Bouquets and Brickbats

The Jinnah comments of L.K.Advani has triggered a churning within the Sangh Parivar. The Lucknow comments of the RSS chief suggests a mellowing of the line against Muslims. For an RSS leader to tell Muslims that India is your Dar ul Islam, is music to my ears. It would certainly have horrified Hegdewar and Golwarkar. It is essential that Muslim leadership recognise these vital changes. No doubt, the shadow of Gujarat 2002 still looms dark and ugly over Hindu- Muslim relations in the country. Yet a wise and visionary Muslim leadership would see the positive consequences of the Dar ul Islam comment. After all we have lived with the RSS hatred for over eighty years. The price paid by Muslims, Hindus and above all the country has been horrendous. Further Indian democracy can never bloom with Muslims and Hindutva forces at each others throats on a permanent basis. The same is true of India emerging as a world power . A wise appreciative comment by Muslims may encourage a greater liberal approach within the RSS. The benefits for all Indians would be tremendous.


J.S.Bandukwala, drbandukwala@yahoo.co.in

I have been reading Islamic Voice for the past 10 years. I wish to thank you for the changes you have brought about in my life through the publication. My whole level of thinking has undergone a tremendous change after I started reading Islamic Voice. I also appreciate the efforts of the team. I wish you greater success in future too.

Femina Kadri, fem_rk@yahoo.co.in

Apropos your exclusive report on performance of Muslim high schools in Karnataka in SSLC exam in 2005 (Islamic Voice-June 2005), one cannot fail to applaud the exemplary show by quite a number of schools which achieved over 90 per cent success rate, but in the same breadth, one should also bemoan the mediocre performance by a few of them which could not make even half of their students to pass. By and large, the performance of Muslim institutions all over India would be on similar lines, a critical analysis of the report is required to be done by academicians and intellectuals across the country to set things right. That only 135 students out of a total of 4584 given in the list (less than 3 percent) attained ‘Distinction’ debunks the fact that, the Muslim managed schools are failing to infuse in students the ‘killer instinct’, the indispensable ingredient in this competitive era of education system whose hallmark is “survival of the fittest”.


Syed Sultan Mohiddin, Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh, sultanmohiddin@hotmail.com

This is with reference to the letter by Abdul Hamid of Dowlaiswaram about stopping shirk. Mr Hamid says that going to the grave is shirk. I wish to tell him and the readers that it is mentioned in a Hadith of Bukhari that the Prophet (Pbuh) would go for the ziyarat at the graves of the martyrs of the Battle of Badr. So why does Hamid say visiting graves is a shirk? I am a Sunni, I only see the matrimonial section in your paper on Sunnis and everything written about the Jamaat- e- Islami and also about your great Dr Zakir Naik. He is a master on the Vedas, but I think he has never really studied Islam. I find his articles more confusing than clarifying. I did not say Salaam to you at the beginning of my letter to you, but after reading your paper I do not think it is necessary to wish Salaam to you.

Hayat Kalandar, hayat_r@rediffmail.com

This is with reference to the SSLC results published in the June 2005 issue of Islamic Voice. It would have been nice if the results of PUC of Muslim-run colleges too had been published. I am sorry to say that many of the Muslim-run colleges do not have proper infrastructure. I have a classic example of a college in Hassan which conducts PUC classes in the high school building. Lecturers arrive at their own whim and fancy. All the 11 students have failed in the recently held PUC examination. With this kind of a sad situation, it is the students who suffer and it indicates the pathetic state of colleges run by the community.

Shakeel Ahamed, Tumkur

Islamic Voice in English is read by people in our organisation. But it will also be nice if you can bring out the Hindi version of Islamic Voice. There is a great demand for this.

K.S.Sharada, Bangalore

Thanks for the Editorial, “Widen Career Choices” published in Islamic Voice, May 2005. It was informative, investigative and suggestive. It is a fact that very few young Muslims feel attracted towards careers that involve toil, struggle, risk and innovation. I consider the socio-economic conditions of Muslims as responsible for this. Apart from elite Muslims, a few numbered middle-class has the scope of being informative about non-traditional education and job market. Others have no hope or scope of getting any guidance from any source. I am confident that religion will not come in the way of some professional courses for Muslim students, if proper counselling/ workshops are conducted at different levels of the Muslim community. Unfortunately, majority of the Muslim professionals are self-centered and have no sense of sacrifice or feelings for the community. It is time for Muslim social workers to come forward to tune up the Muslim youth for “Widen Career Choices.” Hope Islamic Voice publishes more articles on this subject, apart from presenting detailed information related to different professional courses available in various colleges.

Md. Ibrahim Mollah, Burla, Sambalpur, Orissa

It has been my re-entry into reading of Islamic Voice. It has blossomed with a fresh new look with more pages. I am proud of it and pray for its success. I was benefited by Dr Maher Mathout’s articles in the “Reflection” column about Tsunami. He has a very nice simple way of writing. I almost felt he was sitting in front of me and preaching. Thank you for this column. I deeply trust in Allah than ever before after reading it.

A.I. Maswood Ahmed, New Delhi

“Treat Your Neighbour Well” by M.K.S Bawa in Islamic Voice (March 2005) issue made interesting reading. “ No Show Off Please”, a letter by Khader Ali of Nellore was very timely. These days Haj has become a business and a show off trip. In most Muslim families, girls are remaining unmarried due to lack of resources because the kith and kin are spending the money on performing more than one hajj. This money can be spent on wedding or education of their children.

Sharfuddin.D, Bangalore