The Bangalore-based Muslim Industrialists Association (MIA) successfully held a business matching and networking event to bridge the gap between industrialists, entrepreneurs and startups, over a luncheon gathering on Saturday.
‘Peenya Chalo’, so-called because the event was held in the city’s Peenya Industrial Area, was intended to be an opportunity for industrialists and entrepreneurs to learn, network, and access resources, so they can take their business to the next level.
The day-long event saw participation from around 40 industrialists and 50 entrepreneurs from across Bangalore and beyond who showcased their products and services ranging from the sectors of Construction Materials, Furniture, Interior Design, Modular Kitchens, Food, Stationery, Cosmetics, Bio-Fertilizers, Lubricants, Education, Media to name a few.
An opportunity was also provided to startups led by young entrepreneurs to pitch their fledgeling companies to the business leaders gathered at the event.
The event’s guest of honour was Mr N.A. Afzal, Founder, Managing Director & Principal Real Estate Advisor of Home Makers & Realtors. He was facilitated by MIA’s Founding Member, Mr Abdul Waheed, Managing Director & CEO of Peenya Fine Comp Pvt, Ltd, and its current President Mr Mohammed Shafeeqh, Proprietor XL Engineering and Fabricators.
Mr. Afzal shared his entrepreneurial journey of how he quit his flourishing fruits company because it involved Riba (interest) and made a mark in the real estate business. He cautioned entrepreneurs against the evils of interest and the damage that it causes to businesses and society.
The event ended with a tour of some of the MIA members-run industries in Peenya, and a visit to the Mubarakah School, which is founded and run by MIA members.
Muslim Industrialists Association (MIA) is a non-profitable, charitable society established in 2004 by successful Industrialists and businessmen from Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore, with an intention to develop entrepreneurship in the community and support the cause of education. Last month, the organisation launched the Association of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) to support and connect Muslim women entrepreneurs.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> Business / by Shaik Zakeer Hussain / January 27th, 2020
Actor Imtiaz Khan, who passed away at 77 in Mumbai, has acted in 80-odd Hindi films, mostly in negative roles, from 1970s and 1990s, and made a mark in theatre long before he was drawn to movies.
Bollywood actor Imtiaz Khan passed away in Mumbai at 77
Gabbar Singh’s brother? Jayant’s son? Or, a television actress’s husband? Actor Imtiaz Khan, who passed away at 77 in Mumbai, was much more than that in his own right. It is a pity that post-demise, he is being remembered more for the achievements of his younger brother, father and wife than his own.
Imtiaz, who acted in 80-odd Hindi films, mostly in negative roles, from 1970s and 1990s, was a trained actor who had made a mark in theatre long before he was drawn to movies. Though he was a reluctant actor to begin with and always wanted to make a mark in direction, he became a much sought-after villain with his talent and commanding screen presence. He exuded meanness in every frame on screen betraying no sign of the virtues of a fine gentleman he was in his real life.
Imtiaz shot into fame with three back-to-back hits with Nasir Hussain’s Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), Tahir Hussain’s Zakhmi (1975) and Feroz Khan’s Dharmatma (1975) in the mid-seventies. These films had fallen into his kitty after he made an impressive debut in Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (1972), a surprise hit which led its producers, Ramsay Brothers, to set up a factory of low-budget horror films.
Imtiaz went on to do many more films, often as the main villain in low-budget flicks and a henchman in the big ones, but he failed to capitalise on his initial success. With the emergence of his younger brother, Amzad Khan, as a phenomenon with his iconic portrayal of Gabbar Singh in Ramesh Sippy’s 1975-multistarrer, Sholay, the filmmakers seemed to lose interest in him. But he did justice to all his roles, howsoever minuscule they may have been.
Unfortunately, while Amjad managed to get out of his image trap despite having played an unforgettable Gabbar Singh by doing films like Dada (1979), Qurbani (1980) and Love Story (1981), Imtiaz did not get any decent role in any role other than that of a menacing bad man to prove his versatility, something which somewhat disillusioned him in later years. He tried his hand at making films but his ambitious Feroz Khan-Sulakshna Pandit-Amjad Khan starrer, Shikar Shikari Ka (1976) remained in the cans. In his early years, he had learnt film-making as an assistant to veteran director Chetan Anand and was actually instrumental in getting Amzad his first role in his 1975 war movie, Hindustan Ki Kasam but he could not take his career as a director far.
As a matter of fact, it was under Imtiaz’s direction in a play called Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon after the Chinese aggression in the 1960s that Amjad’s acting talent was first noticed and finally led to his selection many years later in the stellar role in Sholay. Imtiaz, incidentally, had begun his career as a child artiste in the 1950s but all through his career, he was recognised first as veteran actor Jayant’s son and then, as Amjad Khan’s brother. In the television era, he even came to be known as the husband of actress Krutika Desai of Buniyaad (1986) fame. But he was undoubtedly an accomplished actor both in theatre and cinema who deserved to be remembered as such in the annals of Hindi cinema.
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> Website> Arts & Entertainment / by Girihar Jha / March 17th, 2020
It will be interesting is to examine the historical relationship between between Scindias and Muslims and how it will shape Jyotiraditya’s position on the BJP’s Hindutva ideology, writes Shaikh Mujibur Rehman.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Congress party leader, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week. (PTI)
Two arguments, among others, have emerged prominently in the wake of Jyotiraditya Scindia’s decision to quit the Congress party and joining the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP). First: it has inflicted irreparable damage on the Congress party and would open floodgates for other ambitious leaders to emulate. Second: by joining the BJP, Jyotiraditya scindia has gone back to where he really belonged; a case of Ghar Wapasi as his aunt Yasodhararaje Scindia put it.
Scindia’s decision to quit the Congress is not going to harm Congress as enormously as it is being argued. In India’s national politics today, the worth of each politician should be evaluated based on his/her mass appeal and social base against Narendra Modi, who clearly has emerged unrivaled mass leader with pan-India appeal in the post-Indira Gandhi era.
Given that Scindia could not even win his Guna seat, a family bastion, and lost it to an ordinary challenger — BJP’s K P Yadav — speaks volumes his mass appeal. His defection and ability to mobilize few MLAs that could pull down Congress government, it is true, is a major jolt; but given that Congress has faced similar fate in Karnataka — which shows more of the BJP’s ability to outsmart the the grand old party than Scindia’s game plan, who seems more a pawn in the BJP’s larger game.
Among the most damaging defections from Congress in the recent decades was that of V P Singh — in the late 1980s — who not only left the party but formed a new government in New Delhi by defeating Rajiv. Others such as Mr. Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee — both went on to form their own parties — largely regional in nature. Clearly, Scindia is not capable of doing any of these. Therefore, the damage he has done or likely to do remains very limited. His impact on Kamal Nath government is again mainly the narrow majority the Congress government earned in 2018 elections, which has made it vulnerable.
Furthermore, nothing appears more ludicrous than looking at these developments from the ideological lens of India’s electoral politics. The truth is Indian politics has been purely dictated by pragmatism and opportunism for a very long time, particularly since mid 1970s. However, we need to recognize the BJP is a majoritarian party, an ideology that is in contradiction with India’s core Constitutional aspirations.
What is not happening in the recent years is a serious ideological battle in India’s electoral politics — not even even secularism versus Hindtuva. Whatever little ideological battle is witnessed is mainly launched by intellectuals, civil societies but not by major parties, who are more into rhetoric and tokenism. Failure of opposition parties to unite against Modi’s BJP in 2014 and in 2019 is an example of this.
The last time a serious ideological clash occured around the issue on secularism against the BJP’s brand of Hindutva was in 1996, when a moderate leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not allowed to run his BJP-led coalition government more than 13 days. Many stalwats of the anti-BJP coalition of that period were Vajpayee’s comrade in arms in 1977 anti-emergency movement and 1989 anti- corruption movement against Rajiv Gandhi, and yet opposed him fiercely and pulled down his government. Anything of that kind is not seen afterwards, and definitely not in 2014 or 2019, which is the most unfortunate development.
What is, however, interesting is to examine the historical relationship between between Scindias and Muslims and how it will shape Scindia’s position on the BJP’s Hindutva ideology.
History of Scindias, which can be traced to 18th century is far older than that of politics of Hindutva the RSS or Bhartiya Jana Sangh or BJP of today represent, which is mostly the 20th century phenomenon. The word Scindia is derived from Maharashtrian word, Scinde. The members of family began their career as soldiers and later emerged as Maratha ruler of the present day Gwalior state in course of time. Life histories of two prominent figures in Scindia dyansty would inform that the family despite having worked under Shivaji’s army had a special relationship with Muslims, and they were no bigots.
The family traces its origin to a village Kanerkeda, near Satara in Maharashtra. In 1722, the Scindia dynasty was established by Ranojirao Scindia. But the most prominent and fascinating figure in the family history is Mahadji Scindia, who took part in the third battle of Panipat in 1761. In this battle, Mahadji Scindia was injured seriously and was saved by Rane Khan, a water carrier. In 1765, Mahadji seized Gwalior, and Rane Khan was made a jagirdar of the Scindias and Mahadji declared him his brother. During his time, Scindias had the largest empire that stretched from Rajasthan desert to the Bay of Bengal. Even after conquering Delhi, Mahadji took care to maintain Mughal Emperor as the titular head.
Mahadji further treated Baba Mansur Shah, a Muslim as his Guru. Scindias venerate Mansur Baba’s tomb even today. Every year in September, Baba’s Urs ceremony continues to be held by the head of the family in Gwalior. Despite being a great ruler and warrior, Mahadji had nine wives and three daughters, but no son. He adopted Daultatrao, his cousin’s son, and that is how dynasty moved further to the present.
Other prominent figure of Scindia dynasty was Madhav Maharaj, whose son was Jiwajirao, grand father of Jyotiraditya Scindia. An interesting episode of his time that would demonstrate how deep their connection was with Muslims. In 1925, a fire broke out at Imam Bara prepared for the Muharram function. Taziya was burnt and the procession was delayed by two hours. “Tazia is not burnt. I am burnt,” said Madhav Maharaj. Apparently, tears roll down while Madhav Maharaj rode through the streets on that day along with the Moharram procession, write Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare in their biography of Madhavrao Scindia.
Given this history, it is interesting to explore how the family got drawn to Jana Sangh politics or modern day Hindutva politics. Some argue it was Vijayaraje Scindia, who got drifted to Jana Sangh politics owing to the power struggle she had with Dwarka Prasad Mishra, former Congress Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, also known as Chanakya of his time. That is because Mishra played the key role in the election of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister by defeating the syndicate after the death of Shastri.
It is well known that Rajmata Scindia had fought two elections in 1957 and 1962 as Congress candidate before she joined Bhartiya Jana Sangh. The person who perhaps played a decisive role keeping Rajmata in the loop of Jana Sangh or Hindu Right politics was Sambhajirao Angre, who she once credited to have brought down D P Mishra government single handedly to settle her political score with Mr. D P. Mishra.
Given this context, it will be interesting to see how Jyotiraditya Scindia repsonds to BJP brand of Hindutva. So far as the Congress is concerned — the real challenge before the party is to realize its social base is far greater than the number of seats it has in parliament today. Though, a good part of its social base is scattered. How to build a narrative that could help the party win more parliament seats so that it could reflect its social base is a challenge. Mere anti-Modism has not worked and won’t work in future either. Moreover, who will take lead over this issue is another million-dollar question.
(Dr Shaikh Mujibur Rehman teaches at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and is the author of a upcoming book, Explaining Muslim Mind. Views are personal)
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> Website> National> Opinion / by Shaikh Mujibur Rahman / March 16th, 2020
Mrs. Karam Unnissa Begum, a scion of Intekhab Jung family, passed away Monday morning.
She was 87 years old. She was staying with her daughter Prof Shagufta Shaheen at Errum Manzil, an old neighborhood behind Taj Krishna.
According to her son-in-law Sajjad Shahed she had been suffering with a few health issues for quite some time. “She breathed her last at around 11-30 am today,” he said.
Mrs Karam Unnisa Begum was the daughter of Nawab Mir Mahmood Ali Khan and sister of Mr Abid Ali Khan, founder editor of Siasat Urdu Daily.
Her husband Mr. Mohammad Shafeeq Hussain Siddiqui who has passed away a few years ago.
She is survived by, besides Prof Shaheen, another daughter Mrs Surayya Tahseen and two sons Mr Rafeeq Hussain Siddiqui who teaches at King Saud University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Azaz Hussain Siddiqui who lives in the U.S. Mrs. Surayya Tahseen lives in Canada.
Her funeral prayers will be held at Maghrib at Masjid-e-Alamgir, near Shanti Nagar. She will be laid to rest in the nearby cemetery soon after.
Siasat.com
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad / by Sana Sikander / March 16th, 2020
An order to this effect was issued by Deputy Secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh affairs), Anandi Venkateswaran in New Delhi.
IAS officer Baseer Ahmed Khan. (File photo from ANI)
Baseer Ahmed Khan, a 2000-batch IAS officer currently posted as the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, has been appointed as the fourth advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu.
An order to this effect was issued by Deputy Secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh affairs), Anandi Venkateswaran in New Delhi.
Approval of the competent authority is given “to the appointment of Baseer Ahmed Khan, IAS (JK-2000), as advisor to Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir…,” the order read.
It said the appointment would be effective from the date from which Khan assumes charge.
“The Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is requested to issue necessary orders with regard to the terms and conditions of his appointment under intimation to this ministry,” the order said.
On June 30 last, Khan and his twin brother Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Muneer Khan got an identical order of one-year extension of their service on a day they were retiring.
Former CRPF DG Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, a 1983-batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, was earlier appointed as the advisor to the Lt Governor on January 5, while another IPS officer Farooq Khan and IAS officer K K Sharma were retained as advisors after Murmu took over as the first Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir last year.
source: http://www.indiatoday.in / India Today / Home> News> India / by Press Trust of India, New Delhi / March 15th, 2020
Mohammad Shareef began burying bodies after his son’s death / Mohd Shabbir
Mohammad Shareef never got to bury his son. Instead, he has spent the last 27 years burying the unclaimed sons and daughters of thousands of other families.
It took a month for police to tell Mr Shareef that his son had died, and even then, they couldn’t tell him where, or how.
All Mr Shareef knows is that his son, Mohammad Rais, was one of almost 2,000 people killed in the Hindu-Muslim riots which engulfed India following the destruction of a mosque on a disputed religious site in 1992.
Mr Shareef doesn’t even know where the 25-year-old was buried.
“Police told me his body had decomposed,” Mr Shareef recalled, almost three decades on. “We didn’t see his body. We only got his clothes.”
But a few months later, he would witness something which would change his life forever.
“One day I saw police officers throwing a body into a river. I was horrified,” Mr Shareef says.
Along with the horror, came a realisation.
“I think my son’s body might have been thrown into a river, just like other such dead bodies. That day I said to myself, from today I am the guardian of abandoned dead bodies and I will give them a proper funeral.”
Mr Shareef says his wife Bibi never recovered from the death of their son / Mohd Shabbir
Unclaimed bodies pile up in India for a host of reasons: they could be people who lost their lives in road and rail accidents, or people who died far from home – pilgrims, migrants, old people abandoned by their children.
Some impoverished patients die in hospital with no-one to take care of the funeral.
But what to do with the bodies? Back in 1992, many districts in India didn’t have a mortuary facility. It was fairly common practice to dispose of unclaimed bodies quickly.
Burial was the preferred method, but in some places in north India they dumped unclaimed human remains into rivers to save money, time and effort.
Mr Shareef’s family have long suspected that Rais’ body ended up in the Gomti river. It flows past Sultanpur, the city where the young man had been working as a chemist in December 1992 – the month when Hindu fundamentalists tore down the 16th Century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Mr Shareef’s home, 65km (40 miles) away.
Rais went missing amid the bloodshed which followed.
“After my son disappeared I searched for him everywhere for a month, like a mad man,” his father says. “I didn’t find him anywhere. I even went to Sultanpur to look for him.”
Then came the news they had been dreading: their beloved son was dead. Mr Sharif and his wife Bibi were traumatised. His wife still struggles with periods of depression to this day.
The pain is aggravated by the fact they were not able to give their son a proper burial. It is a pain no one else should go through, Mr Shareef says.
“I decided that in my district, I wouldn’t let any unidentified body be thrown away into a river,” he says.
Shareef says he takes care of the unknown dead persons as he would a family member / Mohd Shabbir
In India’s caste-bound Hindu society, those who were at the bottom were historically forced to do the job of burial and cremations – and then treated as “untouchables” as a result.
But Mr Shareef – a bicycle mechanic by trade – was not to be deterred. He told the police about his desire to take up a task shunned by everyone else.
“When I got the first call, my heart was pounding. After the post-mortem, the police asked me to take away the body. I clearly remember that person’s neck was slashed.”
Soon, his workload started to increase. He even bought a four-wheeled cart to transport the dead.
Predictably his family members, friends and neighbours were taken aback. Even as a Muslim, Mr Sharif began to experience the same social exclusion as his Hindu colleagues.
“No-one in my family was happy at that time. They said, ‘you have gone mad’.
“Some people were afraid of me. They thought they would get infected with germs if they made physical contact with me.”
Yet Mr Shareef was resolute in his conviction. He had skipped family weddings, festivals and even prayers for the sake of unknown people. It gave him peace and solace: performing last rights is a moment to remember his son.
“It helped me to deal with the pain of my son’s death. I think about him all the time. I miss him.”
In the Hindu caste system, those who are relegated to the bottom of the pyramid are forced to assist with cremations and burials / Getty Images
It is not an easy job. Police often struggle to identify the body, which means they may have been dead for some time. Often it is not the bodies, Mr Shareef says, but the smell which is most off-putting.
“Whenever I see a badly mutilated or decomposed body it is difficult to sleep. I have nightmares and resort to sleeping tablets,” he explains.
“Sometimes police officials come with me to the cemetery but even they stand far away.”
All the same, he always takes the time to ensure the person is given the proper treatment, usually bathing the body.
If he realises the dead person is Muslim, he wraps the body in a sheet of cloth and recites the final prayers. If the body belongs to a Hindu, he takes it to be cremated.
No-one know exactly how many bodies Mr Shareef has buried. The head of Ayodhya district administration, Anuj Kumar Jha, told the BBC that they don’t have full records of the bodies handed over to Mr Shareef.
“Our rough estimate is we would have given about 2,500 bodies to him,” he said. Mr Shareef’s family say he has given last rites to more than 5,500 people.
Yet for years, he toiled without any financial support. To this day, he works in his bicycle shop, earning the equivalent of about $3 a day.
Mr Shareef continues to run his roadside cycle repair shop to provide for himself and his wife / Mohd Shabbir
But things are changing. He has been recognised for his dedication. The government has given him one of India’s highest civilian awards, while local shop owners now also help cover his expenses. At the age of 80, he is now able to have two paid assistants who are sharing his burden.
“Both Hindus and Muslims help me. People give me food and warm blankets. Recently I had to have an eye operation – a stranger called me and gave me 20,000 rupees [$290].”
But retirement is not something he is willing to consider. Neither his two surviving sons nor grandchildren want to follow in his footsteps, and he is acutely aware of what will happen if he stops doing this work.
“If I am not there, police will throw the bodies into rivers as they did before.”
For a man who some call the “saviour of the dead” that would be unbearable.
“I will continue doing this till my last breath,” he says.
source: http://www.bbc.com / BBC / Home> News> Asia / by Swaminathan Natarajan & Khadeeja Arif / BBC World Service / March 13th, 2020
Today, we remember these 5 powerful Indian Muslim feminist writers, who wrote boldly of issues that were considered taboo, shattering gender roles and stereotypes in their fierce writing and the politics they advocated for.
Watch this video detailing the life and times of luminaries like Ismat Chughtai, Rashid Jahan, Begum Rokeya, Wajida Tabassum and Qurratulain Hyder. #IndianWomenInHistory
source: http://www.youtube.com /
source: http://www.feminisminindia.com / Feminism In India (FII) / Home> History / by FII Team / November 09th, 2017
Nida Allam has become the first Muslim woman to be win elected office in the state of North Carolina.
According to local reports , history was written on Tuesday night when voters in Durham County went to the ballots to elect Allam as their next county commissioner.
Allam said in a statement provided to The Hill that, growing up as a Muslim in the U.S., she “never thought running for office let alone winning and making history would ever be a possibility.”
“I was driven to politics in 2015 after my best friend Yusor, her husband Deah and younger sister Razan were brutally murdered in their home in Chapel Hill in a hate crime committed by their neighbor,” she said. “This was a heinous act of hate that caused ripples across the world.”
Allam was referring to the murders of Deah Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19. The three college students had been living in a condo in Chapel Hill, N.C. when a man, Craig Stephen Hicks, entered their home and killed them.
Local authorities initially claimed the shooting incident was over a parking dispute, but the chief of the Chapel Hill police department, Chris Blue, apologized years later, saying “the man who committed these murders undoubtedly did so with a hateful heart.”
Hicks was ordered to serve three life sentences without possibility of parole after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in 2019.
Allam said in her statement that her “community suffered deeply” after the deaths of her friends.
“How can I be content with all the blessings I have been given in this world when there is so much to do to fight injustice, uplift one another and to make our communities healthier. I’m fighting for a better nation so that others don’t have to suffer the pain my community did,” she said.
During her campaign, Allam pushed for police reform, better quality education and wage increases for county workers, among other issues.
Prior to her run for local office, she worked as a political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign. She also served as third vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party and chair of Durham Mayor Steve Schewel’s (D) Council for Women.
The historic first in North Carolina comes years after voters saw a record number of Muslim candidates run for statewide or national office in 2018, the highest in nearly 20 years at the time. That was also the year Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) became the first Muslim women elected to serve in Congress.
source: http://www.thehill.com / The Hill / Home / by Aris Folley / March 05th, 2020
Alhaj Dr. Mohammed Ziaulla (64), retired Urdu Professor and a resident of Sathagalli, passed away yesterday at his residence.
He leaves behind his wife, one son, two daughters and a host of relatives and friends.
Namaz-e-Janaza will be held at Masjid-e-Azam on Ashoka Road after Moghreeb Salath today, followed by the burial at the Muslim Burial Grounds near Tipu Circle, according to family sources.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Obituary / March 11th, 2020
