Mutton, eggs and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind!!!

Once there was a sheep in a dusty town.
It was living happily in its own world.









One day an hen came jogging towards the sheep.

The following conversation took place between them:
"Hi! May Peace be upon you"
"Hi! May Peace be upon you"
"How do you do?"
"I am fine by the grace of Allah! How do you do?"
Soon they became close friends.

One day the clever hen proposed an idea.
As it was a brilliant idea, the sheep concurred with the hen.
What was the idea?
The hen had said: "We have become close friends. Why not we start a hotel?"
The sheep sheepishly agreed to the proposal and they started the ground work to start the hotel.
One day the sheep asked the hen: "What would be the name of our proposed hotel?"
The hen said cooly: "I have already thought it out. The name of our future hotel would be MUTTON And EGGS!!"
The sheep was very clever. He immediately understood the game. He withdrew from the hotel project saying,"While I would be committed, you would be merely involved"

This is the story often told to highlight the difference between commitment and involvement.
In Islam and Islamic movement like Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, commitment to the cause is expected from the cadre.

Ibrahim (AS) with his declaration "Surely my prayer, all my acts of worship, and my living and my dying are only for Allah, the Lord of the whole Universe" (Quran 6: 162) has set the parameters for the scale of commitment.

In other words we do not have pass marks or high marks or first class or second class as far as commitment is concerned. You ought to get 100 percent or perish. It has made very clear in the hadith, "One cannot become a believer unless his love and his hate, his giving and refusing, his friendship and his enmity evolve on the basis of Allah and His Prophet"

Where do we stand now?
Are we committed to the cause of Islam?
Are we merely involved in the process?

We do participate in the weekly meetings. We do sit in the front row in the important gatherings. We do circulate Islamic books with our friends and relatives. We do promote our magazines and journals from Dawat sehroza to Samarasam Tamil Fortnightly to Radiance views weekly. We do actively take part in nation wide campaigns and caravans. We do read Quran and Hadith and nisabi kitabs. We do give gifts to others. We do this. We do that. We can go on bragging our activities. But is it sufficient? Have you ever analysed a basic question? Whether we do all this things when we find time or we do give prime importance?

The present Ameer-e-Halqa used to say about a karkun (let's call him Mr X): "If you cut Mr X to bits and pieces, each and every bit would scream Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamaat-e-Islami"
And surely that is commitment, you would say.
But I would like to add a correction. "If your body is cut to pieces, each and every bit and piece should scream Allah, Allah."
Just like Syedna Bilal(RA) used to say "Ahad! Ahad!"

That is commitment.

Also read : Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and the black belt!!
and : Three dimensions of a personality!

Imran is new Chennai Chief!!

It is official now.
I could say it is the most exciting, exhilarating and heartening news of the year. Rather it could be said as the most exciting news of the Meeqath! (Meeqath is the urdu word for the word term. It usually comprises of four years, in this case from April 2007 to March 2011)
Br Imran Latheef Sait has been appointed by the Ameer-e-Jamaat Moulana Jalaluddin Umari as the Nazim-e-Ilaqa of Chennai city. This was done on the basis of the recommendation of State Shura.
Br Imran Latheef Sait would be refered as மாநகரத் தலைவர் and as City President.

I know Br Imran for the past twenty three years. He is full of vigour, passion and zeal. He is the most reliable hand; whatever task you give, he would finish it off in style. It would appear that he accomplishes everything in an effortless way. But he is the most committed hard worker. He is very humble and never projects himself. He is well versed in Quran and is deeply attached with it. Infact he runs two, three Quran classes every week. Scores of men and women have learned to understand Quran from him.

He is very disciplined, punctual in Namaz.
He is very fond of cultivating friendships across the various cross sections of the society. He has friends everywhere. He speaks flawless English and beautiful Urdu.
He has business acumen and management skills.
He is still young and always remain active and robust.
He is attached with the tahreek right from his childhood.

He is a team man. He is pious, God-fearing and full of humility. He is hardworking, dedicated and known for his meticulous plans. He had served as Divisional Organisor of Madras for two terms during his SIO days. He had been the Divisional organisor for Puducherry division some years ago. He had also served as the Member of State Shura too. He has close rapports with ICSA and interfaith movement for communal harmony people. Besides he is the treasurer of Islamic Foundation Trust for the past couple of years. He played a leading role in providing newly constructed 38 houses to the hapless victims of sea erosion of the village Kottaikuppam near Puducherry. He was the moving spirit behind this mega project undertaken by TNRC (Tamil Nadu Relief Committee).

I am very very happy that such a talented and dedicated karkun with varied interests bubbling with enthusiasm and vigour has been selected for the job. I hope that the forthcoming days would be fantastic, action-packed and simply satisfying. We have great Expectations.
May God bless him. May God help him. May God give him strength and vision to execute the work. Aameen

Read : Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and the Black belt!!

UPSC : Sufiyah Farooqui tops the Muslim list!

Sufiyah Faruqui along with her parents. She is from Bhopal.

01 - 20 - SUFIYAH FARUQUI
02 - 26 - SARFARAZ AHMAD
03 - 51 - SHAID IQBAL
04 - 75 - TAMBOLI AYYAJ FAKIRBHAI
05 - 90 - SADRE ALAM
06 - 94 - ABU MATHEN GEORGE
07 - 120 - KOYA PRAVEEN
08 - 128 - MASOOM ALI SARWAR
09 - 134 - IMTIAZ ISMAIL PARRAY
10 - 139 - AYESHA RANI A
11 - 169 - ZIAUL HAQUE
12 - 244 - ASHIQUZZAMAN
13 - 257 - BASIR AHMED
14 - 303 - SABIHA RIZVI
15 - 304 - ANEES AHMAD ANSARI
16 - 353 -PATTAN IMTIYAZ KHAN
17 - 382 - MASHHOOD UR REHMAN FAROOQUI
18 - 393 - SHAHNAWAZ UL RAHMAN
19 - 398 - CHAN BASHA M
20 - 453 - AKHTAR HUSSAIN ANSARI
21 - 460 - KAZI SUHAIL ANEESAHMED
22 - 499 - TARIQ MABOOD
23 - 502 - GEELANI BASHA K S M
24 - 523 - R GULZAR BEGUM
25 - 540 - MOHD SHAHID ALAM
26 - 546 - MOHD FAIZAN NAYYAR
27 - 582 - MAHFOOZUR REHMAN
28 - 595 - MD SADIQUE ALAM
29 - 603 - MD SALIK PARWAIZ
30 - 606 - MD FAIZUL HAQUE
31 - 619 - MOHAMMED YUSUF QURESHI
32 - 664 - ABDUL HAKEEM M

http://www.upsc.gov.in/

This is the list of Muslim Canditates who have passed with flying colours in the written part of Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2008 held by the Union Public Service Commission in October-November, 2008 and the interviews for Personality Test held in March-April, 2009, and who have been recommended for appointment to Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and Central Services, Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’.
First of all let me congratulate them.

Hats off to Sister Sufiyah Farooqui who stands first among the successful canditates. All other thirty one brothers and a sister deserve congratulations.

Next, the details. The total number of canditates passed this year is 792. The total number of Muslim canditates is 32. ie 4.04%

The percentage of successful Muslim canditates continues to be around 3 to 5 % for the past 20 years.

Whenever the UPSC results are announced I analyse and scan the list to find out the Muslim names. I have been doing it for the past sixteen years. It never reached the three digits. It never reached fifty. I always end up frustrated, disappointed and disheartened.

Questions, piercing, penetrating, intimidating questions boggle my mind. They rob my peace of mind. To be honest, I cannot find answers. Now I want to share them with you. Whether it will rob your peace of mind or not, I don't care. I want to relieve them. I would be happy if some of you could answer them.

The questions are as follows:

• What is the reason behind this stale performence?
• Why is this pathetic, insipid and faded performence repeated year after year?
• Who is responsible for this lacuna?
• What are the shortcomings?
• What are the deficiencies?
• Don't we have enough graduates?
• Do our youth lack ambition?
• Who prevents them? Who debars them? Nobody.
• Then what bothers them? What is the remedy?
• Where lies the solution?
• If our youth are not aware of UPSC, whose responsibility is it anyway, to guide, counsel and motivate them?
• What is the role of SIO and Tahreek in this context? Where do they stand?

Read : A success story of a Muslim IAS topper

Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi and some soul searching questions!

Almighty Allah says: (Surely Allah enjoins justice, kindness and doing of good, to kith and kin, and forbids all that is shameful, evil and oppressive. He exhorts you so that you may be mindful.) (An-Nahl 16:90)

This verse is known as the most comprehensive verse of the Qur’an. It summarizes basic Islamic principles and values: `adl (justice) and ihsan (compassion). These should be the over-riding principles for everything that we say and everything that we do, individually or collectively.

Ethics and the Secular Laws

In the secular legal systems, the law and ethics are not necessarily inter-related. People sometimes fulfill laws but they are not necessarily ethical people. Sheldon Amos in his book The Science of Law says: “A man may be a bad husband, a bad father, a bad guardian without coming into conflict with rules of a single law.” Laws are best understood formally as a system of orders, commands, and rules enforced by some authority. Laws are fulfilled by outward compliance of the rules, even when someone hates those rules and the authority that has given those rules.

The Nature of Shari`ah

Shari`ah is the law of Allah. It is different from laws in the common sense of the word. Shari`ah is the law that is based on ethics. Its basic values are permanent and universal. Shari`ah deals with the outward and inward. The rules of Shari`ah cannot be fulfilled without sincerity, true intention, love, and respect of the law and the Law-Giver, Allah.

The Purpose of Shari`ah

The purpose of Shari`ah is to make good persons and a good society. Its whole objective is ethical and moral. Shari`ah establishes what is good and beautiful. If something is not moral (good and beautiful), it is not part of the Shari`ah. It is also impossible to fulfill the Shari`ah without becoming a good person. A society that establishes the Shari`ah must become a good and beautiful society. It is impossible to have a society compliant to Shari`ah and have injustice, ugliness, and evil in it. It is also impossible to have a good Muslim who is unjust, unfair, unfaithful, and immoral.

Ibn Al-Qayyim in his famous book of fiqh says: “The Shari`ah is founded and based on wisdom and the benefit of people in this life and in the eternal life. Shari`ah is altogether justice, mercy, benefits, and wisdom. Any rule that departs from justice to oppression, from mercy to its opposite, from benefit to harm, and from wisdom to uselessness, is not from the Shari`ah, even if it is included in Shari`ah by interpretation.”

Objectives or Basic Values (Maqasid) of Shari`ah

Scholars say that the Shari`ah has basic values or objectives. They identify them as follows:

1. `Adl and qist - justice and equity

2. Huquq - rights and obligations

3. Shura - consultation

4. Masalih - public interest

5. Falah - success (in this world and in the Hereafter)

The purpose of Shari`ah

The purpose of Shari`ah is to protect and promote:

1. Din - Religion

2. Nafs - Life

3. Nasl - Progeny or Family

4. `Aql - Intellect

5. Mal - Property or wealth

These basic values are further divided into: darurat (necessities), hajat (needs) and tahsinat (complementary ease or felicity).

When we practice the rules of Shari`ah we must keep in mind the objectives of Shari`ah. Very often we follow the rules but we ignore and overlook the spirit and real purpose of the rules.

1. For example the Qur’an speaks about taharah (purification), ghusl (purificatory bath) and wudu’ (ablution). We take these rules and apply them, but we do not take the objective of cleanliness very seriously.

2. We pray in jama`ah (congregation), but we have not learned the system of organization from our salah.

3. We give zakah, but we have not been able to establish a system of social justice.

4. We go to Hajj, but we have not been able to develop a unified Ummah, a community that transcends nationalistic divisions.

5. We recite the Qur’an many times, but we do not try to understand its meaning and message.

6. We talk of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) but mostly related to some appearances. We pay little attention to Prophet’s character of love, kindness, honesty, truthfulness, sincerity, fulfilling the promises, etc.

Our Responsibility

It is our responsibility to know the rules of Allah and put them into practice with sincerity. But before anything we should ask ourselves: Are we really practicing justice? Are we really fair to others, to our spouses, to our relatives, to our neighbors, employees, employers, to Muslims, to other human beings, to animals, to anything and everything? Are we really compassionate people? Are we really increasing in compassion or are we becoming angry, hateful, arrogant, or complacent about ourselves? We must improve ourselves in justice and compassion. If we do not have `adl and ihsan or rahmah (mercy), then we are not practicing the Shari`ah. Similarly, if we think that we are following the law of Allah but the result is injustice and lack of compassion, then it means that we have not properly understood the law of Allah or we are not interpreting it right.

Excerpts from the khutbah given by
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi,
President of the Fiqh Council of North America,
and former President of the Islamic Society of North America,
at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, USA
on 14 Rajab 1424/12 September 2003:

Dr Mansoor Durrani had sent me this priceless piece of speech.
Jazakallah, Dr Mansoor Durrani Sahib!