Madeh by Shk Mohammedul Baqir

Journalistic Ignorance

Sometime back I had written about an Arab Times article that wrongly projected the Bohra community. Similar cases popped up in India with the recent Mumbai Mirror article that raised the concerns of the Bohra Community. There headline was so vague that it drew abrupt comments from people who know less about the religious practices of Islam and the community. Then an appology came from the editor and the writer that all this was unintentional. The lord knows better. As far as my personal views are concerned I think that it was a attention drawing media stunt in hunger of popularity.
Recently, another incident occurred. IndiaTV in its exclusive news telecast of the marraige ceremony of a known terrorist, Baitullah, in Afganistan, the News channel showed a digitally manupilated photograph of His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) who is a respected religious leader of the community, an Ambasador of Peace. World Leaders have met him and bowed their heads in respect of his spiritual charisma. Much is known about him to the EDUCATED that all written would be less. The news channel broadcasted an image of him annoucing the Nikah (marriage ceremony) of Baitullah. A very ignorant act which IndiaTV editor claim to be a mistake.
News sestionalisation cannot be a mistake. Manupilating and digitally playing with a photograph on a news channel, mind well its not a movie, its a truth revealing news channel, cannot be taken as a mistake or unintentional act as claimed by India TV. This is an act of Journalistic misconduct and is totally unethical. Manupilating or digitally playing with an image can never be marked unintentional or a mistake.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcast should have a look into this matter and punish the news channel for misconduct so that people are not mislead, misguided by such publicity stunts which could not only flare violence against the entire community and its respected leader but also distort the image of truth in the eye of the common man. A stringent action must be taken by the authorities should it be proven a lesson for all and help promote better journalistic practices in the country. The pen has the power to over throw kings from their thrones and rise another to the skies, lets stop it from being used for injustice, crime and selfish deeds.

Arab Times Ignorance

I am amazed by the ignorance of the editor of the Arab Times of Kuwait and also that of the writer of this Article Row over Bohra worship place - Court acquits 13 scribes in defamation suit Moamen. He should really shrug his prejudice and write the facts. The word "Temple" in the article has amazed me much. Has the writer really studied the text of the application for land and is it stated in it that it is for a temple.

The Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community is a peace loving and shariah abiding group of educated men and women who boast almost 100% literacy and are loyal citizens of the world. Assuming that the writer, Moamen, is an educated person he should understand that Muslims never use temples and therefore it does not make any sense that the Bohra Muslim community ever plan to build a temple.

As far as my knowledge goes the Bohra Leadership His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) has built more then 300 mosques (masjids) in the past 40 years, including the 4th largest masjid in the world al-Jamea al-Anwar in Qahera and one of the biggest, historical and oldest mosque, al-Masjid al-Azam in Kufa.

A Masjid in Israeli territory in Ashqelon, who has built it?

I believe that it is merely some kind of a prejudice that is prevailing in such kind of people, the author being one of them, wanting to spread rumors rather then the truth and hide the facts from the common man. Such an act is against the principles of journalism.

The Bohra Muslims, ask the Kuwaitis who have seen the adverse days of Saddam's invasion, have been loyal to the nation during the adverse of times. During those days the Bohra Leadership had specifically instructed them to stay in Kuwait and support the country.

We forget the bounties of Allah when we have it in abundance and do not try to understand the truth and grasp the facts, rather we tend to hide it in fright of being found wrong, that is what's happening to the media that print such kind of matter.

I have read several books that show an in depth hatred towards this sect of Islam and there is a just and logical answer to each lie in those books for those who want to open their eyes and look.

Its sad that in a Muslim country there is a controversy over a Masjid place and they blame hypocritically the west, whereas the Mulsim Ummah needs to come to its senses and abort it internal differences, keeping them aside and welcoming the commonness. I have much to say and write especially after my visit to the Holy Lands of Mecca and Madina for Hajj this year as I ponder in this. Inshallah.

Akhlaq - A bounty of Allah Subhanahu

Raulallah (SA) has said that good character is a bounty of Allah Subhanahu. While there is a huge difference between character and etiquette, most people tend to mix it up. I am most font of the dua of Imam Ali Zainul Abideen, "allahumma inni auzobeba an tahsona fi rayil aine alaniyati...." and I think it is the most profound of all duas when it comes to seeking purity of heart and soul while teaching us that our amal should be purely for the sake of our lord.

Long time back I had complied an eBook on Akhlaq in Lisan al-Dawat (Akhlaq.pdf) on the occasion of being blessed the sharaf of Ziyafat al-Shukr of my Maula Syedna Mohammed Buhanuddin Aqa (TUS) with my classmates in Hadi Ashara in the year 1422. It is one of the most cherished memories which have been embedded in my soul among the many that Jamea Saifiyah has granted me. Huzurala (TUS) had since after then time and again blessed me with the sharaf of inquiring about what I do and may I be blessed with his khidmat till the last breath, whatever it maybe. With all my heart I have never sought the happiness of anyone accept my Maula (TUS) and will keep doing that no matter what begets.

Akhlaq My niyat then and now with the compilation and sharing of this eBook is to be blessed with the nazaraat of Aqa Maula (TUS) which would bring out the best in me for his khidmat and deteriorate the barriers of weaknesses in me and turn them into strengths for the sake of the love of Aqa Maula (TUS) that I have inborn.

May Allah Subhanahu bless Aqa Maula Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) with a long life. Ameen.

Namaaz

Zindagi bewafa kyu hoti hai?
Wafa karnay ki saza kyu hoti hai?

Choti si baat pe baha deti hain KHOON
Insan mein itni ANA kyu hoti hai?

Karte hain hum jis se baar baar TAUBA,
Elahi hum se wohi KHATA kyu hoti hai,

Banate to hain hum apne hathon se MASJID,
NAMAZ apni hi phir QAZA kyu hoti hai..

Fatwa against "Murtad" Asgar Engineer

Shiites in Ashkelon?!

The city of Ashkelon has been in the headlines lately, and not for its pretty beaches. The city of 110,000 has sadly joined Israel's southern front line as rockets fired from the Gaza Strip improve in range and technology.

Last week, a rocket hit a shopping mall in city; the dozens of injured treated at the Barzilai Medical Center.

It turns out the hospital grounds contain a remarkably interesting bit of history: a site holy to certain Shiite Muslims, thousands of whom have come to pray there over the years. Ashkelon itself has 5,000 years of recorded history, but when the hospital was first built in 1961, nothing indicated that the hill out back was anything special.

The consecration of the site dates back to the early days of Islam. The decades that followed the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 were marked by a bitter and bloody dispute over succession, a conflict that ultimately marked the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

In a nutshell, Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was repeatedly passed over for the position of caliph -- leader of the young Muslim nation. Ali's followers (the word Shiite means "partisans") eventually rebelled, touching off years of conflict.

After Ali was assassinated in 661, his sons Hasan and Hussein carried on his struggle. Hussein and his small rebel army were slaughtered in 680 in what is now the Iraqi holy city of Karbala. His head was delivered as a trophy to Yazid, the victorious caliph, in Damascus, while his body remained in Karbala. Shiites commemorate Hussein's death annually in the intense day of mourning known as Ashura.

Both Karbala and Damascus became sites of Shiite pilgrimages. Sunni rulers, displeased with the phenomenon, decided to relocate Hussein's head to the far edge of the kingdom -- Ashkelon. It remained there for several centuries, when when legendary Muslim leader Saladin sent the head to Egypt for safekeeping from the invading Crusaders.

What was once the far end of an ancient Muslim kingdom is now a grassy mound behind the delivery rooms of an Israeli hospital.

A millennium after Hussein's head was removed from Ashkelon, the site is still revered by an offshoot of Shiites mostly from India and Pakistan. The pilgrims who have come to visit include some from countries with no diplomatic relations with Israel, hospital officials say.

About a decade ago, a Shiite spiritual leader arrived at the hospital with an unusual request: to be allowed to erect a prayer area for the pilgrims.

"How do you know this is the site?" asked Dr. Ron Lobel, deputy director of the medical center.

"I walked out to the mound with him," Lobel said. "He took out a shovel and started digging. To my astonishment, a meter or so deep, he exposed the cornerstone of the ancient mosque that had been built where the head had been buried, and was later destroyed by the Crusaders."

With the hospital’s blessing, the worshipers imported the most valued marble in India, the kind used to build the Taj Mahal. The prayer area, built seven or eight years ago, is open to the pilgrims. They arrive in buses, coordinate with the center's security, park in the lot and walk to the mound to pray.

"They are quiet, peaceful people. They come in silence, sometimes barely uttering a sound," said Lobel, who has become the resident expert on the subject over the years. "An island of Shiite Muslim prayer in an Israeli hospital in a Jewish state," said Lobel of his unusual charge, satisfaction in his voice. "It really is unique."

—Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem.

Photo: The marble prayer area on the hospital grounds. Credit: David Avioz/Barzilai Medical Center

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Notes: Asqalaan has been a sacred ground for the fatimids since a very long time. During the era of Imam Mustansir (AS), the Commander in Cheif of the Fatemi Empire Molana Badrul Jamali has built a masjid in the area that has been mentioned in the above article. The entire incident of Rasul Husain (AS) being revealed during this era in the presence of the mentioned commander has been inscribed on a pulpit that is now present in the masjid of Baytul laham (Bethlelem) where the shrine of Nabiullah Ibrahim is. The inscription is in Fatemi Kufic and it is said that Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) was the first to decipher the entire scripture that is written on the said pulpit during his visit to al-Quds. The text of which is present in one of his Rasail Sharifa. Later Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) visited the location in Asqalan and pin pointed the exact location where the masjid was built nearby which was the burial shrine of Rasul Imam al-Husain (AS), that was later shifted to Qahera. The entire incident of its being shifted to Qahera was narrated by the person who brought the wooden box containing the Raas Mubarak from the gates of Qahera into the Fatemi Palace, carried on his head. The said boxes are currently placed on display in one of the Museums of Cairo.

The open to air masjid, shown above, was built by Mumineen upon special permission given to them by the authorities.