money
3) Resources

4) Contacts
5) The smallest thing one can give is 2 hrs per week to teach in some school

Thank you Aamir for giving your time and effort in making such a nice and informative interview. I wish the readers will get the message of AMP and all other noble works you are doing. Our best wishes and prayers are with you.

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AMP 1st Meeting

Dear Friends,

We have put this message on home page of our commmunity on Orkut.

---------AMP 1st MEETING----------
Dear Members,

AMP is planning to have its first members meet on 19th April at Byculla or Kurla at 6pm.

Kindly watchout this space for latest updates and feel free to mail us at: asso.muslimprofessionals@gmail.com

---------------------------------------

------Agenda for now is

Introducion to each other(Personal and Professional)
Goals of AMP
Vision and Mission of AMP
Registration
-- Name
-- Activities to be included
-- Type of Organization to be formed
-- Members
-- Advisory Council
Fund Raising
Membership
-- Membership Drive
-- Membership Type
-- Who should be contacted for membership
-- How to cover whole Bombay
Activities to start with
-- Making incharges and committees for each activity

Next Meeting
-- Target Members
-- where to organize
-- who all should be called

People can suggest changes in agenda.

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On Building Young Muslim Leadership from Grass-roots

On Building Yong Muslim Leadership from Grass-roots

Not only from friends of the Muslim Community but within the Community itself, one always hears a litany of lament that the Muslim Community lacks leadership. This has a nugget of truth when leadership is identified with political status as it is normally done. But there is no lack of leadership in the theological domain or even in religious affairs in the field of education and to a lesser degree in the economic field.

Apart from Muslim politicians, the Muslim society often turns towards its religious leaders for guidance. This creates the impression, which is rather mistaken that the Muslim society is basically in the hands of the Mullahs and practices, within the larger framework of democracy, a form of Mullahcracy!

Considering that religious faith is the core element of Muslim identity, it would indeed be surprising if the Community as a whole was not inclined towards religion, even those who were only culturally Muslims turned towards religion; when they faced situations of discrimination. Some problem arises because most religious scholars and functionaries continue to live in the past and have a generally conservative outlook and do not quite understand the way the larger national society is managed. Their hold on the masses also opens the Community to the charge of embracing extremism and rejecting liberalism and modernization. However, given its religious sensitivities, the Muslim community, which is living in a hostile environment, resists all propositions for ‘reforming’ Islam made by ill-informed and even basely motivated intellectuals and stoutly resists attacks on Islam, per se, the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet. But it responds to economic, social and cultural changes, not only in the Muslim majority states but Muslim minority countries. The process of change, however, is relatively slow in the latter because a minority always, everywhere, tends to be conservative.

There is an understandable reason for the prevalent level of orthodoxy in Muslim India: the overall sense of insecurity in the mind of the Community which has been living for decades in a state of siege. No doubt the Constitution grants them equality of citizenship and freedom of religion, for historical and psychological reasons the Muslim Indians constantly experience victimisation as physical, religious, cultural, economic and social targets. This is further strengthened by political under-representation and economical deprivation. In the circumstances, there is a strong urge at least to hug its religiosity and express it in various ways.

Orthodox or liberal, modern or obscurant, no one can take away the rights of the religious group as human beings, as a minority and as citizens. The modern state, even if does not proclaim its secularism from the housetop, can not deny equality and justice to a community, only because it appears to be orthodox.

The theologians with all their piety and moral influence, and the Mullahs with all their proximity to the grass-roots cannot be a substitute for politicians. At critical times, the religious ‘leaders’ also enter politics. Get their reward in the form of seats in the legislatures or in the party hierarchy. But they are largely useful for themselves because they simply lack the necessary legal knowledge and political experience. They fail to keep the Community together because of sectarian differences. In other words, they cannot unlock the doors of power and manage the pressure of change. And that is why political leadership is, in the final analysis, important for the future of the Community.

Few Muslims in politics can take a bold, independent stand and remove obstacles and impediments the Community faces, not the least of which is the memory of Muslim rule and dominance, particularly, its dark aspects which are emphasized and publicized endlessly by the anti-Muslim forces. Their path is also impeded by the course of political development under the British which culminated in the division of the county and the fact that at the critical time during 1945-1947 virtually the entire Muslim public opinion in what is now India stupidly supported the idea of Pakistan. Since the more vocal supporters migrated to Pakistan in search of greener pastures, the Muslim Indians faced a vacuum and indeed became leaderless. Those who took off Jinnah caps to put on Gandhi caps were looked upon as unreliable both by the Hindus and the Muslims. In the first 15 years after independence the community simply did not know which way to turn for support and succor. Inevitably it took shelter under the existing power structure. To survive, it learnt to keep mum even on its legitimate grievances, to accept whatever came its way, to speak humbly and softly, seek favours and to crawl its way into the durbars of the new rulers.

Along with democracy had come an electoral system based on first-past-the-post principle which did not allow any aggrieved and oppressed section freely to choose its representatives, who may sincerely and selflessly project their concerns and seek viable remedies. Muslims who entered the legislature and became Ministers, by the grace of political parties, with few exceptions represented their parties and not the Community. Nearly all persons who dominated political parties generally looked upon Muslims with hostility or suspicion. They nursed an overall apathy towards them and tended to overlook their miserable condition, ‘let them stew in their own juice and pay for the sins of their forefathers.’ The Muslims living in their ghettos had no option but to accept every affront, all injustice and suffer patent inequality. Few had the courage to raise grievances in the councils of power; fewer tried to seek remedies and invoke understanding or sympathy of the powerful. Muslim legislators or Muslim Ministers knew which side of their bread was buttered and always kept on the right side of the party and the government. They refused to knock loudly, lest it upset the ‘Malik’, even while their people were being butchered.

Muslim masses had to accept as their representatives those imposed by the system and built up as living evidence of secularism. Their personal ambition coupled with relative incompetence came in their way. If they raised inconvenient questions, they would be cut to size or dropped in the next reshuffle or denied tickets in the next election. The masses were kept divided in the name of sects and denominations and even baradaris, a form of Muslim casteism. This was not only encouraged by their religious or social leaders but also promoted from outside by political parties. Each party wanted a slice of Muslim votes to further the interests of its core social constituency. This we see happening even today. This disunity in the Community which it often laments makes it impossible for it to act unitedly, even at the local levels such as elections to panchayats or municipalities.

With democratic experience every social group in the multi-group Indians society has mastered the technique of breaking the monopoly of powerful groups which control national parties and forming state and regional parties with itself at the core and in the driving seat. The Community never mastered this political strategy or developed its own brand of ‘camouflage’ politics, though it has learnt to see through the mask of secularism and social justice, worn by political parties.

1971 was a water-shed and since the 70’s, Muslims have gradually stabilized economically and politically. The younger generation has overcome the burden of partition. But given the electoral system and the open hostility or fake secularism of political parties, Muslim masses had no option but to support the party which made the sweetest promises and assured physical security. Their political strategy was reduced to vote for the strongest secular party across the board, through-out a state. In the 1990s, however, they began to differentiate between one constituency and another and to practice tactical voting, constituency-wise depending upon the winnability and record of candidates. Now the third change is taking place; preference to Muslim candidates in Muslim concentration constituencies. No Muslim party or Muslim-core party has ever registered its presence in the vast expanse of north India. And even the parties the Muslim vote for sometimes put up token Muslim candidates from unwinnable seats. If the ruling party or coalition has some Muslim members, it gives rise to an illusion that the Muslims have become king-makers! In reality Muslim ministers were fobbed off with minor portfolios. In a nut-shell, the political field has so far been a barren wasteland for the Community. This explains why during the last 50 years it has not benefited as it should have from welfare and development schemes at the local level. Some times it receives a morsel but that too as an act of charity or benevolence.

This sad state was put by the Sachar Committee in all its starkness before the nation. But it ignored the continuing thread of bias, prejudice and historical animus in the government machinery when it seeks remedies.

No doubt an important factor is the inability of the Community to throw up a political leadership which has knowledge and experience, which is selfless and committed, which is courageous and uncompromising. The residue of the feudal order which has passed into history, the propertied class and a few bureaucrats are largely self centred. The affluent who sometimes contribute to religious charities cannot provide leadership. The well-placed elite suffer no disability, except perhaps in times of communal carnage. They can get things done for themselves and for their families, including admission and jobs for their progeny. Their interest lies in keeping on good terms with the people who run the system. They are rarely inclined to speak for the masses who suffers deprivation, with no primary school in their villages and no jobs even as chaprasi, driver or clerk.

Even if some practicable ideas are distilled from the Sachar Report, the Community lacks the leadership to monitor its implementation at various levels, to ensure that development funds, set aside for the Community reach the deserving, that the Community gets appropriate share of state expenditure on welfare and development, at least in the operational area. Those in the power structure, the elite and the affluent, the theologian and the Mullahs cannot even monitor local distribution.

What then is the solution? My only hope is the Muslim youth who are not just literate but educated enough to be assertive, bold enough to speak to the authorities face to face and demand due share, ask for transparent accounting, expose corruption and oppose diversion. Since the system silences individuals, the community needs to set up institutions to disseminate information about openings and schemes and to service the potential beneficiaries, to file their applications and pursue their cases.

A positive asset the Community has is Masjids. Masjid was the Community center to begin with in the time of the Holy Prophet and has been gradually reduced to a place of worship and no more. Resources of the Masjid, its space, its income from wakfs and donations can provide a base for their ‘reverse modernisation’ and restoration of their original function. The Masjids in villages, qasbas, mohallas and towns can establish or encourage a committed team of local youth to establish Information-cum-Service Centres in their premises, fight injustice level by level. This new Muslim leadership will arise from the grass-roots and gradually build the network upwards, as it acquires confidence and experience. This is the only hope.



New Delhi
1 April, 2007 (Syed Shahabuddin)
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Muslims Must Focus on School Education

Muslims Must Focus on School EducationBy M. Hanif Lakdawala
If Muslims wait another five or 10 years, they are going to lose millions of children.
Sixty years after independence, with 40 per cent of its population under 18, the community is now confronting the perils of its failure to educate Muslims, notably the poor.

If Muslims continue their apathy for another five or 10 years, they are going to lose millions of children to illiteracy. No doubt more Muslim children are in school than ever before, but the quality of Muslim managed schools has sunk to extremely low levels, as government schools have become reserves of children at the very bottom of the social ladder.

The children in Muslim managed schools come from the poorest of families, who can’t afford to send them their young ones to other schools.

Indian Muslim community is now confronting the perils of its failure to educate Muslims, notably the poor. Muslims in India have a long legacy of weak schooling, even as they have promoted higher education.

A cursory look at the Muslim managed schools reveals that while more children were sitting in class, vast numbers of them could not read, write or perform basic arithmetic, to say nothing of those who were not in school at all.

Education experts debate the reasons for failure. Some point out that children of illiterate parents are less likely to get help at home; the Trends Research and Analysis Centre (TRAC) survey shows that the child of a literate woman performs better at school. Others blame longstanding neglect, insufficient public financing and accountability, and a lack of motivation among some teachers, to pay special attention to poor children from lower castes.
Education is a long-term investment. Muslim community has neglected it, quite criminally, for an enormously long period of time.

Education in modern India has become a crucial marker of inequality. Among the poorest 20 per cent of the Muslim population, half are illiterate, and less than 2 per cent graduate from high school, according to Census data. By contrast, among the richest 20 per cent of the Muslim population, nearly half are high school graduates and only 2 per cent are illiterate. Just as important, at a time when only one in 10 college-age Indians actually go to college, higher education has become the most effective way to scale the golden ladder of the new economy.
What are the remedies? we at the mohalla level of our Muslim community should:
1. Increase Enrolment: Recruit unemployed Muslims and pay them to recruit children who have never been to school.
2. Mohalla education committee: Identify Muslim majority localities and form Mohalla education committee with a brief to keep the school and its principal accountable to the community.
3. Raise finance locally and spend it on local schools. TRAC survey reveals that the participation of parents and local Muslims in enhancing the facilities in local schools is very dismal. Unless and until local Muslims get involved in providing the basic infrastructure and monitor the quality of education imparted to children in schools, the level of education cannot be ensured.
4. Making school committees accountable using RTI: School committee is a statutory body. TRAC survey reveals that with few exceptions, school committees are not justifying their role. Using Right to Information, local Muslims must build pressure on school committees so that they are more proactive and take care of infrastructure and quality of education issues.
5. Feedback on teachers’ performance through strengthening parents’ teachers association: One of the major issues is the laidback attitude of the teachers since they are permanent employees they take everything for granted. Only local Muslims, by strengthening the parents’ teacher association and making it proactive, can apply pressure on teachers to perform on quality education parameters.

More serious issues like absent or corrupt teachers, low quality of instruction, building repairs and new construction required, cannot be handled directly by children. So parents’ teachers association should interact with children directly and launch their school-improving activities.
6. Removing the apathy of Muslim parents: The reason for parents’ apathy is not only the intense pressure of poverty, which is serious enough, but people’s firm belief that schools and education is the business of the government. If a child failed in a class, the parents would simply assume that the child ‘did not have brains’, cuff him over the head and send him to work. Local Muslims should conduct parent workshop to keep them informed on various issues and also educate them.
7. Organizing children forums fortnightly: It’s always better to hear from children to know more about their problems both at home and schools. Children forums can be used for mobilising parents, obtain information about what was going on in school and homes and so on.
8. Making school worth going to: TRAC survey reveals that the most important reason why dropouts happen - more important than even poverty - that school is simply not worth the trouble.

Parents today are aware of the importance of education as never before. Even the poorest parents send their children to school if the state provides free education. Often in the process, the family has to lose vital income. But if this parent finds that after four years of schooling, the child can’t even write his name, then he has every reason to withdraw the child from school and put him to more remunerative work. On their part, children too are not keen to go to school if the school is shoddy or is not run efficiently.
9. Ensuring the participation of children in making their classroom and school worth going daily: To improve the condition of classrooms, the school and the quality of education, the children need to be first motivated to do voluntary work. The duty of cleaning the school compound should be assigned to students. Children should be motivated to plant saplings around the schools and also start kitchen gardens. The funds generated should be reserved for school improvement. Working with limited funds, children should be coached to make simple educational aids and decorate each classroom so that the atmosphere changes from dreary to colorful and inspiring.
(The writer can be reached at mhl@rediffmail.com)

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Courage of my truth

Courage of my truth
By Bilkis Yakub Rasool Bano

Today I stand before you vindicated. For my truth has been heard. For 20 days I was cross-examined in a courtroom in Mumbai and the courage of my truth saw me through. On Friday January 18, 2008 the Honorable Sessions Judge in Mumbai pronounced a judgement that has finally meant some closure to a long and very painful journey that was forced upon me and my family. Of course, many wounds will never heal but I am stronger today, and for that I am thankful.

For the last six years I have lived in fear, shuttling from one temporary home to the other, carrying my children with me, trying to protect them from the hatred that I know still exist in the hearts and minds of so many people. This judgement does not mean the end of hatred but it does mean that somewhere, somehow justice can prevail.
>> Read more
http://www.twocircl es.net/2008jan21 /courage_ my_truth. html

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What a 'LOVELY' Justice ! With You Babri Masjid !

What a 'LOVELY' Justice ! With You Babri Masjid ! -Dr.M.K. Sherwani

www.hindustantimes. com(India) 25.2.08

------------ --------- --------- --------- -------

The Liberhan Commission that was set up to fund outthe truth behind the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992needs more time to wrap up its report.

The one-man commission comprising the former chiefjustice of the Madras High Court, Justice (retd) MSLiberhan, has asked the Home Ministry for anotherextension to be able to submit its report on itsfive-point terms of reference.

"The government has received another request for anextension from the commission," a senior home ministryofficial told HT. "It has promised to submit itsreport this time," the official said but was quick toadd that this wasn't the first time that such anassurance was being given.

The commission was set up in 1992 by former primeminister PV Narasimha Rao within weeks of thedemolition of the mosque.

The panel had been originally tasked to submit itsreport within three months.

But that was 15 years ago.

The commission has since been allowed over 42extensions, turning it into the longest inquiry conducted by any commission in the country.

The inquiry has already cost the public exchequernearly Rs 720 lakh.

On the other hand, the Srikrishna Commission thatprobed the riots following the Mumbai bomb blasts in1993, did its job in five years.

The ministry is yet to take a decision to extend theLiberhan Commission's tenure but officials contend ithardly has a choice. "If the government does notextend the tenure, the commission would wind upwithout submitting a report and leave the governmentopen to the charge of not just burying the truth butalso wasting public funds," the home ministry officialsaid.

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Jamiat in Jeopardy: Uncle-Nephew Strife Splits LeadingIndian Ulema Body

Jamiat in Jeopardy: Uncle-Nephew Strife Splits LeadingIndian Ulema Body
By Yoginder Sikand

The recent split in the Jamiat ul-Ulema-e Hind, theleading body of the Indian Deobandi ulema, hasreceived considerable coverage in the Urdu press. Mostof those who have written on the subjected havelamented the split and have called it entirelyavoidable. Many commentators have labeled it simply asa fall-out of a nasty struggle for power between thePresident of the Jamiat, Maulana Arshad Madani, andhis nephew and the Jamiat's General-Secretary, MaulanaMahmud Madani, both of whom have traded heated chargesagainst each other of being allegedly engaged inanti-Jamiat activities.'If God forbid, the Jamiat has split, then itsconsequences would be no less hurtful for the Muslimsof India than the partition of the country', writesAziz Burney, editor of the Urdu "Rashtriya Sahara",obviously somewhat exaggeratedly. Another notedcommentator on Muslim affairs, Shahid ul-Islam,comments that, 'The split in this great 90 year-oldorganisaton bodes ill for the Muslims and is a matterof great shame for them'. 'The message that goes outto the public from this', he says, 'is that Muslimleaders do not care at all for Muslim unity, and thattoo, at a time when Muslims all over are under attackand thus need to be united'. Likewise, writing in theUrdu "Hindustan Express", Shahabuddin Saqib notes that"While the Jamiat seemed to be promoting Muslim unity,inside personal rivalries have divided theorganisation' . In an equally caustic lament, MuftiMukarram Ahmad of the Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi,opines that the split in the Jamiat suggests that'Division and strife have become the special featureof this [Muslim] community. None is willing tocooperate with others honestly and with goodintentions'. Critiquing those who were quick tosuspect an 'external' or non-Muslim hand behind thesplit in the Jamiat, the Mufti firmly asserted, 'Thisis simply a fight for power and pelf'.The split in the Jamiat, lamentable though it is, isnot entirely unexpected. Nor is it something novel.Strife began brewing between Arshad Madani and MahmoodMadani soon after the death of the President of theJamiat, Asad Madani, last year, with each of themcontending to take his post. But this is not the firstsplit in the Jamiat, it should not noted. The firstdivision in Jamiat ranks occurred way back in the1960s. This centred around two Maulanas contending forthe post of President of the organisation: Mufti Atiqur-Rahman Usmani and Maulana Fakhruddin, the Shaikhul-Hadith of the Dar ul-Uloom Deoband. At that time,Asad Madani (brother of Arshad Madani and father ofMahmood Madani) was the President of the Uttar Pradeshunit of the Jamiat. It is said that he backedFakhruddin in the presidential election and played akey role in defeating Atiq ur-Rahman. In turn, Atiqur-Rahman claimed that the elections were not fair. Hepointed out that the Majlis-e Muntazima orAdministrative Council of the Jamiat had appointed himas Acting President, although he had declined this.Consequently, he refused to accept defeat. It is saidthat a large section of Jamiat leaders were actuallyin his favour. Following this, Asad Madani took overthe Jamiat's office, forcing Atiq ur-Rahman to formhis own separate Jamiat. He appointed one Mufti Ziaul-Haq as President, who later migrated to Pakistanand settled there, and soon his wing of the Jamiat wasrendered defunct.This tussle is also said to have been one of thereasons for the growing differences between QariMuhammad Tayyeb, then rector of the Deoband madrasa,and Asad Madani. Qari Tayyeb is said to have supportedMufti Atiq's candidature, perhaps one reason beingthat he was related to him. Following this, QariTayyeb sacked Asad from his teaching post at Deoband.Mutual acrimony between these two senior Deobandileaders finally led to the split in the Deobandmadrasa itself in 1980, when Asad Madani's supportersmanaged to shunt Qari Tayyeb out of the madrasa (withpolice and Congress help, so it is said), forcing himto set up a parallel madrasa in Deoband, headed by hisson Maulana Salam Qasmi.The Jamiat split again in 1988, when Asad Madani, whoby then had become the President of the organization,dismissed Maulana Sayyed Ahmad Hashmi from the post ofGeneral- Secretary. The reason, some say, was thatAsad Madani was allegedly apprehensive of Hashmi'sgrowing popularity. Another reason was that Hashmi hadalso become a Member of Parliament, which Asad Madanialready was, having been nominated to the Rajya Sabhaby the Congress. Asad Madani argued that the Jamiatcould not have two Members of Parliament from twodifferent political parties. Consequently, Hashmi wasremoved from the Working Committee of the Jamiat,following which he formed his own Milli Jamiatul-Ulema-e Hind, which proved to be simply aletter-head organization. The Jamiat split yet againsoon after, in the early 1990s, when a senior Jamiatleader, Maulana Fuzail Ahmad Qasmi, founded his ownself-styled Markazi Jamiat-e Ulama-e Hind after he wasaccused of embezzlement of funds allegedly got fromabroad.That the Jamiat has split yet again should thus comeas no major surprise, simply because it is no noveldevelopment. Numerous ulema-led groups in India havewitnessed such splits, and these have been primarilyover questions of struggle for power, pelf andleadership and not over ideology. Despite the emphasison consultation (shura) in normative Islam, manyulema-led organizations are dictatorially- run, withpower and access to resources concentrated in thehands of a single supreme leader and his coterie, whooften include his close relatives. Succession to thepost of leadership is often decided by this smallcoterie, not democratically, and this has given riseto what critics who condemn as the n-Islamic practiceof hereditary succession. This is certainly the casewith the Jamiat today, with leadership of theorganization being sought to be restricted to thenarrow circle of the Madani family. In this, ofcourse, the Jamiat is hardly unique. The sameprincipal may be seen to be at work in succession tonumerous madrasas as well, although these are meant tobe community-instituti ons and not private concerns,being funded by money donated by members of thecommunity.As long as power and resources remain concentrated inthe hands of a single supremo and his small circle offamily and supporters, accountability to therank-and-file or the community at large is given shortshrift, succession is limited within a certain'ruling' family and the principle of shura is givenmere lip-sympathy to, the personality cult or, as itis called in Urdu, 'shaksiyat parasti' (literally'personality worship') that is so characteristic ofmany Muslim religious organizations cannot becontained. And, inevitably, splits and dissensionswill continue to occur unabated, as the Jamiat case sotragically illustrates.

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TURMOIL IN MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS IS HARMING ALL INDIAN MUSLIMS

TURMOIL IN MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS IS HARMING ALL INDIAN MUSLIMS By: Kaleem Kawaja It is no secret that today India's Muslim community needs much help from the Community's major organizations and parties in order to lobby with the government and political parties to develop and implement programs to uplift the much depressed and backward community. There are about a half dozen such organizations in India that are more than fifty years old, that have much credibility with the Muslims as well as the government, the majority Hindu community, media and the nation's power structure. Over the years India's major political parties have sought the help of these organizations in the electoral arena. Thus when the average Muslims in India hear of intense turmoil, infighting and cut-throat power struggle in the top leadership of these organizations, that shocks them. Such turmoil also reveal some basic structural problems in these venerable and respected organizations. Some of the problems that have come to the surface are: certain family's dynastic stranglehold on these organizations; certain individual's dictatorial control on these organizations; inability of the ordinary members of these organizations to rise to the top leadership on the basis of merit and service. In the last few years we have watched at least three major Muslim organizations of Muslims in India go through serious turmoil. The Muslim Majlis Mashawarat of New Delhi experienced turmoil about two years ago in which a segment of Mashawarat split from the parent body and formed a separate organization laying claim to the parent Mashawarat. Majlis Ittihad Muslameen (MIM), Hyderabad, experienced major problem a few years ago when in 1993 a section of MIM broke away to form the Masjid Bachao Tahreek. Now we see the venerable Jamiat ul Ulema Hind, New Delhi, split due to intense power struggle between its President and General Secretary. In the case of Mashawarat, those who broke away are people of credibility, with the media reporting that they were encouraged by some Muslim politicians from South India who were being shut out by North Indian Muslim leaders from the top rungs of the organization' s leadership. In the case of MIM the stranglehold of the Owaisi family on the organization for three generations, and their domination of the top rungs of MIM leadership is cited as the reason for the turmoil in MIM. Currently one Owaisi is an MIM member of parliament and another is a member of Andhra Pradesh Assembly representing MIM. Their father Salahuddin Owaisi was the long time MIM President and member of parliament from Hyderabad, who ensured that his various sons became top leaders of MIM in their young age. And their grandfather was a long time Head of MIM. In fact the resentment of this total dynastic control of MIM has become so serious that Hyderabad's major Urdu newspaper Siasat is openly building opposition to MIM in the community in Hyderabad city. The Masjid Bachao Tahrik accused MIM of not being orthodox enough in defending the religious rights of Muslims. That resulted in MIM adopting several uncalled for sectarian programs. Some recent instances are: Physical attacks in public on Tasleema Nasreen, and public agitation forcing the government to ban the showing of the movie "The Messengar" on the life of prophet Mohammad in movie houses in Hyderabad. In the case of Jamiat ul Ulema, again the souce of the problem is the stranglehold of the Madani family on Jamiat's top leadership for three generations. About 90 years ago Maulana Husain Madani was among the founders of Jsmiat who reigned as its President for many years. He was succeded by Maulana Asad Madani as the Head of Jsmiat for many years. Asad Madani who died last year ensured in his lifetime that his brother and various sons acquired top leadership positions in Jamiat. After his death his brother Arshad Madani became the President and his son Mahmood Madani became the General Secretary of Jamiat. Since then the Madani uncle and nephew have been involved in cut-throat power struggle to become the sole power in Jamiat. That led to the recent fireworks and split of Jamiat itself. About ten years ago the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) whose following is largely in Kerala and Tamil Nadu experienced a similar blowup in its top leadership. That resulted in a split in IUML and the formation of the National League led by Sulaiman Sait, the long time Head of IUML Such turmoil in the top rungs of India's major Muslim organizations greatly demoralizes rank and file members of these organizations. It creates much loss of credibility, following in the community and their ability to represent the Muslim community and negotiate on behalf of the community on the serious issues of the community. The net looser is the entire Muslim community in India whose interests are seriously harmed. It appears that bringing more internal democracy in the Muslim organizations and doing away with the dynastic control of the organizations by certain families can go a long way in removing the buildup of internal frustrations that result in periodic blowups. Another useful step will be term limits for the heads of these organizations.

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The writer is a community activist in Washington DC. He can be reached on mailto:kaleemkawaja@hotmail.com

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Popular Front of India exhorts Muslims to change political strategy

Posted January 29th, 2008 by Pervez Bari,

Bhopal: Muslims in India have been exhorted to change their election strategy of shifting supports among various political parties and to concentrate in the political empowerment of the community.
The Popular Front of India, (PFI), made this call to the Muslims in its two-day annual meeting of the National General Assembly held at Green Valley campus at Manjeri in Kerala on January 26 and 27.

The PFI in its Press release said that Muslims were supporting one secular party or other with the sole aim of defeating the fascist and communal parties in elections. This strategy has failed to establish their rights in the country’s policy setting and resource distribution. While in power, these parties not only failed to arrest communal fascist forces, but they even adopted pro-Hindutva policies as against the norms of equity and justice.

The Muslims have become just cannon fodder for the secular parties which promptly ignored the Muslim issues and their problems once the elections are over. This experience of the last six decades warrants serious rethinking by all the Muslim organizations and political groups. They should initiate steps to politically consolidate the Muslims in coalition with other equally deprived sections of the society for their rightful share in political power, the release said.

The pressure group tactics exercised so far by certain Muslim sections are no longer a solution to Muslim political deprivation. The success stories of some Dalit and backward castes in gaining political strength and exercising power in North India contain lessons for Muslim leaders and masses to learn. It is also noteworthy that in all the political formulations that have emerged in the name of Dalits-Backward Classes–Minorities political empowerment, Muslims have been denied equity and justice in sharing of power as well as resources, the release noted.
The meeting also requested all the citizens and social groups of this country to support the Muslim right to political empowerment through adequate representation.

Meanwhile, in another resolution the meeting strongly deplored the recent launching of an Israeli military satellite by ISRO. This is in effect a tacit approval of the inhuman acts Israel has inflicted upon helpless Palestinians under Zionist occupation. Israel is the only rogue state in the world which consistently trampled upon the basic civil and democratic rights of the Palestinians under its occupation and violated all international treaties and covenants.
"Our relationship with this client state of the US is against the basic morals and principles of the foreign policy set by our great leaders and thinkers", the release pointed out.

Popular Front appealed the Government of India to severe the unethical ties with this settled state with immediate effect.
The meeting expressed anguish over the imposition of severe bail conditions on certain under-trial prisoners in the Second Marad Case while granting bail after their prolonged imprisonment lasted for nearly five years. The under-trials in this case belong to very poor fishing community who do not have money or influence to raise the security or to arrange rented houses within three kilometers of the Special Court as stipulated in the bail order. The High Court of Kerala has just granted bail in purely legalistic manner without taking into account the inability of the under-trials to post bond or other securities.

The meeting observed that it contravenes the spirit of various orders passed by the Supreme Court of India to be lenient towards the under-trials when considering bail petitions.
The annual meeting started with the inaugural speech by the Chairman of the organization E. Abubacker. The General Secretary E. M. Abdurahman submitted the annual report. The report observed that the constituent state organizations of Popular Front in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have considerably increased their membership and gained much more public support.

Thanks
Aamir
PS: Article taken from some website

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University on Ajmer Dargah land proposed

In his new role as president of the Ajmer Dargah Management Committee, the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali has set his priorities for the Dargah. To tighten security arrangements in and around the shrine tops his agenda. Besides, he wants better connectivity for Ajmer city and better management of resources at the Dargah.
Talking to mediapersons in Bangalore after a felicitation program organised in his honour by the Tamil Nadu Shia Muslim Convention, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali elaborated on his plans. "I have already written to the Civil Aviation Ministry about the need for an airport at Ajmer," he said. He said that he wanted to set up a university on one of the lands of the Dargah, the tomb of the Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti.
The Nawab is the first from South India to be appointed president of the Ajmer Dargah Management Committee, a statutory body of the Government of India.
“It is an honour and at the same time a great responsibility,” the Nawab said of his Ajmer assignment. Since assuming office as president in September, 2007, the security has been stepped up at the Dargah.
Addressing the gathering at the felicitation program, he appealed to all religious sects to eschew fanaticism, which only served to weaken the nation, especially in times when Islam was being targeted as a religion of terrorism.

Thanks
Aamir
PS: This article is taken From some website

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Gulf Jobs

Dear All,
Please review this very useful Link for Jobs in Gulf. Hope it may be a good guidance for some people.
Visit this site www.gulfjobsbank. com
Thanks
Aamir

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Do You Know Ur Value....???

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rupee 500 note.In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this Rupee 500 note?"Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?"Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air."My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.

No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rupee 500/-. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.You are special. Don't ever forget it! Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams.

"VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED"
""Never Believe wt the lines of ur hand predict abt ur future,caz people who d'nt hve hands also hv a future... Believe in urself""

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Major survey challenges Western perceptions of Islam

Salam Dear Friends,
Major survey challenges Western perceptions of Islam, you can acess this here.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080227/ts_alt_afp/usislamreligionethics

Thanks
Amir

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MUSLIM SITUATION

What is wrong with Indian Muslims? Why are they not getting Angry ?
V.T. Rajshekhar, Editor, Dalit Voice

What is happening to India’s Muslims who form the country’s single largest community with a 20% population plus endowed with a powerful religion? Some Dalit friends complain that despite DV giving so much support, Muslims are not coming to support it. This is true. Our representative in Hyderabad, Dr. Yadaiah, said every time the Muslims invited him to their meetings he would never fail but when he invited them there was hardly any response. Barring two leaders of the Tameer-e-Millat (Rahim Qureshi) and Jamate-Islami others did not turn up at our Hyderabad function. Even they also went away after speaking. Our Delhi silver jubilee celebrate on April 8, 2007 was attended by Syed Shahabuddin and the editor of the Radiance of the Jamate Islami.

Dalit-Muslim unity: Rahim Qureshi of the Tameer-e-Millat, a friend of the Editor for the past 25 years, in his speech at our Hyderabad meeting called upon the Dalits to join hands with Muslims. In our speech we told him that We were the founders of the Dalit-Muslim unity movement and published a book on the subject which was released by the late Moulana Ali Miyan. We went around the country several times, meeting Muslim religious leaders all of whom welcomed the Dalit-Muslim unity but did hardly anything to further the cause. The Muslim leadership is more interested in Hindu-Muslim unity which is never possible. Will the lamb ever believe the wolf?Dalits are too willing to join Muslims. They have nothing against them. In fact all their literature and all their speeches are directed only against their Brahminical enemies.

In the Old Ahmedabad, Dalits and Muslims have been living together since generations. During 1981, we rushed to Ahmedabad and brought about tremendous Dalit-Muslim unity to fight the upper caste Patels. But within a couple of years the BJP won over the Dalits and instigated them against Muslims. And the result was the 2002 Gujarat Genocide. Why the Muslim leadership failed to keep up the Dalit-Muslim unity brought about in 1981 of which Gujarat Dalit Panther leaders Ramesh Chandra Parmar and Valjibhai Patel were the main actors?

Today, the Muslim isolation from Dalits is total. This the case all over India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fooled the Muslims through the Sachar Report the cunning Khatri PM master-minded the Sachar committee to mislead the Muslims. Muslims are hated, persecuted, jailed, dubbed terrorists and killed in thousands not because they are poor. But because they are hated by the Hindus. Muslims are killed only because they are Muslims. But the PM with the help of his jatwala Khatri chairman of the committee succeeded in fooling the elite Muslims and the Sachar Report became a talking point at hundreds of Muslim seminars. Sachar committee was aimed at diverting the anger of the revolutionary Muslims and keeping the elite Muslims entertained. The PM and the Brahminical ruling class thus fooled the Muslims. They fooled the Muslims because the Muslims are willing to be fooled.The Muslim problem is not economic but social and cultural. The Sachar Committee had nothing to say on the social and cultural slow death of a community.

How long this elite Muslims, who are not even 5% of the Muslim population, go on fooling to community? it is now over an year since the Sachar report was presented. Except discussions, seminars and shedding of crocodile tears over Muslims, nothing has been done.

Another committee on Sachar Report: Now the Khatri PM has come with another brain-wave to further fool the Muslims: set up another committee to examine the Sachar committee recomendations. It will be called “Equal Opportunities Commission” to hoodwink the Muslims. But many upper castes will get Cushy job for 2-3 years. The Brahminical game plan is when you want to kill something set up a committee.

This is how the Srikrishna Commission Report on the Shiv Sena-led mass murder of Muslims in Bombay was simply thrown to in the waste paper basket. Muslims are being continuously deceived even as thousands and thousands of innocent Muslims are rotting in the jail for years.India’s single largest community is condemned as anti-national as terrorist. But there is no murmur from the condemned community.

Look at UP, India’s politically most important state which 18% Muslim presence. Dalits (23%), has a party (BSP). When Dalits can form a party why not Muslims? But Yadavs who are just 7% used the MY (Muslim-Yadav) unity stunt under Mulayam and ruled the state thrice. Kurmis have Apna Dal. Every jati is having its own party in UP. But Muslims run around six parties — without having their own.
(Courtesy: Dalit Voice, 1-15 November, 2007)

Regards,
Aamir
PS: I expect comments from everyone

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Post Metric Scholarship Scheme for Minority Students

The good news is the last date of submission of application forms for "Post Metric Scholarship Scheme for minority students" has been extended from 10th February to 15th February 2007.

Please forward this mail to as many people as possible because if less than 25 lac students apply for the scholarship this year, next year quota will be reduced.

Scheme Detail:

a) This is for current academic year.
b) Last date to submit application form is: 15 February 2008.
c) The filled-in application forms along with necessary documents should be submitted to the respective head of the school or higher educational institutions. The institutions should verify the applications and send them to the District Backward and Minorities Welfare Officer within February 10.

The link for Hindu Daily is :

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/25/stories/2008012552720300.htm

For more details, Please visit :

http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/schemes/postmatric/scheme_details.pdf

Application form and detail information:

http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/schemes/postmatric/postmatric.htm

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Target 1000

Dear Friends,

Currently we are few less than 150 members in the community.
I want to set target of Membership count to reach 1000 before end of Feb 2008.

Am I saying something not possible? I dont know the answer but I have a simple calculation.

If everyone invites atleast 10 more professionals we can nearly add 1500 (10*150) members. And my target is less than that!!! 1000 Members looks very easy to me.

I request everyone to please take it seriously and invite all your friends to join the community.

I am going to start it right now...Lets see who else follows me........

Thanks
--Aamir

We can Bring together Muslims from all walks of life to interact and act jointly with an objective to educate, motivate, inspire and instill confidence in our young generation. We can join hands to eradicate miseries and evil practices from our society. Our objective is to see that the community puts its unspent energy to constructive use.

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Congratulations !!!

Hello Everybody,

We are gratified to announce that we have created a blog for our Orkut community 'Asso. of Muslims Professionals'. Basically the motive to create this blog is that those members who are not getting change to access Orkut in their offices can be active using this blog.

So, we are hoping that members will take active participation in the issues related with our community.

Thanks & Regards!
Moderator - AMP

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