Tag Archives: Dr.Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz

A Revolutionary Book On Islam That Non-Muslims Should Also Read

NEW DELHI :

Wealth of Muslim community and government spending on the rituals of Islam for centuries would have been better utilized for establishing universities and technical and research institutes.

A Revolutionary Book On Islam That Non-Muslims Should Also Read

Title: The Scientific Muslim: Understanding Islam in a New Light

Author: Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz

Publishers: Konark Publishers

Pages: 184

Price: Rs 595

These are undoubtedly troubled times for India. Never before were the minorities, Muslims in particular, made to face such vicious communal hostility. The Hindu rightwing is at its aggressive best, combining facts with fiction to attack almost everything Muslims hold dear – their prayers, festivals, dress, even cuisine. Muslims are constantly provoked. If they respond even verbally, they face more wrath. It could not have been worse. 

Hats off to Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz for coming out with his book on the problems Islam faces now. No, this is not a book about how to deal with Hindutva forces; far from it. A man of science, Parvaiz complains that Muslims across the world have jettisoned Islam’s true nature by sticking to parts of the Quran while ignoring much of what it says on how one must lead one’s life. 

As a student of spirituality, I am convinced that the book will make waves in India and much of the Islamic world. 

Ignoring Quran

The Quran, the author says, tells people how to lead a peaceful and meaningful life. While it asks those who read it to understand and explore nature, these intellectual pursuits are almost missing in those who claim the Quran to be their guidebook.  

Parvaiz moans that Muslims born in Muslim households are taught to ‘read’ Quran without understanding it. Over the last many centuries, Muslim society has cherry-picked certain verses of Quran as binding on them. These include five-time prayers, fasting during Ramzan, offering ‘zakat’ and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Quran, he says, is much more. By deserting the Quran, “we ‘Muslims’ have deserted Islam”. 

This is the main reason the Muslim society seems to have turned its back to scientific principles in which it once excelled, giving a tough competition to Europe. A sizeable section of Muslims even feels that contemporary education churns out atheists. The result? Ignorance about Quranic teachings coupled with limited ‘religiosity’ has led to the curriculum which is followed in most madrasas today. 

In the process, Muslims are widely misunderstood by others. Non-Muslims think a Muslim must be one who sports a beard and a skull cap, goes to a mosque to pray five times a day and slaughters animals to eat. But these are visible symbols. Parvaiz contends that the one who follows the guidance given in the Quran and grooms himself accordingly is alone a true Muslim.

Also, some Muslim rulers had a knack of not tolerating any criticism about themselves or their religious beliefs. Consequently, wars and persistent battles rendered the once-prized academic atmosphere unfavourable.

Based on the Quran, Muslims must draw a road map for acquiring knowledge in every sphere and put it to the service of humanity. Parvaiz details what all the Quran says for human betterment. For instance, it underlines that one must meet his needs judiciously and avoid extravagance. As long as the Muslim followed the divine way, they ruled over the world and promoted justice, equity, peace and public welfare. When they began to neglect the Quranic system, it led to their disgrace and humiliation. 

Islamic decline 

Unfortunately, Muslims are at present unable to understand or act on the Quran. According to the author, the wealth of the Muslim community and government spending on the rituals of Islam for centuries would have been better utilized for establishing universities and technical and research institutes.

The absence of these is a key reason for the decline of Muslims as a productive part of the society or country where they live. “Their love for wealth, progeny and glory have made them indifferent to patronizing knowledge… It is time that we transcend sectarianism and shed false notions about our understanding of Islam and our intellectualism.” 

According to the author, one reason why Muslims were hooked to a ritualistic lifestyle is because of the birth of a plethora of confusing and contradicting literature based on different sects that began to flourish. Slowly, Islam began to get diluted.

Also, some Muslim rulers had a knack of not tolerating any criticism about themselves or their religious beliefs. Consequently, wars and persistent battles rendered the once-prized academic atmosphere unfavourable. Muslim mobs in 1857 plundered the library of Delhi College, tearing apart books on English and science; Arabic and Persian books were looted.  

Parvaiz without doubt has complete faith in the Quran. Yet he tears to shreds those who he feels are following it selectively, ignoring all that it has said about how to be in tune with Divine creations. “Soulless rituals cannot provide any food for thought. These may arouse our sentiments. Yet they cannot produce those Muslims who may lead communities of the world.”

He goes on: “Today, Muslim localities are notorious for their filth and rubbish. We throw all rubbish outside our homes and shops. The drainage system is rotten. We encroach upon roads, making life difficult for everyone. We erect all sorts of barriers on roads. We generate various forms of disorder. The industrial smoke coming out of small- scale work units in every house and alley adversely affect the entire atmosphere. All this amounts to disobeying God’s commands.” (It is another matter that much of what the author says about Muslim neighbourhoods can be said to be true for areas populated by other communities in India too.)  

Way forward 

Parvaiz explains what needs to be done. “Water, air, earth and all that is inside the planet are God’s signs. As Muslims we should not even think of disrespecting or destroying these signs.” His complaint is not directed at one section or country of Muslims. “No group, community or country of Muslims has ever prepared its progress model which is in accordance with the Quranic principles of justice, equity and selfless service.” 

God, he says, has subjected everything to His laws. Indeed, all creatures who abide by divine commands can be called believers. Lip service and verbal claims alone will not and cannot help Muslims discharge their duty towards God. In real life, humans who are blessed by God seek to hold and hoard resources provided to them. Ownership and monopoly, he warns, are satanic concepts. 

Parvaiz feels that the time has come to free Muslim educational agenda from religious and sectarian bias. Muslims should welcome all beneficial branches of knowledge. Character development has to be encouraged. One needs to train and produce Muslims who will follow Islam in full and not confine it to only a mosque or prayers. 

“Islam will be their guide and mentor in every activity of life. This is the Muslim community which lost its way one thousand years ago.” 

Non-Muslims too must read this eye-opener of a book as much as Muslims.  

(The reviewer is a veteran journalist and author)

(Published under an arrangement with South Asia Monitor)

source: http://www.thenewsagency.in / The News Agency / Home> News Pops> India / by M R Narayan Swamy / April 28th, 2022

‘Islamic studies can help ward off misconceptions’

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Eminent scholar Abdul Ali addresses MANUU seminar

There is no justification for the so-called Islamophobia based on a deliberate mischievous misrepresentation of contemporary Islam and muslims, said eminent scholar Abdul Ali, former head of department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University.

“Islamic Studies as a branch of Social Sciences can play a vital role in removing misconceptions and misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims,” he said while delivering the keynote address at a national seminar held at on “Islamic Studies: Concept, Present Scenario and Future,” organised by the Department of Islamic Studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) here.

Participants of the seminar paid homage to the victims of recent terror attack in Sri Lanka. Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Vice-Chancellor of MANUU, in his presidential address, quoted extensively from the Quran, highlighting the parameters set by the holy book to lay the foundation of a society based on communal harmony and peaceful co-existence. Dr. Parvaiz asked the scholars to revise the syllabi of Islamic Studies and make provision for interface study with other branches of Social and Natural Sciences.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – April 25th, 2019

MANUU launches online learning channel

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

University channel on YouTube

Launching learning into cyberspace, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University’s YouTube channel for higher education went live on Tuesday.

The channel, an initiative of the university’s Instructional Media Centre (IMC), is expected to reach over 80,000 students who have enrolled in various courses which are different stages of completion in the distance mode.

University Vice-Chancellor M. Aslam Parvaiz underscored that while the large number of its students stand to benefit through the YouTube channel, the initiative would also reach a larger number of Urdu speakers who are not students.

“The books which we give in form of study material is insufficient these days as there is no teacher. This channel takes the teacher to the student’s house,” Dr. Parvaiz said. The Urdu speaking diaspora of the country in Europe and the USA too would benefit.

Describing the launch of the YouTube channel as a day of liberation of Urdu, Dr. Parvaiz opined that the language has been confined to ‘literary ramps’ and would now be associated with knowledge.

Taking questions from the media on the frequency of generating content, he said that each department is given a schedule to record its videos. The IMC, he said, generates 30 such videos each month. “That is more than one per day. There is a good collection which already exists. This too will be made available,” he said. The IMC will also start making 3-D films soon.

Touching upon how MANUU’s schools would benefit, he said that the second phase of content generation would deal with this aspect.

Also launched at the event were the IMC logo, Cinematheque MANUU Signature Film and MANUU Knowledge Series.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – December 13th, 2017

Saying it with science

NEW DELHI / Hyderabad , TELANGANA  :

Mohammad Parvaiz at the first Urdu Science Congress in New Delhi in March 2015. Photo: Special Arrangement
Mohammad Parvaiz at the first Urdu Science Congress in New Delhi in March 2015. Photo: Special Arrangement

A 23-year-old Urdu science magazine uses popular science to inspire progressive thought

Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz likes to describe a process that is a combination of four of his passions — botany, education, philosophy and religion. “The roots imbibe water and nutrients from the soil. The leaf photosynthesises, produces food, retains just enough for its own sustenance and sends the rest to the parts of the tree that need that food. This is the natural world’s law of diffusion — movement happens from the region of high concentration to the region of low concentration. If we see the tree as our community, that is how resources should flow too,” says Dr. Parvaiz, publisher of the magazine Urdu Science.

The first issue was launched at the World Book Fair in New Delhi in 1994. It dealt with AIDS and the myths surrounding condoms. In the last 22 years, the magazine has covered a gamut of subjects including water conservation and the need for a National Water Policy, common ailments and how to prevent them, sex determination, balding, sleep, life on Mars, and animation.

“Science is very effective in feeding the intellectual hunger of young people.Only with knowledge can they think for themselves and learn to analyse the religious scripts that they memorise. Most often it is the children of the poorest Muslims who attend madrasas. With only religious texts to lead them, and if they can read only in one language, how can you expect them to develop their personality and prosper in society?” asks the mild-mannered crusader, at present the Vice-Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad.

In the campus, boulders display signages with scientific information and many trees carry their botanical names. “A person will absorb anything that is part of his environment,” he said to the graduate, post-graduate and doctoral students at the inauguration of an Urdu writers’ workshop. As an Urdu-medium student in a madrasa in Delhi, young Parvaiz hardly found any books or magazines in Urdu that could satiate his curiosity. In the Sunday markets of old Daryagunj, he used to find Russian books translated into Urdu, and that is how he discovered Benjamin Franklin. As a high-school student, he set up a science lab in his house. Years later, when he became the principal of Zakir Hussain College, he started a new venture in another corner of his house — Urdu Science.

“Survival depends as much on physical health as on intellectual growth, and sadly, the low potential for growth for poor students in madrasas is a problem across our subcontinent,” he says. An active member of the Modernization of Madrasa Education Project, he says that it is “ironic and tragic that clerics who lead our prayers and teach us about religion and the Koran do not have the means or the knowledge to impart a broad and progressive education. They accept that religious education is not enough, and many of them are now waiting for progressive teachers and educators to come forward and teach at madrasas.”

Having completed a PhD in botany, Dr. Parvaiz started writing in Urdu for Quami Awaz, then edited by Mohan Chirag. Noticing that most Urdu-medium students opted for the humanities, he wanted to popularise science. As a first step, he started a society called the Anjuman Farogh-e-Science, with patrons like Nobel Laureate Prof. Abdus Salam, Jamia Hamdard founder Hakeem Abdul Hameed, and Jamia Hamdard Chancellor Saiyid Hamid. The not-for-profit organisation held its first Urdu Science Congress in New Delhi in March 2015 and the second in Aligarh, this February.

“Urdu was a language of poetry and literature. People of different faiths patronised Urdu. But in those days, and even today, information in the language was very limited. And that is why I started this organisation and this magazine. My wife Shaheen helps me with proof-reading. And now I also have assistance from my colleague Dr. Tariq Nadwi.” Dr. Parvaiz is proud that the magazine has attracted enough Urdu science writers to contribute, and the magazine has so far never had to translate an article from another language. Issues from 2005 are available on the Academia.edu website.

Translation is an important key to dissemination of knowledge, agrees Parvaiz. He is on a personal mission to compile a glossary of scientific words in English, with meanings explained in Urdu. Sharing a slice of history, he says, “Delhi College was started as a madrasa by Ghaziuddin Khan. Here, mathematician Master Ramchandra and Maulvi Zakaullah translated many of the Western scientific texts into Urdu through the Vernacular Translation Society. It was there that I studied and later became the principal. I started Urdu Science when I was there. And I feel very humble that I now head MANUU, the university aiming to promote Urdu.”

A voracious reader of both religious texts and international science, Parvaiz says, “Science helps us interpret the Koran in many ways. And that is as relevant today as it was when the first issue of Urdu Science was launched.”

Mala Kumar is a children’s author, editor and freelance journalist.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Literary Review / October 15th, 2016