Call goes out to mosques from Muslim law board: rally against rising Hindutva forces - Written by Mohd Faisal Fareed - The Indian Express

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The Indian Express

Call goes out to mosques from Muslim law board: rally against rising Hindutva forces

At its working committee meeting in Lucknow on June 7, AIMPLB had passed a resolution against yoga, saying it was un-Islamic.

In a letter sent to these bodies and individuals, Maulana Wali Rehmani, working general secretary of the AIMPLB, has asked for constant vigil against attacks on Islam’s teachings.

Written by Mohd Faisal Fareed | Lucknow | Updated: June 23, 2015 6:15 am

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has come out openly against what it calls is the rising influence of “Brahmin Dharma and Vedic culture (that) are out to harm Islamic beliefs by all means”.

The Board, which positions itself as a spokesperson of Muslim opinion in India and the chief custodian of Muslim personal law and the Shariat, has, for the first time, reached out directly to Muslim organisations, institutions and the imams of mosques in an appeal to close ranks against the forces of Hindutva.

In a letter sent to these bodies and individuals, Maulana Wali Rehmani, working general secretary of the AIMPLB, has asked for constant vigil against attacks on Islam’s teachings. AIMPLB has also targeted the central government for propagating yoga, surya namaskar and vande matram, “which are part of Brahmin Dharma” and “are against the ideology of Muslims”.

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Rehmani has alleged that the celebration of the International Day of Yoga by the government on Sunday was part of a conspiracy to link the exercise to the RSS, since it was observed on the death anniversary of the Sangh’s first sarsanghchalak, K B Hedgewar.

The letter does not use the expression “Hindu Dharma”, and refers instead to “Brahmin dharma”, possibly in order to reach out to Dalit Hindus.

Rehmani has referred to Chapter 6 of the Gita to argue that yoga is a religious activity, and a part of “Brahmin Dharma and Vedic culture”. He has mentioned several organisations who have allegedly used the Centre’s yoga push to propagate Vedic culture — a violation of the Constitution, which does not allow the promotion of religious activities by the government.

“Muslims should always remain cautious as there are organisations that are attacking Islamic beliefs and trying to impose Brahmin dharma. All this yoga, surya namaskar and Vedic culture are part of Brahmin dharma and are totally against Islamic beliefs,” Rehmani has said in his letter.

He has urged the imams to discuss the subject during Friday sermons, and prepare the Muslim community for a movement.

”I have written a letter to members of the AIMPLB,” Maulana Rehmani told The Indian Express. Asked how the letter had reached other Muslim organisations as well, he said, “Obviously, we are expanding our area and including other Muslim organisations in our movement. The Board has a limited number of members, but in order to create awareness, we have to expand our horizons.”

Muslims, Rehmani has said in the letter, must be aware of their ideology, and must research extensively before agreeing to accept any suggestions on changing their beliefs. The government, he has alleged, has been pushing activities like yoga only to hide its failures on poll promises such as controlling prices and retrieving black money stashed abroad.

At its working committee meeting in Lucknow on June 7, AIMPLB had passed a resolution against yoga, saying it was un-Islamic.

First Published on: June 23, 2015 3:44 am

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The Empire Peddles Back By Badri Raina

The Empire Peddles Back

By Badri Raina 

When you came Bible-peddling,
I was not numero  uno;
Now that I am, take back with
Interest wages for that meddling,
As a hundred and seventy nations
Back my  awesome, acrobatic show.

Watch the thrusting of my leg,
Chest inflated, arms akimbo,
Fire in my eye, beard aflame,
Heart  raging with  dream
Of conquest, mind intent  on
Weeding out all such element
That questions my abhiyan,
Kicking up an anti-national row.
Espy these legions of health,
Backed by bushel-fulls of wealth,
Retreat,  and never again dare
Come anywhere near Delhi,
Lucknow, Jhansi, Agra,
For  Nagpur jnow insures Bharat
With a prowess that will
Not spare your imperial belly.
Be warned: as I gyrate, twist, unwind,
There is nothing spiritual on my mind.
Our  grand army of NRI Ninjas
Is Enough to subdue your  cool
To contortions you never knew.
And  political dividends  better follow,
Such as  your rotten dollar and Euro
Without let, hindrance, delays
To fuel my smart city-make-in-india craze.
Should you do that without demur.
We will not break another church door.

Anti-Hindu  carpers at home
Will no doubt carry on their moan.
But worry not, take a hint
From what the discarded patriarch
Has said: if need be, we will enforce
Our right to Emergency. Inf act
Are we not already there,
Without  declaration or fanfare?
Note that when our patriarch
Be unduly  grim, we do listen to him.
We may jail even those who  fail
Us internationally, given that our
Vikas rate now self-evidently shames
Many a so-called  advanced  state.  As
To poverty and the poor, we
Will leave that bother to those who
Better undertake  such  chore;
After all, what are the Congress
And the Left parties for? As we
Yog  to  golden  blasts of growth,
Poverty  gives them something to do.
Thus  wily old Disraeli’s  two nations
Remain  distinct, disparate, true.

So, let Yog be the thin end of
The wedge  that makes the white
Macaulay brown, and yields
Many a manufacturing town,
That  teaches the  swaggering Brit
To  quit his  tainted  English for
The profound  beauties of Sanskrit—
Minus , of course, the naughty things
Therein, which  apocryphal  incursions
Owe  to the conquering Saracen.
Such  embarrassments as Kama Sutra,
Kumar Sambhava, Mrichikatakam, or
Mudra Rakhshasa, and other things
Of that ilk, mere evidences of hacking
Long before the computer  was a-making.
We mean the Sanskrit of the gods
Alone, not of  men who actually
Used their human penchant, quill, or pen.
All that of course, our learned ones
Shall  impart with a fee, as Bharat
Will rise and the west go under
The sea. Such is the meaning
Of Yog, such is our ineluctable fantasy.

Now gyrate, gyrate, do not miss
The bus; even Wall Street  knows
The twenty first century belongs to us.
So  do thine Yog without snooty fuss.