Bouquets and Brickbats

This is with reference to the article by Seema Saleem in the July 2005 issue of Islamic Voice (Wedding With A Difference). The women photographers at the wedding are wandering around in the hall without any head scarf. The writer is praising them and calls this “women’s empowerment.” This is not an Islamic trend.


Islamic Voice is reaching me now in a plastic cover with a steel pin on it. First of all, I need a tool to remove the pin and secondly as Muslims we need to be environment friendly. Plastic and pins pollute the environment.


Email: jam_abdulkader@yahoo.com

I read in another publication that muta’a marriages are permitted in Islam.The Arab tourists seem to be exploiting young poor girls. The middle-men solemnise the temporary marriages for a fixed agreed amount given to the girl. In most cases, it is a pittance, but still the poor parents find it a lucrative opportunity to ‘marry’ off their daughters to these temporary husbands. Can readers of Islamic Voice enlighten me on the issue of the muta’a marriages and how it can be prevented under the purview of Islamic laws? As I see it, with no long term commitment and money paid in exchange of sexual favour, it is prostitution, the only difference being the nikah ceremony.


Email: shahanakhatib@hotmail.com

I am a practising lawyer from the Goalpara district of Assam. Muslims in this region are being harassed and forcible expulsion of Muslims is happening in the districts of Upper Assam. The situation here is to be seen to be believed. The lives and property of thousands of poor Muslim families belonging to the labour class in the Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Jorhat districts are at stake with continuous torture meted out to them by various organisations, accusing them baselessly to be illegal Bangladeshi migrants. I request Islamic Voice to highlight the plight of Muslims in Assam. The mainstream media does not present a true picture.

Islam does not initiate terror, but only peace. Today what we see happening around the world is really sad. Islam of the past had Muslim masses strictly following the tenets of the religion, nothing was greater to them than Allah and his apostle, hereafter and the heaven. This was the era which stirred the embers of sacrificing zeal among the community members. Why cannot Muslims all over the world take examples from the Prophet’s (Pbuh) life in every sphere of their activity?


Email: nmusba@yahoo.co.in

I congratulate your writer, M. Hanif Lakdawala for his brilliant article on the “Plight of Muslim Bar Girls,” in the September 2005 issue of Islamic Voice. This was indeed an eye opener for entire India. The decision is not in the true spirit of democracy. I not only sympathise with the plight of Muslim girls, but in general this unfortunate group of Dance Bar Girls belong to all communities. In my view, before imposing the Ban outright, it could have been imposed in a phased manner giving the dance bar girls sufficient time to rehabilitate themselves. We need to be compassionate and help the downtrodden members of our society.


Email: habeeb@pncltech.com

With reference to the article on “Plight of Muslim Bar Girls” in Islamic Voice September 2005, issue, it should be noted that when the Muslim girls opted for this profession, they transgressed the boundaries and norms set by not just Islam, but even the norms of society. Now efforts should be made by these girls to pursue a profession which is within the boundaries of Islam.


Email: irshadsultan@yahoo.co.in

I was disheartened after reading the article ‘Plight of Muslim Bar Girls’ written by M. Hanif Lakdawala in the September 2005, edition of Islamic Voice. We as Muslims can argue or counter-argue, agree or disagree, engage in discourse or debate in all religious matters, but we as a community will be held accountable by Allah for not taking care of these Muslim sisters who are unable to find a decent living.


Hence in my view, I would recommend Islamic Voice to raise funds from its readers solely towards this cause so that we can donate money with whatever meagre amount we have to save our sisters. When we really think about the Day of Judgment - the most important test of all - Allah is not going to ask if we ‘changed the condition of these sisters’. We will be asked, if we did whatever we could, with whatever we had, wherever we were; and was it in the service of God?


May Allah guide these Muslim sisters to the straight path and for a decent life.
Email: Abdul_alim@hotmail.com

The September 2005 issue of Islamic Voice carried a tribute to Sheikh Ahmed Deedat. This should have been in three to four editions of Islamic Voice as Part I, II, III. When you are covering a towering personality in the Islamic world who dwarfed every other intellectual, the tribute to Deedat should also have been allotted more pages.

I request readers of Islamic Voice to provide me some information on “Muslim Women Orphanages” across India, especially in South India including Andhra Pradesh, as one of my Muslim friend who is 28 years, wishes to get married to an orphan girl, Insha-Allah.


It is unfortunate that we do not have much information about Muslim women orphanages in India on the Internet even as I searched for long hours.


May Allah’s kindness be with you for this great help.
Email: bawarafika@yahoo.com

I hail from Gujarat. After reading many copies of Islamic Voice, I am fascinated by the articles in it. I am a graduate in Chemistry and have completed P.G Diploma in Textile Chemistry. I decided to go in for trading in export business. I registered myself as an exporter on a UK based website. Then I received business orders from various countries.


When I needed interest-free loans to invest and expand, I hardly received any response from Islamic financial institutions in India. It is sad that we have no guidelines and Islamic financial institutions or Islamic banks, like those in Muslim countries.

Email: patel_faiyaz@hotmail.com

The wide publicity given by the electronic and print media to the tearful evacuation of 21 Jewish settlements illegally built and occupied for 38 long years on the Palestinian land of Gaza Strip looks like glorifying a thief for his returning of stolen property. Wide publicity of these withdrawals by CNN and BBC is of course understandable. But for the Indian media, it cannot be anything more than an aggressor vacating the occupied land. Weeping or sobbing of the evacuees is totally irrelevant because Palestinians were made to weep over this issue for more than 38 years.

I read the complimentary copy of Islamic Voice in jail. Confined in jail, I feel cut-off from the mainstream aspects of life. It is only magazines and newspapers that have kept me going. Reading Islamic Voice has boosted my morale. It is very informative.