1.  {The believers, in their love, mercy, and kindness to one another are like a body: if any part of it is ill, the whole body shares its sleeplessness and fever.}¹

2.  {The most perfect of the believers in faith are the best of them in morals.  And the best among them are those who are best to their wives.}²

3  {None of you believes (completely) until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.}³

4.  {The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful.  Show mercy to those on earth, and God will show mercy to you.}⁴

4.  {Smiling at your brother is charity...}⁵

6.  {A good word is charity.}⁶

7.  {Whoever believes in God and the Last Day (the Day of Judgment) should do good to his neighbor.}⁷

8.  {God does not judge you according to your appearance and your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and looks into your deeds.}⁸

9.  {Pay the worker his wage before his sweat dries.}⁹

10.  {A man walking along a path felt very thirsty.  Reaching a well, he descended into it, drank his fill, and came up.  Then he saw a dog with its tongue hanging out, trying to lick up mud to quench its thirst.  The man said, “This dog is feeling the same thirst that I felt.”  So he went down into the well again, filled his shoe with water, and gave the dog a drink.  So, God thanked him and forgave his sins.}  The Prophet (S) was asked, “Messenger of God, are we rewarded for kindness towards animals?”  He said: {There is a reward for kindness to every living animal or human.}¹⁰
 

_____________________________

Footnotes:

(1) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #2586, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #6011.

(2) Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad, #7354, and Al-Tirmizi, #1162.

(3) Narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #13, and Saheeh Muslim, #45.

(4) Narrated in Al-Tirmizi, #1924, and Abu-Dawood, #4941.

(5) Narrated in Al-Tirmizi, #1956.

(6) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #1009, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #2989.

(7) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #48, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #6019.

(8) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #2564.

(9) Narrated in Ibn Majah, #2443.

(10) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #2244, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #2466.
 

 

Mu'adha reported: A woman asked 'A'isha: Should one amongst us complete prayers abandoned during the period of menses? 'A'isha said: Are you a Haruriya? When any one of us during the time of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) was in her menses (and abandoned prayer) she was not required to complete them.
 

However, we *are* required to complete the fasting that we abandon because of menstruation.

The case for shariah is not coming West enough.  Muslims and Americans, including non-Muslims would be satisfied with the Constitutional law the U.S. had when it was considered a beacon of freedom.  Equal justice, even without shariah is all that Muslims seek.  However, it's really only in shariah that true justice has been exemplified.  And yes, some countries have abused shariah in the name of nationalism.

FACT : The most involuntary fasts (nafil fasts) kept by Rasool Allah sallalahu alayhe wasallam were in the month of shabaan.

A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) did not observe fast in any month of the year more than in the month of Sha'ban, and used to say: Do as many deeds as you are capable of doing, for Allah will not become weary (of giving you reward), but you would be tired (of doing good deeds) ; and he also said: The deed liked most by Allah is one to which the doer adheres constantly even if it is small.( Muslim :: Book 6 : Hadith 2582 )

Common Knowledge About Shab e Baraat Vs FACTS

MISCONCEPTION: Fasting only on 15^th of Shaban is a deed of great reward.

FACT: Fasting ONLY on 15^th of Shabaan is an innovation and not according to the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Thus should be totally avoided. Fasting frequently in Shabaan was the Sunnah of Rasool Allah However; Rasool prohibited his ummah from fasting after 15^th of Shabaan due to fear of becoming too weak to be able to fast in Ramadan.

Rasool Allah Sallaalahu alayhe Wasallam said : "When half of shaban has passed, do not fast" (Abu Dawood Bab 12: Hadith  2337- Classed Hasan Sahih by Albani)

Therefore the Muslims should fast frequently in the first half of Shabaan and avoid fasting in the second half of Shabaan.

MISCONCEPTION: Shab e Baraat i.e. the 15^th of Shabaan is a Special Night for prayers in Islam.

FACT: There is no such thing as Shab e Baraat. Word Shab e Baraat never appears in the Quran or Hadith. Shab e Baraat is infact NOT an Arabic Word.

MISCONCEPTION: On this blessed night Allah Tala descends down to forgive people

FACT: Allah Tala descends down EVERY night to forgive the people who repent.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "When it is the last third of the night, our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, descends every night to the heaven of the world and says, ‘Is there anyone who invokes Me (demand anything from Me), that I may respond to his invocation; Is there anyone who asks Me for something that I may give (it to) him; Is there anyone who asks My forgiveness that I may forgive him?' "Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 75, Number 333:

MISCONCEPTION: This is the blessed night on which the taqdeer is decided. Who will live...who will die. Who will get how much rizq...

The following verses of the Quran are presented as evidence for this as this verse is talking about a blessed night on which everything is decreed..

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَـٰهُ فِى لَيۡلَةٍ۬ مُّبَـٰرَكَةٍ‌ۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنذِرِينَ (٣) فِيہَا يُفۡرَقُ كُلُّ أَمۡرٍ حَكِيمٍ (٤) أَمۡرً۬ا مِّنۡ عِندِنَآ‌ۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُرۡسِلِينَ (٥) رَحۡمَةً۬ مِّن رَّبِّكَ‌ۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡعَلِيمُ (٦)

Verit ly We Sent it down on a blessed night Verily,We are ever warning (3) There in is decreed every matter of ordainments(4) As a Command from Us. Verily, We are ever sending , (5)(As) a Mercy from your Lord. Verily! He is theAll-Hearer, the All-Knower. (6)

Surah Dukhaan Chapter 44 Verse 4

FACT: The verse is being misquoted.
This Verse is about a Night in Ramadan NOT Shab e Baraat. The verse is talking about revelation of Quran on a blessed Night. Read the first 2 ayats of Surah Dukhaan

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

حم

وَالْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ

إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةٍ مُبَارَكَةٍ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنْذِرِينَ

فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ

Hâ-Mîm (1) By the clear Book,(2) Indeed, We sent it down during a blessed night. Indeed, We were to warn [mankind].(3) On that night is made distinct every precise matter -(4)(Quran Surah Dukhaan 44: 1-4)

Allah has informed us in Surah Baqarah that the Quran was revealed in the month of Ramadan.

شَہۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ

The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an.( Surah Al Baqarah. Chapter 2:185)

So which night is Surah Dukhaan talking about? The night of revelation of Quran in Ramadan is none other than Lailtul Qadr. On this night angels descend and taqdeer is decided.Read Surah Qadr

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَـٰهُ فِى لَيۡلَةِ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ (١)

وَمَآ أَدۡرَٮٰكَ مَا لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ (٢)

لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ خَيۡرٌ۬ مِّنۡ أَلۡفِ شَہۡرٍ۬ (٣)

تَنَزَّلُ ٱلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ فِيہَا بِإِذۡنِ رَبِّہِم مِّن كُلِّ
أَمۡرٍ۬ (٤)

سَلَـٰمٌ هِىَ حَتَّىٰ مَطۡلَعِ ٱلۡفَجۡرِ (٥

Indeed, We sent the Qur'an down during the Night of Decree. (1) And what can make you know what is the Night of Decree?(2) The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months(3) The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter.(4) Peace it is until the emergence of dawn(5)(Quran  97: Surah Qadr)

And we all know that Laitul Qadr isa night which falls in the odd nights of last 10 days of Ramadan.So the Night of Decree is NOT 15th Shabaan but laitul Qadr.

MISCONCEPTION : Souls of the dead visit the earth and therefore one should go to cemeteries.

FACT: Once a person dies, if the soul is good, it is sent to IleeYeen and if it is bad it is sent down to Sijeyeen. There is a barzakh / a barrier between the souls and this world and they can never ever return to this world or contact us.

Until, when death comes to one of them (those who join partners with Allâh), he says: "My Lord! Send me back, (99) "So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!" No! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the Day when they will be resurrected.(Surah Mominoon -100)

Further Reading:

Flash Presentation on Shabaan

Ruling on Celebrating Middle of Shabaan - Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Bin Baz

Queries on Islam - Qs6: Celebrating Shab e Baraat - Dr. Zakir Naik

Reality of Shabaan - Dr.Farhat Hashmi

Fasting on Shab e Baraat

Celebrating Shab e Baraat

- 

The Institution called "Madrassah" has drawn attention worldwide in recent days. Specifically, after the capture of power in Afghanistan by the Madrassah graduates and teachers, the western media focused more on "Madrassahs" throughout the world. Some of the programs I watched in television on the Madrassah education in Pakistan and Afghanistan appeared to me very credible. The teachings were fully based on the primitive scriptures originated in Mecca and Medina about fourteen hundred years ago. In those programs, a few of the Madrassah teachers and students were interviewed. They were asked about their academic subjects and views about the non-Muslims based on their learning from the primitive books. The answers to the questions were mostly hateful. For example, they think that the non-Muslims must be converted to Muslims by applying force, if necessary. They also  think that the whole world should be under Sharia law. The implication of Sharia Laws in a society is barbaric to say the least. The abhorring rules of stoning to death, forcing women to wear burqah/veil (mobile prison), killing opponents (calling them by such name as Murtads), etc., are but a few of the barbaric rules of Sharia. All these Sharia Laws based on Quran and Hadiths are the areas of focus in Madrassah education. They read, memorize, and believe in the myths of Quran. Arabic language is taught for them to understand the essence of both Quran and Hadiths.

I had a few other close relatives who finished their education in Madrassah. One of them was a Professor in government colleges and later retired as a Principal from one of the colleges. He was both a Madrassah graduate and a graduate (M.A. in Arabic) from the Calcutta University. Another member of my near ones retired from a government school as a "Head Maulana." A few others also got their education in Madrassahs. So far, I understand about them that given the opportunity, all of them would have liked to implement strict I slamic rules. I observed that their worldview was focused on applying Sharia Laws.  Implementing "Fardth" and "Sunnah" of Islam were their main targets. After all, they were taught only the two main books "Quran" and "Hadith." Many of them expressed their heartfelt desire to bring the whole world under the Sharia rule of Rasul (Prophet) and Allah. I don't think that the Madrassah educationists are all heartless people. I saw my grandfather how kind he was to a beggar. He used to feed by his own hand to any blind beggar. But, the same Maulana, my grandfather, would definitely have been very harsh/tough to an intellectual who would critique any rule of Islam. The Islamic teachings only want the followers to surrender without question. So far, these are the teachings they get in Madrassahs. The Madrassah graduates are kind to those who unquestionably surrender to their philosophy but they are very tough and violent to those who question the validity of the barbaric Sharia/Islamic rules.One may investigate the Madrassah education now and will find that this education system has not been improved/changed/modified at all. While I went to Bangladesh in 1997, I happened to have some conversation with a Madrassah student. I asked him about the subjects they were taught. As expected and anticipated by me, he said that the subjects were only Quran and Hadiths. These  are taught in different years of their Madrassah education.  Different types of Tafsirs (interpretation) of Quran and different chapters of Hadiths are taught during their stay in Madrassah. They are not taught about subjects such as economics, science, etc. They don't know about modern economics, cost -benefit analysis, internal rate of return, etc. based on interest. According to their views derived from Sharia, these are haram (forbidden). In fact, the subject "Economics" will be totally considered Haram by some of the fanatic  Madrassah-educationists.

Source: Faith Freedom International

URL: http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/ShabbirAhmed30605.htm  

Allah not only loves illiteracy but poverty also. As Imam Ghazali, one of the greatest Muslim scholars of all time, had pointed out; prayer, a big family and poverty will ensure Paradise. To promote further admiration of poverty among the Muslims, Ghazali wrote that Allah and His Prophet praised one who remains satisfied with poverty. He even goes to the extent to exhort Muslims to condemn wealth but praise poverty because it is better than wealth (cited Kasem, 2006).

This is how illiteracy and poverty are glorified in Islam as Allah’s will. Illiteracy and poverty often go hand-in-hand and followed by backwardness. This is how Muslims achieve all three together. Non-Muslims will never be able to catch up the Muslims in this field. But Muhammad never wanted to remain in poverty. He was so greedy that in spite of his flourishing slave trade and plunder, he wanted to grasp the property of other Muslims also. As per Sunaan Abu Dawud, 18:2895, Muhammad was the inheritor of those who had no heir.

Destruction of Alexandria's famous library is one example where Muslims had shown their disgust for education and knowledge. This royal library was one of the greatest of all the libraries during those days and comprised perhaps as many as six hundred thousand manuscripts, as most of the historians estimate - the whole corpus of knowledge accumulated by ancient scientists, philosophers, historians and poets including unique works of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Hippocrates and Euclid - just a few of the geniuses to mention amongst several others. The library was open to any scholar from anywhere in the world. During the early months of A. D. 642, Amrou, the general leading the armies of Umar surrounded Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. On the orders of Caliph Umar, the entire collection of books stored at the library was removed and used as fuel to heat water for the city's four thousand public baths. The loss of the library was a particularly grievous blow because the works of so many Roman scholars, literary geniuses, and historians were destroyed. Umar justified his heinous action by saying, "If these writing of the Greeks agree with the Koran, they are useless and need not be preserved. If they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed" (Trifkovic, 2002, p. 196). Historians recorded that it took about six months to burn down all the manuscripts.

Many present day Muslims delight in debunking this library burning incident as an anti-Islamic slander. How many of these Muslims know that Umar’s twelfth century successors (Trifkovic, 2002, p. 196) often took great pride to refer this incident?

There was a similar incident in India as well. One of the oldest Universities of the world was Nalanda Mahavidyalaya (University / learning centre). It is not an exaggeration at all that, during those days, Nalanda was the equivalent of today’s Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley and Stanford, all rolled into one. At its peak, Nalanda used to house over ten thousand students and two thousand teachers. Students from as far as Arabia, China, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Persia, Turkey and Sri Lanka used to enroll at Nalanda (Oak, 1996, p. 101). All Buddhist subjects and also all ‘Darshanas’ (Hindu systems of Philosophy), phoentics, grammar, nyaya/ rhetoric, languages, medicine, astronomy, chemistry and fine arts apart from various other subjects were covered in Nalanda. But it’s all gone now by the hands of Islamic invaders in A.D 1193 (97?). Bhaktiyar Khilji, the Turkish Muslim invader, took care to inquire whether there was a Qu’ran in the library before he burnt it and sacked the university complex (did his ideological descendents worried about their Qu’ran before flying planes into WTC ?). The brutal act killing all students and teachers engaged in academic studies is claimed to bring great glory to Islam. Islam destroyed in months, what Hindus and Buddhists built for several centuries. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas is just a small minor event in the history in comparison to Nalanda massacre.

As usual, the present day Muslims often deny the destruction of Nalanda in Muslim hands, but how many of them know that Persian historian Minhaz had recorded the Nalanda burning incident in his book, Tabaquat-i-Nasiri, by gathering information from several eye-witnesses. Minhaz recorded (cited Oak, 1996, p. 102),

“Most of the inhabitants of the place were ‘Brahmanas’ (Hindu priests) with shaven heads. They were put to death. Large numbers of books were found there, and when the Mahammadans saw them, they called for some person to explain the contents. But all of the men were killed. It was discovered that the whole fort and city was a place for study, in the Hindi language the word Bihar (i.e. Vihara) means a college.”

In the destruction of Nalanda, the same historian, Minhaz (cited Dutt, 1988) recorded that several thousands of monks were burned alive and yet more thousands beheaded, and the burning of the library continued for several months. Many were forcibly converted to Islam. For Buddhism, in India, this incident marked the beginning of end (Kashyap, 1996). Several historians (cited Dutta et al., 1996. p. 29-30) concluded that Muslim rule was solely responsible for the present poverty of India and for destroying a flourishing a Hindu economy. Medieval India, until the Islamic invasion was a very rich culture, one of the six or seven most advanced civilizations of all times (Trifkovic, 2002, p. 110).

Muslims often take childlike pride on the golden age of Islam, which was actually a myth. As Spencer (2005, p. 91) reported, there is no historical proof to support the idea that Islam inspired a culture which outstripped others. Tisdall (1984, p. 201) wrote, “No great civilization, no scientist of note, no renowned school of philosophy, has ever arisen on purely Mohammedan ground”. He believed that even several Muslim scholars had accepted this fact. Islam never encouraged scientific knowledge. The only knowledge it accepts is Qur’anic knowledge. Diderot stated (cited Gunny, 1996, p. 168) that during Caliph Al-Mamun, people were heard shouting for his death because he had fostered science at the expense of the `holy ignorance' of the faithful believers. Akbar, the Mughal emperor of India was an illiterate and surprisingly, it was not a shame for him but a pride. This stupid Muslim emperor, in his own eyes, had one qualification to be a prophet. “The prophets were all illiterates”, he used to point out frequently and sincerely believed that, in order to honor their prophet, it is the essential duty for every faithful Muslim to keep one of their sons illiterate. (Eraly, 1997, p. 909). With so much glorification of illiteracy and dislike for science, there is little doubt that, Islam’s golden age is far from reality. It is infidel’s education, science, technology and endurance, based on which the Human civilization had spread everywhere including Islamic world itself; on which the Muslim community has no contribution. Trifkovic (2002, p. 196) wrote, “Whatever flourished, it was not by reason of Islam, it was in spite of Islam.” There is no doubt about it.

Even today, the situation is not much changed. Mindless glorification of illiteracy and stupidity is continued shamelessly as true Islamic traditions. One of the burning examples is Madrassah education, for study of pure Islamic ethics, which in today’s world is ‘pure ignorance’. In many orthodox Madrassahs, it is still taught that earth is flat (Das, 2006a). This is the height of Qur’anic stupidity. Earth is flat, because, Qur’an says so.

Legacy of Islamic stupidity reached its peak when Ibn Baz, a noted Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia wrote a book (published by Islamic University of Medina, Saudi Arabia) on 1974, claiming that, earth is motionless and sun revolves around the earth. He confidently challenged the age-old belief of earth’s rotation and quoted, “If the earth is rotating as they [Infidels]claim, the countries, the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and the oceans will have no bottom and the people will see the eastern countries move to the west and the western countries move to the east." During 1993, the same Islamic intellectual again gave another verdict that “earth is flat”. The stupidity did not end there. Ibn Baz threatened to his fellow Muslims, “Anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished” (Das, 2006b). This scholar never read any book except of Islamic faith and since Qur’an confirms that earth is flat, therefore Ibn Baz was sure that earth is flat.

Islamic stupidity reached its zenith once again when a scholar, Dr. Izzat Attya who is the head of the department of Hadith in Al-Azhar, (world’s most prestigious Islamic University), issued a fatwa (religious opinion), which declared that, it is legitimate for a working Muslim woman to breast-feed her male colleague to avoid the sin of ‘khulwa’ (staying with a stranger in one room). Similar fatwas had been issued in the past by many Sheikhs in many Middle-Eastern countries, but this is the first time it came from a high level academic of Al-Azhar (Salih, 2007).

Al-Azhar, which is supposed to be the world’s most prestigious Islamic University, has no shortage of Qur’anic talents and their research topics often fascinate others. We all know that Muslims who entered paradise would enjoy eternal erections and the company of virgins and ‘pearl-like’ young boys. But the Al-Azhar faculty had objected on the issue of ‘eternal erection of male sexual organ’ and after much debate / research etc, came to the conclusion that, men in paradise would have erections, but merely protracted, not perpetual (Miller, 1997. p. 26-27). Some of them also doubted the possibility of pederasty (anal intercourse between man and a boy) in paradise, while many agreed.

So, this is the faculty level of the Al-Azhar and University of Medina. If this is not stupidity then what is stupidity? Are ‘flat earth’, ‘motionless earth’ and ‘sun revolves around earth’ theories have got any meaning when modern scientific discoveries are fascinating the common citizen and the scholar alike in the present era ? Are ‘eternal erection’ and ‘breast feeding a man’ the only concerns, which trouble the Muslims at this scientific era when the civilized world is busy with the conquest of space, genetic engineering and wonders of the computer? How much stupidity is enough?

It is the duty and responsibility of the universities to introduce new knowledge of values. A university stands for Humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for progress, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of the truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the temple of learning itself becomes a home of mindless stupidity, how then the Muslim society will prosper and every individual Muslim grow in stature?

Education is directly related to the economy of any society; higher the education, better the economic growth. But since, anything except Qur’anic knowledge is superfluous; common Muslims live in poverty. It is not surprising at all that a prominent person like Ayatollah Khomeini once wisely said (cited Fara et. al, 1996, p. 69) “Economics is a preoccupation of donkeys”. Bisset (cited Trifkovic, 2002. p. 5) argues that there is something wrong in Muslim world and raised his doubt, “With all their oil wealth, why are there no Muslim countries among the top thirty of the world’s richest nations? Why is it that, two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in Muslim countries? ” As Sina (2001) said, “The greatest gift of Islam to its followers is poverty.” The GDP in all Arab countries combined stood at $ 531.2 billion in 1999 which is less than that of a single European country (Spain - $595.5 billion). According to the World Bank, in 2000 the average annual income in the Muslim countries from Morocco to Bangladesh was only half the world average (Lewis, 2003, p. 99, 100). But the irony is that common Muslims do not blame themselves for their pitiable condition. All they do is to put the charge on the civilized nations. "Afghans suffer poverty because of America's disproportionate wealth" - this is what Madrassah teachers say in Afghanistan (Elder, n.d) and low academic level of the Palestinians is due to Israeli aggression (Al-Samman, 2001).

Dr. Kenneth David, a well-known economist, presented World Bank Survey of 1980, on the educational and economic status of religious societies of the world in his book named “The Cultural Environment of International Business”. UNDP in 1996 also presented an exhaustive status report of UN Member countries. These important documents are highly revealing since they compare living conditions of all the religious societies i.e. Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, tribal religions and Muslims as well as non-religious communist society. Few disturbing facts (cited Farooqi, 2005) are as follows,

• Christian society is the most advanced society of the world with regard to education, health and economic wealth whereas Muslim society is the most backward on these counts.
• Literacy of Christian world in 1980 was on an average 90% and about 15 countries had a literacy of 100%. Whereas, average literacy in the Muslim countries was less than 40% and none had 100% literacy. More or less the same situation continued afterwards and in 2001 UNDP reported an average of 60 % literacy in Islamic countries and between 95 to 100% in the Western nations of Christians.
• Among the literates of the Christian world, hardly 2% of the population did not complete school education whereas 50% of the Muslims never attended modern schools. In the Christian society literacy implies education of at least primary level whereas in Muslim society a person who could read and write is considered to be literate. If the criterion of the Christian world is taken into account then hardly 10% population of the Muslim countries can claim to be literate.
• The importance of education in the Christian countries can be judged by the fact that around 40% get higher education including specialization in various disciplines of science. This is less than 2% in Muslim countries. Even the standard of higher education of this 2% is lower in Muslim countries when compared with the Christian world. Hence, many educated Muslims get specialized knowledge of science, engineering and medicine in the Christian West.
• Scientific achievement of the Muslim society cannot be considered to be of any consequence. Out of the total of 2,60,000 articles published every year on scientific research, hardly 2500 i.e. about 1% are published in Muslim countries.
• Total number of Science Ph.D.’s produced by about 450 Universities of Muslim Countries every year is less than 500, whereas in UK alone this number is 3000.
• Total strength of Engineers and Scientist in Muslim world (1.30 billion) is less than the scientists and engineers working in France alone (population 60 million).
• Hardly 16% of Muslim population is involved in industrial production, whereas for Christians this figure is 60%.

As per another statistics (cited Mahmood, 2006),

• Amongst every one million citizens, the number of scientists is 4000 in USA, 5000 in Japan and only 230 in Muslim world. The number of research assistants in western world is 1000 for every one million people and in Muslim world this number is only 50.
• Total number of universities in USA is 5758 and in India 8407, whereas it is only miserly 500 altogether for all 57 Muslim nations of the world. Out of all the topmost universities of the glove, not a single one is from any of the Muslim nation.
• In Western world 98% people complete their primary education and 40% goes to universities, whereas in Muslim world only 50% people completes primary education and 2% goes to universities.
• In UK, 2000 books are published for every one million people, whereas in Egypt, the number is only 20.
• Number of Doctorates in India alone is more than the total number of Doctorates in entire Muslim world.

Educational level of the common Arabs is too low. As of 1982, Arab world produced 40 books per million habitants which is far below the world average 162 titles per million (Eickelman & Piscatori, 1997, p. 40). Another report (cited Lewis, 2003, p. 99) reveals; the Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one-fifth of the number that Greeks translates. As per United Nations' Arab Human Development Report (cited Gattuso, 2005), half of Arab women are illiterate. In total, 60% of Arab Muslims are illiterate. Almost half of the universities concentrate on teaching Islamic education and Islamic science. Fifteen percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed. Only 1% of the Arab population has a personal computer, and only 0.5 % use the Internet.

The Census of India, 2001 (cited Goswami & Malik, 2006. p. 34-40) gave a detailed educational data across religious groups of India. The report reveals a fearful gap between the educational levels of the Muslims and non-Muslims. The original report is too large to produce here. Few salient points are as follows,

Muslim population is far less educationally accomplished than their non-Muslim counterparts in every state of India and in all levels of education. Urban Muslim women are far worse off educationally than their male counterparts.

• All India literacy levels of Muslim man (55%), non-Muslim Man (64.5%); Muslim woman (40.6%) and non-Muslim woman (45.9%).
• All India literacy levels of urban Muslim man (64.2%), urban non-Muslim man (77.3%), urban Muslim woman (52.8%), and urban non-Muslim women (65.5%)
• 44% fewer Muslim students complete senior school compared to non-Muslim.
• Only one in 101 Muslim women is a graduate versus one out of 37 non-Muslim women.
• 31 million more Muslims to be educated by 2011 to match today’s literacy level of the non-Muslims.
• Many more Muslims drop out of high schools than all other religious communities.
• The average income of Muslim families is much lower than that of the non-Muslims. Over 60% of Muslims live in slums and poorer areas.
• There are hardly any social workers, NGOs and activists from Muslim background compared to non-Muslims.

Throughout nineteenth century, attempts were made to analyze the causes of Muslim backwardness in India. One of the reasons is that a vast number of Muslims were apathetic to any education except Qu’ran. Also, their complete lack of interest in English education is another factor. When the Hindus and Christians recognized the advantages of learning English under British rule; the Muslims sat apart wrapped into the memory of their traditions and held back by the conservatism of Islam (Ahmed, 1981. p. 133). Rev. Long (1868, p. 62) argued that Muslim community did not have the same aptitude as the Hindus for acquiring a knowledge in English. Even today, as Census of India, 2001 had pointed out, too many Muslim households still believe that religious education at Madrassah is a substitute for high school and college learning. Still many Indian Muslims prefer learning Arabic, Persian and Urdu more than English and western education. Rural Indian Muslims often send their children to village Madrassahs, where average students, after years of study, fail to write a letter or keep accounts correctly (Ahmed, 1981. p. 139). Therefore many Muslims prefer to send their children to Hindu learning centers though they do not like it. Often Madrassah students after wastage of several years, join a Hindu or Christian school to learn something ‘useful’. The Indian Muslim’s work ethics is also utter disappointing, as Terry (cited Eraly, 1977, p 692) wrote, “… for the Mahometans…. There are many of them idle, and know better to eat than work”.

The Indian Government’s special effort aimed at removing the educational disparity between the Muslims and the Hindus initiated in 1870-71 and lasted through several decades. Amongst measures of first category was to introduce science in the Islamic schools and to bring those schools under Department of Education of India. But Government was strongly opposed by the Mullahs and Maulvis, who were dead against Western education. They interpreted education in terms of ‘Din-i-Ilm’, ie, religious education and considered any education other than instruction in the literature and principles of Islam is irrelevant and heretical. One Author went so far as to suggest that when people forsake ‘Din-i-Ilm’ for worldly education it should be regarded as a sure sign of ‘Kiamat’, ie, the Day of Judgment (Sattar, 1877, p. 26). Many Mullahs advice the parents not to send their children to the educational institutions because ‘English education was sure to interfere with their religion’. The Mullahs and Madrassah teachers had their own reasons to oppose any innovations in educations that might cost him his position in society as well as his sources of income (Ahmad, 1981, p. 141). In this situation, as Ahmad (1981, p. 140) lamented, it is for sure that Muslim masses have very little hope of balancing the educational statistics at par with the Hindus in the near future.

Presently about 36% of Indian Muslims live in cities, but their economic condition is so poor that most of them are slum-dwellers. Even a famous Muslim minister, Dr. Rafic Zakaria said, “Indian Muslims had remained alienated from the Hindus, whose goodwill was essential for their economic uplift and educational advancement”. Zakaria further lamented that Indian Muslims are misguided by their religious leaders and they are in pathetic condition because they had alienated themselves from Hindu society and Hindu culture. (Brahmachari, 2000, p. 190).

Dr. M. I. H. Farooqi , Gen. Secretary, Urdu Scientific Society,(Scientist and Deputy Director, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India) lamented,

“Learning and inquiry was no more the motto of the Muslims with the result that today they occupy the lowest position in the ladder of the world. They are educationally backward, scientifically marginal, politically insignificant and economically poor. This is the present status of the entire Ummah amongst the comity of nations”. (Farooqi, 2005)

The situation is so alarming that, well known Islamic fundamentalist of India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, once said while addressing Muslims at a Seminar (cited Farooqi, 2005), “For God’s sake, get up now and see how much the sun has risen and how far your co-travelers (non-Muslims) have gone ahead of you”.

Muslims often take childlike pleasure saying that Jews are descendents of monkeys and pigs. However, reality is something else. A statistical comparison (summarized from Nelson & Chowdhury, 1997 and Britannica book of the year 1998) between Israel and several other Muslim nations on different aspects is as follows.

• Female literacy rate: Israel (83%), Bangladesh (21.8%), Sudan (4%), Egypt (29 %), Turkey (43%), Morocco (22%), Pakistan (24.4%), Afghanistan (15%).

• Male literacy rate: Israel (93%), Bangladesh (36.1%), Sudan (25%), Egypt (57%), Turkey (77%), Morocco (49%), Pakistan (50%), Afghanistan (47.2%).

• Birth rate per one thousand population: Israel (23), Bangladesh (32), Sudan (45), Egypt (36); Turkey (28), Morocco (31), Pakistan (36.4), Afghanistan (43), Algeria (28.5), Libya (40), Iran (33.7), Iraq (34.1), Syria (40).
• Maternal mortality rate (per one hundred thousand live births): Israel (5), Bangladesh (600), Sudan (660), Egypt (80), Turkey (210), Morocco (300).
• Infant mortality rate (per one thousand live births): Israel (14), Bangladesh (114), Sudan (107), Egypt (88), Turkey (74), Morocco (58), Pakistan (75), Afghanistan (146.7), Algeria (48.7), Libya (56), Iran (52.7), Iraq (91.9), Syria (29.6).
• Mortality rate for children under five (per one thousand live births): Israel (16), Bangladesh (180), Sudan (181), Egypt (131); Turkey (93), Morocco (76).
• Life expectancy (female /male): Israel (77 / 73.6), Bangladesh (55.4 / 56.4), Sudan (51/ 48.6), Egypt (59.5 / 56.8), Turkey (65.2 / 62.5), Morocco (62.5 / 59.1), Pakistan (65 / 63), Afghanistan (45.2 / 46.4), Algeria (69.5 / 67.2), Libya (67.5 / 63.9), Iran, (68.7 / 66.1), Iraq (60.4/ 57.3), Syria (71.3/ 68.4) .
• Gross national product per capita (in US$): Israel (10300), Bangladesh (180), Sudan (300), Egypt (610), Turkey (1080), Morocco (960).
• Average household size: Israel (3.6), Bangladesh (5.3), Sudan (5.1), Egypt (5.2), Turkey (4.7), Morocco (4.2).

Undoubtedly, the mighty nation Israel is far ahead of the neighboring Islamic countries. Jews community is small, but they are highly educated, productive, rich and peaceful. Muslims will do much better if they sit at the feet of Jews Masters and Maestros and learn from them instead of taking instruction from Qur’an. Muslim-Jews educational differences are more prominent if we compare the number of Noble-Laureates amongst them. From a pool of 1.4 billion Muslims which are 20% of the world's population (2 out of every 10 people) there are only six winners (Including Nobel "Peace Prize" to Yasser Arafat, who was a ‘terrorist). And from a pool of 12 million Jews which are 0.2% of the World's Population (2 out of every 1,000 people) there are 165 Jews listed (Jewish Magazine, 2006).

Even those Muslims who live and work in the west also lag behind their non-Muslim neighbors. Let’s take the example of United Kingdom. As per the United Kingdom census of 2001 (cited Gattuso, 2005), Muslims make up 2.8%, Hindus 1%, Sikhs 0.6 %, Buddhists and Jews both make up 0.5% of the UK population, but sadly,

• 31% of Muslims of working age have no qualifications, the highest of any religious group.
• 82% of Sikhs followed by 78% of Jews own their own home in the UK. Only 52% of Muslims own their own home, the lowest of any religious group.
• 14% of Muslims are unemployed the highest of any religious group, compared to 8% of Sikhs and 6% of Hindus.

The above statistics are horrifying and certainly a bitter taste for Muslims because they are scared to face the truth. Almost the entire Muslim world is affected by poverty, backardness and tyranny. Today Muslims should remove the religious blindness from their eyes while there is still time and must realize that Man, society and values cannot be understood in separately. Poverty, backwardness and illiteracy are all interrelated. Education, ideals and practices are rooted in society, which reflects the central tendencies, features and forms of that society.

Societies need such educational system, which should teach the higher values of life as well as skill needed for employment. As Unnithan (cited Loomb & Madan, 1987, p. 88) said, “The task is to provide competent men and women, trained in several arts, science and professions who will also be cultivated individuals imbued with a sense of social purpose.” Higher education is deeply involved in technological advance. Today education becomes a way of investing in human capital across many levels or skills. It is the ‘brain workers’ that are the economic need of societies in advanced industrialization, governmental as well as industrial leaders.

After WW-II, a rapid expansion of education services occurred throughout the world, including the developing countries, which is the actual way out of social and individual poverty (World Bank, 1974 & 1980; Linn, 1983, p. 195). As a result, today for a number of developing countries, education absorbed more than a quarter of all public expenditures. World Bank (1974; p. 28) understands that, many low-income countries are, “approaching the limits of their financial capability without having achieved even a minimum education for the majority of their populations.” Finally it also became clear that, although some sections of populations made considerable progress in educational achievements, large segments were little affected by the educational efforts.

World Bank (1974, 1980) strongly suggests that education should be placed in the overall context of development objectives, and strategies, as one of many policy instruments, is in the increasing realization that the education system itself needs to be restructured to attain the goals of improved efficiency and equity in development. It is high time, Muslims should listen what World Bank is saying instead of what Qur’an is saying. An Islamic society cannot see educational and economic growth as long as it is guided by the Sha’ria Law. Today Muslims must realize that their own existence and destiny are inalienably related to the existence and destiny of other human beings around them. When Muslims are endowed with this awareness, responsibility and vision; then the future that will loom large before them is the future of his country or perhaps humanity. With this the Islamic society will see an economic growth. With a strong national economy, poverty of the masses can be eradicated. What is required is a mass awakening.

There is a silver lining in every cloud. Muslims are slowly waking up with the fact that Islam is the cause of the decadence of the Muslim world. Probably this is the reason so many Muslims are leaving Islam everywhere. More and more Muslims are coming up with the facts and openly criticizing Islam. Slowly media is also gaining courage to call a spade a spade. In South Africa, the divine downfall is already noticeable (author’s first-hand experience). Ex-Muslim movement had started and gathering momentum in almost all the western nations. Doubts are raised by the young population from the native land of Islam, Saudi Arabia. If the maxim “morning shows the day” is correct, then the end of the darkness is not far away.

And yes, on that day of enlightenment, this article will lose all its importance and become irrelevant.

References:

Books, Journals, Official documents

1. Ahmed, Rafiuddin (1981); The Bengal Muslims 1871 – 1906: A quest for identity. Oxford University Press. Delhi. India

2. (Bhikkhu) Kashyap, J (1996) Origin and Expansion of Buddhism, in, ‘The Path of the Buddha’. Edited by Kenneth W. Morgan; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, India.

3. Brahmachari, Radheshyam (1999); Islami Dharmattva – ebar ghare ferar pala (Original in Bengali language). Save India Mission. Kolkata. India

4. Diderot D. (1975) Oeuvres Completes; Vol. VIII, Paris.

5. Dutt, Sukumar (1988) Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India, Part V, Chapter 3. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, India.

6. Dutta, Madhusree; Agnes, Flavia; Adarkar, Neera (1996); The nation, the state and Indian identity. Samya publications. Calcutta. India.

7. Eickelman, Dale F. and Piscatori, James (1997); Muslim politics. Oxford India Press. Delhi, India.

8. Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannia book of the year, 1998.

9. Eraly, Abraham (1997); The last spring – the lives and times of the great Mughals. Viking Penguin India.

10. Fara, Patricia; Gathercole, Peter; Laskey, Ronald (1996); The changing world. Press Syndicate of university of Cambridge. Australia.

11. Goswami O. & Malik K. (2006); A shocking Divide, an article published in ‘India Today’ (a news journal published from India), Vol. XXXI, number 32, for the week August 8-14, released on 7th August.

12. Gunny, A (1996); Images of Islam in eighteenth century writing; Grey Seal, London.

13. Lewis, Bernard (2003); The crisis of Islam – holy war and unholy terror. Phoenix. GB.

14. Linn, Johannes (1983); Cities in the developing world – policies for their equitable and effective growth. A World Bank publication. OUP. USA.

15. Long, Rev. J (1868); The social condition of the Mohammedans of Bengal and the remedies. Published in Bengal Social Science review. Calcutta. India.

16. Loomba, R. M; Madan, G. R (1987); Society and culture. Allied Publishers. ND. India.

17. Miller, Judith (1997); God Has Ninety-Nine Names. Simon & Schuster.

18. Nelson, Barbara & Chowdhury, Najma (1997); Women and politics worldwide. OUP.

19. Oak, P. N (1996); Islamic havoc in Indian history. Published by A. Ghosh. Houston. USA.

20. Sattar, Abdul (1877); Dafi al-Sharur. Calcutta. India (presently out of print).

21. Spencer, Robert (2005); The politically incorrect guide to Islam (and the crusades). Regnery Publishing. Washington DC.

22. Tisdall, W.St C. (1894): The Religion of the Crescent; London SPCK, 4th edition published in 1916.

23. Trifkovic, S. (2002), The sword of the Prophet. Regina Orthodox Press. Boston.

24. World Bank (1974); Education. Sector working paper. Washington DC.

25. World Bank (1980); Education. Sector policy paper. Washington DC.

Internet

1. Al-Samman, Dima (2001); Ministry of Education in a press conference held the premises of the Palestine Media Center, on July 16 2001; cited in, ‘The Impact of Israeli Aggression on Palestinian Education Palestine Media Center-PMC’. (Last accessed 23rd June / 2008)

2. Das, Sujit. (2006a), Madrassah – An Islamic school to learn ignorance. (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

3. Das, Sujit. (2006b); A tribute to a Muslim Genius. Islam watch.  (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

4. Elder, Larry (n.d); Arab World Poverty–Whose Fault? (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

5. (Dr) Farooqi M.I.H, (2005); Status of Muslim societies around the world. Published on April 22, 2005 at desijournal.com. (Last accessed 29th June / 2008)

6. Gattuso, Thierry (2005), Why do Moslems Underachieve? Faith Freedom International, (Last accessed 04th January / 2006)

7. Jewish Magazine (2006); Jewish and Arab Islam Nobel Prize Winners. February / 2006.  (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

8. Kasem, Abul (2006); Bismi Allah (In the Name of Allah) Part–3(v) of 11. (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

9. Mahmud, H. (2007), ‘Atmoghatee Musolman’ (Suicidal Muslims - Original in Bengali language).  (Last accessed 8th July / 2008)

10. Salih, Mumin (2007), Breast-Feeding a Man in Islam, Islam watch.  (Last accessed 27th June / 2008)

11. Sina, Ali (2001), The fall of Islam, Faith Freedom International. (Last accessed 1st March / 05)

That 19 people would take over four civilian airliners and then steer three of them into buildings loaded with thousands of innocent people was, I confess, outside the boundary of my imagination. The World Trade Center is not the place where our intelligence agencies failed. It is the place where our imaginations failed. [The New York Times]

Something similar happened with us over the weekend. Who would have expected that in the wake of supposed heightened security and alertness after the Bangalore serial blasts that the very next day someone would actually attempt to carry out a more dreadful wave of blasts in Ahmedabad, killing 46 and injuring hundreds? Still worse who would have expected that these heartless demons to have saved the most powerful bombs to have gone off on that fateful day for the two nearest hospitals treating injured (from the other blasts), killing the injured & good samaritans who had come to aid the injured? The motive clearly was to kill as many as possible. Never in the annals of terror attacks in India, have there been attacks on successive days and nor have we seen bombing of Hospitals which treat the injured. This is the place where our imagination failed us.

It is time to expect the worst, the unexpected and the most perverse. These are the most evil, shrewd and the vilest demons driven by an equally fundamentalist ideology waiting to prey on innocent lives in order to achieve their evil objectives.

The Taboos on Imagination

Now this has happened we can acknowledge our failures and move on to ensure better precautionary measures. But what about closing your minds? What if it came across your mind that these demons could bomb the hospital, yet you chose to ignore it, you chose not to think about it, not to reason? In any other domain you could forgive yourself of this mistake, but when it is a matter of life and death of innocent children, and other civilians it is tantamount to sin. Yet many of us would do it every time there is a terror strike, even take a false sense of pride for upholding our so called secular heritage, not knowing, we could never forgive us of what we have done in some distant future.

Yes, I am talking about our desperate attempts to sound politically correct every time these terror attacks occur. Yes, I am talking about our futile and desperate attempts to convince ourselves and others with self-proclaimed axioms like “religion has nothing to do with terrorism”, “terrorists have no religion” and all such sooth saying to please whom? Worse still, I am talking about the taboos on our imagination.

The moment some one tries to find or hint a religious motivation for these acts of the demons, the person himself is demonized, vilified and termed racist and is accused of Islamopohbia, one of the most brilliant terms to have been concocted to stifle criticism of Islam in any form. I call it a brilliant term as it deceptively camouflages any criticism of Islam with a genuine concern of discrimination and hatred against muslims.

Mainstream media epitomizes this taboo, the private news channels which are hailed as refreshing change from the monotonous state run Doordarshan and a symbol of modern India, have also failed to shed light on this issue. The most the so called expert panels in their talk shows can agree upon as a cause for extremism is poverty, corruption, apathy of the government to the situation of the oppressed (by no means I claim this list as exhaustive due to my fallible memory and inability to watch every single talk show out there), never is religion seen as one.

I fail to understand what kind of poverty drove the Bangalore born Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed to turn himself into a suicidal mission to attack the Glasgow International airport or what kind of poverty has driven the well educated engineers arrested for plotting terror and for being activists of the banned organizations of SIMI. I don’t for a moment believe, that the poverty isn’t a cause, we have the red terror brigade, which openly proclaims so. In a sense they are far better that they wage a war against the system they see as oppressive and not against innocent civilians. But on the other hand we have these Islamic terrorists who (claim to) vow by the name of allah & their prophet, quote the quran and the hadiths to justify their perverse acts and draw inspiration from them, yet we ignore their claims. We try to convince ourselves that their self-proclaimed motives are not really motivating them, we just prefer to call them terrorists, heartless demons, but rarely expound these obscure terms, rarely do we exert ourselves to find what has turned them into these heartless demons? How ingenious?

While the few of those in the mainstream media who raise this point are snubbed & cut short by politically correct zealots and faith heads (the channels themselves don’t like having these few, for the fear of backlash) as bigots and islamophobes. On the other hand one is free to state anything in the way of apologetics, even misinformation such as muslims can’t be terrorists because Islam means peace (which it is not, it means submission or surrender, even well informed muslims agree, also see here). A certain S M Murshid, who was an advisor to the governor of J&K wrote in the Times of India, that people have misunderstood Jihad and went to the extent of falsely claiming that the word Jihad in the quran can never be construed to be an exhortation to war. While we can find such opinions occasionally in the mainstream print and visual media, never have I found a single opinion expressing the contrary, as though not a single person worthwhile has such an opinion.

The defense is almost always that such arguments will further isolate minorities and push them towards extremism, with no regard for truth. If so, isn’t it an exhortation against any criticism with a threat similar to those of the terrorists? Is it the best free media in the worlds largest democracy has to offer? While the Govt. thinks it can lecture the hindus what their religious texts actually teach and go to the extent claiming that the religious texts have no historical basis. Our media and Government are somehow extremely shy of even considering that the terrorists are motivated by "Radical Islam".

In this article I didn’t intend to show beyond any doubt that these terrorists are also motivated by the teachings of their religion rather, all I want to convey was there is strong case for it, which we are ignoring at our own peril. Whether one is right or wrong in having such an opinion should be decided by a rational discussion and not placing taboos on the thought process.

Sun Tzu, a 6 century BC Chinese General, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, famously wrote:

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

We neither know our enemies, neither do we know our own selves and how we are going to handle the threat. We will loose this “War on Terror” until we learn.

It is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained. Muslims aren’t our enemies; there are many patriotic and peaceful ones out there, who would have none of this. Our war is with political and extremist Islam that we can’t afford to lose. We need to create a consensus among ourselves, to shun radical Islam, this can't be done without the muslim community disowning allegiance to Radical Islam.

In the course of this struggle, we may occasionally afford to be let down by our imagination, but never by the taboos on imagination.

The real massacre and carnage took place in Godhra, when a mob of two thousand Muslims burnt alive 59 Hindu women, children, and men in a coach of the Sabarmati Express train.