Bouquets and Brickbats

The extraordinary interest evinced in giving coverage to the Imrana episode indicates the sadistic pleasure derived by the anti-Muslim print and electronic media in reporting the travails of a Muslim woman and blaming the Muslim Personal Law for it. In a country, where scores of women are consigned to flames for the sake of dowry, where dozens of women are applauded for dying on the pyre of their husbands, where thousands of female foetus are destroyed in the mother’s wombs, where women are yet to get a share in their family property, is it appropriate for our scribes to blow out of proportion one freak event of Imrana in a community of 15 crore people? The haywire reporting on Imrana has crossed all limits of journalistic ethics. Why are Muslim organisations not taking legal action against such malicious reporting by irresponsible journalists? To add to this mess, we have a barrage of emails, forwarded emails, articles and opinions scripted by Muslims themselves on Imrana. Has any Muslim cared to travel to Muzzaffarnagar to find out the truth on Imrana’s case?

I am proud to be one of the oldest readers of Islamic Voice, infact for the past 18 years. I have been preserving the copies of Islamic Voice since 1992. I have arranged the copies month and year-wise and made an index of the useful articles published in the issues in my own way so that I can refer to this whenever I need them.

This is with reference to the article “Wedding with a Difference” in Islamic Voice, July 2005. I wonder why you gave so much importance to this news. How can a prestigious publication like Islamic Voice promote photos like these-two Muslim women without hijab holding their cameras, then four other women in saris which is an un-Islamic outfit. Islamic Voice should not upgrade women’s empowerment this way. Photography itself is not recommended in Islam, except for official purposes. Shooting photographs of a wedding is such a waste of money when in India poor Muslim women are struggling to fulfill the dowry demands of their in-laws.


shiabks@yahoo.com

In my opinion, L.K. Advani’s utterances in Pakistan, particularly with regard to Ayodhya, have created the right atmosphere of communal harmony in India. His remarks on Jinnah have also created some healthy controversy amongst secularists and communalists. Jinnah is no more. But the present leadership of Pakistan (and also the public) wishes to bury the past and live in peace with it’s neighbour. It is high time that Advani and the Muslim leadership jointly declare Ayodhya chapter as closed and propose to build a symbolic Hindu –Muslim-Sikh-Christian prayer halls (call them Mandir-Masjid-Gurdwara-Church) at the demolished site. Still better is to request Advani to lay a foundation stone of a grand Memorial in memory of those killed during all these years (of Masjid-Mandir conflict) at Ayodhya, Mumbai, Godhra, Ahmedabad and Baroda.


mihfarooqi@satyam.net.in

Everyday we read about crimes against women especially in the metros. Rape, eve-teasing, physical exploitation of women has become an everyday affair. While greed for money and lust is the root cause, to a large extent, women themselves provoke such crimes because of their immodest dress sense. Be it ads or films, women these days think its “modern” to expose themselves. Religions of the world have defined the dignity and self-respect of a woman. Many religions do advice women to be modest in their dress. Islam is one of the best examples where the woman is given a place of honour. There can be no better concept than the hijab which covers a woman from head to toe and protects her.


mafzal123@indiatimes.com

I like Islamic Voice very much. It gives lot of information on Islam. Every Muslim and non-Muslim should be acquainted with this publication. What is different about Islamic Voice is that it deals with many contemporary issues and also covers problems of Muslims very well.


aich_soomro@yahoo.com

I have learnt many things after reading Islamic Voice. And one of the most important things I learnt is how to calculate Zakat. In addition to this, the Hajj Guide that was published in January 2001 was very useful to me when I performed my Hajj in 2003. Your publication deserves high appreciation.


tohidhussain@yahoo.co.in

The second London bomb blasts raises serious questions about who are these terrorists and what drives them. The British Prime Minister has again stated that these blasts have nothing to do with Iraq. But he is wrong. The evidence lies in the type of people who blow themselves up. They are not poor and illiterate. Rather they are highly educated and belong to the upper cream of Muslim society. To blame the entire phenomenon on madrasas is absurd, for the latter caters to the most under priviledged section of Muslim society, whether in India or in Pakistan.


The answer lies in the anger of educated Muslims towards the West, based essentially on these factors : The American support for Israel, the stationing of American troops in Arab lands and finally the tragedy of Iraq, where about one lakh Iraqi citizens have died so far.


drbandukwala@yahoo.co.in

In the March issue of 2005, Islamic Voice, I read the article “Transforming the Self.” The writer had explained transformation in the light of Islam. I also enjoyed the article by Yusuf Islam on music. I would like to congratulate you for the “career guidance” column too which will give direction to Muslim students.

I liked the Fiqh Series you have introduced. It is nice to read pure Islam written by classical writers as they write with a focused vision. Most Islamic writers these days add their own ideology. Please publish more articles by classical writers.