THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST

Vol. XXII No. 1 January 2020

Post Box No. 93 Nadwatul Ulama Tagore Marg Lucknow – 226 007 U.P. (INDIA)

Ph. No. : 0522 - 2740406 E-mail: [email protected] Fax : (0522) 2741221 E-mail: [email protected] Rs. 25/- THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 The Fragrance of East

Prophetic Call and Founder: Reformatory Movements S. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (RAH) There are also revivalist and reformatory movement which expound the concept of Hereafter, its underlying wisdom, the benefits flowing from it and the invaluable contribution of Patron: the concept in establishing a stable society imbued with the sense of moral responsibility, but, evidently, S.M. Rabey Hasani Nadwi the philosophy of after-life employed by them only as a means of educating the people and impressing upon them the spiritual-moral view of life preached by Islam. There is no denying the fact that their Advisory Board : endeavour is praiseworthy, for one cannot have a congenial, orderly and ethical society without inculcating the belief in the Hereafter. At the same Mohd. Hamza Hasani Nadwi time, however, the method adopted by these movements is quite different from the way of Shah Ebadur Rahman thought, procedure of reform and the behaviour Shamsul Haque Nadwi and deportment of the prophets and their followers. The methodology of reform evolved by the apostles, of God is inspired by an unflinching faith and sincere conviction, a heart-left sentience and Editor: fervid enthusiasm: it is a living faith which encompasses the entire being of the believer. The reformist movements on the other hand, are simply Shariq Alavi an external, outward expression of these deep- seated emotions of faith. The discourses of the former on sequel and life-after-death are marked by their instinctive conviction, glowing ardor, Asstt. Editor: passionate eagerness, impressive earnestness and delicious ecstasy while the latter promote the Obaidur Rahman Nadwi idea as an expedient to social and moral reform of their people in order to build up a coherent, stable and ethical society. The difference between logical disputations and the secret springs of conviction, and the results achieved by the two, are too well known to be discussed here to explain the difference between the two.n

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CONTENTS

1- Influence of Muslims on Indian - S. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi 7 Civilisation

2- The Prophet’s (SAW) Arrival - S.M. Rabey Hasani Nadwi 16 in Madinah

3- 5G Cell Phone Radiation: Note - Claire Edwards 21

of Caution

4- How Islam Came to New Zealand - Syed Kazim 23

5- Jerusalem, A City of Contested - Seema Alavi 25

Histories

6- Don’t Sing in Philibhit - Tahir Mahmood 27 7- The Globalization of War: America’s - Michel Chossudovsky 29 ‘Long War’ Against Humanity

8- In Defence of Indian Secularism - Yamini Aiyar 35

9- Restore Democratic Values and - Obaidur Rahman Nadwi 37 Secular Spirit of the Constitution

10- Human Origin Not Linked To Apes - Maggie Fox 39

[ 3 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Wisdom of Qur’an Pearls From the “(Adhere to the True Faith and) turn Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to Him, and establish Prayer, and do Abu Hurairah relates that Allah’s not be of those who associate others Messenger (peace and blessings of with Allah in His Divinity.” Allah be to him) said: “A person who (Al Qur’an – 30-31) calls people towards doing good deed “To turn to God means anyone who opts will get the same reward as those who to act independently of God’s directives follow him and do good; and nothing and thus deviates from the path will be diminished from the requital of prescribed for him by God, or whoever the latter. Similarly, those who call the betrays God by accepting to serve aught people towards vice will have the same apart from the One True God, should give punishment as those who follow him up that attitude and revert to serving God without any diminution in the Whose born servant he is. punishment of the perpetrators.” Man should dread the punishment which (Sahih Muslim) he will incur by acting independently of, This hadith gives good tidings to one who or worshipping others besides God, invites people to virtue, and warns a person despite the fact that it is God Who brought against inviting his fellow beings to vice. him into being. Man should, therefore, Calling people towards doing good deeds shun all attitudes that lead to God’s wrath. is in itself a virtuous act. It wins the pleasure Turning to God and holding His wrath in of God. Contrary to it, the act of inviting awe are acts of the heart. In order that people to some evil is in itself a vicious act. this state of heart might become manifest It earns the Divine wrath. and be reinforced, one needs to engage God can give reward and likewise award in physical acts which indicate that one punishment, here on earth and in the has truly returned to the service and hereafter as well, to whom He wills. But this worship of the One True God, One Who does not mean that His judgement is has no associates in His Divinity. The baseless. He knows perfectly well the deeds regular performance of these acts helps done by His servants as well as the intention develop in man the state of returning to working behind the commission of the and fearing God. This is why God asks deeds. Hence His judgement is based on him to engage in the establishment of human actions. He however can forgive Prayer. whomsoever He wills. The performance of the five daily Prayers This hadith encourages Muslims to call at their stated times is the most effective people towards doing good deeds because means to develop God-consciousness it will yield to him the same reward as those and God-fearing. Thus man rehearses who in response to his call do good deeds. over and over again the Qur’an’s teaching Similarly, it forbids them to invite people to that man should believe in God and submit do evil because it is a sin and earns the to Him in his day-to-day life. n same punishment.n

[ 4 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Editor’s Note @ Remembering Ali Miyan

On 20th death anniversary of late Syed Abul Hasan Nadwi aka Ali Miyan (RAH) we reminisce his life and time. The passing away of Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Rahmat-ullah-alaih is a great loss not only to India but to all those countries where he was admired and revered as a great scholar. Maulana’s end came when he was reciting the verses of the holy Qur’an. As a scholar of Arabic he had a deep knowledge of the holy book. As a historian and theologist he knew the references and context of each and every ‘surah’. He was so deeply involved in following the Qur’anic instructions that he not only spent each and every moment living his own life in accordance with the spirit of Islam, but tried his best to make others also understand the message of Allah as interpreted and practiced by Prophet Mohammad (May peace be upon him). We feel no hesitation in saying that the Maulana was an ardent Muslim, an emblem to Islamic Culture and a rigid follower of Islam. Yet, he can never be accused of nurturing bias against anyone. This is because of his broad vision that derived from the Qur’anic dictate: “To thee your way, and to me mine”. Love for his country, its prosperity and well-being always remained central to his concerns. Through his movement of “Payame-lnsaniyat” (message of Humanity) he tried his best to bring people of different faiths on one platform. He worked hard to instill confidence, particularly amongst Indian Muslims, and encouraged brotherhood not only between different sects of Muslims but also with their non- Muslim fellow countrymen. Maulana’s doors always remained open for all. He believed in listening to others and making others listen to him. He never believed in living a secluded life. His mission had always been ‘Dawah’ and spreading love, peace and amity.

[ 5 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 As an eminent scholar and widely travelled historian he was quite aware of the tremendous achievements that the world had made in the field of science and technology. The revolutionary developments in the electronic field were also considered by him as heavenly blessings to mankind. It was at his initiative that Darul uloom Nadwatul Ulema, introduced computer courses in its syllabus. Inter- net and e-mail facilities were also acquired. The late Maulana realised the importance of media in the modern world and emphasised that Nadwa too must establish and develop a well-equipped media centre. It was his constant encouragement that resulted in the creation of a Media Research Centre under the department of Journalism and Publicity in Nadwa. The English magazine “The Fragrance of the East” is in fact the outcome of a long cherished desire of the Maulana to create a forum for transmission of knowledge in Islamic affairs internationally. He was happy and delighted each time the latest issue of the “Fragrance” was presented to him. The editor had his last audience with Maulana on December 27, 1999 just before the ‘lftar’ of the Ramadhan fast. This was four days before his demise. His parting words were: “Isko jari rakhiye” [Carry on its (Fragrance) publication). May God give strength and enable us to fulfil his desire. Maulana through his “Payame Insaniyat” (message of humanity) campaign travelled throughout the country and tried to bring different communities particularly Muslims and Hindus together. He spread messages of love affection and brotherhood among different communities. Incidentally his last public statement issued a day before he died was the condemnation of the hijacking of IC 814 flight. He termed the act inhuman and un-lslamic. n S.A.

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[ 6 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Influence of Muslims on Indian Civilisation - S. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Muslim Saints and Preachers and prosperity. Muslims came to India, Permanent Settlement and Spirit of sometimes, supremely unconcerned with Service worldly aims and ambitions and guided But, whatever the capacity they solely by the lofty sentiment of religious came in, the Muslims always treated India service. They brought with them the as their home. Their belief was that the Islamic message of equity and social earth belonged to God and He gave it in justice in order to show to men thirsting the supervision and keeping of whom He for light and freedom in a dark, narrow pleased. The considered themselves to be world the way to break their shackles and the divinely appointed trustees of His land avail themselves of the priceless bounties and the servants of His people. “Every of nature that were lying scattered all over country is our country for it is the country God’s wide earth. The best instances of of our Lord” was their motto. these dedicated, high-souled preachers are offered by the lives of the devoted The Muslims, as such, unfailingly servants of Islam under whose benign regarded India as their own country of shadow thousands of oppressed permanent abode from which they could members of the Indian society not only never turn their eyes away. They found shelter but also began to live with ungrudgingly gave of their best mental, them as their own, beloved kinsmen. The physical and spiritual resources, their names of Hazrat Ali Hujweri, Khwaja choicest natural abilities and talents, in its Moinuddin Ajmeri and Syed Ali bin Shahab service, thinking that the contribution they Hamadani Kashmiri are richly would make to its development and representative of this holy order of men. prosperity would ultimately be to their own advantage, for was not their future tied up Rulers and Conquerors inseparably with it? The attitude of Muslim And, sometimes, they came as settlers towards India, thus, was radically warriors and conquerors and deep- different from that of the British and other hearted rulers, such as, Mahmud foreign imperialistic Powers that came to Ghaznavi, Mohammad Ghori and hold sway over the land, or parts of it, at a Zahiruddin Babar. These men of courage later stage of its history. The object of the and ambition laid the foundations of a Western imperialists here was simply to magnificent Empire that continued to make hay while the sun shone. They prosper for a long time and carried the treated India like a cow which had come country to glorious heights or progress into their hands for a few days, and were eager to milk it as thoroughly as they could. [ 7 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 The devotion with which the Muslims of the Arab disposition, the dainty strove for the advancement and prosperity refinement of the Iranians and the rugged of India can be understood only in this simplicity of the Turks. Besides, they context. brought many other priceless gifts and Cultural Isolation of India virtues. When the Muslims had set their Concept of Divine Unity feet on the Indian soil, there were here the The most valuable of these gifts ancient sciences and philosophy and an was the sovereign and unalloyed Islamic abundance of food and the raw materials, concept of Divinity, which, at one stroke, but, culturally, India had lapsed into dispensed with all intermediaries between isolation from the civilised world for a long man and the Maker in respect of prayer time. The mighty mountains on the north and supplication. There is emphatically and the sea on the other three sides of it no place in the Islamic creed for beliefs had prevented it from having a regular like Polytheism, incarnation of God and ‘ intercourse with the world that lay beyond the merging of man in the Almighty and its frontiers. The last foreign invader to visit becoming one with Him.’ Islam declares, India before the Muslims was Alexander plainly and once for all, the Sovereignty the Great. During the period intervening and Absolute Oneness of the Divine—One between these two events India had and Everlasting—Who begetteth not, nor remained severely cut off from the outside is He begotten, and nor does He take world. There had been no exchange of partners in the discharge of the functions knowledge with the foreign countries. No of Divinity— the creation, the sustenance, new idea, no fresh cultural impetus had the management and the ownership of the reached it from abroad, nor had it been universe lie in His hands alone. It was but able to send out anything from its own natural for a belief like this to make a ancient fund of wisdom. powerful impact on the Indian mind, out of Contact With the Outside World touch as-it had been with pure monotheistic doctrine for hundreds of It was at a time like this that the years. Says K. M. Panikkar of this impact: Muslims made their debut on the Indian stage. They were, in those in the East. “One thing is clear. Islam had a They brought with them to India a new, profound effect on Hinduism during this practical and highly rationalistic religion, period. Medieval theism is in some mature knowledge, a progressive culture ways a reply to the attack of Islam; and and an evolved civilisation which included the doctrines of medieval teachers by within it all that was best in the cultural whatever names their gods are known stock of many nations—it represented a are essentially theistic. It is the one synthesis of the natural wholesomeness supreme God that is the object of the devotee’s adoration and it is to His

[ 8 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 grace that we are asked to look for and shone up the abuses that had crept redemption”. into Hindu society—the petrification of Equality and Brotherhood caste, untouchability, exclusiveness carried to fantastic lengths. The idea Socially, a most epoch-making of the brotherhood of Islam and the change was brought about by the Islamic theoretical equality of its adherants notion of human equality and brotherhood. made a powerful appeal especially to There was no division of society into those in the Hindu fold who were denied permanent classes and no such any semblance of equal treatment”. community as the untouchables among the Muslims. Their belief was that no one “Islam’s democratic challenge” to was born unclean into the world nor quote another writer of repute, “ has predeterminately ignorant and debarred by perhaps never been equaled by any other the very fact of his birth in a certain class religious or social system. Its advent on from the acquirement of knowledge. No the Indian scene was marked by a trade or occupation was reserved for any profound stirring of consciousness. It particular section of humanity. On the other modified the basis of Hindu social hand, they fraternised freely with each- structure throughout northern India”. other at all levels, the -rich strove with the Rights of Women and Other Social poor in the pursuit of learning and there Reforms was freedom of profession for all. The idea Then there was the recognition of of brotherhood was for the Indian mind and the dignity of women and of their rights as the Indian society a novel experience and respectable members of the family and a call to renewed thinking which did a lot life-partners of men. The significance of of good to the country. The bonds of the the rights bestowed by Islam on the softer then existing class-ridden society were sex in a country where widows of noble relaxed to a considerable extent and thus families used to immolate themselves on was witnessed a widespread recoil from the funeral pyres of their husbands, since the excessive rigidity of the caste-system. in the eyes of society, as well as in their The advent of Islam acted as a challenge own eyes, they forfeited the right to live to social reformers in other fields also. with the death of their husbands, does not Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has offered the stand in need of an elaboration. We may, following comments on the uplifting however, reproduce the under-mentioned influence exerted by Islam and Muslims lines from Burnier’s travel accounts to on the Indian social structure: show what infinite pains did the Muslims “The impact of the invaders from the take, for instance, for the suppression of north west and of Islam on India had the custom of Sutti from the earliest days been considerable. It had pointed out of their rule.

[ 9 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 “………. the number of victims is less Muslims produced a whole library of now than formerly; the Mahometans, by historical works that could compare whom the country is governed, doing favourably in authenticity and all in their power to suppress the comprehensiveness with the endeavours barbarous custom. They do not, made in this branch in any other country. indeed, forbid it by a positive law, A glance through Maulana Syed Abdul because it is a part of their policy to Hai’s monumental book in Arabic, Es- leave the idolatrous population which Saqafat-ul-Islamia-Fil-Hind (Islamic is so much more numerous than their Culture in India), will indicate what own, in the free exercise of its religion; tremendous efforts were made by Muslims but the practice is checked by indirect for the compilation of the history of India. means. No woman can sacrifice To quote Dr. Gustave le Bon : herself without permission from the “There does not exist a history of governor of the province in which she ancient India. Their books contain no resides, and he never grants it until he historical data whatever, except for a few shall have ascertained that she is not religious books in which historical to be turned aside from her purpose; information is buried under a heap of to accomplish this desirable end the parables and folk-lore, and their buildings governor reasons with the widow and and other monuments also do nothing to makes her enticing promises; after fill the void for the oldest among them do which, if these methods fail, She not go beyond the third century B.C. To sometimes sends her among his discover facts about India of the ancient women, that the effect of their times is as difficult a task as the discovery remonstrance’s may be tried. of the island of Atlantis, which, according Notwithstanding these obstacles, the to Plato, was destroyed due to the number of self-immolations changes of the earth”. particularly in the territories of the Rajas, where no Mahometan The writer, after admitting that the governors are appointed”. epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, do shed some light on the conditions obtaining Writing of History during those days, goes on to add that, “ The Muslims also introduced The historical phase of India began with several modern branches of learning, a the Muslim invasion. Muslims were India’s most important of which was history. Till first historians”. then, the writing of history was almost an New Techniques unknown art in India, there being hardly anything to speak of in the line save Liberality of the mind, originality of religious treatises and a few epics like the thought and new techniques of poetry and Ramayana and Mahabharata. The literature were taught to the Indians by

[ 10 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Muslims. A new angle of vision and a new “There are neither good horses in India, horizon of thought could not be possible nor good flesh, nor grapes, nor melons, without intellectual and literary integration. nor ice, nor cold water, nor baths, nor To the credit of Muslims also goes the birth candle, nor candlestick, nor torch. In the of a most beautiful, living, growing and place of the candle, they use the divat. expanding language which became the It rests on three legs: a small iron piece medium of intercourse among people of resembling the snout of a lamp is fixed the various parts of the country and an to the top end of one leg and a weak excellent vehicle of literary expression. By wick to that of another ; the hollowed it, I mean Urdu whose richness and rind of a gourd is held in the right hand elegance beg no description. from which a thin stream of oil is Cultural Revolution poured through a narrow hole. Even in case of Rajas and Maharajas, the The impress of Muslims is most attendants stand holding the clumsy prominent in the spheres of culture, social divat in their hands when they are in manners and general mode of living. The need of a light in the night. Muslims revolutionised the pattern of life in the country and gave it a new form which There is no arrangement for running was entirely different from what was water in gardens and buildings. The known here formerly, just as the design of buildings lack beauty, symmetry, life in modern Europe is totally dissimilar ventilation and neatness. Commonly, to what prevailed there in the Middle Ages. the people walk bare footed with a narrow slip tied round the loins. Women Babar’s Account wear a dress consisting of piece of In order to appreciate adequately cloth, half of which is wrapped round the extent and value of Muslim influence the legs while the other half is thrown on the Indian culture it is necessary to over the head”. obtain some idea of the picture India Commenting on Babar’s presented before the arrival of Islam and observations on the cultural insolvency the Muslims. Babar, fortunately, has left and backwardness of India, Jawaharlal behind a vivid description of cultural Nehru has said: decadence that was evident on all sides, and this makes the task of judging the worth “…… his account tells us of the cultural and merit of Muslim contribution easy. It poverty that had descended on North may, however, be borne in mind here that India. Partly this was due to Timur’s Muslims had begun their development destruction, partly due to the exodus of activities in India quite a long time before many learned men and artists and the coming of the Mughals. Writes Babar noted craftsmen to the South. But this in his memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Babari : was due also to the drying up of the creative genius of the Indian people.

[ 11 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Babar says that there was no lack of weaving, dyeing, printing and design laying skilled workers and artisans, but there were undertaken. He also established was no ingenuity or skill in mechanical industrial centres for stone and ivory invention”. carving and paper-making. Gifted as he Development of Fruit was with an advanced, constructive mind, the Sultan had succeeded in arousing a In spite of the fertility of its soil, few rare enthusiasm for progress in trade, fruits were found in India and those too industry and agriculture among his were of a poor quality. Most of them were subjects. Maulana Syed Abdul Hai says, grown wild. People did not take enough interest in the development of horticulture. “Among the outstanding works of the The Mughals, on the other hand, were Sultan for the development of the possessed of a refined taste and there country were included the construction was a great abundance of fruit in their of mosques, schools and the planting native land. Fruit-cultivation, accordingly, of fruit-bearing trees and orchards. He made a rapid progress in India with their aroused the people magnificently for coming. Details of it can be found in the these tasks. He also built wells and famous memoirs of Emperors Babar and canals for irrigation. Skilled artisans and Jehangir—Tuzuk-i-Babari and Tuzuk-i- craftsmen came to him from Iran and Jehangiri respectively. The Mughals Turkestan and set up their crafts and developed several new and delicious industries in his kingdom. As a result, varieties of fruits by making extensive Gujarat had become a rich, fertile experiments in grafting. The mango is a stretch of greenery with flourishing well-known Indian fruit, but, before the gardens, dense groves and delicious arrival of the Mughals, only one variety of fruit, as well as an important trading it, the seed-variety (Tukhmi) was in centre which exported cloth to foreign existence. It was the Mughals who lands. This was due entirely to the developed the beautiful, luscious grafted ceaseless efforts of Sultan Mahmud mangoes. This step, in course of time, led and the keen interest he took in the to the introduction of numerous varieties welfare of his people”. of the fruit. Reforms of Akbar and Sher Shah Agriculture, Trade and Industry Cloth-weaving factories were The same was the case with established also during the reign of Akbar. textile. Dresses in India were generally That great Mughal emperor also made from rough, coarse, cloth. A number introduced many valuable agrarian of textile factories were set up in Gujarat reforms appertaining to the measurement by Sultan Mahmud Shah, better known as of land, and the assessment and Mahmud Baigrah (died, 1511) where cloth- collection of land revenue. The improvements made by Sher Shah and

[ 12 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Akbar in the field of finance, specially in caravansarai to carry the mail so that coinage and currency, had not been heard letters and messages could be sent of in India before. Sher Shah had a unique regularly from Nilab to the distant borders gift for legislation and administrative of Bengal. Fruit-bearing trees were planted organization. In fact, it was his example on either side of the road whose fruit and which Akbar followed later. shade were a great boon to the travellers. Public Utility Works Cleaner and Better Mode of Living Muslim rulers also achieved great Over and above all this, the success in the training of animals and the Muslims acquainted the original improvement of livestock. We can obtain inhabitants of India, with a cleaner and an elaborate idea of the good work done better mode of living. They taught them the by them in these directions from historical refinements and luxuries of taste and food records like Tuzuk-i-Jehangiri and Ain-i- and drink. They taught them the principles Akbari. They built numerous hospitals, of hygiene and sanitation, the advantage poor-houses, public parks and gardens, of building airy houses and the use of cups and tanks and canals. Maulana Syed Abdul and other vessels of food. Till then the Hai has furnished, in his unique work, Indians used to take their meals, even at Jannat-ul-Mashriq, a long list of hospitals large feasts, from leaves of trees, a and other benevolent and public welfare custom which is still prevalent at some institutions set up and development places. The Muslims, brief, brought about projects undertaken in India during the so- a big change in Indian social customs, called Muslim period. living habits, domestic comforts and All the huge highways that connect home-decoration. They ushered in a new the western parts of the sub-continent with style in architecture, which, in the delicacy its eastern parts were given to it by Muslim of its design, grace, symmetry and dignity, kings and emperors. The most important was distinguished from what traditionally of them is the one built by Sher Shah. It is obtained here. The Taj offers a classical 3,000 miles (or 4,832 Kilometers) long, and instance of the new Mohammaden runs from Nilab in Sind to Sonargaon in architecture. In the words of Pandit Nehru: what is now Eastern Pakistan. At every “The coming of Islam and of a second mile of the road there was a considerable number of people from caravansarai with separate charitable outside with different ways of living and grub houses for Hindu and Muslim thought, affected these beliefs and travellers and a mosque. The Muezzin, structure. A foreign conquest, with all Imam and Hafiz for the mosque were its evils, has one advantage: it widens appointed by the State. A pair of speedy the mental horizon of the people and horses were stationed at each compels them to look out of their shells.

[ 13 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 They realise that the world is a much of outstanding masters of the system bigger and a more variegated place poured into the country for a period than they had imagined. So the Afghan stretching over five hundred years. Due conquest had affected India and many to the priceless services rendered by changes had taken place. Even more these worthy men and their pupils—their so the Moghals, who were far more spirit of dedication and high proficiency— cultured and advanced in the ways of the Unani system touched its peak in India. living than the Afghans, brought The indigenous systems faded into changes to India. In particular, they insignificance before the progress it made. introduced the refinements for which No city or town was left without a Iran was famous. . “ practitioner of the Unani school. This The same view was expressed by system was cheap, simple, and in Dr. Pattabhi Sitacamayya in his harmony with the Indian climatic and Presidential Address to the Fifty-fifth temperamental conditions. So it spread in Session of the Congress held at Jaipur in India very quickly and did a wonderful 1948. He said that the Muslims had service to the people, composed as they “enriched our culture, strengthened our were mainly of the poorer classes. The administration, and brought near distant Indian physicians, by their contribution, lent parts of the country …….. It (the Muslim further glory to it. During the declining phase of Muslim rule, Delhi and Lucknow Period) touched deeply the social life and were its two major strongholds and now the literature of the land “. India remains the only country where this Medicine system is still in vogue. The Muslims, moreover, brought to Ten Gifts of Muslims India a new system of medicine—the Unani system—which, before the dawn of The noted historian, Sir Jadunath modern medicine, was universally Sircar, has, in a paper entitled, ‘ Islam in recognised as the most advanced and India ‘, enumerated ten gifts, which, scientific system for the treatment of according to him, the Muslims conferred diseases. At their hey-day the countries on India. Some of these we have already of Iraq, Iran and Turkestan were the most discussed in this chapter ; the rest are as important centres of the Unani system of follows : (i) the establishment of contact medicine in the world, and it was there that with the outside world ; (ii) political unity its greatest exponents and practitioners and uniformity of culture and dress were born during the medieval age. After specially in the upper classes ; (iii) a the establishment of Muslim power in India, common official language and an easy, and encouraged by the generous simple style of prose in the evolution of patronage the Muslim rulers extended to which both the Hindus and Muslims have men of learning and ability, a steady stream taken part ; (iv) the promotion of regional

[ 14 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 languages under the aegis of the Central was over, the text of the Divine”. Government so that there may ensue Luminous Torch general peace and contentment and equal opportunities for literary and cultural And so does N. S. Mehta, a gifted advancement may be made available to Indian civil servant, says in course of an all ; (v) the revival of maritime trade which article entitled, ‘ Islam and the Indian was originally in the hands of the people Civilization ‘: of South but had been lying suspended for “Islam had brought to India a luminous a long time ; and (vi) the formation of the torch which rescued humanity from Indian navy. darkness at a time when old civilizations Material and Spiritual Achievements were on the decline and lofty moral ideals had got reduced to empty Speaking of the material and intellectual concepts. As in other lands, spiritual achievements of Muslims in India, so in India, too, the conquests of Islam W. W. Hunter, a noted anti-Muslim writer, were more widespread in the world of has observed that: “The Musalmans led thought than in the world of politics. several of these great land reclamation Today, also, the Islamic World is a colonies to the southward, and have left spiritual brotherhood which is held their names in the Eastern Bengal as the together by community of faith in the first dividers of the water from the land. Oneness of God and human equality. The sportsman comes across their dykes, Unfortunately, the history of Islam in this and metaled roads, and mosques, and country remained tied up for centuries tanks, and tombs in the loneliest recesses with that of government with the result of the jungle ; and wherever they went, they that a veil was cast over its true spirit, spread their faith, chiefly by a bold appeal and its fruits and blessings were hidden to the two great instincts of the popular from the popular eye”. heart. The Hindus had never admitted the amphibious population of the Delta within In sum, as it would be evident from the pale of their community. The the facts we have stated in the foregoing Muhammadens offered the plenary pages, and the opinions we have privileges of Islam to Brahman and examined, what the Muslims gave to India outcaste alike. ‘ Down on your knees, was much greater and far more lasting and every one of you,’ preached these fierce valuable than what they took from it. The missionaries, ‘before the Almighty in coming of Islam and Muslims marked the whose eyes all men are equal, all created beginning of a new era in its history—an beings as the dust of earth. There is no era of enlightenment, progress and god but the one God, and His Messenger prosperity—which it can never possibly is Muhammad ‘. The battle cry of the forget. n warrior became, as soon as the conquest

[ 15 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 The Prophet’s (SAW) Arrival in Madinah - S.M. Rabey Hasani Nadwi* On arrival in Madinah, he (SAW) for the Juma prayers set in and he had entered the city from the Quba side. It is a the Juma prayers offered en route itself. locality affiliated with Madinah at a distance On arrival in Madinah, he (SAW) was of about three miles south of it. It has accorded a very warm welcome. The head orchards of date-palms. Besides, it has, of each and every family requested him to in its southern regions on the eastern and camp and take up lodging at his house. western sides untraceable mountainous But, instead of taking a decision himself, ups and downs extended up to Madinah he left his mount loose. He had the orders city which are called Hirrah The rocks of from God to do the same. And, for the such regions are black, uneven and sharp- mount it was destined by God to halt only edged. It is hard to tread on them. Madinah at the place that was divinely prespecified Munawwarah is surrounded by regions of for the purpose. Under the instructions such rocks from East, South and West. from Allah, he (SAW) was to have that very Hence, those bound for the city enter it place chosen. Otherwise, there were only from its Northern side. But, the offers galore from all sides to take up the Prophet (SAW) arrived there from the lodgings at their residences. Southern side. Probably, he (SAW) did so Anyway, this privilege happened to out of circumspection; and, it was from be the lot of Hazrat Abu Ayyub Ansari (RAA) this very side, too, that his arrival was as it was the doorway of his house where awaited. On arrival at Quba, he (SAW) had the Prophet’s she-camel took the halt and his halt there for several days. There he knelt down. And, he (SAW) decided to take had a mosque built which earned the up his lodgings there itself. It was a happy renown of being the first ever mosque built coincidence, too, that Abu Ayyub (RAA) after the advert of Islam. It is about it that was a member of such a blood-line of the Quran says: Khazraj tribe of Madinah which the mother (Surely a mosque built from first day of the Prophet’s (SAW) grandfather, Abdul- on piety is worthier that thou shouldst Muttalib, had belonged to. Thus, the stand therein. In it are men who love to Prophet (SAW) had happened to have a purify themselves, and Allah approves kinship, too, with this household. the pure.)( Al-Tauba:108) Construction of Masjid-e-Nabawi (The It was Monday when he (SAW) had Prophet’s Mosque): arrived there. Three days later, on Friday, Then, after having bought the land he set out for Madinah. En route, the time in front of this very place, he (SAW) had a mosque constructed on it. This land had * Rector, Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow.

[ 16 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 belonged to two orphan kids. Coming to of the paradise. To offer prayers in it is like know that it was meant for mosque, they offering prayers in the paradise. wanted to have it donated. But, he (SAW) By the time his arrival in Madinah did not like to have it procured without took place, the majority of its inhabitants payment of price. He paid its price in full. had already become his followers. And, the In the work of construction of mosque, too, aboriginal inhabitants of the place had he (SAW) participated equally with others. already given assurances, too, of having This mosque got to be known as ‘Masjid- him defended and to have their lives e-Nabawi’ (the Prophet’s Mosque) which transformed, under his guidance, into an assumed the position of the grand and Islamic one. It was, thus, the second main mosque of Madina. phase of his Call towards the Truth that One of the honours conferred by had now got launched. And the credit and Allah Almighty on him (SAW) was that this the honour thereof went to the city called mosque built by him (SAW) was held so ‘Yathrab’. Yathrab was, essentially, the auspicious in Allah’s reckoning that on name of a part of the city which got, offering prayers in it, the merit accrued gradually, applied to the entire city. This thereupon got proclaimed to be equivalent word had an opprobrious implication also. to fifty thousand prayers offered in other He (SAW), therefore, liked it to be ordinary mosques. On the South and East expressed in other appellations instead of of this very mosque and adjacent to it, he this one. Since then, it got to be named as (SAW) got the chambers for his pious ‘Taiba, ‘Taba and, in ascription to him wives built. And, thus, his (SAW) residence (SAW), Madinat-unNabi, (Prophet’s city). happened to be adjacent to the mosque. And, for the sake of brevity, Madinat- Latter, on the advent of his demise, in the unNabi came to be called just ‘Al-Madinah’. chamber of his pious wife, Hazrat Ayisha, There had come once an adjacent to this very mosque, wherein he opportunity when this honor and glory had breathed his last, he (SAW) was laid could have, perhaps, gone to Taif, had the at rest, too, for his final repose. Thus, the powers-that-be there appreciated the occasion of offering prayers in this mosque magnificence of this mission and offered came to serve as an opportunity for themselves for its support and had him offering Salam to him (SAW) and (SAW) shifted there. The Harbinger of this expressing one’s love for, and his bond Call for the Truth had himself, having with, him (SAW). Hence, whoever goes undertaken the arduous journey, put up to on Haj pilgrimage, pays homage to this them the proposal of extending support to mosque as well. That part of this mosque him. But this lofty position was not destined that lies adjacent to his (SAW) place of to be the lot of this city. Owing to their repose (the grave) up to the pulpit of the obstinacy and contumacy, they had mosque has been proclaimed to be a themselves deprived of this honor and flowerbed from amongst the flowerbeds [ 17 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 glory. It was, in fact, not destined by the and with concentration. Although, it was, Divinity itself to be their lot. in this phase, the hostility at collective and Ultimately, three years after this very organized level, instead of the enmity and occasion, that glory and honor got baiting at individual level, that had to be bestowed on Madinah, whose people tackled. responded to the offer made by him The Physical and Geographical (SAW) in a positive way and gave their Condition of Madinah: consent to lend support to him (SAW) Location-wise, Madinah wholeheartedly. And, thus, the city of Munawwarah held a particular place of Yathrab got transformed into Madint-ul- importance. It is located about 450 kms. Munawwarah (literally meaning: the city North of Makkah Mokarramah. It had made resplendent with radiance). It around it a range of mountains. On the became the abode and the domicile of the other side of the mountains on the West last Prophet of Allah Almighty wherein he is the sea at a distance not far away. In got the opportunity, living, as he did, amidst between the sea and the mountain, the strong supporters, to disseminate the land is level. It was’ geographically, part of message of Islam. This phase of Tehama. Caravans coming from the south dissemination of the message of Islam got bound for Syria, Egypt and Turkey had to commenced after his having spent 13 pass through it. Being, as it did, in the years facing one severe hurdle after proximity of Madinah, this route was, in a another and one distress after another in way, within the domain of the people of performance of the task of calling towards Madinah. The city of Madinah, looking at it the Truth since he had the office of the from its eastward direction, is located on Prophecy assigned and under which he the western end of the mountainous range was called upon to have this job performed. called Hijaz. Its land is arable and fertile. Thanks to this shift in location, he Hence, farming and husbandry has (SAW) and his honorable companions had continuously been done here. There have now the opportunity to take safeguards always been orchards of date-palms and against the enmity and persecutions of the grapes also here. Because of that, people of the city of Makkah, the place denizens of this place happen, generally, whence the call towards the religion of to be farmers and land-owners. This was Truth had gotten initiated. Besides that, the something contradictory to Makkah where Muslims got also, thanks to the fraternal the land was arid. The people there used and cooperative atmosphere that they got to be, by profession, traders. Owing to here, ample opportunity to fulfill the that, they had to go, carrying with them obligation of carrying out the task of their merchandise, sometimes to Yemen propagating and disseminating the religion and, sometimes, to Syria. On their way to of Truth in much more organized manner Syria, they had to pass by the vicinity of

[ 18 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Madinah. Hence, throughout the expanse regarded as aliens. Their population, too, of the Arab Peninsula, this importance of was not much. The main and prominent the people of this place was duly clans of them were known by the appreciated. That, in case they got denominations of Banu Nudhair, Banu annoyed, they could cause blockade of the Quraiza, and Banu Qainqaa. These were trade routes, particularly vis-a-vis the the affluent people of this place. They had, Quoraish who were, by profession, the generally, turned into landlords. They traders. Hence, the latter were fully aware would employ the Arabs as labourers in of the criticality of having their trade route their gardens and fields on wages and lend to Syria passing through the vicinity of money to their poor and pauper on interest. Madinah. Moreover, the tribes of Aus and They would render support to one party Khazraj, who were the inhabitants of against the other in the latter’s internecine Madinah, belonged to the Qahtanite race in-fighting. That would get the internecine of Arabs; whereas the Quoraishite and the fighting of the Arab tribes further intensified tribes of their friends and kinsfolk belonged . Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Hasani to the Ishmaelite race. Because of this Nadwi writes as follows: tribal disparity, too, each of the two groups “The life there was far ahead in had, to some extent, a separate mindset complexities than that in Makkah. And, of its own. Each of the two groups also thus, the problems faced by the Prophet had, to certain extent, the racial (SAW) at Madinah were of varied nature. predilection of their respective tribes. There were several religions, societies and The Social Condition: cultures. The task of getting all of them This city of Madinah, prior to its under control and having Madinah dyed people becoming Muslim and the arrival with a single dye of one creed and one of the Prophet (SAW) here, was, after the religion could not have been done but only custom and tradition of Arab tribes of other by a Prophet ‘reinforced by Allah’ Himself, regions, in the throes of internecine civil the one whom Allah had endowed with war because of the exaggerated sense of probity and perception, faculty of selfesteem. Its regional and local determination and the extraordinary conditions had their own peculiar capability of having the fragmented complexities also. There were here two elements of the humanity reassembled Arab tribes, Aus and Khazraj, who had, and organized, the capability of having the essentially, belonged to the same race. forces and ideologies engaged in mutual But, spurred by tribalism, they kept fighting in-fighting converted into associates of each other. each other in performance of the task of Guidance and Reform of the humanity; the There were, besides them, the one endowed with a charming personage. Jewish tribes also in the neighborhood. This is the fact which has been described Being non-Arabs, as they did, they were by Allah Almighty in His Book thus: [ 19 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 (He it is who confirmed thee with His solemnized. It was on one-to-one basis. help and with the believers. And He As a result thereof, their racial united their hearts Hadst thou spent all disparateness got transformed into that is on the earth thou couldst not propinquity and fraternity. Hazrat Maulana have united their hearts. But Allah Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi writes: united them; Verily He is Mighty, wise)” “This fraternization was the prelude (Al-Anfal : 62-63) to establishment of a missionary Ummat, The Universal Fraternization: that was the foundation of a unique-of-its- Now with the arrival of Muslims of kind, Islamic and universal fraternity which the tribe of the Quoraish in Madinah and was going to be raised for having a new their getting united with Aus and Khazraj, world order, say, a new world, evolved. It the moral and religious bond between the was getting evolved to give the world the two races of the populace of Madinah, that correct and specific creeds and such is Aus and Khazraj, on the one hand, and pious objectives as would emancipate it the Muslims of the Quoraish tribe, on the from the desolation and disorder, to give it other, had, at least, eliminated, to a great the bonds of Faith, the real fraternity and extent, the prejudicial disparateness unified Campaigning. This bond of limited between these two races. Under the brotherhood between Muhajirs and Ansar banner of Islam, both of them got united. thus proved to be the harbinger of a new Both of them had now just one Mentor and life for the world of the humanity.” one Leader. And, thus, the Islamic order Hence, with the arrival of Islam in this of life got substantially bolstered by it. It city and its acceptance of the Islamic had, in addition, the Prophet’s (SAW) injunctions, its habitants got instructed into sagacious, affectionate and affable making themselves brothers to each guidance available to it. Thus, a force that other, and into adopting, having given up had its reigns in the Prophet’s (SAW) the tribal predilections, the attitude of hands, got evolved here. The Muslims humanistic compassion and justice. coming from Makkah, being members of Despite the tribal predilection, the feeling the Ismailite race did not have the of fraternity got generated in them. They congenital kinship with Aus and Khazraj. (Aus and Khazraj) had not only Instead, they had deemed each other kind themselves become brothers to each of aliens, nay, rivals, rather. To redeem this other, but had made the people of Makkah, disparateness and estrangement, the too, their brothers. With the arrival of the Prophet (SAW) took the measure that he Prophet (SAW) there, a magnificent (SAW) had them formally fraternized. That ambience of love, brotherhood, is, he (SAW) had a covenant of their being compassion and commiseration was brothers, on the line of kinship that exists created there. n between the sanguine siblings, formally

[ 20 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 5G Cell Phone Radiation: Note of Caution - Claire Edwards The telecom companies thought authoritarianism is not the stuff of that if they called their new, alleged dystopian fantasy but of an emerging ‘communications technology,’ adapted reality. from the military Active Denial He described the Internet of Technology, ‘5G’ or Fifth Generation, the Things, ‘smart’ cities and Artificial public would just assume that it was Intelligence (AI) as a giant, dark more of the same as 4G, 3G or 2G;and thundercloud lowering ever more if they could characterize the rollout as oppressively over the human race, a a race, the public would not have enough gathering force reshaping the future of time to find out what a killer technology humanity over which the human race has 5G is. no control and from which, in future, How wrong they were! Not only has there may be nowhere to hide. the public found out, but now they know He asked if algorithms could be how lethal previous generations of trusted with our lives and hopes and wireless technology – to be used whether machines should be allowed to concurrently with 5G – are as well. Much doom us to a cold and heartless future in evidence has been published from a in an Orwellian world designed for number of different countries that the censorship, repression and control. pushback is huge and growing. He recalled the Universal The telcos have lost the Declaration of Human Rights and propaganda war, despite their control endorsed its ideals of upholding of the mainstream media, from which freedom of opinion and expression, the not a whisper of the dangers of 5G is privacy of home and correspondence, heard, and of social media and and the right to seek and impart YouTube, who have been desperately information and ideas. deleting millions of accounts to silence the naysayers. He exhorted the academic committees, company boards and As this article went to press, industry standards groups who are support arrived from an unlikely source. writing the rule books of the future, In an impassioned speech before the making ethical judgements, and United Nations General Assembly on 24 choosing what will, or will not, be September 2019, UK Prime Minister rendered possible to find the right Boris Johnson stated that digital balance between freedom and control,

[ 21 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 between innovation and regulation, to Earth, for this puts the ionosphere and between private enterprise and the entire planet at risk. We must also government oversight. work to ensure that the use of street He insisted that the ethical lights with blue light for this anti-life judgements inherent in the design of agenda is rapidly reversed. new technology must be made (Courtesy: Global Research) transparent to all and that joint efforts Claire Edwards, BA Hons, MA, must be made to agree upon a common worked for the United Nations as Editor set of global principles to shape the and Trainer in Intercultural Writing from norms and standards that will guide the 1999 to 2017. Since May 2018, she development of emerging technology. has collaborated with Arthur However, we cannot afford to be Firstenberg to publish the International complacent and, in particular, we must Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in work to stop the use of the Earth orbits Space (www.5gspaceappeal.org), and the stratosphere to beam 5G down which is available in 28 languages. n

Limitations of Human Knowledge

The realities of things are very often so different from what they appear to us according to our imperfect lights. And, how much the interior of a thing differs from its exterior; the outer from the inside reality; how incomprehensible and enigmatic are the mysteries of the Universe; but man is hotheaded enough to claim that his knowledge compasses all, the secrets of man as well as of universe, down to their core and inner-most realities. At first sight Khidhr appeared to be away from apparent realities and his actions were the look of meaningless moves. But, to the end of the chapter, we find him more realistic and acting more wisely. The story illustrates that life is ever on the move, presenting us with situations and new realities in every age from its inexhaustible store of secrets and mysteries. The episode also elucidates that knowledge is limitless, beyond the scope of human comprehension. And over every word of knowledge there is one more knowing.” (Yusuf: 76)

[ 22 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 How Islam Came to New Zealand? - Syed Kazim New Zealand is one of the unique Wilson, who was born in India, brought countries of the world. According to the over a dozen of Indian families on a ship Global Peace Index 2018 produced by called Akbar and settled in the south of the Institute for Economics and Peace, Christchurch. New Zealand respected New Zealand is the 2nd most peaceful different faiths. country in the world after Iceland and as When the servant of Sir John per the World Happiness Report 2018, Wilson was involved in a court case and it is the 8th happiest country in the world. it was out in the newspapers, he was The country is generally not in allowed to swear by the Qur’an, rather news, but it was in news when the than the Bible. A similar report of an country witnessed two consecutive Arab sailor named Mubarak from Oman terrorist attacks at Mosques in took his employee to court for physically Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday, abusing him. The British was caught, 15th March 2019, during the Friday convicted and fined. Prayer. The attack went on to kill 51 In 1984, a father and son from Muslims. The event shook the nation and Turkmenistan named Sultan shocked the people across the globe. Muhammad and Salah arrived in But, how did Muslims reach New Southland and worked as street venders Zealand is the question which needs to before settling down in Christchurch. be answered. Later Salah opened an ice cream shot The first documented Muslims at Christchurch and was liked by his came to New Zealand in the year 1769, friendly personality and became known the same time as British arrivals. The as Ice Cream Charlie. earlier arrivals were from colonial India, More Muslims started arriving in described as Mohammadans or New Zealand in the early 20th century, Mussulmans. Many were male sailors including three Gujarati men who or labourers in the ship. The first two opened small shops and brought their persons on record were Mahmood and children over between 1906 and 1920. Nasrin. Their grandchildren went on to become In the early 1800 some men community leaders. The first Muslim jumped ship and settled down in New organisation was created in New Zealand by marrying the women. The Zealand in the year 1950. The New early 1850 marked the beginning of Zealand Muslim Association was family migration. In 1854 a man Sir John started when there were only around

[ 23 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 200 Muslims in the country; most of terrorist attack in hospital with fellow them were South Asian. player Sonny Bill Williams, a Muslim In 1951, thousands of Eastern convert. He described them as an European Refugees arrived. A small inspiration and prayed for their speedy minority of Muslims from Albania, recovery. Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union arrived. Allah says, “And the disbelievers In 1979, one of these refugees Mazhar planned, but Allah planned. And Allah is Krasniqi was elected first president of the best of planners” (Qur’an 3:54). In the first national Muslim organisation, another place, Allah says, “And the Federation of Islamic Association of (remember, O Muhammad), when those New Zealand. Today, Muslims make up who disbelieved plotted against you to just 1% which is 46,149 (as per a restrain you or kill you or evict you (from survey) of New Zealand’s 4.7 million Makkah). But they plan, and Allah plans. population, but despite these small And Allah is the best of planners” numbers, the Muslims are just much as (Qur’an 8:30). The enemies of Islam will part of New Zealand’s history as plan to demean Islam and would work European Christians. towards it, but from the ayah we can After the attack, a woman came learn that Allah also plans and Allah is to Masjid Ibrahim in Beeston with gifts the best planner, so Allah’s plan will be to show sympathy and respect to the successful and the plan made by the Muslims. In the Masjid she met a few disbelieves is bound to fail. brothers who were having something to Everything people have tried to eat. They invited her to sit down with harm Islam; it has always worked in them and have something to eat and favour of Islam. We as true Muslims drink. While she was drinking, the should never be afraid of any kind of brothers were giving her Dawah and she situation. We need to remember that was listening very closely. After the everything happens with the will of Allah. conversation, she took her Shahada Allah is not going to ask us about things and accepted Islam. which are not in our control but will surely The population of the country not ask us about things which were within only grew due to migration but also our scope. Today, one of the biggest because many people accepted Islam. challenges before Muslims is A New Zealand rugby player Ofa Islamophobia and we should strive Tu’ungafasi became a Muslim. The all towards overcoming this problem. We black player originally from Tonga, should just have a strong faith in Allah visited victims of the Christchurch and strive in His way. n

[ 24 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Jerusalem, A City Of Contested Histories - Seema Alavi* I landed in Jerusalem with some As I meandered through the amount of trepidation about what awaits alleys, stopping at shops selling me. But I was taken aback by my first beautiful art and ceramics, the bubble conversation at the hotel desk where of the surface bonhomie burst. I picked they enquired if all was well in India. up a beautiful bowl and asked, “Is this Clearly, the news about protests against made here in Israel?’ The elderly the Citizenship Amendment Bill (now shopkeeper said, yes, in “Philistine”. Act) and National Register of Citizens Walking down the next morning to had travelled wide. Talking about it in Hebrew University, the streets were full Jerusalem, home to contested history of Jewish and Muslim students easily and identity conflicts, was particularly identified with their hijabs and the poignant. Jewish kippah. One could hear Arabic Having lived in India all my life, I and Hebrew being spoken by groups of had taken the idea of equality before the youngsters. A young boy, with his law for all Indians for granted. I did not distinctly Arab family, called out a quite know how to engage with this greeting to his Jewish friend across the conversation. To avoid any further street. And just when I began feeling queries , I put the ball in their court. reassured that politics can’t kill this “What about here?” I asked. The Arab spirit, I found a bunch of girls in hijabs staffer said: “Its occupied territory..our being stopped at the police picket. citizenship was snatched..we are just Jerusalem’s rich heritage, residents..But at least in Jerusalem all embodied above all in its beautiful is stable. We feel different from others, architecture and urban landscape, but safe.” This sentiment lingered in my stands in stark contrast to the divisive mind as I strolled around Jerusalem. The politics and identity contestations that throngs of visitors moved with frame the city. The old city not only has enthusiasm between the Al Aqsa the Jewish temple, Al Aqsa mosque and mosque, the Jewish temple wall, and the the Holy Sepulcher Church, but Holy Sepulcher church — the site of fascinating remnants of the Mamluk and Jesus Christ’s crucifixion— making the Ottoman madrasas, sabils (water city feel like the perfect case of cultural drinking spots) and European hospices. integration. These reflect the layers of cultural influences on this historic city. Its richly * Professor (History) Delhi University, Delhi-7

[ 25 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 textured history peeps out from the ruins was reminded that the politics of gender of the past that overlook the alleys of the transcends all other issues of identity. A old city. Not surprisingly, archaeology is long flowing skirt being flung at me to big business here. Archaeologists have wear in order to cover my trousers discovered the city’s Roman past, and before entering the Dome of the Rock its Mamluk and Ottoman heritage. and the mosque reminded me that I had Significantly, much of the Ottoman no other identity except that of a woman. architecture stands on the 13th century This was not entirely surprising. But in a Mamluk remains. And the Mamluk sabils land riveted by contestations of or water dispensers boast of having religious and ethnic identity, it was Roman basins. certainly a little jarring. n And yet as a woman observer, I

A Challenge to Materialistic Outlook The story of narrated here is a challenge to the materialistic way of thought. Materialism claims that life is not an iota more that what it explains; it possesses the secrets of the nature and universe; only that is to be believed which is tangible and capable of being comprehended by human perception; that which is perceptible is real and the rest is non-existent, visionary and baseless; and, finally, that man is the rightful owner and master of this world. Materialism elevates man to the position of lawgiver, claims perfection for human knowledge and assumes that nothing in this vast and complex universe is beyond human comprehension. These have always been the fundamental postulates of materialistic thought, and so it is today also. The Surat-ul-Kahf in general, and the episode of Moses in particular, strikes at the root of materialistic categories of thought. The story concludes with these words of Khidhr: “Such is the interpretation of that wherewith thou couldst not bear”. (Al-Kahf: 83) Interpretation signifies, in the phraseology of the Qur’an, the explanation of a reality. Man is always predisposed to commit mistakes, take hasty decisions and rashly deny the existence of a reality; but when he is confronted with truth and stubborn facts, he has ultimately to accept the realities of the situation. The fourth and the last story narrated in the Surat-ul Kahf, relates to a man who had not only been favoured with a solemn faith but had also at his command power and glory, stupendous assets and natural resources. This man directed his energies to humble the cruel tyrants of his day for the benefit of suffering humanity and to establish a just, humane and civilized order of society.

[ 26 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Don’t Sing in Pilibhit - Tahir Mahmood* “No Lord but Jesus Christ. There is only as a symbol of polytheism?” I further one true God. Forgive us, Father, for asked. Again, there was no answer. allowing a prayer which is an abomination Twelve years after defending an in your right.” This is what a group of Indian prayer on a foreign land, I am fanatics had shouted in the United States confronted with a similar incident in our Senate, protesting against the recitation country. The headmaster of a school in of a classical Indian prayer at the beginning district Pilibhit of Uttar Pradesh allowed his of a session in July 2007. Their deplorable students to sing a traditional Urdu prayer behaviour was later justified by some in their morning assembly. A local religious others on the grounds that “One nation functionary complained to the district under God” in the US National Pledge administration that the headmaster had referred to the God of “monotheistic” deliberately arranged the singing of a Christian faith and the non-Christian “religious” prayer in the school, and the prayer recited in the senate belonged to a administration lost no time in suspending “polytheistic” creed. The US media him with immediate effect, without seeking approached people from different walks any clarification from him. of life seeking their reaction and the majority of respondents disapproved of the I was flabbergasted to read the incident. media story on the bizarre incident. Look at the wording of the “religious” prayer I happened to be in the US and was complained about: Lab pe aati hai dua ban invited by Voice of America to participate ke tamanna meri,/ zindagi shama ki surat in a debate on the incident. The so-called ho khudaya meri/ Door duniya ka mere “polytheistic” prayer objected to was a dam se andhera ho jaye, har jagah meri Vedic hymn — Asato ma sadgamayam chamakne se ujala ho jaye/ Ho mere dam tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mmrityoma se yun hi mere watan ki zinat,/ jis tarah amritam gamaya. Translating it into phool se hoti hai chaman ki zinat/ Zindagi English as “lead us from the unreal to the ho meri parwane ki surat yarab,/ ilm ki real, from darkness to light, from death to shama se ho mujhko mohabbat yarab/ Ho immortality”, I asked my co-debaters “what mera kam gharibon ki himayet karna,/ is polytheistic in it?” No one had an answer. dardmandon se zaeifon se mohabbat “If the Christian trinity of Father, Son and karna/ Mere allah burai se bachana Holy Ghost does not make Christianity a mujhko,/ nek jo ah ho usi rah pe chalana polytheistic faith, how can the Indian trinity mujhko. (To the lips comes my wish of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh be seen turned into prayer, be my life O God like a * The writer is former chair of National candle. May the darkness of the world be Minorities Commission & member, Law eliminated by my efforts, be every place Commission of India. illuminated by my light. May I so adorn my

[ 27 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 homeland as flowers adorn a garden. Be public address system and everybody my life like a moth, God, may I love the used to respectfully stand up in silence; candle of learning. Let my mission be nobody had any problem with it. helping the poor, loving the sufferers and To the best of my knowledge and the elderly. Save me from evil, O God, lead belief, invoking God in school and college me to the path that’s virtuous). songs, in any language, does not violate So what is “religious” in this any law of the country. Article 28 of the beautiful prayer? Does it become Constitution regulates “attendance at “religious” only because its language is religious instruction or religious worship” Urdu, or because God is invoked in it by in educational institutions; its provision His Urdu names, Khuda and Allah? cannot be stretched so as to apply it to Notably, this poem was composed by the the practice of singing religion-oriented renowned poet-reformer Mohammad Iqbal songs in school assemblies. The whose Urdu poem, “Saare jahan se achha language of such songs is immaterial as Hindostan hamara (better than the whole linguistic pluralism is well-recognised by world is our India)”, is still sung as one of the Constitution. All citizens have a our national songs. Iqbal’s prayer is indeed fundamental right to “conserve” their as patriotic as that national song. It was distinct language (Article 29); and all states sung in the morning assemblies in can “by law adopt any one or more of the schools all over North India before languages in use in the state” as their Independence and until many years official language (Article 345). The list of thereafter. It was abandoned when in the Indian languages in Schedule VIII of the 1950s, Urdu medium in schools was Constitution — which as per Article 351 replaced with Hindi. The National Military the state is mandated to take into account College in Dehradun, which had also for developing Hindi “so that it may serve adopted it before 1947, gave it up long after as a medium of expression for all the the advent of Independence. elements of the composite culture of India”— includes Urdu. I may mention here that conspicuously religious hymns and songs According to reports, the are sung now in the morning assemblies suspension of the school headmaster in of schools and colleges all over the the UP school has been “temporarily country. These are joined by students of revoked” and, pending inquiry, he has been all communities and nobody has ever transferred to another school. I fail to objected to the practice. I had begun my understand what is being inquired into. In career in 1963 with teaching in the famous view of Urdu being widely understood and Tilak Dhari Singh College of Jaunpur, spoken in the country, does it really need which had a sizeable number of Muslim a prolonged inquiry to discover that the teachers and students. In the morning, Urdu prayer, for allowing which the poor every day, a religious song, teacher is facing punishment, is “Jairaghunandan Jaisiyaram”, was sung conspicuously non-religious? n by a group of students on the college’s (Courtesy: The Indian Express) [ 28 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 The Globalization of War: America’s ‘Long War’ Against Humanity - Michel Chossudovsky “Michel Chossudovsky is one of destabilizing sovereign states. the few individuals I know who has Under a global military agenda, analyzed the anatomy of the New the actions undertaken by the Western World Order and recognized the threat military alliance (U.S.-NATO-Israel) in to the entire human species that it is. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, The Globalization of War is a must Ukraine, Syria and Iraq are coordinated read for anyone who prefers peace and at the highest levels of the military hope to perpetual war, death, hierarchy. We are not dealing with dislocation and despair.”~ Hon. Paul piecemeal military and intelligence Hellyer, former Canadian Minister of operations. The July-August 2014 National Defence. attack on Gaza by Israeli forces was “Professor Michel Chossudovsky undertaken in close consultation with is the most realistic of all foreign policy the United States and NATO. The commentators. He does not lie for actions in Ukraine and their timing money and position, and he does not coincided with the onslaught of the sell his soul for influence. His book attack on Gaza. provides an honest appraisal of the In turn, military undertakings are extreme danger that hegemonic and closely coordinated with a process of demonic American neo-conservatism economic warfare which consists not poses to life on earth.” ~ Dr. Paul Craig only in imposing sanctions on sovereign Roberts, former Assistant Secretary, countries but also in deliberate acts of U.S. Treasury, former Wall Street destabilization of financial and Journal editor, former Wm. E. Simon currencies markets, with a view to Chair in Political Economy, Center for undermining the enemies’ national Strategic and International Studies, economies. Georgetown University. The United States and its allies The ‘globalization of war’ is a have launched a military adventure hegemonic project. Major military and which threatens the future of humanity. covert intelligence operations are being As we go to press, U.S. and NATO undertaken simultaneously in the Middle forces have been deployed in Eastern East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Europe including Ukraine. U.S. military Africa, Central Asia and the Far East. intervention under a humanitarian The U.S. military agenda combines both mandate is proceeding in sub-Saharan major theater operations as well as Africa. The U.S. and its allies are covert actions geared towards threatening China under President [ 29 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”. The Russian Aggression In turn, military maneuvers are Prevention Act (RAPA) is the being conducted at Russia’s doorstep culmination of more than twenty years which could potentially lead to of U.S.-NATO war preparations, which escalation. consist in the military encirclement of both Russia and China: The U.S. air strikes initiated in September 2014 directed against Iraq From the moment the Soviet and Syria under the pretext of going Union collapsed in 1991, the United after the Islamic State are part of a States has relentlessly pursued a scenario of military escalation extending strategy of encircling Russia, just as it from North Africa and the Eastern has with other perceived enemies like Mediterranean to Central and South China and Iran. It has brought 12 Asia. countries in central Europe, all of them formerly allied with Moscow, into the The Western military alliance is in NATO alliance. U.S. military power is an advanced state of readiness. And so now directly on Russia’s borders. is Russia. Worldwide Militarization Russia is heralded as the “Aggressor”. U.S.-NATO military From the outset of the post-World confrontation with Russia is War II period to the present, America’s contemplated. s global military design has been one of world conquest. War and Enabling legislation in the U.S. globalization are intricately related. Senate under “The Russian Aggression Militarization supports powerful Prevention Act” (RAPA) has “set the economic interests. America’s “Long U.S. on a path towards direct military War” is geared towards worldwide conflict with Russia in Ukraine.” corporate expansion and the conquest Any U.S.-Russian war is likely to of new economic frontiers. quickly escalate into a nuclear war, The concept of the “Long War” is since neither the U.S. nor Russia would an integral part of U.S. military doctrine. be willing to admit defeat, both have Its ideological underpinnings are many thousands of nuclear weapons intended to camouflage the hegemonic ready for instant use, and both rely upon project of World conquest. Its Counterforce military doctrine that tasks implementation relies on a global their military, in the event of war, to pre- alliance of 28 NATO member states. In emptively destroy the nuclear forces of turn, the U.S. as well as NATO have the enemy. established beyond the “Atlantic Region” a network of bilateral military

[ 30 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 alliances with “partner” countries Our analysis will focus on the directed against Russia, China, Iran and dangers of nuclear war and the North Korea. What we are dealing with evolution of military doctrine in the post- is a formidable military force, deployed 9/11 era. in all major regions of the World. The central role of media The “Long War” is based on the propaganda as well as the failures of concept of “Self-Defense”. The United the anti-war movement will also be States and the Western World are addressed. While the first chapter threatened. “The Long War” constitutes provides an overview, the subsequent “an epic struggle against adversaries chapters provide an insight into different bent on forming a unified Islamic world dimensions of America’s long war. to supplant western dominance”. Chapter I, Imperial Conquest: Underlying the “Long War”, according America’s “Long War” against to a study by the Rand Corporation, the Humanity provides a post World War Western World must address “three II historical overview of America’s wars potential threats”: from Korea and Vietnam to n those related to the ideologies Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. There is a espoused by key adversaries in the continuum in U.S. Foreign Policy from conflict, the Truman Doctrine of the late 1940s n those related to the use of terrorism to the neocons and neoliberals of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama n those related to governance (i.e., its administrations. absence or presence, its quality, and the predisposition of specific Part II focuses on the dangers of governing bodies to the United nuclear war and global nuclear States and its interests). … in order radiation. to ensure that this long war follows a Chapter II, The Dangers of Nuclear favorable course, the United States War Conversations with Fidel will need to make a concerted effort Castro consists of Conversations with across all three domains. Fidel Castro and the author pertaining Our objective in this book is to to the future of humanity and the post- focus on various dimensions of Cold War process of militarization. This America’s hegemonic wars, by exchange took place in Havana in providing both a historical overview as October 2010. well as an understanding of America’s Chapter III, focuses on the doctrine of contemporary wars all of which, from a Pre-emptive Nuclear and the Role of strategic viewpoint, are integrated. Israel in triggering a first strike use of nuclear weapons against Iran. [ 31 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Chapter IV, The Threat of Nuclear destabilize and impoverish sovereign War, North Korea or the United countries. States? focuses on the persistent U.S. Chapter VI, NATO’s War on threat (since 1953) of using nuclear Yugoslavia: Kosovo “Freedom weapons against North Korea while Fighters” Financed by Organized labeling North Korea a threat to global Crime examines the role of the Kosovo security. Liberation Army (KLA) as an instrument Chapter V, Fukushima: A Nuclear of political destabilization. In War without a War. The Unspoken Yugoslavia, the endgame of NATO’s Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear intervention was to carve up a Radiation examines the dangers of prosperous and successful “socialist nuclear energy and its unspoken market economy” into seven proxy relationship to nuclear weapons. states. The political and economic Nuclear energy is not a civilian breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s economic activity. It is an appendage served as a “role model” for subsequent of the nuclear weapons industry which “humanitarian military endeavors.” is controlled by the so-called defense Chapter VII, The U.S. led Coup contractors. The powerful corporate d’Etat in Haiti against the government interests behind nuclear energy and of Jean Bertrand Aristide was carried nuclear weapons overlap. out in February 2004 with the support Part III illustrates at a country level, the of Canada and France. In a bitter irony, modus operandi of U.S. military and the U.S. ambassador to Haiti James intelligence interventions, including Foley, had previously played a central regime change and the covert support role as U.S. special envoy to of terrorist organizations. The country Yugoslavia, channeling covert support case studies (Yugoslavia, Haiti, Libya, to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Ukraine) illustrate In Haiti, his responsibilities included how individual nation states are U.S. aid to the Front pour la Libération destabilized as a result of U.S.-NATO et la reconstruction nationale (FLRN) covert operations and “humanitarian (National Liberation and Reconstruction wars.” While the nature and Front) largely integrated by former circumstances of these countries are by TontonMacoute death squads. Closely no means similar, there is a common coordinated with the process of regime thread. The purpose is to provide a change and military intervention, the comparative understanding of country- IMF-World Bank macroeconomic level impacts of America’s long war reforms played a crucial role in against humanity. In all the countries destroying the national and analyzed, the intent has been to destroy, impoverishing the Haitian population.

[ 32 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Chapter VIII, “Operation Libya” and Chapter XI, The U.S. has Installed a the Battle for Oil: Redrawing the Map Neo-Nazi Government in Ukraine, of Africa reveals the hidden agenda the structure of the U.S.-EU sponsored behind NATO’s 2011 humanitarian war proxy regime in Kiev is examined. Key on Libya, which consisted in acquiring positions in government and the Armed control and ownership of Libya’s Forces are in the hands of the two neo- extensive oil reserves, that is, almost Nazi parties. The Ukraine National twice those of the United States of Guard financed and trained by the West America. U.S. Africa Command is largely integrated by Neo-Nazis (AFRICOM) played a key role in the war Brown Shirts. on Libya in coordination with NATO. Part IV is entitled Breaking the Libya is the gateway to the Sahel and American Inquisition. Reversing the Central Africa. More generally, what is Tide of War focuses on some of the at stake is the redrawing of the map of contradictions of the antiwar movement. Africa at the expense of France’s Chapter XII, The “American historical spheres of influence in West Inquisition” and the “Global War on and Central Africa, namely a process Terrorism” analyzes the central role of of neocolonial re-division. America’s “war on terrorism” doctrine Chapter IX, The War on Iraq and in harnessing public support for a global Syria. Terrorism with a “Human war of conquest. The “Global War on Face”: The History of America’s Terrorism” (GWOT) is a fabrication Death Squads examines U.S.-NATO’s based on the illusion that one man, covert war on Syria, which consists in Osama bin Laden, outwitted the multi- creating Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist billion dollar U.S. intelligence entities. The U.S.-led covert war community. consists in recruiting, training and Today’s “Global War on Terrorism” financing Islamist death squads which (GWOT) is a modern form of inquisition. are used as the foot-soldiers of the It has all the essential ingredients of the Western military alliance. The ultimate French and Spanish Inquisitions. Going military objective is the destruction of after “Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a both Iraq and Syria. worldwide pre-emptive war to “protect Chapter X, War and Natural Gas. The the Homeland” are used to justify a Israel Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore military agenda. Gas Fields focuses on Israel’s attack In turn, “The Global War on Terrorism” directed against Gaza with a view to is presented as a “Clash of confiscating Gaza’s offshore gas Civilizations”, a war between competing reserves. values and religions, when in reality it is

[ 33 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 an outright war of conquest, guided by economic and military dictatorship strategic and economic objectives. prepared to use atomic weapons Chapter XII, “Manufactured and risk the future of the entire human Dissent”, Colored Revolutions and species to achieve its ends.” the Antiwar Movement in Crisis ~ Hon. Paul Hellyer, former Canadian examines the role of corporate Minister of National Defence. foundations in funding dissent and the n “At these moments when the threat inability of “progressive” civil society of humanity’s extinction by the forces organizations and antiwar collectives to unleashed by the empire and its effectively confront the tide of media vassals, it is imperative that we disinformation and war propaganda. grasp the nature of the beast that Commendations for The threatens us with its endless wars Globalization of War perpetrated in the name of the highest levels of freedom.This vital n “The Globalization of War is an work by an outstanding teacher will extraordinarily important book. It tags remain an enduring testimony of the the origin of a long series of wars and author’s all-embracing humanism conflicts, from the end of World War and scholarship that has always been II to the present, as being direct inseparable from his political products of U.S. Foreign Policy. activism that spans several decades. Nothing happens by accident. U.S. It should be mandatory reading for provocateurs, usually agents of the those seeking to understand, and CIA, incite one conflict after another thus to contain and repel, the in what Michael Chossudovsky compulsive onslaughts of the labels America’s “Long War” against hegemon’s endless wars with its Humanity. boundless bestialities and crimes “It comprises a war on two fronts. against humanity.” Those countries that can either be ~ Frederic F. Clairmonte, award- “bought,” or destabilized by a corrupt winning author and political international financial system, are economist, distinguished (former) easy targets for effective conquest. economic analyst at the United In other cases insurrection, riots and Nations Conference on Trade and wars are used to solicit American Development (UNCTAD). n military intervention to fill the pockets of the military-industrial complex that The book, The Globalization of General Eisenhower warned us War, can be ordered directly from about. The “End Game” is a New Global Research Publishers. World Order embracing a dual (Courtesy: YMD)

[ 34 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 In Defence of Indian Secularism - Yamini Aiyar* The protests erupting across India formed the foundation of our secular since the passage of the Citizenship promise. Amendment Act (CAA) are a testament to But the full import of the CAA can the centrality of secularism as the only be understood when viewed in foundational principle that binds the conjunction with the promise of country together and holds the key to implementing a nationwide NRC. While India’s survival as a nation. The deathly the CAA deals specifically with the question blow that the CAA and its companion, the of migrants and their claims to citizenship, National Register of Citizens (NRC), have the nationwide NRC will open up the issue delivered to secularism threatens the of citizenship for all Indians. Designed as foundations of India’s plural social fabric. an administrative tool to, quite literally, When secularism is threatened, India is create a registry of all “citizens”, and weakened. This is the lesson from the through this ,weed out “infiltrators” and passage of the CAA, and the unrest it has “termites”, the NRC will effectively unleashed. empower all arms of the administration to Much has been written, including in interrogate people and evaluate their this column, on the damage the CAA and claims to citizenship based on documents NRC can do to India’s secular fabric. in their possession. However, given its import, it bears For those belonging to specific repetition. The CAA offers fast-track religious categories identified in the CAA, citizenship to a specified list of non-Muslim the Act will serve as a protection device. migrants living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and For others, read Muslim, their Bangladesh, justified on grounds of vulnerabilities will be further enhanced, experienced or fear of “religious condemning them to new, torturous paths persecution”. By introducing religion as a of discrimination and dispossession. The marker of citizenship, the CAA creates political message is clear. Together the categories of citizens with differing CAA and NRC amount to no less than a pathways to citizenship based on religious State-sponsored project of “othering” that identity. The amendment thus upends the strikes at the heart of India’s secular ethos. constitutional promise of a universal, religion-neutral idea of citizenship. India In the days since the passage of the belonged to all, irrespective of religion. It CAA, multiple protests across north and was this conception of citizenship that Northeast India last week. Ironically, these protests are themselves expressions of * The writer is president and chief India’s overlapping multi-religious, multi- executive, Centre for Policy Research. ethnic character that the CAA seeks to

[ 35 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 undermine. The mobilisations in the and that the State shall not propagate one Northeast are about anxieties of ethnicity, particular religion — provided the culture and language as much as religion foundation for building a society that while the protests in Delhi, Aligarh and negotiated multiple identities and enabled Lucknow are chiefly about religious identity them to coexist in security and harmony. and discriminatory exclusion of Muslims The current wave of protests have from the CAA. found voice precisely because when It is the principle of secularism that secularism is overtly threatened, so too has bound these multiple identities and are these multiple identities. This is the sought forms of peaceful coexistence and lesson that home minister Amit Shah and tolerance. The resistance in the Northeast the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ought to hasn’t been overtly framed in the grammar learn. India needs secularism to survive of secularism, nor are the protests seeking in peace and harmony. to defend it as a principle — the Of course, India’s experiment with northeastern concerns are primarily linked secularism has its flaws. Competitive to the historical in-migration of Bengali party politics has sought to legitimise the Hindus from from colonial India, and East blatant, entrenchment of religious Pakistan/Bangladesh post-Partition and its politicisation in the name of “secularism”, impact on indigenous culture and rather than serve its cause. And it is in this identities. Yet, it is the constitutional ethos abdication of the core principles of of secularism that provided the framework secularism that the BJP successfully for these multiple identity claims to be appropriated the term, even defending the articulated and negotiated in the political citizenship amendment as “secular” while sphere, in the first place. Secularism accusing political opponents of being allowed India to both celebrate its many “pseudo secularist”. identities and defend them, when threatened. The real challenge that protests and resistance to the CAA and NRC face today The ethos of secularism, as political is that they are bereft of a vocabulary to scientist Neera Chandoke has argued, defend secularism’s cause even though found expression in India’s freedom it is the threat to secularism that sparked movement as a necessary antidote to the these protests. India urgently needs to politicisation of religion that fuelled wrest and reclaim secularism, anchoring communal riots and the competitive it in a new vocabulary that redeems its nation-building project of Pakistan. Religion credibility. Our collective ability to do so had been politicised, making society will determine whether India will reclaim vulnerable to violence. Secularism offered itself or stay firm on its current path toward a pathway to peace. The secularism ethos a re-imagination of its foundations. n — all religions are equal in the eyes of law (Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

[ 36 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Restore Democratic Values and Secular Spirit of the Constitution - Obaidur Rahman Nadwi 26th January 1950 is a until December 31, 2014. The objection rememberable day in the history of is to the sole exclusion of Muslims. India. It assumes great significance and Muslims are an integral part of India, yet importance for all of us. This day the have been left out of the CAA. It is totally constitution of India was enforced. violation of article 14 of the Indian Indian constitution is considered the constitution which specifically prohibits best one as compared to other any kind of discrimination on the basis constitutions of the world. It is a written of religion. and comprehensive document with 395 India is by law a secular Articles (Now 404) and 12 Schedules. democracy, where all people from all R.C. Majumdar says: “The constitution religions have equal rights and religious guarantees to all citizens freedom of freedom. The need of the hour is to speech and expression, the right to keep country’s democratic values and assemble peacefully and freedom of secular norms must be alive. Hence, it conscience and worship, subject to is not a good omen for the Union general considerations of public Government to suppress people’s security and morality. All citizens, thought and speech and takes away irrespective of religion, race, caste, sex their constitutional rights and privileges and place of birth, shall enjoy equality instead of scrapping the draconian before the law and no disability shall be CAA, 2019. imposed on them in any respect. “Untouchability” is abolished and its The Republic Day is celebrated practice in any form is forbidden. No with gaiety and enthusiasm all over the person shall be deprived of his life, country and especially in the capital, property or personal liberty except New Delhi where the celebrations start according to procedure established by with the presidential address to the law.” (An Advanced History of India, nation. p.992). On this occasion all government It is unfortunate that newly enacted buildings and educational institutions Citizenship Amendment Act (AA) grants are decorated attractively. Flag unfurling citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, ceremony is held in every school. Christians, Jains and Parsis leaving out Children from several schools take part Muslims who entered India from in the parade. They present various Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan cultural programmes and showcase [ 37 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 tableaux highlighting the rich cultural Abdul Gaffar khan, Maulana heritage of their state respectively. Muhammad Ali Jouhar, Sir Syed Ahmad India is the largest democracy in Khan, Dr. Zakir Husain, Maulana S.Abul the world. India has been the cradle of Hasan Ali Nadwi and the like. All these a variety of civilizations, cultures and beacons taught lesson of brotherhood religions. It has a pluralistic society. It is and fraternity in their respective period known for values of peace, amity, and time. They are no more today. But brotherhood, fraternity, unity and their instructions and messages still integrity. It is the birth place of various inspire us to lead a peaceful life on this icons like the Buddah, Mahavir, Guru land. Nanak, Mahatma Gandhi, Kabir, Being Indians, it is imperative for Jawaharlal Nehru, Raja Ram Mohan us to maintain its unity and integrity by Roy, Ishwar ‘ Chandra Vidya Sagar, Dr. fostering national integration and B.R. Ambedkar, Rabindranath Tagore, propagating the message of humanity Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, Qazi throughout India. The constitution of the Nazrul Islam, Swami Vivekananda, country teaches us the same message Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Tipu and it is the message of the Republic Sultan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Khan Day.n

Obituary Syed Mohammad Ghufran Nadwi, a young teacher of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama and grandson of well known Islamic cleric Qari Siddique Bandavi died in an accident on November 24, 2019. He was 34. His sudden demise shook and saddened all students and teachers of Nadwa. He was born on January 14, 1986 in a noble family at Raebareli, U.P. He got his basic education at Jamia Arabia Hathaura and completed his Fazilat from Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow. Besides he did his B.A. from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and M.A. from University of Lucknow. He was also doing his Ph.D. in Arabic from University of Lucknow. Shortly after his passing out from Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, he was appointed teacher in the same institution. He performed his duties with honesty and integrity. He was sociable and cooperative. He proved himself a good teacher. He always kept himself aloof from controversial issues. He also did various research works. His life was like a lily. A lily is short –lived but it spreads sweetness and beauty all around. He is survived by parents, wife, three year old son, three brothers and five sisters. A good number of teachers and students were present at his last rite. Maulana Bilal Hasani Nadwi led his funeral prayer. He was buried at the side of his grandfather Qari Siddique Bandavi at Hathaura. May Allah adorn his grave with luminosity and refulgence and grant peace to his soul. Aameen! - Obaidur Rahman Nadwi

[ 38 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020 Human Origin Not Linked to Apes - Maggie Fox The skeleton of an early human who researchers report in the journal Science. lived 4.4 million years ago shows that She had an ape-like head and opposable humans did not evolve from chimpanzee- toes that allowed her to climb trees easily, like ancestors, researchers reported but her hands, wrists and pelvis show she [recently]. Instead, the missing link the strode like a modern human and did not common ancestor of both humans and knuckle-walk like a chimp or a gorilla. modern apes was different from both, and “People have sort of assumed that apes have evolved just as much as modern chimpanzees haven’t evolved very humans have from that common ancestor, much, that the last common ancestor was they said. more or less like a chimpanzee and that The researchers stressed that “Ardi” it’s been … the human lineage … that’s may now be the oldest known hominid, but done all the evolving,” White said. she was not the missing link. “At’ 4.4 million But “Ardi” is “even more primitive years ago we found something pretty close than a chimpanzee,” White said. to it,” said Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, who helped lead the So chimps and gorillas do not research team. knuckle-walk because they are more primitive than humans – they have evolved They described the partial skeleton this characteristic that helps them live in of a female representative of Ardipithecus their forest homes. Ramidus. The hominid species lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. White, Berhane Asfaw of Rift Valley The 4-foot (1.2 meter) tall creature is a Research Service in Addis Ababa and a million years older than “Lucy” – the large team analyzed all the bones of Ardi skeleton of another species called and found she might have been more Australopithecus afarensis that is one of peace-loving than modern chimpanzees. the best-known pre-humans. She does not have the long, sharp canines that chimps use to fight, for instance. And Genetics suggest that humans and males and females have similar-sized our closest living relatives, the teeth, suggesting more equality than seen chimpanzees, diverged 6-7 million years among modern apes. But her brain, while ago, although some research suggests small, is positioned in a way more similar this may have happened four million years to that of Australopithecus and modern ago, humans, suggesting more human-like “Ardi” is clearly a human ancestor visual and spatial perception. n and her descendants did not grow up to [Courtesy: Arab News] be chimpanzees or other apes, the [ 39 ] THE FRAGRANCE OF EAST, January, 2020

OUR REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD

Britain : Mr. Akram Nadwi O.C.I.S.St. Cross College Oxford Ox 1 3 TU (UK)

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South Africa : Mr. M. Yahaya Sallo Nadwi P.O. Box No. 388 Vereninging, (South Africa)

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