For the Love of Books !

  Can you imagine an India without Muslims? What if the Muslims of India disappear all of a sudden? If such an event happens, then.... What will be the agenda of the communal forces without Muslims? Will the majority Dalits and OBCs start ruling over the minority Upper Caste Hindus? What will be the topics of discussion in the Prime Time shows of mainstream Media channels?  Etc., etc.! The Muslim Vanishes by Saeed Naqvi, a book written in the form of a play, precisely deals with these inconceivable events. Through the play, Mr. Naqvi portrays how the disappearance of 200 million Muslims creates an imbalance in the nation's social and political equation, and how the remarkable event creates a sense of power within the lower castes, while on the other hand, it creates a sense of insecurity and loss within the ruling upper castes. The play brings in historical figures, who had played an important role in establishing a culture of unity and brotherhood, to explore the reasons why Musli

The great Imam Al-Ghazzali in his The Alchemy of Happiness aptly describes the beautiful sunnah of Islam to respect and conform to local cultural practices that do not directly contravene the Shariah. In this context, the following words of wisdom by the great Imam left a deep impression on my bounded intellect. "It is true that the Companions were not in the habit of rising on the entrance of the Prophet, as they disliked this practice; but where it has become established, and abstaining from it would cause annoyance, it is better to conform to it. The Arabs have their own customs, and the Persians have theirs, and God knoweth which is best." This kept me wondering of how many local customs and linguistic terms we have deserted in the pretext of them being "unIslamic". One simple example is the abandonment of the term Khuda Hafiz  (God protect you) by the Urdu speaking Indian Muslims. A few years back, Khuda Hafiz was the usual term for bidding adieu. It was grad

The best part I enjoyed while reading Arundhati Roy's novel, The God of Small Things, is her description of the earth's life and our relationship with it. Roy describes the earth as a woman, Earth Woman, who has gone through various phases in her life to have become what she is today. Describing our relationship with the Earth Woman, Roy writes that human civilization is as insignificant as a blink of an eye in the Earth Woman's life.  Although this description makes us wonder what a lilliputian role we have played in the Earth Woman's life, I feel there is also a positive angle to it. It may also be possible that all the maturity and stability attained by the Earth Woman is simply to enable human civilization to grow and flourish.  Anyhow, enjoy reading the following paragraphs and start thinking!      “We belong nowhere”, Chako said. “We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough.

(This article has been published in The Companion on 26th August, 2013.) History has many lessons in store for humanity. It enables us to gain knowledge about the doings of the former generations on one hand, while on the other hand it guides us in our own personal and collective lives. The knowledge about the mistakes committed by the past generations will certainly stop us from repeating them again, while their successes and glories will encourage us to follow their course of action on different situations. As youths it is very important for us to know the history of our forefathers and to read and analyze their lives critically. Today many voluminous books are available on the history of Islam and Muslims. Every book has its own message and tries to convey or impress upon the reader some particular ideology or concept. There are a very meager number of books as per my knowledge which narrates the history of Islam and Muslims in an unbiased and in a manner receptive to