Doosri Nazar ... My Perspective

Manf-e-at ek hai is qaum ki nuqsaan bhi ek, ek hi sab ka nabi, deen bhi imaan bhi ek, haram-e-paak bhi Allah bhi Quran bhi ek, kuchh bari baat thi, hote jo Musalmaan bhi ek ~ Muhammad Iqbal ~ (There is one common gain and one common loss for all Muslims. One Prophet for all and one Iman for all. One Ka’aba, one Allah and one Qur’an for all. How great it would be if Muslims also were one!) Another year, another Eid eve, another night of confusion.Is it chaand raat ? Is it Eid tomorrow? Should the sheer khurma be readied? What about gosht for the biryani? If not, will we have another day of fasting? When should we wish our friends and relatives in other parts of the world? Questions, questions and more questions!Once again it was a tussle between faith and science. Despite having facilities to correctly predict the phases of the moon, the 'faithful' has to rely on spotting the moon according to the Sunnah. Thats all ok. But how does one rationalise the stance taken by the aalim...

London’s "9/11" has once again brought the danger that terrorism presents to world peace, to the forefront of academic and media debates. Once again Islam, its teachings and the demeanour of Muslims have become few of the most sought after themes for debate and discussion in academic congregations and editorials. Quite dismayingly, Islam despite being one of the fastest growing religions of the world is being seen as suffering from an image problem. The demonisation of Islam has acquired such proportions that the world today sees it as ‘dogmatic, intolerant and confrontational’. It is being perceived as providing the ideological and intellectual foundation for the perpetrators of violence in the garb of jihad across the world, setting up stage for a “clash of civilisations”. As things stand today, there is no religion more misunderstood and misinterpreted than Islam. And the most distressing part is that some groups of Muslims themselves have contributed to this distorted und...

Two incidents, one local the other international, involving the Muslim community were in the news recently. The first one was regarding the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishing cartoons caricaturing Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The second was the desecration of the Holy Qur'an in Ladakh. Both incidents led to protests by the Muslim community against the disrespect shown to their Prophet and the holy book. Nothing wrong with it. In fact the protests were justified. However, what raises doubts is the manner in which these protests were conducted. Lets look at both these incidents separately and see where the demonstrations went off the track. To begin with, it has to be acknowledged that the cartoons published by Jyllands-Posten were in bad taste and bound to provoke even the least devout Muslim. Arguments that the publication of these cartoons falls within the ambit of ‘freedom of expression’ or ‘right to freedom of press’ do not hold water. Caricaturing Muslims as terror...

I had written a few articles, on different occasions, in reponse to certain events. These articles were published in print and on the net. Having started this blog of my own, I thought it prudent to republish those articles here. Some pieces might seem outdated but then the message that I have tried conveying through them remains relevant. Comments are welcome. ~ Salil ~

Another blog added to those millions out there. Creating a space where I can put down my thoughts on events and incidents that confront us on a daily basis.. hope the second look at things could give a different perspective to those who read these pages... This, incidentally, is my second blog.. dont know what happened to the first one which went by the name doosrinazar.blogspot.com .. by the way, the current spelling (duusri) has nothing to with the numerological proclivities of a Sanjay B. Jumaani or Chiero .. hoping that no one hacks this blog.. Happy reading.. ~ Salil ~