Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Terror for Religion's Sake - Part 2

After the recent relevations and confirmations that certain terror outfits are operating from Pakistan, no wonder that tho' government knows and wants to do something about it (maybe), it becomes more difficult for a Muslim Government to weed out such organisations because outwardly they wear a religious shawl. And some of the organisations had been groomed and grown by the earlier rules / dictates for parallel support to their existing military against India (mainly) and have some other agenda as well. It is a similar situation wherein certain Hindutva preaching banners/ parties feel embarassed after the Malegaon Blasts revelations. The agenda coming out of the entire of the people involved is truly unbelievable. Some want to support them openly, some secretly, some openly oppose. But everyone wants to keep silent. Religion is truly a sensitive issue for many.

And if that wasn't enough, we now have the 'Ram Sena' imposing religious dictates on people. Religion should be preached peacefully and with love. And one should leave the following part to individuals based on their intelligence. When we force religion down the throats, it amounts to nothing less than terror.
Peace!

Terror for Religion's Sake

I am always irritated with the fact by how certain people twist the teachings of Quran and Allah (sometimes add their own teachings) and come out with negative potrayal of Islam. Some spread terror with their half knowledge and poisoning youth with twisted facts. These people actually harp on uneducated youth, who've not read much or understood religion in the correct perspective. That is why these organisations discourage education and end up even burning schools. Or at least keeping women away from it. There is never any Hadeeth nor mentioned anywhere in Quran that women should not study nor work. In fact, it states that education is a right of every Muslim man and woman. And killing any innocent person is like killing the entire mankind. Apart from that, Islam preaches tolerance towards people of the other faith. And this our beloved Prophet Muhammed (PBUH*) actually conveyed through his actions. One can go on and on and back it up with actual quotes from Quran and Hadeeth. And end up writing pages and pages on it. But I am just capturing the essence of what's disturbing me in recent times. This was well potrayed in Pakistani movie 'Khuda ke Liye'.
There is a Hadeeth from Tirmizi Sharif which I'd read about recently, which explains today's times very well.

Hazrat Abu Huraira (Radiyallahu Anhu) reported Allah's Messenger (SAWS) as saying, 'In the last times men will come forth who will fraudulently use religion for the wordly ends and wear sheepskins in public to display meekness. Their tongues will be sweeter than sugar, but their hearts will be the hearts of wolves. Allah will say, 'Are they trying to deceive me or are they acting presumptuously (arrogantly) towards me? I swear by myself that I shall send trial upon those people which will leave the intelligent man among them confounded (confused)'."
*PBUH : Peace be upon him

India in Pictures


A few days back on my way to office, I saw this huge half statue of Saibaba being carried away on a vehicle on the Western Express Highway (Mumbai). It was so massive and appeared so life-like, that I decided to capture it on my mobile. The autorickshaw-driver I was going in seemed to be very excited and exclaimed, "Madam dekho. Lagta hai Baba swayam aa gaye hain hamare beech." Minus the vehicle on which it was being carried on, it creates a mysterious aura about it.

This is the essense of India!