My pen has not retired: Moulana Kausar Yazdani

What change you find in the Jamaat’s work?
There was a time, say up to first forty years of the Jamaat’s formation that everyone was very sincere without any concern about personal amenities. Now the situation has changed. Even full time workers’ officialdom and personal concerns have increased at the cost of sincerity. Now it has a become a routine job beginning at, say, 9 A.M. and continuing up to, say, 5 P.M. Earlier the atmosphere was of total devotion to the object of the Jamaat. There are exceptions, no doubt, but my feeling is based on overall atmosphere.

What are your engagements these days?
After retirement from the Jamaat I have kept myself busy in translation work into the Hindi language. I have translated Bukhari in three volumes. A publisher provides me books for translation and I do the job. My pen has not retired.

Moulana Kausar Yazdani in conversation with Dr Waquar Anwar in Radiance weekly. Here


A towering personality among Muslims

Moulana Kausar Yazdani was not just a journalist or writer, but an active worker and a leader also. He became chief of J. I. H. (Delhi & Haryana State) in 1979 and remained so till 1995. At that time, he used to start his day before morning prayers (salat Fajr), read daily news paper and wrote editorial, etc. Later, he worked for the Kanti till about 1’o clock. After 3 or 5’o clock in the afternoon, to 11 in the night, he spent his time, visiting different places of Delhi & Haryana for Dawah and Islamic awekening. It was his daily routine. In 1995 he was called to central office of the Jamaat as its all India secretary to look after the Dawah work from which he just retired. Nadvi translated about 40 books in Hindi and wrote a dozen books.

Javed Ali in Milli Gazette. Here

Moulana Kausar Yazdani was laid to rest in New Delhi

Maulana Dr. Kausar Yazdani, a renowned Islamic scholar, author, journalist, activist and former Secretary for Dawah, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), breathed his last on August 29 at his residence in New Delhi following a brief illness. He was 76.

His funeral prayer was led by Amir JIH Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omari after Zuhr prayers on August 30. He was laid to rest in Batla House Graveyard. He left behind three sons and one daughter.

A report in Radiance Weekly. Here

Am I ready to face my Lord?

The Day...
It was 14th March, 2010, Sunday. The weather was salubrious and the train towards Chennai was moving fast...

The Train
The name of the train was Yelagiri Express. It usually departs from Tirupattur at 4.30 AM in the morning and reaches Chennai Central at 9.00 AM. It is known as JP Exp., Link Exp., etc. It is the most prefered train. It halts at Jolarpettai, Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Gudiyattam, Katpadi, Arakkonam etc, etc.
The train was full of all kinds of people - traders, businessmen, housewives, students, office-goers, teachers etc.

The Men...
Janab H Abdur Raqeeb Sahib, Janab P Muhammad Yousuf, Janab C Tufail Ahmed were among those in the train which was moving fast towards Chennai. They are all veterans of the Islamic Movement in this part of the world and have spent decades in the struggle to establish Deen in all walks of life.
The weather was pleasant and the three musafirs of rah-e-huq cherished every moment of the journey. They were at their best as they were proceeding to Chennai for an important event. They were attached to Islamic Foundation Trust and they were on their way to attend the bi-annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of Islamic Foundation Trust. They were engrossed in deep discussion..

The incident...
When the train screeched to halt in Katpadi Junction, Br P Muhammad Yousuf and Br C Tufail Ahmed alighted from the train to get a cup of tea. They were never aware of what lied ahead them.

It was just an usual day. They have alighted here for tea umpteen number of times.

Then it happened.
They were in the platform roaming here and there in search of tea vendor. But , Strangely they could not sight the ubiquitous tea vendor.

Seconds moved fast into minutes.
Suddenly the train started to move. Both the brothers hurried to enter the train. Br CTA got the foothold and was in the train. Br PMY too followed suit.

Alas..! It happened in a fraction of a second..!

Br P Md Yousuf slipped and fell..!
His legs got trapped in between the gap of the moving train and the platform...
And the departing train was moving gently..!
Br P Md Yousuf was shocked for a moment. But at the next instant, he tried to extract his trapped legs. He tried hard... But, he felt as if the train is pulling him to the pit.
1... 2... 3... 4... Four bogies passed him with his legs still trapped in between the train and the platform..!
Meanwhile, the onlookers gathered around him and instinctly tried to lift him..
Then in a spur of the moment he got his legs lifted and stood on his own.
The train was gaining momentum. The onlookers urged him to get in the train. He paused and declined to catch the train. In the melee, both his shoes fell in the railway track. Somebody dived into the empty track and procured the shoes for him. He thanked Almighty Allah and recovered his composure. Then he started to dial and inform everybody about the incident.

In the train..
CTA was in the train and he was startled by the happening. He rushed to pull the chain to stop the train. But the chain didn't budge a inch. Moments passed as ages. Then his phone blinked with the message, ''Yousuf calling..."

In Katpadi Junction..
Br P Muhammad Yousuf catched another train from Katpadi and reached Chennai one and half hour late. He drove straight to the IFT office. He attended the Trust meeting without giving a hint about the accident and got actively involved in the dicussions and proceedings.

The Lesson...
Moulvi Haneefa Manbayee loudly exclaimed, 'It is definitely a miracle. It is grace of Allah'
Br A Shabbeer Ahmed, Ameer-e-Halqa advised, 'Once when you cross 40 you should watch your steps and not behave like a 20 year old youth'.
Somebody opined, 'You have been saved because of some good deed in life'
I remained silent.

The real lesson...
I could not sleep that night. The incident splashed over my mental screen again and again. 'You have been saved because of some good deed in life' the words echoed in my ears.
Suddenly I got up from the bed and the words of Janab Maqsood Alam flashed in my mind nowhere. He too faced similar situation in his life. He too was given a new lease of Life. His friends too commented that he had been given a fresh lease of life because of some good deed in life. But Moulana Minnathullah Rahmani had a different view. He said had it been on account of some past good deeds he should have been better in heavens instead of this world! May be Allah wants him to add good deeds to his account by doing some specific noble job.

The greater lesson...
Is Yousuf is the lone person who has been given a fresh lease of life? No. Definitely not.
We are all at the mercy of Allah and we are all vulnerable to all kinds of accidents. It is Allah who saves us from calamity. He is the Muhaimin the guardian. He gives us new lease of life every second..!
What do we do with that new lease of life?
What has happened to Br P Muhammad Yousuf could happen to anyone of us anywhere, any time. But, are we ready to face them? Am I ready to face my Lord? That is the most crucial question.

Miyan Tufail Muhammad, the legendary Tahreeki icon of the sub-continent used to say, 'Apne rab say apna hisab saaf rakho! Ho sakta hai yeh tumhari zindgi ka aakhri din ho!' 'Keep your accounts with your Lord clean. who knows? Today may be your last day'

Khurram Murad in one of his speeches mentions, 'The heart in your body seeks the permission of your Lord to beat. When He grants the permission to beat, the heart beats. When He denies, your heart would stop to beat. When the denial would occur? When your heart would stop to beat? Nobody knows. Be eveready to face your Lord'.

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!