by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Makkah : The number of pilgrims arriving in Saudi Arabia via air, land and sea entry points until Friday reached 1.07 million, an increase of 204,302, or 24 percent, compared to the same period last year.
The numbers of pilgrims arriving by air, land and sea were 1.015 million, 50,554 and 4,915 respectively, according to data released by the General Directorate of Passports.
On Sunday, the number of pilgrims arriving in Madinah stood at 32,468, while those leaving the city for Makkah reached 24,073, according to the National Guides Establishment in Madinah.
The number of pilgrims who remained in Madinah up to Sunday evening reached 201,101, compared to 175,676 in the same period last year.
Presiding over a meeting on Civil Defense plans for Hajj, the Director-General of the Civil Defense General Sulaiman Al-Amr emphasised the importance of raising the sense of security, and of not tolerating any excesses or violations of safety requirements.
The commander of Civil Defense forces for Hajj Maj. Gen. Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Mubaddal, gave a visual presentation on the Civil Defense’s preparations and plans, and the readiness and positioning of forces at the holy sites.
—SM/IINA
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Ram Puniyani
What is called as Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is as such dealing with the personal laws (marriage, divorce, maintenance, custody and inheritance). Our criminal and civil laws are same for all the religious communities but our personal laws have been related and linked to religion. So there are separate laws for Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Ironically Jain, Buddhists and Sikhs are included in Hindus. As such the prevalent laws and norms among diverse Hindu communities are not same for all Hindus as there is large number of variations among them. During the Constituent Assembly debates what finally emerged was that the personal laws should continue as such. In the directive principles of state policy article 44 it was stated that state shall try to evolve uniform common laws for all the citizens of India, irrespective of their religion. The aim was to bring these laws in consonance with concept of justice.
At the same time Nehru called upon B.R. Ambedkar, the law minister, to work for Hindu Code Bill whereby the diverse Hindu communities can be brought under the same umbrella. The idea was that since the Hindus are the largest religious community, if reform process can be initiated among them, the same process can be extended to other communities. Ambedkar formulated the Bill with the understanding that the prevalent laws don’t give equal justice to women. The draft Bill as it emerged was opposed by large section of Hindu community as it was too radical for the prevalent patriarchal norms. Later the Bill was diluted and implemented. The failure to carry through the bill was a setback to the efforts of Ambedkar; he felt dejected and left the Cabinet.
The debate further came to the fore in the wake of Shah Bano Judgment. Here, Shah Bano’s plea for the maintenance after divorce was upheld by the Court. The conservative section of Muslim society stood up to oppose this judgment. Buckling to the pressure Rajiv Gandhi Government passed a Muslim Women (Protection of rights on Divorce) Bill, which bypassed the judgment. With this the Hindu communal forces took up the issue and called for UCC. The main point which was propagated was that Muslims are allowed to marry four times. The unstated understanding behind this was that due to polygamy the population of Muslims will overtake that of Hindus. In real sense neither is the percentage of polygamy more among Muslims nor does polygamy lead to more children as number of children is restricted by the number of women.
The section of Muslims, Muslim leadership and organizations like Muslim Personal law board made it as the issue of minority identity and strongly stood against any demand for UCC. The practices like polygamy, Burqa, triple talaq became the marker of Muslim community. From within the Muslim community many a women’s groups came up which started campaigning for the gender justice and abolition of these practices. As such the focus of reforms came totally on the Muslim community and the need for reforms within Hindus took a back seat in popular imagination. While the Communal forces talked of uniformity in law they neither have any scheme of things nor any document in hand around which they can put this demand. The dominant notion is that UCC will be an exercise of picking up some laws from Hindus, some from Muslims and some from Christians to make the picture complete. The central notion of gender justice is missing in this discourse.
At the same time progressive Women’s movement had also demanded the UCC, but having realized that most of the personal laws which are prevalent in the name of religion are unjust to the women, they retracted and started talking about Gender just code through the process of reforms in the community. So how will UCC come in? Will gender justice be the basis of uniformity? There is a notion that somebody will prepare the laws and these will be brought in, imposed on all the communities. This is ‘top down’ approach. Second is the ‘bottom up’ approach. Here the focus is on reform process being encouraged in the society and the process being taken further given the shape of law. The crucial point here is the process of reform within the community, a process based on gender justice.
Among other, the efforts of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) in this direction are noteworthy. BMMA has collected 50,000 signatures for abolition of triple talaq. The idea here is to campaign and do the advocacy for such changes, get the laws made on these lines which will strengthen the hands of Judiciary in giving justice to Women in particular. It is campaigns like this which raise the consciousness in the society and the possibility of the occurrence of such things in society go down. In other words such campaigns make the ground on which justice delivery becomes better and easier. The campaign for banning triple talaq is an important step in the direction of reforms based on gender justice.
It is true that communal forces which make loud noise on the topic have no interest in gender justice. Their central agenda is to frighten the Muslim community. Here the crocodile tears of those posing to give justice to Muslim women are more than obvious. Gripped in the patriarchal mind set men dominated Muslim organizations also don’t support such campaigns.
As such one should grant the point that an intimidated community gives secondary importance to issues of gender justice. Their primary concern is security and partly equity in social affairs. Men are the one’s leading the organizations promoting communal politics. Also self proclaimed Law Boards are gripped by patriarchal mind sets, surely it is the women who are struggling for gender parity and one stands with such equality based ‘bottom up’ approach of social change. The opposition to UCC comes mainly due to fear of intimidating communal politics and the values of patriarchy which needs to be overcome.
There is also an argument that the campaigns like abolition of triple talaq will open the door for Hindutva forces to bring in Hindu laws as UCC. That’s a tricky argument and does draw our attention to the dangers in demand for reforming the laws. Still one hopes that in current scenario to bring back the Hindu laws as UCC are unlikely as most of the Women’s groups have realized that the existing Hindu laws are nowhere close to giving justice to Hindu women, so it is unlikely that such an imposition can place in today’s context. It is time that reforms in the community and gender justice become the base of our thinking in this direction.
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Media, News
indian-media-channels
New York: (IANS) Media plays an important role in its coverage of portraying Muslims as terrorists, says a study.
Exposure to news stories which are anti-Muslim in nature was driving people’s attitudes and perception that Muslims are inherently violent, the study said.
A series of studies conducted by the researchers from the Iowa State University in the US have predicted more support for the presidential candidates taking a strong anti-Muslim stand.
Political conservatives and people who most strongly identify with their “fellow Americans” were more supportive of war against Muslim countries and civil restrictions of Muslim Americans, the study revealed.
The level of support that participants expressed for restricting the freedom of Muslim Americans was very high, the findings showed.
Exposure to news stories which are anti-Muslim in nature was driving people’s attitudes and perception that Muslims are inherently violent, the study said.
A series of studies conducted by the researchers from the Iowa State University in the US have predicted more support for the presidential candidates taking a strong anti-Muslim stand.
Political conservatives and people who most strongly identify with their “fellow Americans” were more supportive of war against Muslim countries and civil restrictions of Muslim Americans, the study revealed.
The level of support that participants expressed for restricting the freedom of Muslim Americans was very high, the findings showed.
“The influence of negative media stories as well as a separate link we found between political conservatism and anti-Muslim sentiments and beliefs, both suggest that US political candidates who were willing to take very strong anti-Muslim stands would get a lot of support from the most active and vocal conservatives,” said Craig Anderson, professor at Iowa State University.
Two studies measured exposure to news stories portraying Muslims as terrorists. In an additional study, participants were randomly assigned to watch one of three news clips, which portrayed Muslims in a negative, neutral or positive light.
Participants also were questioned about their perceptions and support for military or political action.
However, the researchers were encouraged by how participants responded to the positive story about Muslim Americans.
The researchers asserted that the positive story reduced participants’ view of Muslims as aggressive. And they were less likely to support military action and civil restrictions for Muslims.
Journalists can make a difference by actively seeking out positive stories about Muslim Americans, the researchers pointed out in the study published in the journal Communication Research.
And when covering on Islam-related terrorist attacks, the reporters should talk with Muslim Americans about their opposition to such actions, they added.
Also, Muslim Americans can help erase negative stereotypes by speaking out and being more visible in their communities, the researchers concluded.—
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, Halal Medicine
By our Correspondent,maeeshat.in
Mumbai: (Maeeshat News) Halal food or products are those which are lawful according to Shariah law, for Muslims to consume. Today, varieties of products and their derivatives are available in the market leaving big question for the Muslims, if these products are Halal and they refrain themselves from consuming it. There is other scenario as well where Muslims are unknowingly consuming Non-Halal products due to lack of knowledge about the product. The Halal nature of direct products could be determined easily but for bi-products or derivatives for example Toothpaste, Soaps, and other Cosmetics it becomes very difficult to determine. In such situation, the role of agencies or institution becomes very important, which can certify the product available in the market is Halal after performing test in the laboratories. Such Halal certifying institutions has garnered attention in American and European countries, consumers in these countries has accepted these agencies and perceive them as beneficial. There are many Halal food certifying agencies working in these countries which has laboratories for performing tests on these products which includes food products and their derivatives, Cosmetics and medicine.
Since the Halal product concept was very well perceived in American and European countries, it is believed that India being the second the largest Muslim populated country provide potential market for such products. It would help Indian Muslims in consuming those product which they otherwise refrain themselves from using raising question about its Halal nature.
To promote the Halal product concept in India, United World Halal Development, Singapore under the patronage of Mr. Mohammad Jinna is organizing “World Halal Day” in India. Every year, United World Halal Development organizes world “Halal day” in different countries, this year they have chosen India.
The event will be held at Pondicherry, India on November 1st 2015 and the theme for this year event is “Hunger Free, Clean & Green Pondicherry by 2030”. There would be around 35+ eminent speakers from across the Globe who would be speaking at the World Halal Day event this year. From environmental scientists to social activists there would be speakers from varied backgrounds and expertise who would be addressing the gathering at the event.
- Jamal Al-Shehab is an Ex-Minister of Justice, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Kuwait
- Ms Leza Parker is an award winning CEO and a Young Entrepreneur from Singapore
- Hani Mansour Al-Mazeedi is an Associate Research Scientist from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait
- Winai Dahlan is the Founder Director of The Halal Science Center University of Chulalongkorn, Thailand
- Saravanan Ramalingam is an award winning Research Scientist and the Chairman of BMERF India
- Muhamed Meeran is the- COO of Halal India, India.
- Umar Munshi, CEO of ClubEthis, Singapore
- Aldin Dugonjić is the Executive Director of Halal Certification Services, Croatia
- Zalira Akmal Ariffin is the CEO of TIARA TV, A Malaysian Halal Lifestyle TV Channel and Ecommerce Site
- Amal Khalil Kabalan is from Halal Certification Services, Argentina, Khadamat Integrated Solutions Private Limited
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, News
An inside view of a cow slaughter unit owned by Al-Kabeer exports Pvt.Ltd. Rudraram Village, Andhra Pradesh, Patancheru, Medak, Hyderabad – 500 033.. Al-Kabir is owned by Subhash Sabarwal, a Dubai based NRI and managed by his brother, Satish Sabarwal,(File Photo)
By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad: (IANS) With the ban on beef in some states and the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha triggering a fierce debate on cow slaughter across the country, a group of Islamic scholars in southern India has appealed to Muslims to avoid sacrificing cows, bulls and bullocks in the community’s larger interest.
The scholars have advised Muslims to show pragmatism in the prevailing situation and instead opt for alternate animals permitted by the Sharia to ensure that peace is maintained and there are no impediments in their larger duty of “dawat-e-deen” of introducing Islam to non-Muslims.
Backed by all schools of thought, the group has taken up the campaign through social media, meetings, pamphlets and Friday sermons in mosques in different states of southern India.
“Our message is that Muslims should not take law in their hands but desist from sacrificing cow, bulls and bullocks for maintaining peace. This will also help in introducing Islam to others,” Syed Hussain Madani, an Islamic scholar heading the campaign, told IANS.
The scholar has suggested that the community should avoid sacrificing cows to protect life and property. People trading in cows, bulls and bullocks have been suffering loss of life and property and sometimes ending up harming others.
Madani quoted ‘Hadith’, or the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, that “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.”
Noting that the Prophet sacrificed two sheep on Eid-ul-Azha, he said: “Since the Prophet Muhammad is the best model for us, we should follow him. Sacrificing cow is allowed but it is not ‘afzal’ (preferable),” he said.
Every year, hundreds of bulls and bullocks are brought to the city for sacrifice on Eid day. Such animals are in huge demand because seven people can have share in each. At Rs.2,500 to Rs.2,800 each share, this works out more economical than Rs.6,000 to Rs.7,000 for a goat or sheep.
The scholars pointed out that sacrificing per se is not “farz” (obligation) but “sunnat” (practice of the Prophet). “Allah doesn’t burden more than one can bear. There is ample room to avoid this (sacrifice of cow) in the prevailing situation when there are legal restrictions and communal disharmony over the issue,” said Madani.
As many families take a share in such animals to distribute meat among the poor, Madani said that the poor may be helped in many other ways.
The ulema, while noting that slaughter of cow, bulls and bullocks are linked to the livelihood of a group, argue that the interest of the entire community should get priority.
“Prevention of means of ‘fasad’ (mischief) is better than the benefits we may get from certain things,” said Madani.
The scholars are also of the opinion that the misconceptions about cow slaughter and the misinformation spread by some elements affects “Dawate-e-deen” and since this is an obligatory duty of every Muslim, it should get priority over sacrificing cow, bulls or bullocks.
“Some miscreants themselves sell cows and strengthen their economy but take legal action against those who buy cows and sometimes even kill the buyers. Desisting from the sacrifice of such animals will deny them an opportunity to indulge in mischief,” added Madani.
Well-known personalities like Mohammed Abdul Raheem Qureshi, president of the Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millat and assistant secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Moulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, Moulana Aneesur Rehman Azmi of Chennai, Moulana Mufti Nassem Ahmed Ashrafi, and Moulana Mufti Mahboob Shareef Nizami are backing the initiative.
The appeal also has the backing of Muslim political leaders and legal experts. It also made reference to a suggestion by some political leaders that giving up eating of beef for a couple of years will show its impact on the economy and those opposing it will be forced to amend the legislation.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
