Some shocking photos of Japan Tsunami and some after thoughts

These are some of the breathtaking photos of damages inflicted by the deadly earthquake and tsunami which stuck Japan last week. They are available Here

The Japanese are most disciplined people on the earth. Look at the fourth photograph. It depicts a traffic jam. Even in traffic jam the vehicles stand one after another. 

Immediately after this tragedy I received SMSs from many friends known and unknown describing the devastation caused by the tsunami as divine punishment. It said that Japan is the first to ban Hijab (It is not true). It also said that Japanese were against Islam (It is also not true.). And there were some similar absurd generalisations. In a nutshell the SMSs tried to say that Japanese DESERVE it. Similar sentiments were rampant among Americans too. PZ Myers, better known in the science blogging world as Pharyngula has compiled several Facebook messages of people saying that the Japan earthquake was due to revenge of Pearl Harbour.

I could not understand the thinking behind such SMSs. This world is Dar-ul-Amal ie a place for action. This is not Darul Jaza or Saza ie a place where judgement is delivered.

What happened in Japan is very tragic. It is not divine retribution. Calamity or Prosperity; Tragedy or Gaiety; Adversity or Felicity everything are tests for us. We are in examination hall. What we get is just a question paper. It may be in the form of blessings. It may be in the form of calamities. How do we cope with them is the REAL TEST. 

The Prophet of Islam has said : "The believer is in such a strange state. When calamity strikes him, he observes patience and gains reward from God. And when prosperity engulfs him, he shows gratitude and gains reward from God. It is indeed wonderful" In modern parlance this could be said as Win-Win situation. 

So we cannot declare anybody as pious or vicious on the basis of prosperity or calamity. A man may live perpetual poverty and misery, yet, he may be the best in the eyes of God. A man may live with all the comforts and good things in life, yet, he may be the worst in the eyes of God. 

We see so many tyrants, mass-murderers and wicked people roaming free. That does not mean that God is pleased with them. Similarly we see so many good, noble and pious people suffering all types of tragedies. That does not mean that God is angry with them.

Let us not make hasty conclusions about others. In our haste we tend to forget ourselves. It may lead us to far greater calamity than the thousands tsunamis put together. 

May God save us from such calamities. Aameen

Cross posted in Luthfispace 

UPDATE

As requested by Br Zafarullah Rahmani, the article written by Janab Maqbool Ahmed Siraj is being posted here.

Is credulity a Hallmark of Muslims?

By Maqbool Ahmed Siraj

Some easy chair browsers of the Internet keep looking for ‘Allah ki Rahmat’ (God’s mercy) on Muslims and ‘Allah ka Qahar’ (God’s retribution) for non-Muslims. Unfortunately, most of them do not even shirk taking aid of lies to prove their totally absurd notions about God’s partiality in matters of reward and punishment.

The image of a mosque (below) is being circulated through email by some ignoramuses, mostly the arm-chair variety of NRIs cocooned in the luxuries of Gulf countries.  Some of them, in all their stupidity, have posted it on the Youtube  too. It is being claimed that it is a Japan mosque that survived the recent tsunami.  Even the first look of that massive structure should have hinted us of it being part of a fake. Japan has few Muslims and fewer mosques. That space-starved nation does not deserve a mosque  of that grandiose proportions for small clusters of Muslims.  

I dug through the archives of the 2004 tsunami to find the same picture on BBC website. Not alone this, several mosques in Aceh region of Indonesia survived the devastating tsunami.  Not because God is partial towards mosques, but because most public buildings which include Hindu Temples, Churches, Synagogues and of course, Mosques, are public buildings and constructed to last longer and survive wear and tear. They withstand the calamities better than the private homes. No wonder then why they remain standing even after quakes and tsunami waves have returned to the sea. No great deal this.

I am myself a survivor of earthquake in Bhuj on January 26, 2001 and massive fire in the tent city of Mina on April 16, 1997.  (I had written an eye-witness  account report  in The Times of India, several editions on January 28, 2001.) I was witness to several mosques and dargahs crashing down in Bhuj and nearly 425 people burnt alive in the holy site of Mina in the midst of Hajj pilgrimage.  If at all Allah could be partial to Muslims, neither those mosques would have turned into rubble, nor those pilgrims would have perished.

 

Calamities do not differentiate between and discriminate against people of various faiths, what I have learnt during my 30 long years of reporting for various media.    

If indeed we could devote this time and energy to more creative pursuits and research, we might come up with some discoveries for the humankind, the lack of which have earned us ‘a burden on the earth’ image. 

Our credulity is leading to a lot of falsehoods being disseminated about our religion. We will be better off without much of this stuff. 

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

A memorable evening in Delhi...!

I want to share with you an insight which I got from Moulana Muhammad Farooq Khan.

Moulana Muhammad Farooq Khan is the member of Majlis-e-Numaindgan (central council of representatives) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. He is one of the old vanguards of the Tahreek-e-Islami and resides in Delhi. He has written a lot of books in Urdu and Hindi. He is well versed in both the languages. He has translated Quran in Hindi. But his magnum opus is Kalam-e-Nubuwat, a collection of Ahadith in five, six volumes. He could be easily termed as the living legend in the field of Islamic literature. As I have been reading his books for the past two decades, I feel very close to him. For me, not a day passes without reading Kalam-e-Nubuwat. Besides I have been translating his works in Tamil. Chehal Hadhis has been published as Nabi mozhi Narpadhu.
I have met him on two occasions. Once when he delivered a lecture in an all India SIO meet. Next in his room in the second storey of an non-descript building in Old Delhi. I had made up my mind to meet him when I boarded the train in Chennai. By the grace of Allah, we got ourself free at the last day. My colleagues wanted to roam the historic places in Delhi. I cajoled them and virtually dragged them to the room of Moulana Farooq Khan Sahib. It was a brief meeting but It was a memorable evening. Moulana was sitting amidst books.
What he said could be summed up as the following:

There are three essential needs which mould a personality. Without fulfilling this needs one cannot become a wholesome personality.
The three needs are as follows.
First, You ought to have some thing to do.
One cannot remain idle. It is not human nature to remain idle. Man has to do something. Idle mind is devil's workshop. Men do various things. Men get engaged in various occupations to keep themselves occupied. The list of trades, professions, crafts, jobs and careers never ends. But the best thing to do is to do dawah. The best career option is to get engaged in Dawah.
Second, You ought to have some thing to love.
One cannot live with profession, job or business alone. Day in and day out you do a lot of things. But that is not sufficient to nourish your inner soul. Your heart longs to love and to be loved. Naturally men love. Their love knows no bounds. Men love their wives, their sweet little children, their apparels, their face, their language, their organisation, their country, their matinee idol and the list goes on. But the best of them is the love towards God. Love of God is the supreme thing in life. It is the ultimate. You have to research and find out whom does God love? And strive to become one. Besides you should love your Creator more than anything and everything in this mundane life.
Third, You ought to have some thing to hope.
Man exists because of his hope. He may do a lot of things. He may love his job. He may be passionate about many things. But still he needs some thing to hope. Why does he work? Why does he go to faraway lands? Why does he do so many things? Because of Hope. Because of hope that one day he would get a beautiful palace overlooking the sea shore. Of hope that he would be driving in the latest model of car. Of hope that his offsprings would get decent education. The list of hopes and dreams is simply endless.
But the best thing to hope is hope of falah in the Hereafter.
I still remember the day when Moulana Farooq Khan Sahib conveyed this message in his own style; in his own choice of sweetest, chaste words in Urdu. Br Shabeer Ahmed, present Ameer-e-Halqa and Br Muhammad Yahya of AIITA were with me. I remember the haste with which I jostled down the words in an old diary.

Moulana gave me the diary as I asked him paper to take notes. The diary with notes is with me. I will share with you the other notes when next time, Insha Allah.

Oops... what a contrast..!

First I want to clarify one thing. Iam not against ladies (No. No. Iam not saying this with the fear of my wife lurking in the corner of my mind. Believe me.) Iam not against ladies getting involved in the struggle to establish Deen. I have always welcomed their participation. I always envisaged their equal engagement in this struggle. Iam not the one who opposes the growing brigades of Mujahidas - purdah clad women demonstrating for noble cause. Iam not averse to the thought of ladies giving lectures, Quranic discourses, Hadith classes etc. I have always dreamed of young muminas tackling the burning issues of purdah, polygamy, feminism etc in the media on their own. Even the two short stories which I wrote in Samarasam were heroine oriented. I have grown up reading the works of Zeenat Kauser, Safia Iqbal etc. My favourite memoirs written by jail bird is the book written by Zainab alghazzali. I wrote a moving obituary of Zainab alghazzali with words and tears. And the list goes on..
Still I want to share a nagging thought... a thought which is drowning me nowadays. What will happen if Lady islamists outnumber gent islamists?
Oh! Don't laugh!
Recently I had been to a historic city to attend a tarbiyah meet. The total number of the participants was seventy. Of them more than fifty were ladies! When I finished my lecture and when the house was thrown open to questions, ladies raised more questions than men..! They asked me about some additional details of a hadith. It showed their passion to learn. They asked me about an historic incident which I mentioned. It showed their eagerness to be informed. One sister asked me to teach her a dua so that she could overcome the reluctance, she faces whenever she is affected by ill-health. As I stuttered, I could not recollect a dua which could help you overcome your fever or cold or head-ache, another sister from the gathering stood up and recited a beautiful dua. "Haneefaji taught us this dua" she beamed with happiness. It showed their willingness and commitment. Whereas the gents remained mute spectators. They were numb. There is no passion. There is no..... Oh leave it.
In the afternoon session a symposium was held. Three sisters and a brother participated. The sisters were very bold, eloquent, and forthright. Their choice of words, their way of presentation, their narration was very good. They structured their speech well. They were energetic in delivering the speech. They simply captured the audience. They had style and substance. Where as the lone male speaker failed miserably. It was pathetic to watch him. He mumbled and fumbled. He had no eye contact with the audience.
And next day I attended another tarbiyah meet in another metropolitan city. Here the audience were different. It was not a routine cadre meet. But it was a meet of circle incharges. ie men and women who matter a lot in our tahreek. In the morning session we had routine lectures by responsible persons. The afternoon session started with a bang. yes really with a bang. What will you say to an excellent, splendid Dars-e-hadith sprinkled with inspiring anectodes and moving exclamations. It was given by a lady. The most striking part of her dars-e-hadith was that she related to our day to day happenings and iced with soul searching questions. That made her dars more effective than the speeches made by established speakers. When the house was thrown open for questions it was the ladies who were the first to raise questions. They asked remedy for a crisis they faced in their area. They asked clarifications. They asked guidances. All their questions were practical, relevant and innocent. It showed that they are field workers and all their questions were work related. But the questions raised by the brothers were not upto the mark. They centered around interpersonal relationship, petty squabbles, grievances, remarks, pulambals etc etc. Only one brother put forward a noteworthy question. It so happened that he was just a week old Nazim..!
The difference in the nature of the questions put forward by the ladies and those by the gentlemen was starking, alarming and terrifying.
Hmmmm......These two incidents were the reason for my fear What will happen if Lady islamists outnumber gent islamists?
Now what do you say?
No problem. leave it yaar.

alhumdulillah

All praise be to Allah. He created different types of fruits. Fruits of different tastes and savours. He kept the taste buds in the tongue. If the taste buds are not there, what would happen? You cannot differentiate between a mango and a banana. Each and every fruit would taste the same. Subhanallah!