by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Iranian director Majid Majidi
By Sugandha Rawal,
New Delhi : Islam is about friendship, kindness and peace, and far from roughness and terrorism that it has been lately associated it, avers Majid Majidi, the globally acclaimed Iranian director who once attempted to change the “false” perception of the religion with the film “Muhammad: The Messenger of God”. But he realised that the path is full of thorns.
For Majidi, cinema has the power to bring people together.
“Cinema for me is a bridge between cultures. Cinema has great potential to bring different cultures together because cinema doesn’t have any borders. It can travel around the world and have a great effect on human beings around the world. Cinema can show different rituals, different cultures to different countries visually in the best way,” Majidi told IANS through a translator on phone from Mumbai.
“I made ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ with this vision…. Because in these years some people have created a false face of Islam, a wrong interpretation of this religion. I wanted to show the truth of that,” Majidi said.
“Muhammad: The Messenger of God”, which traces the life of Prophet Muhammed, and was also Iran’s nomination for best foreign language Oscar in 2015, had music by Indian composer A.R. Rahman.
Some radicals issued a “fatwa” against Majidi and Rahman in 2015 for the film, which was planned as a trilogy but there’s no update on it.
Majidi recalled that it was a project close to his heart and he gave seven years of his life to make it.
“ISIS and Taliban are wrong and completely lying about Islam… Western countries and Saudi Arabia are showing the wrong face of Islam. I gave seven years for research in filmmaking to show just a small part of real Islam.
“Islam is a religion of friendship, kindness and peace, which is completely far from this concept such as roughness and terrorism. I tried to open a small window to show what is real Islam.
“But radical Muslim groups, mostly from Saudi Arabia… were scared to show this real part of Islam; so they banned this film, calling it not to be shown in different countries.”
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker says he wanted to put focus on both parts of Islam — Shia and Sunni.
“After long research around both parts of Islam — Shia and Sunni — talking with the religious people of both… I tried to make a film to get unity between these two.”
But he was disappointed when his film was labelled as “haram” (forbidden).
“In different times and occasions, I asked all those religious leaders to come and watch the film because they called it “haram” and gave it a fatwa without watching the film.”
Majidi, known for masterpieces like “Children of Heaven”, “The Colour of Paradise” and “Baran”, is confident that “Muhammad: The Messenger of God” will find its “own way”.
But will he continue on his mission to change the perception about Islam?
“Working and filmmaking in this path is very difficult. I gave seven years of my life to this film. And what I did was open a path. The path is now open and I hope others will continue on it,” added the director, who says he is influenced by Indian legends like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal.
As a director, Majidi says he wants to become the voice of the “lower class of society”.
“I always tried to show the issues of the lower class of society. I always want to be the voice of all those who have no power to voice their concerns.”
And he has done so in his own way via his maiden India-set project “Beyond The Clouds”, which explores the underbelly of Mumbai and introduces Ishaan Khatter and Malavika Mohanan.
The film is about how a brother and sister find happiness in separation and turbulent times. Produced by Zee Studios and Namah Pictures, it is set for release on Friday.
(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Central government’s response on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of the practice of polygamy, nikah halala (a requirement for a divorced couple to remarry), nikah mutah (temporary marriage in the Shias) and nikah misyar (short-term marriage among Sunnis) amongst the Muslim community.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the matter would be heard by the constitution bench, and directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice for setting up of an appropriate bench.
In addition to the notice missed to the Central government and others, the court ordered that a copy of the petitions be served on a Central agency so that it can apprise the office of Attorney General.
The court also permitted advocate V.K.Biju appearing for Kolkata based Muslim Women Resistance Committee to move an impleadment application in the case. He was permitted to be associated with any of the four petitions before the court.
Seeking response from the Central government and other respondents, the court did not include Law Commission as one of the respondents which was made a party by petitioner Nafisa Khan.
Issuing notice, the court noted the grounds stating that though these practices, which come within the domain of Muslim personal law, were not immune from judicial review under the Constitution.
The court has been moved by Sameena Begum, Nafisa Khan, Moullium Mohsin and BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay challenging the practice of polygamy, nikah halala, nikah mutah and nikah misyar on the grounds of these being violative of Article 14, Article 15 and Article 21 of the Constitution.
Article 14 guarantees equality before law, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and Article 21 guarantees protection of life and personal liberty.
Telling the court that different religious communities are governed by different personal laws, Upadhyay has contended that “there could be no dispute, that different religious communities can have different laws, but personal laws must meet the test of constitutional validity and constitutional morality, in as much as, they cannot be violative of Articles 14, 15,21 of the Constitution”.
Pointing to the “appalling” affect of polygamy and nikah halala and other practices on the Muslim women, senior counsel Mohan Parasaran told the court that the 2017 judgement which had held instant triple talaq as unconstitutional had left these two issues open and did not address them.
The five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J.S.Khehar (since retired) by majority judgment in 2017 had said: “Keeping in view the factual aspect in the present case, as also, the complicated questions that arise for consideration in this case (and, in the other connected cases), at the very outset, it was decided to limit the instant consideration, to ‘talaq-e-biddat’ – triple talaq.”
“Other questions raised in the connected writ petitions, such as, polygamy and nikah halala (-and other allied matters), would be dealt with separately. The determination of the present controversy, may however, coincidentally render an answer even to the connected issues,” it has said.
A Muslim husband is allowed to have more than one wife.
Under nikah halala, if a Muslim woman after being divorced by her husband three times at different instances wants to go back to him, then she has to marry another person and then divorce the second husband to get re-married to her first husband.
—-IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court was on Friday told that a mosque will remain a place of worship even after it has been desecrated and destroyed through a “barbaric act.”
“A mosque will remain a place of worship even after it has been destroyed,” senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan told the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, hearing a batch of cross petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ayodhya title suit.
“It is quite a different matter to say that an area has been acquired and quite another to say mosque is not a mosque forever,” Dhavan said.
Dhavan appeared for the main petitioner, Mohammad Siddiqui, now being represented by legal heirs.
The bench is hearing arguments on the plea to revisit 1994 top court judgment which had said that the mosque was not was not an essential part of Islamic religious practice and that namaz could be offered anywhere, even in open places.
Describing the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid as a “barbaric act”, Dhavan said: “What was desecrated was a mosque and what court is being asked to is to protect the idols (of Ram Lalla).”
Telling the court that the government can acquire the place of worship, Dhavan said: “It is abundantly clear that a mosque should be treated as equal any temple” and “Ramjanmabhoomiu is equal to mosque”.
Referring to “two powerful Rath Yatras” led by senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, Dhavan told the bench that “there was strident, calculated and deliberate attempt to destroy Babri Masjid”.
Senior counsel K. Parasaran, appearing on the other side, said that the 1994 top court observation that a mosque was not an essential part of Islamic religious practice and namaz could be offered anywhere was in the context of acquisition proceedings.
At this, the bench said that if it decides to revisit the 1994 judgment, then it would be on the principle whether mosque was an integral part of Islamic religious practice.
In the last hearing of the matter on March 14, Dhavan had told the court that if the positrion in the 1994 judgement was to accepted then except for Makkah, Madinah and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, rest of the mosques will be of no consequence to Muslims.
On the next hearing on April 5, Dhavan will address the court on what mosque means to Islam.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Javed Akhtar
Mumbai : Irked by a social media user who asked him if Shia and Sunni were different religions, veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday said all kinds of religious people were “equally unreasonable”.
He made the comment as part of a chain of tweets after the social media user asked Akhtar: “Is Shia and Sunni different religions Javed Akhtar? #JustAsking.”
The celebrated writer, who is quite vocal about his views on socio-political issues, said: “Your question about Shia and Sunni reminds me of a very famous dialogue from a film ‘Gone With The Wind’. And it was, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn’.”
Journalist Arnab Goswami joined the conversation by questioning Akhtar: “But where is the answer!”
Akhtar wrote: “It is for them to decide whether they are from the same religion or not. Doesn’t interest me. So what if they are and so what if they are not. I believe all kind of religious people are equally unreasonable. Is that clear enough Arnabji or the nation still wants to know some thing.”
On that, Goswami hit out at Akhtar saying: “Easiest way to escape (run away) from question that don’t suit you. Otherwise you are badly known for unwanted advice, decision and conclusions. And yes, the nation still wants to know many things but that you would not like to face for sure.”
Akhtar also got engaged in a Twitter argument with another user who raised a question on the feasibility of having “Aamir Khan, a Muslim, play (a part) in most ancient and sacred of Hindu epics, the Mahabharata”.
Akhtar abused the user, asking him “which foreign agency is paying you to spread this kind of perverse and poisonous thoughts in our country”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Angela Merkel
Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed comments by her interior minister who said that Islam did not belong to Germany.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Swedish Premier Stefan Lofven on Friday, Merkel said Islam was part of the country’s culture and history like Christianity and also Judaism, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Four million Muslims live in Germany, and they are practicing their religion here. They belong to Germany, and also their religion of Islam belongs to Germany,” she said.
Merkel’s words came after Horst Seehofer, the new interior minister of Germany, told German daily Das Bild on Friday that Islam does not belong to Germany, stressing the country’s traditions and cultures.
Germany on Wednesday finally established a new government with a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Merkel-led Conservatives Union, which was comprised of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) that Seehofer comes from.
The CSU is more conservative than CDU.
The increase of the number of Muslims in Germany triggered Islamophobia and the rise of anti-migration populist party Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD).
—IANS
