Islamic Society *Thursday, Apr 02 2009* Should Muslims convert their beards into another existential issue?<http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1290>
** Nothing is trivial for us Muslims, particularly in the Indian sub-continent. Existential issues abound. We are ready to complain and protest, sometimes violently, the slightest affront, intended or unintended, that some of us may perceive. It would in fact appear that we are on the look-out for slurs and slights to our religion, so insecure are we in our Faith, so brittle is our belief in our Faith. Naturally some of those who dislike us keep provoking us a little and then enjoy the Tamasha of how we besmirch our fair religion’s name further, how we expose the weaknesses our Faith even more than we already have done before. Of course, sometimes those who may not have such an agenda also succeed in provoking us inadvertently. Particularly judgements. Perfectly good judgements. Fair judgements. Delivered by avowedly secular judges with a record of fairness and secularism. This happened in the Shah Bano case. This happened in the judgement about non-Muslims misusing Islam for violating the marriage laws of the land, converting to Islam merely to get rid of their first wives and acquiring another. Unexceptionable judgements creating needless controversy. And this has happened now in Supreme Court’s rejection of the plea of a Muslim student that he should be permitted to sport beard in his convent school. Supreme Court on Monday, March 30, 2009, observed secularism cannot be overstretched and that "Talibanisation" of the country cannot be permitted. "We don't want to have talibans in the country. Tomorrow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa, can we allow it," Justice Markandeya Katju speaking for a bench headed by Justice Raveendran observed. Apparently the judge here is merely showing off his ignorance of both Islamic culture and the execrable phenomenon of Talibanisation. Judges in India revel in making unrelated, ignorant comments. You are bound to do that if you habitually use 3,000 words to say what can be said in 300 words. Clearly they have had no training in the art of writing with precision and meticulousness. Anyone who reads judgements knows that. Legal analysts have made this point before, but to no effect. I hope the opinion leaders of the Muslim community will take this fairly well-known propensity of our judges into account and try not to see a provocation where there is none. The judgement itself is perfect, accords well not only with the law – who will know that better than Supreme Court judges – but also common sense. If you want to join a private institution in whatever capacity you have to abide by its rules and if you run a private institution of your own you should be allowed to make its rules. Since the institution in question in this case is a minority institution, Muslim minorities should have been particularly, even in a tactical sense - to protect the rights of their own minority institutions too - supportive of its right to make its own rules and expect the students to abide by them. *New Age Islam* has received a number of letters expressing a variety of views on this issue. The most heartening is from former Cabinet Secretary *Moosa Raza*. He writes: “I have known *Justice Katju* and I believe that he is a staunch secularist and is totally averse to all forms of radicalisms both Hindu and Muslim. I agree with his views that a minority educational institution can make any disciplinary rules to maintain its character. It can prescribe a uniform; prohibit the wearing of a particular dress etc. If anyone does not like such rules he is free to go elsewhere but he cannot ask for the rules to be changed. For instance a Muslim institution can prescribe a cap to be worn by all students. That would be well within its jurisdiction. By doing so it may lose many prospective alumni. That is a necessary consequence of its exercising the discretion. This discretion is not available to state-run institutions.” I hope Muslims who are trying to drum up an issue where there is none, will take note and take heed. *Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam* 1 Comments More...<http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1290> Radical Islamism & Jihad *The Zia-ist mindset, Pakistani media and the support of the right wing <http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1291>* My personal theory is that their (Pakistanis’) lack of grounding in politics, economics and current affairs is a direct result of the poor education they have received. Without wishing to be lofty or patronising, I can safely point to the poisonous brainwashing an entire generation has been subjected to during the Zia era. Already reeling from Bhutto’s nationalisation of education, millions of Pakistani children then had years of religious studies rammed down their throats by Zia. This was supplemented by reactionary propaganda aired by state television and radio. In those days, there were no private channels to break this monopoly of the airwaves. The current generation of Pakistanis reaching positions of authority and influence is the product of this brainwashing. Of course many have escaped its worst effects, but unquestionably, public discourse in Pakistan has moved to the right, and we now wear religion on our sleeves to a greater extent than ever before. Secularism is now a label few are willing to accept, even though many privately agree that it’s the only way Pakistan can rejoin the rest of the world. When private channels first began operating in Pakistan’s stultified environment, I had hoped it would be a liberating force, opening a window to the world for millions of Pakistanis. In reality, it has worked to serve the opposite end by reinforcing existing prejudices, rather than challenging them. Owners of channels have their own concealed agendas, and poorly educated producers and hosts do little to separate opinions from facts. -- *Irfan Husain* More...<http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1291> Islam and Sectarianism *Saudi Shiites Demand – Dignity or Secession <http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1292>* “Our dignity is more valuable than the unity of this land … If we don’t get our dignity, then we will have to consider seceding from this country.” – *Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr*, Saudi Shia religious leader from Al-Awamiya, currently in hiding after having delivered a speech demanding an end to the oppression of Saudi Shiites. Their demand and those of Shiites in other towns and cities in Saudi Arabia is a most basic and simple one. It is a demand the government can easily grant and one they should hasten to accept. It was written on the signs of those protesting in Awamiya, was encapsulated in a single word in Sheikh Al-Nimr’s speech, and has become the newfound rallying cry of the Shia-minority in Saudi Arabia: Dignity. -- *RANNIE AMIRI* More...<http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1292> -- Syed M. 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