inside story valentine special - bihar anjuman - my … of the rashtriya sikh sangat, while talking...

Better light a candle than curse the darkness

Monthly e-Magazine ISSN 2319-4049

http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ Volume 10, Issue 02, February 2017BE AWARE, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE

INSIDE STORY

Valentine Special

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Bihar Anjuman BaKhabar

Editor-in-ChiefSyed Shibli Manzoor

Editorial BoardAsrarul Haque & Ms Farhat Shakeel

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“The editors and publishers are not respon-sible for the views of writers, and their viewsdo not reflect our policy or ideology in anyway. We however reserve the right to editany material submitted for publication, onaccount of public policy, or for reasons ofclarity and space. – From Publishers.” Pic-tures have been taken from available public

sources.

Together we can change our society.Join Bihar Anjuman

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--Bakhabar : February 20172

Why should I bow?All acts of devotion have been prescribed by ourCreator Allah Ta’ala for our benefit; sometimes thebenefits are quite apparent while occasionally it isnot so obvious.

A Musallee (Mosque go-er) wrote a letter to the edi-tor of a newspaper and complained that it made nosense to go to Mosque. "I've gone for 30 years now,"he wrote, "and in that time I have heard somethinglike 3,000 lectures. But for the life of me, I can't re-member a single one of them. So, I think I'm wastingmy time and the Imams are wasting theirs by givinglectures at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Ed-itor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It wenton for weeks until someone wrote this clincher.

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time mywife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life ofme, I cannot recall the entire menu and ingredientsfor a single one of those meals. But I do know this:They all nourished me and gave me the strength Ineeded to d-o my work. If my wife had not given methese meals, I would be physically dead today. Like-wise, if I had not gone to Mosque for nourishment, Iwould be spiritually dead today!"… Thereafter no fur-ther comments were received by the editor.

The medication prescribed by a doctor has its bene-fits even though we don’t know its ingredients! Hav-ing precise knowledge on how an act of devotionbenefits us is not always so important. What is impor-tant is that we carry out our duties and obligations toour Creator who no doubt has in His Infinite Wisdomcreated such acts of devotion for our benefit in thistemporary life as well as for our eternal journey to thehereafter!Allah Ta’ala says: “I did not create jinn and men ex-cept that they may worship Me.” (Qur'an: Adh-Dhariyat 51:56).

Source: www.eislam.co.za


The Milli Gazette Online

Published Online: Jan 06, 2017

Patna: Bihar Anjuman, a leading voluntaryorganization of Bihar, welcomed Sikh devo-tees during the 350th Prakashotsav of GuruGobind Singh in Patna for three days during2-4 January.

The Anjuman offered free coffee, water andbiscuits at their stall at Gaighat near the Gu-rudwara. Anjuman volunteers worked dayand night to serve the Sikh devotees. Wel-coming them, the Bihar Anjuman coordina-tor, Mohammad Naushad Ansari said thatIslam and the Prophet of Islam (SAW) havetaught Muslims to be kind to guests. Headded that “This is embedded in the Muslimculture to extend hospitality to their guests atthe cost of their comfort. The purpose of or-ganising this stall is to promote communalharmony besides offering services to theneedy. After all, this is the 350th Prakashot-sava and we may never see such huge num-bers of devotees in our lifetime."

Millions of Sikh pilgrims from across the worldvisited Patna to attend the 350th Utsava ofGuruji. Patna is the birthplace of Guru Gob-ind Singh, the tenth Guru of the Sikh faith.

Members of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, whiletalking to Irshad Alam, who is a senior mem-ber of Bihar Anjuman and Director of Sale-heen Academy, said that Sikhsm and Islamare monotheistic religions and some of theteachings enshrined in Sikh scriptures arevery close to the Islamic teachings. He feltpleased for the hospitality been offered atthe stall.

Anwarul Hoda, Vice-President of PeaceFoundation, while extending his overwhelm-ing welcome to the devotees, said that the

interaction of different communities’ andunity is a must for the development of ourcountry. “Brotherhood and harmony are theessence of all religions”, he emphasized.

Many of the guests were taken by surpriseseeing Patna Muslims hugging and welcom-ing Sikhs with the greeting ‘Aval Allah Noor,Upaya, Kudrat ke Sab Bande”. The sign-boards and banners installed at the stall con-tained sayings of Guru Nanak Maharaj.Teaching of service to mankind and brother-hood were highlighted in the banners.

"Punjabis should remember our hospitalitywhen they go back," said Imteyaz Alam, aneducationist and social activist of the local-ity. Shakeel Ashrafi, an NRI and one of thefounders of the Anjuman, felt that such oc-casions need to be utilized to promote broth-erhood and amity in the society. He wasoverwhelmed offering his services to the visi-tors.

Students of Saleheen Academy, in theirschool Islamic attire, stood for hours holdingwater bottles and biscuit packets for the vis-itors, giving a clear message that the newgeneration aspires education along withpeace and communal harmony for all.“Dedication and passion of the students toserve the pilgrims is amazing”, said TajinderSingh of Amritsar.

Anjuman volunteers were careful about thenitty-gritty that they kept their head coveredwhich is a norm in Sikhs at such occasions."We have learnt in these days the dos anddon’ts of Sikhism," a volunteer at the stallsaid.

(http://www.milligazette.com/news/15348-muslim-organisation-welcomes-sikh-pilgrims-in-patna)

Muslim Organisation welcomesSikh pilgrims in Patna


I By Sameen Ahmed Khan I

The King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, SaudiArabia has announced the King Faisal Inter-national Prize for the year 2017. The recipi-ents in the categories are as follows. Serviceto Islam: King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saudof Saudi Arabia; Islamic Studies (Topic: Mus-lim Political Thought Up To The 9th CenturyH./15th Century): Professor Ridwan Al-Sayyidof Lebanon; Arabic Language and Literature(Topic: Efforts of Individuals and Institutions toArabicize Science and Technology for Trans-fer: Research and Educational Purposes Ara-bic Language): Arabic Language Academyof Jordan; Medicine (Topic: Biologic Thera-peutics in Autoimmune Diseases): ProfessorTadamitsu Kishimoto of Japan; and Science(Topic: Physics) was awarded to ProfessorDaniel Loss of Switzerland and Professor Lau-rens W. Molenkamp of Netherlands. Theprize consists of a certificate, hand-written inDiwani calligraphy, summarizing the laure-ate's work; a commemorative 24 carat, 200gram gold medal, uniquely cast for eachPrize; and a cash endowment of Saudi Riyal750,000 (about US$200,000) to be sharedequally. The winners will receive their awardsin a ceremony in Riyadh under the auspicesof the King of Saudi Arabia.

The prizesare namedafter thethird king ofSaudi Ara-bia. In theyear 1976,the sons oflate KingF a i s a l(1906-1975)establisheda large-scale phil-anthropicorgan iza-tion basedin Riyadh,Saudi Ara-bia, and

named it as King Faisal Foundation (KFF).One of the activities of the KFF is the KingFaisal International Prize (KFIP), to honourscholars and scientists, who have made themost significant advances to benefit human-ity and enrich human knowledge. The an-nual prizes are in five broad categories.Prizes for Arabic Literature; Islamic Studies;and Services to Islam; were first given in 1979.Medicine and Science were introduced in1982 and 1983 respectively. Each year theselection committee designates subjects orsubcategories to each of the above five.The science subcategories cover a broadscope: physics; mathematics; chemistry; andbiology by rotation cycle of four years. Overthe thirty-nine years (1979-2017), there havebeen 253 laureates from 43 nationalities. Thedistribution is Service to Islam (45 scholarsfrom 21 countries); Islamic Studies (37 schol-ars from 15 countries); Arabic Language andLiterature (49 scholars from 13 countries);Medicine (66 scholars from 13 countries); andScience (56 scholars from 13 countries).Within Science, the individual subject recipi-ents are Physics (19 from 8 countries); Math-ematics (10 from 6 countries); Chemistry (14from 6 countries); and Biology (13 from 4countries). Within three decades the KFIP areranked among the most prestigious awards.

To datethere are18 KFIP lau-reates whoalso re-c e i v e dN o b e lP r i z e s( m o s t l yafter theK F I P ) .There aretwo KFIPlaureates(in Mathe-m a t i c s )who arealso recipi-ents of theF i e l d sMedal.

2017 King Faisal International Prizes

Islamic Studies Arabic Language Literature

Service to Islam

and

MedicineMedals of

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Scienceonal Prize

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The King Faisal International Prize for Serviceto Islam has been awarded toThe Custodianof The Two Holy Mosques King Salman binAbdulaziz Al-Saud King of Saudi Arabia inrecognition of his outstanding services toIslam and Muslims, namely: Unfaltering com-mitment to serving the two Holy Mosquesand their visitors/pilgrims. Allegiance to theProphet’s Sira (i.e. Life of Prophet Mo-hammed, Peace be upon him), sponsorshipand support of the Historic Atlas of theProphet’s Sira and its implementation by KingAbdulaziz Dara (Foundation for Researchand Archives), and founding of King Abdu-laziz Complex for Endowment Libraries in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah for preservingArabic and Islamic heritage. Dedicated en-deavours to unite Arabs and Muslims in theface of daunting challenges currently un-folding in the Arabic and Muslim worlds, in-cluding the formation of a Riyadh-basedIslamic military alliance to combat terrorism.Upholding throughout the decades unwa-vering Arabic and Islamic stance in supportof the Palestinian issue by providing political,moral and humanitarian support to thePalestinians. A total of 45 scholars from 21countries have been awarded the KingFaisal International Prize for Service to Islam.The previous four winners from the Indian sub-continent are Sayyid Abul Ala’a Al-Mow-doodi (1979); Sayyid Abul-Hasan AliAl-Hasani Al-Nadawi (1980); Khurshid Ahmed(1990) and Dr. Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (2015).

The prize for Islamic Studies (Topic: Muslim Po-litical Thought Up To The 9th Century H./15thCentury) has been awarded to Professor Rid-wan Al-Sayyid from University of Lebanon,Lebanon. This is in recognition of his overallspecialized publications that enriched theArabic Library as well as his distinguishedcontribution to the Prize’s topic namely: (a)The contributions in his researches and stud-ies of broad and through knowledge of theArabic Islamic jurisprudential and politicalheritage with full acquaintance with modernresearch methodology; (b) Characterizationof his academic research by precise scien-tific methodology; (c) Successful integrationof original Islamic political thought and cur-rent Arabic Islamic reality; (d) Multiplicity of

his studies on Muslim political thought, includ-ing issues of governance, authority, state, so-ciety and nation as related to historic Islamicreality. A total of 37 scholars from 15 coun-tries have been awarded the King Faisal In-ternational Prize for Islamic Studies. The tworecipients from India are Muhammad N. Sid-diqui (1982); and Ali Ahmad GhulamMuhammad Nadvi (2004).

The prize for Arabic Language and Literature(Topic: Efforts of Individuals and Institutions toArabicize Science and Technology for Trans-fer: Research and Educational Purposes Ara-bic Language) has been awarded to ArabicLanguage Academy of Jordan. The Com-mittee’s unanimously decided to award thisyear Prize’s to the Arabic Language Acad-emy of Jordan in recognition of its distin-guished efforts in the transfer of science andtechnology through translation, Arabizationof technical terms, and publication of spe-

cialized glossaries and its relentless efforts tomake Arabic the language of instruction, anobjective sought by various scientific institu-tions throughout the Arab World. The Acad-emy entrusted the task of translation to highlyqualified specialists known for their masteryof both English and Arabic, thus ensuring thehighest quality for its project. A total of 49scholars from 13 countries have beenawarded the King Faisal International Prizefor Arabic Language and Literature.

The prize for Medicine (Topic: Biologic Thera-peutics in Autoimmune Diseases) is awardedto Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto of Japan inrecognition of his prominent role in develop-ing a novel biologic therapy for autoimmunediseases. Professor Kishimoto, through hiswork for more than 30 years, is responsible fordiscovering interleukin-6 (IL-6), its receptorand signaling pathways. He established thephysiological function of the interleukin-6 (IL-

nal Prize

Logo of t

the King Faisal Internation


6) pathway and its role in inflammatory/au-toimmune diseases. Subsequently, he devel-oped an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor-blockingantibody into a biological therapy, leadingthe clinical development of this therapy to-wards first approval for the treatment ofrheumatoid arthritis. A total of 66 scholarsfrom 13 countries have been awarded theKing Faisal International Prize for Medicine.

This year’s prize for Science is in the area ofPhysics. It has been awarded to ProfessorDaniel Loss of Switzerland and Laurens W.Molenkamp of Netherlands. Daniel Loss is apioneer in the the-ory of spin dynamicsand spin coherencein quantum dotsshowing promise forpractical applica-tions in spin quan-tum computers. Theidea is to use thespin rather than thecharge of electronstrapped in quantumdots as quantumbits. His work has in-spired many impor-tant experimentalprograms. Loss’ con-tributions open thedoor to powerfulspintronic quantumcomputers with ex-ceptional speedand storage capacity. Molenkamp has sig-nificantly contributed to the experimentalfield of spintronics. His work includes ground-breaking methods for creating and manipu-lating spin-polarized charge-carrier states insemiconductors, with the potential to de-velop magnetic storage devices.Molenkamp has experimentally confirmedthe quantum spin-Hall effect, which firms upthe field of topological insulators, a novelform of quantum matter (topic of the 2016Nobel Prize in Physics). A total of 56 scholarsfrom 13 countries have been awarded theKing Faisal International Prize for Science.Prof. Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan isthe only Indian to have won the KFIP in thescience category (for Mathematics in 2006).

Vamsi Krishna Mootha of Indian origin, nowbased in the USA received the Science prizein the category of biology in 2016. The previ-ous winners for KFIP in Physics are 1983 (PrizeWithheld); 1984: Gerd Binnig (Germany) andHeinrich Rohrer (Switzerland);1989: AhmedHassan Zewail (USA) and Theodor WolfgangHänsch (Germany);1993: Herbert Walther(Germany) and Steven Chu (USA); 1997: CarlEdwin Wieman (USA) and Eric Allin Cornell(USA); 2001: Sajeev O. John (Canada) andChen Ning Yang (USA); 2005: Anton Zeilinger(Austria), Federico Capasso (USA) and FrankAnthony Wilczek (USA); 2009: Sir Richard

Henry Friend (UK)and RashidAlievich Sunyaev(Russia); 2013: PaulBruce Corkum(Canada) and Fer-enc Krausz (Hun-gary/Austria). Sixof them have re-ceived the NobelPrize in Physics:Gerd Binnig andHeinrich Rohrer(1986); TheodorWolfgang Hänsch(2005); Steven Chu(1997); Carl EdwinWieman and EricAllin Cornell (2001);Chen Ning Yang(1957); and FrankAnthony Wilczek

(Physics Nobel 2004).

Here, it is relevant to recall the Egyptian bornAmerican chemist Ahmed Hassan Zewail,who pioneered the Femtosecond chemistryin the 1980’s by observing the chemical re-actions (a femtosecond is a thousandth of abillionth of a second). He was the first personto observe the formation and breaking ofchemical bonds in real time. Ahmed Zewailwas recognized by the King Faisal Interna-tional Prize for Science in 1989 in the subcat-egory physics with the co-winner TheodorWolfgang Hänsch from Germany. AhmedZewail received the 1999 Nobel Prize forChemistry unshared. Egypt recognized himby issuing the postage stamps in 1998 and

Main Features of the King Faisal International Prize


1999; Order of Merit in 1995; and Order of theGrand Collar of Nile in 1999. It is to be furtherrecalled that the Mathematician and Sci-ence Historian Roshdi Hifni Rashed receivedthe Award in 2007 under the category of Is-lamic Studies for the Topic: Muslims’ Contri-bution to Pure or Applied Sciences. Theother major science prizes instituted by theMiddle Eastern region are the UNESCO SultanQaboos Prize for Environmental Preservationand the Mustafa Prize for Science recentlylaunched by Iran in 2015.

The topics for the five prizes for the year 2018(1439 Hijri) are Service to Islam; Islamic Studies(Topic: Critical Editions of Islamic Historicaland Biographical Texts); Arabic Languageand Literature (Topic: Studies Dealing withAutobiography in Arabic Literature); Medi-cine (Topic: Immunotherapy for Cancer);and Science (Topic: Mathematics) respec-tively. The deadline for all nominations is Sat-urday the first April 2017 (4 Rajab 1438).Additional details at the King Faisal Founda-tion Websites: http://www.kff.com/ andhttp://www.kfip.org/ respectively.

Further Reading

1. Sameen Ahmed Khan, The King FaisalInternational Prize for 2014, BaKhabar, Vol 7,Issue 02, pp 21-22 (February 2014). Publishedby Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharan-juman.org/.

2. Sameen Ahmed Khan, The 2015 KingFaisal International Prize, BaKhabar, Vol 8,Issue 03, pp 4-7 (March 2014). Published byBihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanju-

man.org/.

3. Sameen Ahmed Khan, King Faisal In-ternational Prizes for 2016, BaKhabar, Vol. 9,Issue 02, pp 29-32 (February 2016). Publishedby Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharan-juman.org/.

4. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Life and Timesof Ahmed Hassan Zewail, BaKhabar, Vol. 9,Issue 09, pp 3-4 (September 2016). Publishedby Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharan-juman.org/.

5. Sameen Ahmed Khan, Iran Launchesthe Mustafa Prize the Muslim Nobel Prize,BaKhabar, Vol. 9, Issue 02, pp 5-6 (February2016). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

6. Sameen Ahmed Khan, UNESCO SultanQaboos Prize for Environmental Preservationfor 2013, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 04, pp 13(April 2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

7. Sameen Ahmed Khan, 2015 UNESCOSultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preser-vation, BaKhabar, Vol. 9, Issue 02, pp 24-25(February 2016). Published by Bihar Anju-man, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

Sameen Ahmad KhanDepartment of Mathematics and Sciences, College of Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar UniversitySalalah, Sultanate of Oman( r o h e l a k h a n @ y a h o o . c o m ,http://SameenAhmedKhan.webs.com/)

Postage Stamps On 3 April 2006, Saudi Arabia issued the following two postage stamps with the theme, "King Faisal International Prize - Supporting Research"


I By Muhammad Tariq Ghazi I

If you’re talented, be a scholar; if you don’t havesuch talent, be a student; if you can’t be a learner,love scholars. If that too is not possible, at leastdon’t hate those who are knowledgeable.

A ruler of half the world gave his citizens this smalllesson in what we often call civilization or culture.

That man lived – or rather died – 1337 years agoat a young age of 38. He ruled a great empire ex-tending from Andalus in Spain to North India, strad-dling whole of North Africa, Eastern Anatolia,Armenia, Georgia, Arabia, Yemen, ash-Sham,Iraq, Persia, Sindh, Sistan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan,Khorasan, Turkania, as far as TranOxania. He wasa reformer of high rank and was poisoned for thatreason by princes against reforms.

In just 30 years thereafter the empire collapsed.The reason was the princes did not honor theTallest Alim – scholar – who had risen from theirown ranks. The scholar, this reformer, was Umar II,son of Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan IbnHakam of the Bani Umayyah. Umar II ruled for 28months, and in that short period he introduced fis-cal, political, social, and Deenic reforms..The lesson is: Ignore the Ulama and human intel-lect dishonors you; show disrespect to the Ulamaand human society throws your whole society intothe oblivion.

Of this brief advice, the last instruction – at leastdon’t hate those who are knowledgeable – is themost difficult one to follow in our modern society.Just look around and start assessing opinions ofthose in your contact. Select ten of them and talkto them about scholars, ask their opinions aboutthem. You will be surprised to discover that quitea few of them will be condemning the Ulama.

It is not the question of one particular maulwi, orcharacter of a particular scholar. The moot pointis a societal habit of our times.

Why is it so?One of the causes of this thankless situation is thata large number of people believe that anyonewith the title of maulana, maulvi, sheikh, hazrat, al-lamah, etc etc, is just an ignorant bumble – ofcourse, as compared to Us, with a capital U. Iron-ically, people holding such view stand on the sideof ignorance, for they do not know what a scholardoes and can do for society or what did they do

in the hoary past.I had noted one such incident in Blood-SoakedCentury, my first lecture on The Sultanate Osmania(Ottoman Empire), while discussing world Muslimsociety during the thirteenth century following theMongol devastation. The relevant part is repro-duced here:

Everywhere in the east, except India, distressedMuslims were in total disarray. As a result of fre-quent defeats at the hand of the Mongols theyhad lost both leadership and valor. From CentralAsia to West Asia every place was comatose andpeople began waiting for the Day of Judgment,describing the Mongols as the anticipated curseof Gog and Magog.

(At that time Muslim resistance and efforts for reju-venations began on two fronts) On the first front,mysticism gained ground, especially in the MuslimEast: when political power failed to deliver results,the Ulama of Islam took reins of the Ummah in theirhands. Sufis and social reformers of the caliber ofFarid ad-Din Attar (537-617/1142-1220), Najm ad-Din Kubra (540-617/1145-1220), Muin ad-Din Chishti(535-627/1141-1252), Ibn Arabi (560-637/1165-1240), Shams Tabrez (d.643/1245), Abu al-HasanShazili (571-650/1175-1252), Farid ad-Din Ganj-Shakar (571-663/1175-1265), Jalal ad-Din Rumi(604-672/1175-1252), Mahmud Shabistari (687-720/1288-1320) took upon themselves to arrest thedecline, boost morale and re-organize theUmmah that had been degenerated into an aim-less crowd, by re-generating its self-confidence.

Yes. That was the time when Muslim political lead-ership was completely wiped out from Balkh andBukhara, Merv and Herat to Baghdad and Dam-ascus, Aleppo and Mosul. At that time this groupof people accepted the challenge in its stride asit would always come to help in time of a big crisis.Now, in the nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first cen-turies, this same group of people has been demo-nized. Then who is going to seek their help oradvice? This is a serious situation.

Umar the Second’s advice, although universal inapplication, is notably addressed to Muslims.This is what the Mujaddid – Renovator-Reformer –of the First Century had feared.How far-sighted was that Man of the Century!Allah o Akbar!Source: http://www.nymuslimtimes.com/Fruits-of-Dishonor_56.html

Fruits of Dishonor


By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter

Patna: Bihar Anjuman, a voluntary organiza-tion of Bihar, welcomed Sikh devotees duringthe 350th Prakash Utsav of Guru GobindSingh in Patna for three days from January 2to January 4.

The Anjuman offered free coffee, water andbiscuits at their stall at Gaighat near Gurud-wara. The volunteers worked day and nightto serve devotees. Welcoming them, the co-ordinator, Mohammad Naushad Ansari, saidthat Islam and the prophet of Islam (SAW)have taught Muslims to be kind to the guestsand extend their hospitality at the cost oftheir comfort. “The purpose of organizing this

stall is to promote communal harmony be-sides services to the needy. After all this is350th Prakash Utsava and we may never seesuch huge number of devotees in our life-time,” he added.

Millions of Sikh pilgrims from the world, includ-ing India, visited Patna, the birthplace ofGuru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikh re-ligion.Members of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, while talk-ing to Irshad Alam, a senior member of BiharAnjuman and Director of Saleheen Acad-emy, said that Sikhism and Islam aremonotheistic religions and some of the theteachings enshrined in Sikh scriptures arevery close to Islamic teachings. He feltpleased for the hospitality been offered at

Bihar Anjuman welcomes Sikh pilgrims toPatna on the occasion of Prakash Utsav


the stall.

Anwarul Hoda, Vice-President of PeaceFoundation, while extending his overwhelm-ing welcome to the devotees, said that theinteraction of different communities’ andunity is a must for development of this coun-try. “Brotherhood and harmony is theessence of all the religions”, he emphasized.Many of the guests were taken by surpriseseeing Muslims from Patna hugging and wel-coming Sikhs with the greeting ‘Aval AllahNoor, Upaya, Kudrat ke Sab Bande”. Theposters at the stall contained sayings of GuruNanak Maharaj along with teachings of serv-ice to mankind and brotherhood too werehighlighted in the banners.

“Punjabis should remember our hospitalitywhen they go back,” said Imteyaz Alam, aneducationist and social activist of the local-ity. Shakeel Ashrafi, an NRI and one of thefounders of the Anjuman, felt that such oc-casions need to be utilized to promote broth-erhood and amity in the society. He wasoverwhelmed offering his services to the visi-tors.Students of Saleheen Academy, dressed intheir school Islamic attire, stood for hours withwater bottles and biscuit packets in theirhands, which was the main attraction at thestall, giving a clear message that new gen-eration aspire education along with peaceand communal harmony. “The dedicationand passion of the students to serve pilgrimsis amazing”, said Tajinder Singh from Amrit-sar.

Speaking with Twocircles.net, Irshad Alamsaid, “The refreshment stall was set up nearGaighat check post and ran for almost twodays. The children of Saleheen Academy dida wonderful job and left a wonderful impres-sion on the Sikh pilgrims. Some devotees alsodonated generously after seeing our efforts.We had initially planned the provisions for5,000 people, but increased it to 10,000 later.This was an attempt to spread the messageof communal harmony, and learn from eachother.”

The volunteers were so careful about thenitty-gritty that they kept their head coveredwhich is a norm in Sikhs. “We have learnt inthese days the dos and don’ts of Sikhism,” avolunteer at the stall said.

t ll was set up near Gaighat

c


I By Dr. Javed Jamil I

In contrast to the Western System, Islam hasthe most civilized rules about abortions.Abortions are permissible if the pregnancythreatens the health of mother or child itself;and it makes sure that sexual behaviour re-mains civilized with no sex permissible out-side the boundaries of marriage. The result isthat the abortions by choice are relativelyrare among Muslims. The total abortion ratein most of the Muslim countries is less than 20percent, and an overwhelming percentageof abortions in Muslims are within familieswith the consent of both parents. Abortionsdue to sexual misdemeanours of the girls areextremely rare. This is also clear from the fol-lowing table which shows the countries withthe highest number of teenage pregnanciesand abortion rates.

The following is the list of the countries withmaximum number of abortions.

In contrast to the Western System, Islam hasthe most civilized rules about abortions.Abortions are permissible if the pregnancythreatens the health of mother or child itself;and it makes sure that sexual behaviour re-mains civilized with no sex permissible outsidethe boundaries of marriage. The result is thatthe abortions by choice are relatively rareamong Muslims. The total abortion rate inmost of the Muslim countries is less than 20percent, and an overwhelming percentageof abortions in Muslims are within families withthe consent of both parents. Abortions dueto sexual misdemeanours of the girls are ex-tremely rare. This is also clear from the follow-ing table which shows the countries with thehighest number of teenage pregnanciesand abortion rates.

Abortion being used to improve Life Expectancy (3)

Abortions (most recent) by country Showing latest available data Rank Countries Amount # 1 Russia: 2,766,360 # 2 United States: 1,210,880 # 3 India: 596,345 # 4 Japan: 343,024 # 5 France: 161,129 # 6 Italy: 134,137 # 7 Germany: 97,936 # 8 Bulgaria: 97,023 # 9 Cuba: 83,963 # 10 Hungary: 76,957 # 11 Canada: 70,549 # 12 Sweden: 7,489 # 13 Israel: 15,509 # 14 Norway: 13,672 # 15 New Zealand: 11,173 # 16 Finland: 9,884 # 17 Greece: 1,216 # 18 Iceland: 807 # 19 Poland: 559 Total: 5,728,612 Weighted average: 301,505.95

Teen birth and abortion rates, 1996 per 1000 women 15 196

Country Birth rate

abortion rate

combined rate %aborted

Netherlands 7.7 3.9 11.6 33.6

Spain 7.5 4.9 12.4 39.5

Italy 6.6 6.7 13.3 50.4

Greece 12.2 1.3 13.5 39.6

Belgium 9.9 5.2 15.1 34.4

Germany 13.0 5.3 18.3 28.9

Finland 9.8 9.6 19.4 49.5

France 9.4 13.2 22.6 58.4

Denmark 8.2 15.4 23.6 65.3

Sweden 7.7 17.7 25.4 69.7

Norway 13.6 18.3 31.9 57.4

Czech Republic 20.1 12.4 32.5 38.2

Iceland 21.5 20.6 42.1 48.9

Slovakia 30.5 13.1 43.6 30

Australia 20.1 23.9 44 54.3

Canada 22.3 22.1 44.4 49.8

Israel 32.0 14.3 46.3 30.9

United Kingdom 29.6 21.3 50.9 41.8

New Zealand 33.4 22.5 55.9 40.3

Hungary 29.9 30.2 60.1 50.2

United States 55.6 30.2 85.8 35.2


Not a single Muslim country features in this list,which proves the success of family system inMuslim societies. The success of family systemcan very well be regarded as the biggest in-dicator of civilization because its failure leadsto such a large number of health and socialproblems as are perhaps caused by no otherreason.

Here are more statistics related to abortions:

•One in five pregnancies worldwide andone in three pregnancies in Europe ends inabortion, according to a new study pub-lished in a special female-focused issue ofthe Lancet.

• 54 countries allow abortion, which is about61 percent of the world population. 97 coun-tries, about 39 percent of the population,have abortion laws that make it illegal ac-cording to the pro-abortion Centre for Re-productive Law and Policy in New York.

•The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports ap-proximately 22 million legal abortions werereported in 1987. 7

• It is estimated that between four and ninemillion were not reported, totalling of 26-31million legal abortions in 1987 alone. 7

• There were a total of 10-22 million "clandes-tine" abortions, bringing the total world-widefigure to 36 and 53 million abortions2.

• There are approximately 126,000 abortionsconducted each day.

• In 1995, a total of 1,210,883 legal inducedabortions were reported to CDC, a decreaseof 4.5% from the number reported for 1994.The number of live births decreased by 1.5%over the same period. From 1994 to 1995, thenumber of reported abortions decreased in40 of 52 reporting areas. From 1994 to 1995,the national abortion ratio (number of legalabortions per 1000 live births reported by allreporting areas) decreased from 321 to 311and the national abortion rate (number oflegal abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44years) decreased from 21 to 20, respectively.Consistent with previous years, approxi-

mately 92% of women who had legal abor-tions were residents of the state in which theprocedure was performed. 8

• Women who obtained legal abortions in1995 were predominately white and unmar-ried. As in 1994, one fifth of women who ob-tained legal abortions in 1995 wereadolescents (aged less than or equal to 19years); 33% were aged 20-24 years. As in pre-vious years, approximately 88% of abortionswere performed during the first 12 weeks ofpregnancy. 8

•1,370,000 abortions occur annually in theU.S. according to the Alan Guttmacher Insti-tute9.

• 88% of abortions occur during the first 6 to12 weeks of pregnancy.

• 47% of abortions are performed on womenwho have already had one or more abor-tions.

• 43% of women will have had at least oneabortion by the time they are 45 years old.

• Age - The majority of women getting anabortion are young. 55% are less than 26years old and 21% are teenagers. The abor-tion rate is highest for those women aged 18to 19 (56 per 1,000 in 1992)

• Marriage - 51% of women who are unmar-ried when they become pregnant will re-ceive an abortion. Unmarried women are 6times more likely than married women tohave an abortion.

• Race - 63% of abortion patients are white,however, the abortion rate for non-whitewomen is more than double that of whitewomen.

Dr Javed Jamil is India based thinker and writer with over a dozenbooks including his latest, “Muslim Vision of Secular India: Destina-tion & Road-map”, “Qur’anic Paradigms of Sciences & Society”(First Vol: Health), “Muslims Most Civilised, Yet Not Enough” andOther works include “The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism”, “TheEssence of the Divine Verses”, “The Killer Sex”, “Islam means Peace”and “Rediscovering the Universe”. Read more about himathttp://www.worldmuslimpedia.com/dr-javed-jamil. Facebookpage: https://www.facebook.com/drjavedjamil; also https://javed-jamil.com/. He can be contacted at [email protected].


I By Sister Sumaiyah Seedat I

How many times have we posted a picturethat we thought to be something great andto our surprise the picture receives a meager10 “likes”?...Instant removal !

In our quest to boost our self-confidence, wehave become egotistical and as fake as thefilters we apply to our pictures on socialmedia. Sadly, our lives have come down tous needing constant validation from others,some of whom are complete strangers to us!This is unhealthy because we build unrealisticviews on life and suddenly what Allah Ta’alahas given to us is not enough.

We find faultwith our com-plexion, ourweight, heighteven thecolour of ourhair requiressome sort ofmodification.We are indeedso vulnerable.The filters ap-plied to pic-tures aredeceptive andbrainwashingand yet somany of usstrive to lookthat way.

"You will never look like the girl on the frontpage of the magazine, as even that girldoesn’t look like her original self”

The harms of abusing social media are notonly the inferiority-complex it gives its users, italso commonly leads to a narcissistic ap-proach to life. One has reduced their self-worth to the amount of 'likes' theyaccumulate on their 'selfies' and thus feedingtheir ego's when they have indeed over-

looked that "Allah does not like the arrogant,the boastful" (Qur’an An-Nisa, 4:36).

Really, our beauty is sacred; we are beautifulbecause we are the work of Allah! You donot need validation from any human being.

The next time you are about to post a 'selfie'that you are convinced is going to get youmany likes, ask yourself 3 things:

1. Would I be comfortable showing this pic-ture to my children?2. Would I be pleased if they grew up to dothe same?3. If I were to take my last breath tomorrow,

would my pic-tures work for oragainst me inmy grave?

Islam is notabout doomand gloom, butin fact it’sabout being inpeace andharmony withour Creator 'Ar-Rahmaan'.

"Never despairof the mercy ofyour Lord"(Qur’an Az-Zumar 39:53)

No matter howfar you may have strayed, do not letShaitaan (Satan) misguide you into thinkingthat there is no way back, the doors of for-giveness are always open.

Always remember, a pretty face is tempo-rary and inner beauty more important thanouter beauty. Rather aspire to "be so beauti-ful that others can't take their HEARTS off you"

Source: www.eislam.co.za

How many “likes”?


I By Imam Moustafa Zayed I

Source: OnIslam.netThere is no guarantee for any marriage to besuccessful or fulfill an ultimate happiness forthe bride or groom.

However, Islamically, there is a guaranteethat if you fulfill the conditions and guidelinesof obeying God and His messenger, in yourmarriage, you will have a real potential ofreaching that marital happiness that every-one seeks.

Before we even discuss these Islamic guide-lines, we need to understand the impor-tance of a successful marriage to the qualityof one’s life. God said:{And amongst His miracles and proofs is thatHe created from amongst yourselves spousesto reach peace and calm with, and mademercy and love between yourselves} (Ar-Rum 30: 21)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)said that:“A righteous wife is one of the treasures ofdunya (worldly life).” (Muslim)

How to Choose the Right SpouseThe number one secret of a successful mar-riage is (correctly) choosing the right spouse.You cannot choose the wrong husband/wife

and then spend the rest of your life lookingfor solutions, mediators, and family membersto try to fix the never-ending problems withyour spouse. Prophet Muhammad said:“Whoever proposes to your daughters ofwhat you accept of his religion and his man-ners, then accept his proposal, otherwise itwould be a major ordeal.” (Al-Bukhari)

So, yes, one of the conditions of Islam is thatthere is equitability between the husbandand wife in the same cultural, social, and fi-nancial environment; yet the ultimate pa-rameter to choose the husband from withinthese same levels is his religion and as theProphet had specified, his manners, Islamicmanners that is.

Similarly, the Prophet advised Muslim menwith the ingenious advice of making Islamicmannerism the ultimate filter of choosing awife. In his well-known quotation, ProphetMuhammad said:“A woman is pursued for marriage for fourreasons: for her money, for her social status,for her beauty, and for her religion (Islamicmanners), so marry the one with the religion,otherwise you will win dust (gain nothing).”(Al-Bukhari)

In my humble opinion, this quotation speaksabout women, but actually its meaning isalso valid for men. For the young lady and

A successful Islamic marriage


the young man can choose the handsome,wealthy, funny, hip spouse, and blind them-selves to their spouse’s religion and real Is-lamic manners. After three weeks to a monthafter the marriage, all the flashy, funny, pre-tentious facades fall down to a boring nor-mal, what’s left will always be the true metalof the character that in many cases is a trou-bling time bomb that eventually ends themarriage or at least undermines its quality. Sothe ultimate rule is yes a handsome, witty,wealthy husband or wife is great but only asan addition to their good religion, and theirtrue Islamic characters, for that true reli-gion/character is what lasts.

Advice for the WivesProphet Muhammad said:“If the woman prayed her five, and fastedher thirty, protected her chastity, andobeyed her husband, it would be said to her:‘enter from whichever door of paradise youwant’.” (At Tirmidhi)

So what does it mean to obey the husbandespecially to the pride of the bride?

If we look at marriage through modern andpragmatic lens, we cannot ignore that it is acooperation or some sort of human corpora-tion, where ultimately, like it is with any suc-cessful entity made of multiple individuals,there has to be a leader who’s ultimately re-sponsible for the well-being of the whole en-tity. God had burdened men with suchleadership and responsibility for the entirefamily, based on their natural task of provid-ing, protecting, and most importantly, at-tending to all the family needs:{Men attend to women with what Allah hadpreferred some over the other, and withwhat they provided from their monies.} (An-Nisa’ 4: 34)

A wife’s obedience to her husband in thatcase is exactly like a director or a vice presi-dent of a corporation engages with the pres-ident, with input, requests, and demands, yetwhile knowing that the ultimate decisionwould lie on the shoulders of the president forhe also bears the ultimate responsibility. Peo-ple understand this business concept veryeasily, yet sometimes couples never digest it

with the influence of Western habits, wherethe relationship between a man and awoman is competitive, not integrative.

Having said that, the ultimate guidelines of awife’s mandated obedience to her husbandfalls underneath the cardinal rule in Islam;“there’s no obedience to a created by dis-obeying that creator” i.e. what both hus-band and wife obey is God and when thewife obeys the husband, she only obeyswhat satisfies God. So if the husband asks thewife to cheat, lie, steal, or kill, then it is a bigNO to the husband, no matter what the jus-tification is.

The couple understanding the concept ofobedience is half the way of having a reallypeaceful, successful marriage.

One time I was interviewed by an AmericanTV station, and I was asked, isn’t dating andhaving a relationship before marriage the ul-timate test to find out if the couple fit to-gether for marriage?

On its face, the question seems somewhatlogical, yet in reality, it is absolutely the op-posite. For what makes a marriage or any re-lationship for that matter successful is that allparties use the same guidelines as a refer-ence, and they both tune to the same wave-length, and that is the only guarantee of theirpotential harmony. Evidenced by the factthat the result of all these dating and illegiti-mateharam (unlawful) relationships in theWest not only result in less than 50 percentactual marriage ratio, but even these mar-riages fall apart over 40 percent of the time,within four to five years.

If there is initial acceptance and attractionthat is verified by both of them adhering tothe same reference of Islamic manners andobedience to God, then that is a marriagethat not only will most likely last, but will pro-vide happiness for both parties.

In the next article, I will talk about how to en-hance a husband’s responsibility and a cou-ple’s personal behavior to achievehappiness for the entire family.


[3:39 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Scapegoats must be found and sacrificedto save the face of the main perpetrator☺☺☺��RBI and banks the easiest ofthem. Even armed forces must not bespared if one person's image is to besaved. Otherwise, the evidence in Augustacase was no stronger than that in the SA-HARA case. In fact, in Augusta case, codeshave been used to frame people, while inthe case of SAHARA, full names appear.But, all this will not make any sense if we arealready a Bhakt.

[3:45 PM, 12/22/2016] Uma Shankar SharmaIT-BHU: In Augusta Italian investigating au-thority and Court found illegal pay offs!

[3:49 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad: Towhom?

[3:50 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:We don't trust our own investigating agen-cies; so we don't want to investigate if en-tries are found for payoff!! Why??

[3:52 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Opposition today is so weak unfortunately!Agar Modi ji opposition mein hotay abheeto khaat karee kar detay government kee

[7:00 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad: It'salways easy to blame some one else. Whydo you forget that the same BJP was cryinghoarse when computerization of railwayswas announced by Rajiv Gandhi and re-forms were launched by Manmohan Singh.They continued to oppose every good thatCongress govt launched. Remember? Or,your memory has faded under the trum-pets of one man? Remember that thetrend of one man's autocratic sow is farworse than anything that's ever happenedto India before.

How shameful is it that everything today isannounced, assumed to be done, dis-cussed, in the name of just one man, as ifthe entire bureaucracy and political dis-pensation is just doing nothing except in-dulging in corruption!! This messiah's name

appears among the bribe-takers, remem-ber??

[7:04 PM, 12/22/2016] Naveen Sinha IT-BHU:Yes, we should find more leaders and notjust follow Rahul-Sonia of Indira-Nehru clan.

[7:06 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:We must do that - for sure, but not make agod of any leader we find. A God today,and a demon tomorrow. Like we do withthe cricket stars.

In a country which is drifting towards elec-tions - all elections without exception -being fought like wars, by the ruling party,no better days can be hope for. The rhetoric rules over real actions, and itwins us over.

We know that only 6% of black money is incash, still we claim that making India cash-starved would remove black money.

We know that the chain of cash-basedblack money starts with election funding,and public rallies, still we trust the words ofpeople who continue to arrange a dailyrally and who have made the elections farmore costlier as crusaders against corrup-tion!

When a PM claims in public that he is notbeing allowed to speak in parliament whilethe parliament is asking to come in andspeak, and the entire country is ready toaccept his lies as god's words, what bettercould we except!!

[11:07 PM, 12/22/2016] Sanjay Mehan IT-BHU: Modi is dead honest as far as his deal-ings are concerned. One of the topIndustrialist believed to be close to the cur-rent PM who used to tell his board whenthe previous Government was there 'don'tworry I will get it done' now says ' I will get itdone only if it is correct'

[11:46 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Not alone. But, the beginning - the route -is the political class.


Stop expenses on elections if you are reallyhonest. Modi has raised the bar of ex-penses in elections. Election cash flow in tril-lions - all of it black money, must becompensated by the political class. Bu-reaucracy has no role at this route level.

Bureaucracy comes into picture once thewinner of the election assumes power. Theduo then mint the public. I've given an ex-ample of an honest administration in Biharbefore - when Bhagwat Jha Azad becamechief minister. I was then working for Bihargovt. When he wanted to stop corruptionby the officers and clerks, he was verymuch successful. That's why he was re-moved within 11 months.

Political class is known as leader. It's heleadership which sets a target. If the leaderwants to stop corruption, he must first leadin this mission by stopping cash spending inhis rallies and in the elections. Why shouldour leader keep on raising he expenses oneven the state elections - most of these ex-penses, if not all, is black money. WhenModi ji is raising these expenses, how canwe consider him honest?

Should we not investigate and clear hisname from the list of bribe recipients, if weconsider him honest?

One comment circulating these days is"Modi ji, Zara dil par haath rakh ke bata di-jiye, keya 2014 ka election white money sejeete thay?"

[11:47 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Walk the talk must be the ethos of a realleader. When one takes the name ofGandhi, then don't forget that he hadnothing to spend on his rallies.

[11:50 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad: Inthe first ever election - in British India - onbeing pushed hard by the public, a socialworker in Mumbai wrote a letter to Gandhiji, telling him of this public push to contestelection. I don't remember this leader's

name. But, Gandhi ji replied by asking himto contest with 2 conditions - he must notask people to vote for him, and he wouldnot spend any money. He contested andwon by a huge margin. That's the bar weexpect from an honest politician. Rest is justfooling around.

[11:54 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:With everything so very clear, we may stillremain a follower - there's no need to tellus that we shouldn't or should give him achance. We have no power, and publicdoesn't matter except during voting times.So, how do we give him a chance or don'tgive him a chance.

[11:55 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Because for everything, it's his name thatschiming all around and over. That's why☺☺

[11:57 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Never before has a govt been called by aperson's name - it used to be Congressgovt, Upa govt or NDA govt. It's the firsttime in Indian history that even the BJP callsit a Modi govt. Even a RBI policy is an-nounced by Modi ji, not be the RBI chief☺☺

[11:59 PM, 12/22/2016] Shakeel ahamad:

DN Gupta: My question was should we crit-icise Modi for attempting something orManmohan Singh for doing nothing to savepower and support large scale corruptionall around .

Shakeel: It was Manhoman Singh whochanged the course of Indian economy -he will be known for bringing in real liberal-ization and opening the economy to theworld.

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During his first term as PM, count the num-ber of new IIT's and IIMs and AIMs headded to Indian kitty, number of universi-ties he got added. The achievements offirst term are completely washed away inthe Bhakti which is the real danger to thecountry today.

Only a bhakt can say he did nothing.

Today, we have to look into the fault linesof those who are making us mad by prom-ising heaven to us and robing us of what-ever little we have while the rich arereaping the loot, even taking awayabroad.

Adani is taking huge loans to invest in Pak-istan. He is a bhakt, so must not be calleda desh -drohee. On the other hand, any-one who even utters Pakistan from hismouth will be termed a desh-drohee!!That's the hypocrisy of our leadership,today. Teaching a lesson to China is thespeech, but making China reap our hardearned money is the action. That's thehypocrisy today.

The logic that all previous leaders were nothonest so my current leader will be dishon-est and lie about everything is a childishlogic which only suits a bhakt.

The cheating of the public has never beenso widespread before, never so blatantand aggressive, never so arrogant. Previ-ously, we have seen promises not being ful-filled, leaders sleeping over them. Now, wesee just the opposite being done, and thattoo, in an openly shameless manner. Whyshould we criticize those who ruled before- to hide the games being played today??

[10:21 AM, 12/23/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Cash from our ATM to Paytm of China, andfrom China to Pakistan. And, my leadersays he is removing black money by ban-ning cash. ��

[10:30 AM, 12/23/2016] Shakeel ahamad:

We have enough stock of cash, nothing toworry, Arun Jaitly roars on day 42!! In De-cember, as we reach the 50th day dead-line, ATMs are getting drier. Only 10% ATMsare being filled with cash.

What a bunch of liars we have today whocan continue to run salt on the wound ofgeneral public

[11:18 AM, 12/23/2016] Shakeel ahamad:Thanks God, Congress rule has ended�

Miseries seem to be compounding, with nosigns of easing. Rather than 50 days, or 100days kind of promises, rupee going downthe drain, prices shooting up to the skies.Only people enjoying this plight are thosealready made rich by he Congress. ��

[11:21 AM, 12/23/2016] Shakeel ahamad:When you take up the past, you're trying tohide something in the present. Tu ne KalLoota tha janta ko, aaj mujhe lootne de,chup kar, nahein to��


I By Sheikh Abdullah Adhami I

By getting married you are not just getting awife, you are getting your whole world. Fromnow until the rest of your days your wife willbe your partner, your companion, and yourbest friend. She will share your moments, yourdays, and your years. She will share your joysand sorrows, your successes and failures,your dreams and your fears.

When you are ill, she will take the best careof you; when you need help, she will do allshe can for you. When you have a secret,she will keep it; when you need advice, shewill give you the best advice

She will always be with you: when you wakeup in the morning the first thing your eyes willsee will be hers; during the day, she will bewith you, if for a moment she is not with youby her physical body she will be thinking ofyou, praying for you with all her heart, mindand soul; when you go to sleep at night, thelast thing your eyes will see will be her; andwhen you are asleep you will still see her inyour dreams. In short, she will be your wholeworld and you will be her whole world.

The best description that I personally haveever read describing the closeness of thespouses to each other is the Qur'anic versewhich says: "they are your garments and youare their garments" (Surah Al Baqarah 2:187).

Indeed, spouses are like garments to eachother because they provide one anotherwith the protection, the comfort, the cover,the support, and the adornment that gar-ments provide to humans. Just imagine ajourney in the winter of Alaska without gar-ments! Our spouses provide us with the samelevel of comfort, protection, cover, and sup-port in the journey of our lives on this earth asgarments would do in the Alaskan journey.

The relationship between the spouses is themost amazing of all human relations: theamount of love and affection, intimacy andcloseness, mercy and compassion, peaceand tranquillity that fills the hearts of thespouses is simply inexplicable.

The only rational explanation for these mostamazing of all human feelings is that: it is anact of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, "AndAllah has made for you Mates (and Com-panions of your own nature ..." (Surah Al Nahl16:72)

Only our Almighty Allah Subhanahu waTa'ala in His Infinite Power, Boundless Mercy,and Great Wisdom can create and ingrainthese amazing and blessed feelings in thehearts of the spouses. In fact Allah Sub-hanahu wa Ta'ala is reminding those whosearch for His signs in the universe that thesefeelings in the hearts of the spouses areamong the signs that should guide humansto His existence as He says in the Qur'an,"And among His signs is this, that He createdfor you mates from among yourselves thatyou may dwell in tranquillity with them andHe has put love and mercy between yourhearts: verily in that are signs for those whoreflect." (Surah Al Rum 30:21)

But Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala knows thatthe human heart is not a static entity, it issometimes weak and at times dynamic. Feel-ings can and do change with time. Lovemay wither and fade away. The maritalbond might weaken if not properly cared for.Happiness in marriage cannot be taken forgranted; continuous happiness requires con-stant giving from both sides. For the tree ofmarital love to remain alive and keep grow-ing, the soil has to be sustained, maintained,watered and nurtured.

Remember that our Prophet Muhammad

On Husband and WifeRelationship


Salallaahu 'aliahi wa'sallaam had found thetime to go out to the desert and race with hiswife Aisha. She out ran him but later after shehad gained some weight, he out ran her. Re-member that the Prophet Salallaahu 'aliahiwa'sallaam took his wife to watch the youngEthiopians playing and dancing their folkdances. The show of emotions is necessaryto keep the marital bond away from rustingand disintegrating.

Remember that you will be rewarded byAllah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala for any emotionsyou show to your wife as the Prophet Salal-laahu 'aliahi wa'sallaam said "one would berewarded for anything that he does seekingthe pleasure of Allah even the food that heputs in the mouth of his wife"

Never underestimate the importance ofseemingly little things as putting food in yourwife's mouth, opening the car's door for her,etc. Remember that the Prophet Salallaahu'aliahi wa'sallaam used to extend his knee tohis wife to assist her up to ride the camel. Tryto always find some time for both of you topray together. Strengthening the bond be-tween you and Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'alais the best guarantee that your own maritalbond would always remain strong. Havingpeace with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala willalways result in having more peace at home.

Remember that the Prophet Salallaahu 'ali-ahi wa'sallaam gave glad tidings for thosecouples who wake up at night to pray to-gether. The Prophet Salallaahu 'aliahi wa'sal-laam even urged the spouse who rises up firstto wake the other spouse up even by throw-ing cold water on his/her face.

Always try your best to be good to your wifeby words and by deeds. Talk to her, smile toher, seek her advice, ask for her opinion,spend quality time with her and always re-member that the Prophet Salallaahu 'alaiahiwa'sallaam said "the best of you are thosewho are best to their wives"

Finally, it is common that spouses vow to loveand honor their spouses until death do thempart. I do believe that this vow is good oreven great, but not enough! It is not enough

that you love your wife. You have to lovewhat she loves as well. Her family, her lovedones must also become your loved ones.Don't be like my colleague who was un-happy about his wife's parents coming to visitfor few weeks. He candidly said to her "I don'tlike your parents" Naturally she angrily lookedat him straight in the eye and said " I don't likeyours either"...

Also, it is not enough that you love her untildeath do you part. Love should never endand we do believe there is life after deathwhere those who did righteousness in thisworld will be joined by their spouses (Surah AlZukhruf 43:70) and offsprings.

The best example in this regard is the ProphetSalallaahu 'aliahi wa'sallaam whose love forKhadija, his wife of 25 years extended to in-clude all those she loved and continuedeven after her death. It was many years afterher death and he never forgot her andwhenever a goat was slaughtered in hishouse he would send portions of it toKhadija's family and friends and wheneverhe felt that the visitor at the door might beKhadija's sister Hala, he would pray "O Allahlet it be Hala."

sisters.islamway.net


The postal department by omitting Mah-mood’s name from the postal series on Biharhas belittled the contributions of a giant free-dom fighter from Bihar

[Minister of State for Health & Family WelfareAnupriya Patel releasing the Commemora-tive Postage Stamps on eight prominent per-sonalities of Bihar, at a function, in New Delhion December 26, 2016.]

Recently the postal department of India hascommemorated great deeds and achieve-ments of eight personalities of Bihar by re-leasing stamps on them. But the mostsurprising thing about this was the omission ofSyed Mahmud, one of the foremost freedomfighters from Bihar.

The eight stamps released on December 26,2016 to remember freedom fighters of Biharwere of: 1) Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha 2) Kar-poori Thakur 3) Dashrath Manjhi 4) Vidyapati5) Kailashpati Mishra 6) Kunwar Singh 7)Phanishwar Nath Renu 8) Sri Krishna Sinha.

The most conspicuous omission was of SyedMahmud. The presumption is that whoeverhas prepared the list of Bihar series of postalstamp, is either ignorant about Syed Mah-

mud’s contribution to India’s freedom strug-gle, or the usual communal mindset prevailsin such selections and omissions may haveprevailed.

Mahmud was educated at the Aligarh Mus-lim University (AMU) and as student attendedthe 1905 session of the Indian National Con-gress. Along with fellow students, he wasamongst those Muslim students who op-posed the pro-British loyalties of the All IndiaMuslim League.

After being expelled from AMU for his politi-cal activities, Mahmud travelled to Englandand studied Law at Cambridge Universitybefore going on to study at Lincoln's Inn tobecome a barrister.

1909 in London, he came in contact withMahatma Gandhi and J.L. Nehru. In 1912, heobtained Ph.D. from Germany and cameback to India.

It was from 1913 he started his legal profes-sion in Patna under the able guidance ofMazharul Haq. After practicing law for a fewyears in Patna, he was drawn into the free-dom struggle and movement for India's inde-pendence.

Syed Mahmud's omission fromBihar postal series


Syed Mahmud was one of the young Muslimleaders who played a role in crafting the1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congressand the Muslim League.

He participated in the Indian Home RuleMovement in 1916 and in the Non-coopera-tion movement and the Khilafat movementunder the influence and leadership of Ma-hatma Gandhi.

In 1923 he was elected to the post of deputygeneral secretary of the All India CongressCommittee along with Jawaharlal Nehruwhich resulted in close friendship betweenthe two leaders. Nehru signed as witness atthe marriage of Syed Mahmud's daughter.

In 1930, along with M.L. Nehru and J.L. Nehruhe was imprisoned in the Naini Jail of Alla-habad, for his participation in the Civil Dis-obedience Movement.

After the sweeping Congress victory in the1937 central and provincial elections, SyedMahmud became Minister for Education,Development and Planning in Sri KrishnaSinha led cabinet in Bihar.

This development had its own share of con-troversy, Syed Mahmud was considered oneof the leading prospective candidates toserve as Chief Minister of Bihar but insteadShri Krishna Sinha was made the Chief Minis-ter.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in his book “Indiawins freedom” talks at length about this con-troversy and blames Nehru for not makinghim the first CM of Bihar.

Perhaps, Mahmud’s Muslim identity came inthe way of his selection as CM in that com-munally charged atmosphere and Nehruchose Sri Krishna Sinha to placate the Hindulobby within the Congress party in Bihar.

Serving as education minister in Bihar Mah-mud’s emphasis was on providing primaryeducation to largest possible number of peo-ple. He worked for revision of curricula, ap-pointed Urdu teachers in the PatnaUniversity. He fought for raising the proportion

of Muslims in the government jobs and in thelocal bodies in Bihar.

Syed Mahmud was one of the members ofthe Congress Working Committee that en-dorsed the 1942 Quit India movement, call-ing for an immediate end to British rule.

After India's independence, Syed Mahmudwas elected to the first Lok Sabha from theChamparan-East constituency and secondLok Sabha from the Gopalganj constituency.He served as Minister of State for External Af-fairs between 1954 and 1957. He partici-pated in the historic Bandung Conference(1955), where the Panchsheel was spelledout. He played remarkable roles in India'suseful diplomatic relations with the Gulfcountries.He was one of the secular Muslim leaderswho opposed the Muslim League's demandfor the creation of a separate Muslim state ofPakistan. He was pained with communalpartition of India.

Syed Mahmud authored several books and“The Khilafat & England” was one amongstthem. He launched a bilingual (Urdu; Hindi)newspaper called “Raushni” to mitigate theHindi-Urdu tension. He also wrote a book, APlan of Provincial Reconstruction (1939). Hewrote another book Hindu Muslim Accord(1949), celebrating the `Ganga-JamuniTehzeeb of India.'

Mahmud's standing with Indian nationalist’sleaders was second to none. The postal de-partment by omitting Mahmood’s namefrom the postal series on Bihar has belittledthe contributions of a giant freedom fighterfrom Bihar.

[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based inChennai. He hails from Bihar and can becontacted at [email protected]]

http://ummid.com/news/2017/January/11.01.2017/why-syed-mahmud-is-omitted-from-bihar-postal-series.htmlShare


I By John Assaraf I

#1 - Your Subconscious is in Control

See, at one point you probably tried to suc-ceed. But… something went wrong andyou fell flat on your face. Your subconsciousmind quickly got used to this failure. Since95% of human behavior is driven by our sub-conscious thoughts, beliefs and habitsthat’s a big problem. This means that nowyou’re being held back by fears and limit-ing beliefs you’re not even aware of.

#2 - Failed Success is Comfortable

Many people tend to repeat the same pat-tern of failed success (we get motivatedbut then fail to accomplish our goals) andnot surprisingly we achieve the same resultsover and over again. We repeat this pat-tern (or money story) because it’s safe andpredictable. Our comfort zone may be lim-iting and uncomfortable, but at least it’s fa-miliar.

For example, you are motivated to accom-plish more but then fear settles in whenthings get just a little hard and your mindsays, "Never mind... go back to what youknow and are comfortable with. It wouldbe nice to accomplish more but not rightnow - let's just be fine with where I am now."

#3 - Fear Takes Over

Think about this… it makes sense that fear isone of the strongest emotions a human canfeel. (You can’t ignore finding a spider onyour arm…. or a snake under your pillow)But those are life-threatening things. Weneed fear to survive in those cases.

However most of what frightens us is no realthreat… it’s just an illusion. Unfortunately itstill kills our motivation. On the other hand,when we feel real genuine hope it rekindlesour motivation.

#4 - You’re Writing Your Story NOW

To create a new story, whether it’s aboutweight loss or a healthier relationship withmoney we need to realize that we canwrite a more satisfying life story with a sim-ple choice.

When you accept these 4 things you in-stantly realize that you are in control.

You’ll realize that you can seize the reins ofyour life back from the fear and uncon-scious beliefs that have been holding youback.John Assarat is CEO of NeuroGym

4 Reasons for Annoying Failures


Hi. My name is Daniel and I am a recoveringFacebook addict. Whew, it felt good toadmit that out in the open. With that confes-sion out of the way, I’d like to help you un-derstand why you are addicted toFacebook. I’ll even provide some easy stepsthat you can take today to break the habitand be more productive.

The first step to breaking any bad habit is tounderstand the psychological triggers thatmade you pick up the habit in the first place.Below are five common ones that I knowvery well.

1. Facebook scrolling is a symptom of pro-crastination.Facebook capitalizes on your tendency toprocrastinate by incorporating a news feedwith an infinite scroll. No matter how fardown you go, there will always be morememes and status updates to keep you dis-tracted from whatever you should be doing.Thus, it might be helpful to change your per-ception of Facebook. Instead of looking at itlike a place to be social or kill time, frameFacebook as the enemy of your productivityand purpose. Doesn’t sound as temptingnow, huh?

2. Facebook over-sharing is a symptom ofloneliness or indecision.Facebook resembles a boring reality TV showthat is on full display during every hour of theday. Do you really need to tell everybodywhat you ate for lunch? I doubt it. You don’tshare such trivial details to add value to peo-ple’s lives. You’re doing it, because you’relonely and desperate for approval. Seekingopinions from your friends could be a sign ofindecision or low self-confidence. If you geta bad suggestion, then you can conve-niently blame somebody else, thus protect-ing your ego.

3. Facebook creeping is a symptom of mis-placed affection or unhealthy self-compar-isons.Facebook makes it easy to be a creeper.

There are two primary causes of creepingand neither of them are pretty. If you’recreeping the profile of your ex, then you’reprobably living in the past. Seek professionalhelp if you are struggling to let go. If you’rebrowsing the profile of a crush, then you’dbe better off actively pursuing them. Sendthem a thoughtful message to get a conver-sation started. If that goes well, ask them outon a date. Creeping could also be a form ofself-inflicted misery. It’s already hard to resistthe human urge to compare ourselves toother people. Facebook makes this conven-ient to do.

4. Obsessive checking of Facebook notifica-tions is a symptom of impatience or people-pleasing.Facebook takes advantage of your desirefor instant gratification. Your brain receives adopamine hit every time you see that red no-tification light up. Dopamine is a chemical inyour brain that causes you to seek pleasurefrom things like food, sex, and drugs. Pleasuresounds nice in theory, but dopamine is re-sponsible for self-destructive behavior. Thus,becoming a slave to your notifications candestroy your self-control in a hurry. If that was-n’t bad enough, the human desire to beliked and accepted is at play, too. Everytime you get a “Like”, your brain decidesthat means somebody likes you. Keep this upand you’ll turn into an addict desperate foranother “hit.”

5. Obsessive refreshing of your Facebookfeed is a symptom of a fear of missing out(a.k.a. FOMO).Facebook wrecks your focus by preying onyour fear of missing out. You check your feedduring a date, because you don’t want tomiss any interesting updates. You check yourmessages while you drive, because a friendmight have something exciting to share.Never mind that you might turn off your dateor wreck your car and die. The possibilitiesare endless, so it’s totally worth it. That wassarcasm if you didn’t notice. I’m being dra-matic to demonstrate how reckless these be-

5 Psychological Reasons You Are Addictedto Facebook and 5 Ways to Break the Habit


haviors are.

If you’re ready to break your addictionto Facebook, follow these five steps.

1. Admit you have an addiction.You can’t fix a problem if you deny it exists.Don’t beat yourself up, but do try and behonest enough to admit you’re a Facebookaddict. If it makes you feel any better, I’m arecovering addict myself. There is no reasonto be ashamed. Telling a trusted friend mighthelp you stay accountable, especially if theyshare your goal.

2. Be mindful of the triggers that provoke thehabit.Every psychological trigger I discussed herewon’t necessarily be relevant to you. That’sokay. Focus on the ones that are. If you’renot sure, here’s a reflection exercise thatmight be helpful. It will reveal why you’rehaving such a hard time breaking the habit.Record the following details in a diary or jour-nal until you identify some common trends:• What did I do? (scrolling, over-sharing,creeping, notification checking, or feed re-freshing)• When did I do it? (down-time at work,as soon as you woke up, right before bed, ona date, etc.)• What happened right before? (if astressful or upsetting event occurred, thatcould be significant)• How did this make me feel? (use a de-scriptive adjective to describe your moodbefore and after the incident)

3. Consciously acknowledge the habit forwhat it is.This step will break Facebook’s hold on youas long as you can be consistent. Every timeyou feel the urge to update your status orcheck your feed, recognize that impulse forwhat it is (a habitual behavior — NOT a con-scious decision). This is especially powerfulwhen you complete step #2, because you’llbe able to make a mental note of the spe-cific psychological trigger at play.

4. Practice self-compassion during theprocess, no matter how frustrated you mightget.

Facebook is an epic time-suck, but thatdoesn’t mean you should criticize yourselfevery time you log-on to your feed. Psychol-ogists consider procrastination a misplacedcoping mechanism. Beating yourself up willmake you feel bad about yourself, which willironically cause you to be even moretempted. Self-loathing can only lead to fail-ure. You might end up deciding it’s hopeless,because you are “too lazy.” If you want tobreak your addiction for good, then youneed to be self-compassionate.

5. Replace the habit with a positive alterna-tive that you can track or measure in someway.It’s a lot easier to eliminate a bad habit whenyou decide on a good habit that you wouldlike to replace it with. I applied this idea bychoosing to pick up a book every time I wastempted to check my feed. The result blewmy mind. I read over a hundred pages in the

first day! Trust me when I say those “few min-utes of down-time” can add up to an ob-scene amount of waste. Having a specificmetric to track is important. If you want tostay encouraged, you need to have com-pelling evidence that your time would bebetter spent elsewhere.

This is going to sound ridiculous given the sub-ject of the article, but…

Would you please pass this along to yourfriends on Facebook? I don’t mean to demo-nize the website entirely. It’s a great place tostay in touch with the people we care about.Even so, it’s time to break our addictions sowe can achieve our purpose and enjoy thecompany of the people right in front of us.


Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

Valentine’s Day is a jaahili Roman festi-val, which continued to be cele-brated until after the Romans became

Christian. This festival became connectedwith the saint known as Valentine who wassentenced to death on 14 February 270 CE.The kuffaar still celebrate this festival, duringwhich immorality and evil are practisedwidely.Secondly:

It is not permissible for a Muslim to celebrateany of the festivals of the kuffaar, becausefestivals come under the heading of shar’i is-sues which are to be based on the soundtexts.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaahhave mercy on him) said: Festivals are partof sharee’ah, clear way and rituals of whichAllaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “To each among you, We have prescribed alaw and a clear way” [al-Maa’idah 5:48]

“For every nation We have ordained religiousceremonies which they must follow”[al-Hajj 22:67]

-- such as the qiblah (direction faced inprayer), prayer and fasting. There is no differ-ence between their participating in the fes-tival and their participating in all other rituals.Joining in fully with the festival is joining in withkufr, and joining in with some of its minor is-sues is joining in with some of the branches ofkufr. Indeed, festivals are one of the mostunique features that distinguish various reli-gions and among their most prominent sym-bols, so joining in with them is joining in withthe most characteristic and prominent sym-bols of kufr. No doubt joining in with this maylead to complete kufr.

Partially joining in, at the very least, is disobe-dience and sin. This was indicated by theProphet (peace and blessings of Allaah beupon him) when he said: “Every people hasits festival and this is our festival.” This is worsethan joining them in wearing the zinaar (agarment that was worn only by ahl al-dhimmah) and other characteristics of theirs,for those characteristics are man-made andare not part of their religion, rather the pur-pose behind them is simply to distinguish be-tween a Muslim and a kaafir. As for thefestival and its rituals, this is part of the religionwhich is cursed along with its followers, sojoining in with it is joining in with somethingthat is a cause of incurring the wrath andpunishment of Allaah. End quote from Iqtida’al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem (1/207).

He also said (may Allaah have mercy onhim): It is not permissible for the Muslims to im-itate them in anything that is uniquely a partof their festivals, whether it be food, clothing,bathing, lighting fires, refraining from a regu-lar habit, doing acts of worship or anythingelse. It is not permissible to give a feast or togive gifts, or to sell anything that will helpthem to do that for that purpose, or to allowchildren and others to play games that arepart of the festivals, or to wear one’s adorn-ments.

To conclude: the Mulsims should not do anyof their rituals at the time of their festivals;rather the day of their festival should be likeany other day for the Muslims. The Muslimsshould not do anything specific in imitationof them. End quote from Majmoo al-Fa-taawa (25/329).

Al-Haafiz al-Dhahabi (may Allaah havemercy on him) said: If the Christians have afestival, and the Jews have a festival, it is onlyfor them, so no Muslim should join them inthat, just as no Muslim should join them intheir religion or their direction of prayer. End

What is the ruling on Valentine’s Day?


quote from Tashabbuh al-Khasees bi Ahl al-Khamees, published in Majallat al-Hikmah(4/193)

The hadeeth to which Shaykh al-Islam IbnTaymiyah referred was narrated by al-Bukhaari (952) and Muslim (892) from‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her)who said: Abu Bakr came in and there weretwo young girls of the Ansaar with me whowere singing about what had happened tothe Ansaar on the day of Bu’aath. She said:And they were not (professional) singing girls.Abu Bakr said: “Musical instruments of theshaytaan in the house of the Messenger ofAllaah (peace and blessings of Allaah beupon him)?!” and that was on the day of Eid.The Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless-ings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O AbuBakr, every people has a festival and this isour festival.”

Abu Dawood (1134) narrated that Anas(may Allaah be pleased with him) said:When the Messenger of Allaah (peace andblessings of Allaah be upon him) came toMadeenah, they had two days when theywould play. He said: “What are these twodays?” They said: “We used to play on thesedays during the Jaahiliyyah.” The Messengerof Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah beupon him) said: “Allaah has given you in-stead of them two days that are better thanthem: the day of al-Adha and the day of al-Fitr.” This hadeeth was classed as saheeh byal-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.

This indicates that festivals are among thecharacteristics by which nations are distin-guished, and it is not permissible to celebratethe festivals of the ignorant and the mushri-keen (polytheists).

The scholars have issued fatwas stating thatit is haraam to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

1 –Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah havemercy on him) was asked: In recent times the celebration of Valentine’sDay has become widespread, especiallyamong female students. It is a Christian festi-val where people dress completely in red, in-cluding clothes and shoes, and they

exchange red flowers. We hope that youcan explain the ruling on celebrating this fes-tival, and what your advice is to Muslims withregard to such matters; may Allaah bless youand take care of you.

He replied: Celebrating Valentine’s Day is not permissi-ble for a number of reasons. 1- It is an innovated festival for which thereis no basis in Islam.2- It promotes love and infatuation.3- It calls for hearts to be preoccupied withfoolish matters that are contrary to the wayof the righteous salaf (may Allaah bepleased with them).

It is not permissible on this day to do any ofthe things that are characteristic of this festi-val, whether that has to do with food, drinks,clothing, exchanging gifts or anything else. The Muslim should be proud of his religionand should not be a weak character whofollows every Tom, Dick and Harry. I ask Al-laah to protect the Muslims from all tempta-tions, visible and invisible, and to protect usand guide us.

End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-ShaykhIbn ‘Uthaymeen (16/199)

2 – The Standing Committee was asked:Some people celebrate Valentine’s Day onthe fourteenth of February every year. Theyexchange gifts of red roses and wear redclothes and congratulate one another. Somebakeries make red coloured sweets anddraw hearts on them, and some stores ad-vertise products that are especially for thisday. What is your opinion on the following:

1- Celebrating this day2- Buying things from the stores on this day3- Storekeepers who are not celebrating itselling things that may be given as gifts topeople who are celebrating it? They replied:

The clear evidence of the Qur’aan and Sun-nah – and the consensus of the early gener-ations of this ummah – indicates that thereare only two festivals in Islam: Eid al-Fitr andEid al-Adha. Any other festivals that have to


do with a person, a group, an event or any-thing else are innovated festivals, which it isnot permissible for Muslims to observe, ap-prove of or express joy on those occasions,or to help others to celebrate them in anyway, because that is transgressing the sa-cred limits of Allaah, and whoever trans-gresses the sacred limits of Allaah haswronged himself. If the fabricated festival isalso a festival of the kuffaar, then the sin iseven greater, because this is imitating themand it is a kind of taking them as closefriends, and Allaah has forbidden the believ-ers to imitate them and take them as closefriends in His Holy Book. And it is proven thatthe Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaahbe upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a peo-ple is one of them.” Valentine’s Day comesunder this heading because it is an idolatrousChristian festival, so it is not permissible for aMuslim who believes in Allaah and the LastDay to observe it or approve of it or congrat-ulate people on it. Rather he has to ignore itand avoid it, in obedience to Allaah and HisMessenger, and so as to keep away from thecauses that incur the wrath and punishmentof Allaah. It is also haraam for the Muslim tohelp people to celebrate this or any otherharaam festival by supplying any kind offood or drink, or buying or selling or manufac-turing or giving or advertising etc., becauseall of that is cooperating in sin and transgres-sion and is disobedience towards Allaah andHis Messenger (peace and blessings of Al-laah be upon him). Allaah says (interpreta-tion of the meaning):

“Help you one another in Al Birr and AtTaqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); butdo not help one another in sin and transgres-sion. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severein punishment”[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

The Muslim must adhere to the Book of Al-laah and the Sunnah in all his affairs, espe-cially at times of fitnah when evil iswidespread. He should be smart and avoidfalling into the misguidance of those whohave earned Allaah’s anger and who havegone astray, and the evildoers who have nofear of Allaah and who do not have anypride in being Muslims. The Muslim must turnto Allaah and seek His guidance and remain

steadfast in following it, for there is no Guideexcept Allaah and no one can make a per-son steadfast but Him. And Allaah is thesource of strength. May Allaah send blessingsand peace upon our Prophet Muhammadand his family and companions. End quote.

3 – Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (may Allaah preservehim) was asked: Among our young men and women it hasbecome common to celebrate Valentine’sDay, which is named after a saint who is ven-erated by the Christians, who celebrate itevery year on February 14, when they ex-change gifts and red roses, and they wearred clothes. What is the ruling on celebratingthis day and exchanging gifts? He replied:

Firstly: it is not permissible to celebrate theseinnovated festivals, because it is an innova-tion for which there is no basis in Islam. Itcomes under the heading of the hadeeth of‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her),according to which the Prophet (peace andblessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Who-ever introduces anything into this matter ofours that is not part of it will have it rejected.” Secondly: it involves imitating the kuffaar andcopying them by venerating that which theyvenerate and respecting their festivals andrituals, and imitating them in something thatis part of their religion. In the hadeeth it says:“Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Thirdly: it results in evils and haraam thingssuch as wasting time, singing, music, extrav-agance, unveiling, wanton display, men mix-ing with women, women appearing beforemen other than their mahrams, and otherharaam things, or things that are a meansthat leads to immorality. That cannot be ex-cused by the claim that this is a kind of en-tertainment and fun. The one who is sinceretowards himself should keep away from sinand the means that lead to it. And he said: Based on this, it is not permissible to sell thesegifts and roses, if it is known that the pur-chaser celebrates these festivals or will givethese things as gifts on those days, so that theseller will not be a partner of the one whodoes those innovations. And Allaah knowsbest. End quote. And Allaah knows best.


I By Dr. Aisha Hamdan I

The young and excited bride-and-groom-to-be; ecstatic about the upcomingwedding and marriage and the joy that

it will bring. Three to six months later, realityhas set in and both spouses realize that mar-riage is no easy task, but one that takes agreat deal of effort and patience. The follow-ing are tips for both wives and husbands, tohelp make the task a little less daunting, andto increase the many rewards that are possi-ble in such a marvelous and complex rela-tionship.

Enter the Marriage with the Right Intentionand Renew this OftenBoth spouses should enter the marriage withthe pure intention of pleasing Allah, sub-hanahu wa ta'ala, in order to receive Hisgrace and blessings. The marriage itself thenbecomes an act of worship and one forwhich both spouses will be rewarded. Allahwill be pleased with them and this will be themost critical element in ensuring peace, sta-bility and happiness throughout the maritallife. It is also important to realize that whenan act of worship is continued over a longperiod of time, it becomes necessary torenew one's intention often to remain on thecorrect path and to obtain the most benefit.

Remember that Your Spouse is also YourBrother or Sister in IslamToo often Muslims treat other people outsidethe home with kindness and sincerity, butthen behave in a very different mannerwhen it comes to their own spouses. Muslimsshould always remember that one's spouse isalso another brother or sister in Islam and thatthe rights and duties that apply to the gen-eral brotherhood (sisterhood) of Islam, shouldalso form the basis of the marital relationship.Obviously, a spouse has rights beyond these,

but there should be a clear understanding ofthe rights of brotherhood (sisterhood) andadherence to these principles.

Do Not Hold Unrealistic ExpectationsBefore marriage, people often have unreal-istic ideas about their spouse-to-be, expect-ing perfection in all aspects. This rarely, ifever, plays out in reality and can lead to un-necessary problems and concerns. Weshould recall that Allah, subhanahu wata'ala, created humans as imperfect beings,which means that many mistakes will bemade throughout a lifetime. By turning thetable and expecting imperfection, we will bepleasantly surprised and pleased when ourspouse is much more than we ever hopedfor. This, in turn, will lead to contentmentwithin the marriage.

Emphasize the Best in Your SpouseSince no one is endowed with all of the bestqualities, emphasis should be placed on thepositive qualities that a spouse possesses. En-couragement, praise, and gratitude shouldbe expressed on a regular basis, which willstrengthen these qualities and be beneficialin developing others. An attempt should bemade to overlook or ignore negative char-acteristics, as the Prophet, sallallahu alayhewa sallam, said, "A believing man should nothave any malice against a believingwoman. He may dislike one characteristic inher, but may find another in her which ispleasing." (Muslim)

Be Your Mate's Best FriendTry to think of what a best friend means andbe one to your spouse. This may mean shar-ing interests, experiences, dreams, failuresand upsets. It may involve understanding aspouse's likes and dislikes and attempting toplease him or her in any way possible. A bestfriend is also usually someone that can be

Tips for a Happy and Successful MarriageTen ways of increasing happiness in your marriage and making it a successful one


confided to trusted, and relied upon. Aspouse should be the kind of friend that onewould want to keep throughout life.

Spend Quality Time TogetherIt is not enough to share meals, chores andsmall talk together. Spouses should also findtime to focus on strengthening the relation-ship. Often couples get busy with their ownseparate tasks and forget about working onone of the most important elements in life.Quality time may be anything from having aquiet, profound conversation to going for anice long nature walk, to sharing a specialhobby or project. Both spouses should enjoythe particular option chosen and distractionsshould be kept to a minimum.

Express Feelings OftenThis is probably a very "Western" conceptand one that some people may have diffi-culty fulfilling, but it is important to be openand honest about one's feelings, both posi-tive and negative. The lines of communica-tion should always be open and anyconcerns should be brought to the attentionof the other spouse as soon as they arise. Therationale of this is that what begins as a sim-ple concern may grow into a major problemif it is not addressed quickly and properly. The"silent treatment" has never been the remedyfor anything.

Admit to Mistakes and ask for ForgivenessJust as we ask Allah to forgive us when wemake mistakes, we should also do the samewith our spouses. The stronger person is theone who can admit when he or she is wrong,request pardon from the other, and workhard to improve his/her aspects that are inneed of change. When a person is unwillingto do this, there will be little growth and de-velopment in the marriage.

Never Bring up Mistakes of the PastIt can be very hurting for another person tobe reminded of past mistakes. In Islam, it isgenerally not recommended to dwell on thepast. One may remember errors that weremade so that they are not repeated, but thisshould not be done excessively. Certainly, ashumans, we are not in the position to judgeanother person. Advice may be given, but

not in a harmful manner.

Surprise Each Other at TimesThis may entail bringing home a small gift orflowers, preparing a special meal, dressingup and beautifying oneself (this is not only forwomen), or sending a secret note in a lunch-box. A little imagination will go a long wayhere. The idea is to spice up the marriageand avoid getting into a dull routine thatmay negatively affect the marriage.

Have a Sense of HumourThis particular aspect can go a long way inpreventing arguments and brightening theatmosphere of the home. Life is a constantstream of challenges and tests, and to ap-proach it in a light-hearted manner will helpto make the journey smoother and more en-joyable. You may also find that your spouseenjoys this characteristic and looks forwardto spending time with you because of it.

Quick Tips for Discussions and Disagree-ments:Begin with the intention to resolve the issue.If both spouses have this intention and planto consult together, it is more likely that therewill be a successful resolution.

Remember that it takes two to quarrel. If onlyone person chooses not to argue, there willbe no argument. Generally, the one who iswrong does most of the talking.Both spouses should not be angry at thesame time. If one of the spouses becomesupset, it is best if the other tries to remaincalm and collected.

Never yell at each other unless the house ison fire. Of course, house fires do not occurvery frequently; yelling should occur at aboutthe same rate.Never go to sleep with an argument unset-tled. This is one of the worst things that canhappen in a marriage and should beavoided as much as possible. This allows hurtfeelings and thoughts to linger and generallyexacerbates the problem.If one spouse needs to win, let it be yourmate. Do not focus on winning yourself; thisis the main reason that discussions tend tobecome heated.


I By Nissar Nadiadwala I

Years back during my school vacations,I was instructed by my parents to at-tend our cloth shop and be a part of

the working team.

Like all young school boys, I disliked workingduring my vacations because, like everyoneelse, I also felt that vacations are just for play-ing and enjoying. I was told that eveningswere meant to play but the rest part of theday was to learn the practical side of busi-ness. I had two other boys of my age workingwith me, who, I was told, were sons of richmen. They were learning the basics of busi-ness.

Guess what were the basics of business ac-cording to them? To keep the shelf clean, tocheck the bills (no calculators used in thosedays), to pay electric bills, to talk to the cus-tomers, to pack the sold goods nicely, toorder tea and snacks for seniors. These arethe essential and routine jobs of a businessand many business establishments lose cus-tomers, good will and money for not payingattention to this routine. Today, those twoboys earn a lot of money, more than manyMBAs, though they did not do any formalpost-graduation in famous universities.

I met my friend who is already in his thirtiesand he wanted to do some more courses inUK, so he was looking for some sponsors.I asked him: “Why don’t you earn on yourown and get money for your own studies?”He said: “I am fond of learning and learningrequires lot of time to focus on so I cannotwork!” This happens to be a common replyfrom many young men who are already intheir mid-twenties and still dependent upontheir ageing fathers to pay their fees and alsopocket money.

My Gujarati community is quite advanced inthis manner. Teenage sons accompany their

fathers to banks and help them write ac-counts too. If you go through the list of thestudents in the prominent Commerce Col-leges of Mumbai you will see Shahs, Jhaveris,and Patels, most of them Gujarati. They learnaccounts and do part time jobs right fromthe year they join their colleges. That is thereason why almost all the Mumbai com-merce colleges run from 7am to 10 am in themorning.

In my teenage years, we used to stay in aGujarati locality so I got to learn a lot abouttheir approach towards earning. A youngfriend of mine used to give tuitions to littlechildren and he earned around 1000 INR amonth! That was a huge amount for ateenager in those days. Today he has takenteaching as his profession and I am told thathe earns around a hundred thousand rupeesa month! Another young friend of mine usedto help his father to run his business and bythe time he graduated he took over the en-tire business.

Early experience in jobs, business and salesgives you an edge in your professions as well.Muslim youth should take lessons from this.After all halal earnings, right from early days,are a part of financial education. Learningpractical lessons in early youth will give youa speed in moving ahead as well as makeway for you to get married early as many ofyou delay marriages because you are un-able to settle till you pass twenty five.… From Beyond Education, by Nissar Nadi-adwala

When Should You start to EarnO! Young Men?


Optics is the branch of physics which in-volves the behaviour and properties of light,including its interactions with matter andthe construction of instruments that use ordetect it. Light sciences have provided usnumerous instruments such as telescopes tosee far away objects and microscopes tosee very tiny objects. Light sciences havealso impacted our lives through medical im-aging, telecommunications and internet.Beam optics and light polarization havestimulated research for centuries. Their un-derstanding and manipulation are the cor-nerstones of optical technology.

The understanding of light optics requires avariety of mathematical techniques. Con-sequently, there are attempts to under-stand light optics using differentmathematical machineries. Dr. SameenAhmed Khan has been single handedlyworking on a new formalism of beam opticsusing matrices and quantum technics. He isan assistant professor in the College of Artsand Applied Sciences, Dhofar University,Salalah. This year alone he published fivepapers describing different facets of his for-malism. Amidst strong international compe-tition, two of Dr. Sameen’s papers havebeen chosen as one of the best this year bythe influential magazine, Optics & Photon-ics News (OPN) published by The OpticalSociety (OSA was founded in 1916 as theOptical Society of America and renamedas Optical Society in 2008). Each year OSAhighlights world-wide breakthrough innova-tions in optics and photonics in its year endDecember issue of its OPN Magazine. The

research is thereby featured in the specialedition, Optics in 2016, which carries thesummaries of the thirty selected break-throughs.

Along with outstanding research in mathe-matical optics, Dr. Sameen has a keen in-terest in science policy and outreach,which is reflected in his over two hundredwritings on science popularization. Duringthe United Nations designated 2015 Interna-tional Year of Light and Light-based Tech-nologies, Dr. Sameen published over adozen articles in English, Urdu and Arabic.His is the only book carrying the title of theinternational year. He is the FoundingMember of the Ibn al Haytham LHiSA Inter-national Society (Light: History, Science andApplications, http://www.ibnalhaytham-lhisa.com/). He was also recognized as oneof the thirty speakers at the conferenceheld at the UNESCO Headquarters, (The Is-lamic Golden Age of Science for today’sKnowledge-based Society: The Ibn Al-Haytham Example, 14-15 September 2015,Paris, France). Dr. Azher Majid Siddiqui, Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Further reading: 1. Sameen Ahmed Khan, QuantumMethods in Light-Beam Optics, Optics &Photonics News (OPN), 27 (12), 47 (Decem-ber 2016). (Monthly, Publication of the Op-tical Society of America).http://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/vol-ume_27/december_2016/features/optics_in_2016/2. Azher Majid Siddiqui, Book Review: In-ternational Year of Light and Light-basedTechnologies by Sameen Ahmed Khan,LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany(2015), 96 pages. http://www.lap-publish-ing.com/ ISBN-13: 978-3-659-76482-0 andISBN-10: 3659764825, BaKhabar, 8 (9), 12-13(September 2015). Published by Bihar Anju-man, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.ISSN: 2319-4049

Sameen Ahmed Khan received distinctionfrom the Optical Society of America

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