LETTERS

First, Hijri calendar was established by second Caliph Umar, seven years after Prophet Muhammad passed away. Obviously, there cannot be any Prophetic tradition celebrating New Year. Some Muslims think what Prophet did not celebrate, Muslims should not. However, many Muslims do celebrate Islamic New Year. Second reason is, a big Islamic tragedy occurred during New Year days of 61st year of Hijri calendar, when Prophet's descendants were massacred by then Ruler Yazid in battle of Karbala, Iraq. For this reason, Shi'as and many Sunnis celebrate New Year days as mourning days. However, among Shi'as, Bohra celebrate New Year day as a happy occasion and start muorning period from the day after.

Sir, The report titled 'State of Research and Innovation in Arab World' (Islamic Voice, December 2009) was an eye-opener. Arabs are gifted with immense wealth but are busy fighting among themselves and investing in hotels, casinos and ranches in the West. It is indeed sad to find that Arabs account for just 1.1 per cent of scientific publishing in the world. Most of the publishing in the Islamic world pertains to Quran, panjsuras, varied extracts of Quran and Hadith, poetry and extremely glorified history of Muslims and Islam. Nothing that enriches the mind about nature, creations of God, socio-economic realities of the Muslim lands and people gets published anywhere in the Islamic world. Most writers are afraid of coming up new material or theorizing on issues from a new angle. Due to the excessively suffocating atmosphere, the Muslim genius gets drained away towards the West where it flowers. As a whole we are most uncreative people on the earth and want to remain so.

Fears of Muslim backlash is a word of caution, not an expression of disagreement. Most of the Muslims in Switzerland are not the converted Muslims but those who have migrated, and many are there since more than one generation. It was never supposed to be free lunch for Muslims as they were identified as the potential contributors to the economy. Now when the Swiss have a good economy due to liberal and democratic proclamation, they move forward to implement their evil intentions of intolerance and hatred deep rooted in their hearts.

And the world is busy cautioning Swiss about Muslim backlash. Nobody is talking about sanctions to be imposed against Switzerland in the wake of its discriminatory policy in violation of the human rights. By not taking action against Switzerland, the civilized democratic community of nations all across the globe seems to be suggesting that they share similar emotions which cannot be implemented currently due to the tactical reasons. How do I convince myself that the non-Muslim democratic establishments of the world are not terrorist in essence?

Sir, This is with reference to your editorial ‘Jamiats posturings’ (Dec. 2009 issue). The prominent part of Jamiats meet was its aversion to Vande Mataram song. Is it unfair? Whatever may be your regard for Moulana Madani family you cannot be blind to the spite and bile embodied in Vande Mataram towards the Muslims. If you are not convinced, please do get a copy of 'Anandha Matam' which contains the song. Anantha Matam as a novel is not only against the Muslims but the entire civilization and human dignity. It is just incredible that this song got elevated as a national anthem. It is unfortunate that your prejudice towards Deoband and Moulana Madani sahib has made you to miss a very common enemy of all Muslims and put you on the wrong side. May allah guide us all. Ameen!

I have a few suggestions for Islamic Voice. Kindly carry the index of contents on the first page as was the practice earliar. It facilitates picking up desired articles. Change the format of the magazine into a book form with hard cover for readers to handle easily. It enables the readers to preserve the magazine for a long time and also keep it on the shelf. Tabloids are not convenient to handle as the paper gets torn in the middle due to constant folding.