Letters to the Editor

In the January 2005 issue of Islamic Voice, in the Career Guidance column, the Muslim consultant has advised Muslim young men to take up Hotel Management and Catering courses. The reason he gave was that it had many job opportunities. But we must all look into the functions of the job. This job involves serving alcohol and pork, ham and bacon, especially in posh five-star hotels. I completely disagree with this type of guidance to our young men. In fact, hotel business is not for Muslims because it involves two of these most important forbidden things in Islam-pork and alcohol. There are many job opportunities for the Muslim youth which are more resourceful than the earnings of a waiter. The two opportunities are Human Resources Development and Hospital Management which will give a great future to the youngsters. I request our Muslim youth to look into these professions instead of aiming to become waiters or barmen.

This is with reference toZaheera Shaikh’s sudden change in the Best Bakery trial and your report in Islamic Voice, Dec2004. Since no religion forgives falsehood, such hypocrites should be punished according to the religious code of conduct to which they claim they belong. Let such Muslim liars be dealt with harshly. It is sad that for the sake of wealth, even Muslims speak falsehood and they do not realise that hoarding of wealth does not give peace of mind even in this temporary life.

The root cause of corruption in the Muslim community is the infighting among the different sects in the Ummah. The holy Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) has clearly said that greed and lust for worldy things will distract the community. The biggest problem is that the Muslims have failed to follow the word of Allah in true spirit-all they are worried about is the rituals-they seem to be completely lost in their rituals.

This has reference to Dr. Zakir Naik’s response on the subject “Prohibition of Musical Instruments,” (Islamic Voice, Jan 2005). It is really great that Muslims have been rightly guided especially these days to refer to the authentic hadith, but we also need to stress on the importance of the Science of hadith that plays a decisive role to accept or reject a particular hadith. As per Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, the Hadith narrated by Imam Al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Malik or Abu `Amir Al-Ash`ari, the Prophet (Pbuh)) said, ‘From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk (clothes), the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful.’ Although this hadith is in Sahih Al-Bukhari, its chain of transmission is not connected to the Prophet (Pbuh) and this invalidates its authenticity. (Refer to Singing & Music: Islamic View at http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/.)


Hence we need to revisit this issue again and determine if music is really haram in its entirety or is it acceptable if it is in compliance with the Islamic teachings and ethics.

I would like to congratulate the Islamic Voice team for starting the “Career Guidance” column from the December 2004 issue. As I have been associated with the educational institutions, it has been my experience that many Muslim youth are directionless when it comes to selecting a career. They simply enroll themselves in a course based on some hearsay and they end up wasting their time and talent. If the Career Guidance column is published in a systematic way on each profession like engineering, medicine or journalism, along with names of some reputed institutions, it will be of immense help to the Muslim youngsters

Everyday, as we open the newspaper or switch on the television, we read or hear sad news about the homeless in Palestine, the refugees or the aftermath of the attack on Iraq. It is surprising that Iraqis and Palestinians defending themselves are named terrorists. But what is even more alarming that there are about 50 and odd Muslim countries across the world and it is a shame that as yet, nothing has been done by even one of the Muslim country to stop the atrocities against the Palestinians or the Iraqis. There could be 100 reasons for this, but the main one is the lack of unity among the Muslim countries.

asnu-2004@yahoo.com

Bhadrak is a district headquarter with over one lakh Muslims residing here. This is the highest Muslim majority area in the state of Orissa. It is sad that only 4.5 per cent are educated and their standard of education is under-graduation. I have started an Islamic culture based public school in 1985 here and it is called Lords Public School. But due to lack of patronage and support, not just the school, but the entire Muslim community in Bhadrak is in bad shape with Muslims here being illiterate, backward and live below the poverty line. The mainstream media does not pay any attention to the Muslims here. I request readers of Islamic Voice in India and abroad to write to me their suggestions on how life of Muslims here can be improved with special focus on the school too.
Iftekhar Ali Gulrez, Chhadak Mohallah, Purana Bazar, Bhadrak, Orissa, Pin-756100. Ph:(06784)-251392 (R) 251317 (R/O), 251860 (pp).