Guests

1 – Irina Tsukerman. She is a New York-based Human Rights Lawyer and National Security Analyst. She is also a Media and Security consultant. Irina writes and speaks on human rights voilations of the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen. She extensively speaks on Iranian mullah regime’s catasrophic agenda in the MiddleEast.

2 – Sharon Collins. She is a Florida-based Independent Political Analyst and Researcher, mainly focused on Middle East Affairs. She also visited Saudi Arabia and stayed in the Kingdom.

3 – Rabbi Enchanan Poupko. He is a New York-based Jewish Rabbi or Scholar. He is also a TEDx speaker. He participates in interfaith discussions to bride gap between the Muslims and Jews.

4 – Mohammed Abbasi. He is a London-based coach, speaker and writer. He is director of Association of British Muslims. He works for Football for Peace. He is a great fan of Sun Tzu, and in fact he teaches the art of war.

Moderator

Zahack is a Saudi-based Non Resident Indian (NRI). He founded The Milli Chronicle in September 2018, which mainly focuses on MENA affairs. Zahack has been working on a non-commercial basis to publish the works of notable researchers and Think-Tank groups.

YouTube Link.

On April 18, India’s East Coast Daily newspaper initially claimed that according to Saudi Arabia’s new Vision-2030, Hindu religious texts from Ramayana and Mahabharata have been introduced in Kingdom’s new curriculum for students to study.

The media agency quoted Saudi national Nouf Almarwaai’s tweet where she shared screen-shots of her son’s online-exam, and claimed, “Saudi Arabia’s new #vision2030 & curriculum will help to create coexistent,moderate & tolerant generation. Screenshots of my sons school exam today in Social Studies included concepts & history of Hinduism,Buddhism,Ramayana, Karma, Mahabharata &Dharma. I enjoyed helping him study”.

The tweet received overwhelming response from the India’s Hindu diaspora, who applauded her, and Saudi Arabia’s new vision 2030.

Indian media channels celebrated the claim and announced that Saudi Arabia has introduced Hindu religious texts in their national school curriculum. The news does not refer to any official source from Saudi Education Ministry or Saudi Media Ministry.

The report was later clarified by the Saudis, that they respect and honor the Indian culture, but no such decision has taken place as of now where Kingdom’s national school curriculum has been amended.

Saudi Arabia’s famous columnist Ibraheem Al-Sulaiman tweeted, “Professor Nouf, I agree with you regarding the freedom of education for the communities in their private international schools, which are restricted to the members of their community or those who belong to their community, and this matter is not new, as it has been applied within specific frameworks and curricula of their own since its establishment, and it cannot be mixed with the Saudi curricula for private and local public education”.

Saudi professor Omar Al-Sabiyee said that he has been teaching for the past 25 years, and all the subjects are taught in Arabic language only. Saudi school curriculum does not include social studies in English language, hence he stated that the questions belong to the Indian school.

“I have been teaching for 25 years… the system in public education prohibits placing questions in English except for English language subjects only … these questions maybe for Indian schools”, Omar tweeted.

Independent Saudi Political Analyst Omar Al-Ghamdi tweeted while addressing Almarwaai, “Your son is studying in an International Indian School in #SaudiArabia due to your family relations. These schools have been using the same cuuriculum for years before #Vision2030, so It’s a big lie to link foriegn curriculum we respect to our vision”.

Saudi Business woman Najwa AlTuwaijri tweeted, “We all respect religions, but you lied and said that this is a curriculum in Saudi schools that is taught while it is a curriculum for private schools for the Indian community in Saudi Arabia! I do not know what is the purpose of linking the vision with your lie!”

Omar Al-Ghamdi also tweeted while tagging Saudi Media Ministry, “This tweet was echoed widely in the Indian media and society of all sects and conveyed a wrong image about education in Saudi Arabia. The Indian media published articles in this regard without referring to the Saudi Ministries of Education and Information”.

Riyadh-based Dental Specialist Dr. Sameena Khan investigated the social studies curriculum and said, “the text of the whole curriculum is in the Arabic language and there was no mention of the Mahabharata or the Ramayana in the entire social studies text book. It is unclear as to what motivated the said twitter user to propagate this”.

Dr. Khan also shared the PDF document of the social studies book of the Kingdom’s public curriculum, which has no new introduction of foreign studies.

Eventually, Almarwaai sincerely clarified that her previous tweet was about Saudi Arabia’s international curriculum not the national curriculum, and it does not necessarily mean it teaches Hindu religion to the students, while it’s all about informing the students about India and the great Indian civilization.

She tweeted, “My dear, this is a Saudi international school curriculum approved by the Ministry of Education, and I did not say that it teaches the Hindu religion. I said the civilization and history of India and what religions are practiced in it as information. As for the Ramyana and the Mahabharat, they are cultural historical epics that were mentioned in the curriculum”.

“Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education has always supervised and approved curriculums of private and international schools. General knowledge about mythologies and epics like the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (Greek mythology) or the Mahabharata and Ramayana (Indian mythology) has been taught in international and private schools for decades and no new changes to this effect have been made in line with Vision 2030 as claimed by Nouf”, Dr. Khan said. “Also, the actual texts of these epics (either in their original languages or translations) are not approved by the Ministry and are not taught in any schools. Teaching ‘about’ something and actually teaching something are entirely different things”.

Moreover, the news is not reported by India’s official media agencies like Asian News International (ANI) and Press Trust of India (PTI), nor by Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Press Agency (SPA) and Okaz. Since the news is carried out by independent media units and individuals, there’s no official clarification from the Saudi authorities.

Urdu translation of this report.

None of them denied – as far as we know – that the origin of this practice stems from idolatrous Hindu beliefs then Buddhism. Hence those who allow it in all cases took away from it anything that has to do with beliefs and spiritual matters, and passed the ruling on it on the basis that it is regarded as physical exercise. Those who forbade it did so because of its religious origins and the resemblance to those idol worshippers, and because of the harm it causes to the body, and other reasons. As for those who differentiate between one type and another, their opinion is not acceptable because it is not possible to eliminate the bad and because people are not able to distinguish between what is permissible and what is forbidden in it. 

So it is both spiritual and physical exercise which was originally aimed at reaching oblivion and entering into a state of connection with God! 

In the book al-Yoga wa’l-Tanaffus (yoga and breathing) by Muhammad ‘Abd al-Fattaah Faheem (p. 19), it says: 

“Yoga in the sacred Indian language means union and contact with God, i.e., union between the body, the mind and God which helps man attain knowledge and wisdom and develops his thought by developing his knowledge of life; it protects him from sectarianism, religious fanaticism, narrowmindedness and shortsightedness when searching; it makes him live a life of contentment both physically and spiritually.” 

In al-Mu‘jam al-Falsafi by Jameel Sulayba (2/590) it says: “Yoga is a Sanskrit word which means union; it is used to refer to a kind of spiritual exercise that is practised by the wise men of India for the purpose of union with the universal spirit. Yoga is not a school of philosophical thought; rather it is an artistic way of doing some exercises that release the soul from physical and mental gravity and take it step-by-step towards reality. The Yogi is the wise man who practices this way.”

Both quotes taken from Mazaahirat al-Tashabbuh bi’l-Kuffaar fi’l-‘Asr al-Hadeeth wa Atharuha ‘ala al-Muslimeen.

In the definition of Yoga we see that it means union, i.e., union of man with the spirit, which is the universal spirit, by which they mean God. Hence the aim of this practice is to be a way of combining all other religions. Dr Ahmad Shalabi – who is a specialist in the religions of India – says: 

“The union of Buddha with the Hindu gods is nothing but a return to belief in ‘Jnana Yoga’ i.e., the ‘path of knowledge’ which sees truth in all religions and philosophies. But this truth is only a particle of the greater, complete truth. This school of thought does not object to any religion or philosophy; it thinks that any religion or philosophy is not everything and is not the whole truth. The one who believes in this way of thinking does not belong to any religion or school of thought, because he regards the followers of all different religions as his brothers, no matter how they differ. So Jnana Yoga is a way that encompasses all beliefs and refuses to be restricted by any of them. We should highlight the fact that propagating and promoting this way of thinking is aimed at fighting Islam indirectly. I have seen these attempts in several countries. Islam is the force that defeated both Christian and Buddhist missionaries, so if they can manage to divert people in one way or another – even in the name of Jnana Yoga that encompasses all beliefs and does not restrict itself to any one of them – that is a great victory for them. After they have managed to divert the Muslim from Islam at the end of this smart trick, then it is possible to make him doubt and then pull him into another sphere. So let the Muslim beware of Yoga and its trickery and those who promote it.” Adyaan al-Hind al-Kubra, p. 174 

We think that forbidding it altogether is the correct approach. We have studied the words of many concerning this practice, and we have decided to sum up the comments on it from a book that deals specifically with the ruling on this practice, by a writer whom we trust with regard to his methodology and beliefs; he is a doctor who knows what he is saying when he criticises it even from a health point of view. This writer is Dr Faaris ‘Alwaan and his book is called al-Yoga fi Mizaan al-Naqd al-‘Ilmi, which was published by Darussalam in Cairo. Everything that we will quote below is from this book, but it should be noted that we cannot quote everything that it says in the book. Hence we will limit it to a definition of this practice and the discussion of the Islamic ruling on it; whoever wants to know more may refer to the book. 

What is Yoga? 

Yoga means union; one of its prominent teachers says that it is union of man with the spirit. 

Yoga involves various exercises and rituals, but the most important and most famous of them is an exercise called Surya Namaskar [known in English as the “Sun Salutation”], which means in Sanskrit: “prostration to the sun on eight parts of the body”. And they defined these parts as the two feet, the two knees, the two hands, the chest and the forehead. 

It is preferable for the one who practices yoga to be naked, especially the chest, back and thighs; to face the sun when it is rising and when it is setting if he wants Yoga that is sound and beneficial; and to fix his gaze and focus his attention on the disc of the sun, and be attached to it completely, which includes his body, his faculties, his mind and his heart. If he is in a built-up area and cannot see the sun, he is allowed to draw the disc of the sun in front of him on the wall. One of them said: If the one who is practising yoga is a believer in a religion and is concerned about committing an act of disbelief, there is nothing wrong with him drawing any image in front of him and focusing on it completely! 

Yoga also includes pondering one’s body deeply and thinking of and examining every part of the body, starting with the toes and going up to the head when waking up and before getting up from one’s bed, and doing the opposite, from the head down to the toes just before sleeping, and it is not allowed to forget or be distracted from this important task! 

Whoever wants to benefit from yoga should also be vegetarian. 

And he has to repeat specific words out loud whilst doing these exercises. These words are called mantras, the most famous of which are the beeja mantras, which are hram, hreem, hraim, hraum, hara. Some syllables are also repeated in yoga, such as Aum (or Om). 

In addition to that, it is essential to repeat the twelve names of the sun, because this is a major and important part of Yoga. 

Names of the sun include: 

Rafanama, which means, “I bow my head to you, O one whom everyone praises.”

Suryanama, which means, “I bow my head to you, O guide of all.”

Bahaanafinama, which means, “I bow my head to you, O bestower of beauty.”

Safeetarnama, which means, “I bow my head to you, O bestower of life” etc. 

And they claim that this repetition is very beneficial. 

One of those who practices yoga says that he wakes up at 3.30 a.m. and continues practising yoga and offering its special prayers until 6:15 a.m. And in the evening he does the same thing from 6 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. 

Thus he spends three and a quarter hours every day practising yoga, and he says that some of them spend more time than that, claiming that the more time they spend on it the more beneficial it is. 

Reference: Al-Yoga fi Mizaan al-Naqd al-‘Ilmi, p. 13-18 

The Islamic ruling on practising yoga 

To sum up, it is not permissible for the Muslim to practice yoga at all, whether he does it on the basis of belief or imitating others, or because he is seeking a particular so-called benefit. That is due to a number of reasons which we may conclude from what is mentioned above, and which we will sum up as follows: 

1. Because Yoga is contrary to Tawheed and involves associating other deities with Allah, may He be exalted, and because it involves prostrating to the sun and repeating its names. 

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say (O Muhammad): I am commanded only to worship Allaah (Alone) and not to join partners with Him.” [al-Ra‘d 13:36]

“If you join others in worship with Allâh, (then) surely (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers” [al-Zumar 39:65]. 

2. Because it involves imitation of pagans, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawood and al-Tabaraani from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). 

3. Because some of its practices are harmful to most people and lead to serious health consequences for them. Some of its practices involve sitting in a very strange and shameful way, and sitting in a lazy way, oblivious to what is going on around one. This is also harmful from a health and psychological point of view. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” Narrated by Ahmad and Ibn Maajah from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him). 

4. Because it is a waste of time doing something that does not bring anything but harm and loss in this world, and calamity and despair in the Hereafter. The trustworthy Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “A person’s feet will not move on, on the Day of Resurrection, until he has been asked about four things: his life and how he spent it, his knowledge and what he did with it, his wealth and from where he acquired it and on what he spent it, and his body and how he used it.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi from Abu Barzah. 

5. Because it is a clear call to imitate animals and detracts from human dignity, such as: adopting nakedness, resting on all fours in most of the exercises (Surya Namaskar or sun salutation) and the special posture in the third and eighth exercises. 

6. Because many of those who tried to practice what is called scientific yoga or behavioural therapy fell into the pit of drugs and addiction, and this remedy has been proven to be ineffective and of no benefit. 

7. Because it is based on lies and charlatanry; its promoters rely on deceit and twisting the facts in spreading it. Thus it attracted the attention of a large number of those who are simple-natured and many of those who are weak in faith. 

8. Because a few of those who practice yoga or some other esoteric or deviant trends may perform extraordinary feats, people are deceived by it. But in most cases they are only using devils among the jinn as in the case of magic and so on, and this is haraam according to Islam. 

9. Most of the advice given by the promoters of yoga is harmful to the individual, including the following: 

(a) Nakedness and what it causes of cultural, sexual, psychological and physical diseases.

(b) Exposing the skin to the sun. We have seen the harm that this causes, especially when there is lengthy exposure to the sun.

(c) Fixing the gaze on the disc of the sun, which causes severe damage to the eyes.

(d) Encouraging a vegetarian diet for which Allah has not revealed any authority.

Reference: Al-Yoga fi Mizan al-Naqd al-‘Ilmi, p. 84-86 

Article taken from Islamqa.

The incident took place on June 3 and the video went viral on the social media later on.

According to the family, the 35-year-old victim – a resident of Shyanadrahalli village – went to do civil services preliminary exam in Mysore on June 2, but he couldn’t reach the center on time and was turned away by the management. Being depressed, the victim returned home, however on the way he halted at Raghavapura village on Ooty road and spend a night there. By the next day, he went to the Kebbekatte Shani temple where he was questioned by the villagers.

After they came to know about his name and family, and he is a Dalit, they thrashed him, paraded him naked and tied him to a pole.

He is currently undergoing trauma treatment at St Mary’s Psychiatric, De-addiction and Rehabilitation Center in Mysore.

According to Gundlupet Police, villagers accused the victim of urinating on the idol, but a relative of the victim Kantharaj refuted the claims and said that the victim was preparing for the civil services exam, and he wasn’t mentally unsound.

“When the victim’s father, a retired block development officer, went to rescue him, the villagers had dressed him up and tied him to the pole … but he was mentally upset  …. he was taken to the hospital in Mysore. A day later, we started getting videos of him getting paraded naked,” said Murthy, a friend of the victim.

Manabendra Nath Roy states, “ Islaam came to India after it had played out its progressive role, and leadership had been wrested from the learned and cultured Arabs…”

Recording history in the written form had never been an Indian tradition. It was introduced into India by the Muslims of the Middle-East, Central Asia and Persia and later systematized by the West Europeans.

The lack of unbiased, factual records has abetted speculations and misconceptions about the role of Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent [before the struggle for Independence]. In view of the contemporary political situation, it is vital Muslims and non-Muslims conduct a dispassionate and incisive study of Islaam in India, from its heyday in the Medieval period till the time of Colonial domination by the British to set right the records.

A fair and just appraisal of the history of Islaam in the Indian Subcontinent—from the early inroads into Sindh in the eighth century, to the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth century, and through the Middle Ages up to the present day—requires detailed and dispassionate investigation, says modern historian and scholar Raziuddin Aquil.

An unquestionable fact is, Muslims and Islaam did not always announce their arrival in a particular region with widespread bloodshed. Compared to the violent irruptions of the Mongols and other political conquests during Medieval times, the Turkish invasion of Hindustan and the advent of the Mughals did not result in large scale violence and demographic dislocations.

Indian revolutionary political theorist, Manabendra Nath Roy states, “ Islaam came to India after it had played out its progressive role, and leadership had been wrested from the learned and cultured Arabs…”
The Western seaboard of India was known to sea-faring Arab traders long before the advent of Islaam. Islaam as a religion and presumably, a way of life may have been established by the Indo-Arab communities within the living memory of the Prophet Mohammed himself, and in the year 712 A.D., during the reign of second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattaab, Islaam reached India.

The emergence of Muslims as a community took place in stages. Initially, the Arabs who came to trade during the 7th century in the Malabar coast, exerted a powerful influence on the local people by their fair trade practices and behavior and many people embraced Islam. Whereas, the Arab army that conquered Sindh early in the 8th century, had only a marginal impact on society as far as conversions were concerned.

With the Turkish invasion, during the 11th and 12th centuries, the influence of Islaam became more widespread. Initially this was restricted to the emerging Muslim military aristocracy. Some of the converts came from the Hindu upper-classes, either out of conviction, or in the hope of reward from the Muslim ruler. But soon, the main conversions came from the poor low caste untouchables, who, despite belonging formally to the Hindu fold, were oppressed by the upper caste Brahmins.

To quote from Vivekanand: ‘Why amongst the poor of India so many are Mohammedans? It is nonsense to say that they were converted by the sword, it was to gain liberty from zamindars and priests…’

Conversion was generally not the objective of conquering kings (except Ashoka). The Mughal Rulers did not disturb or interfere with the social structure in their dominions. Their courts had a large number of Muslim as well as Hindu courtiers, Rajas and Zamindars. But they are viewed so differently from the Hindu rulers of the age. The Hindu kings who fought for the preservation and expansion of their own personal dominion against the Muslim empire, are projected as ‘national heroes’: Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Guru Gobind Singh, while the Muslim rulers are projected as national enemies.

Many of these Hindu kings and their descendants allied with Mughal Rulers: e.g. Rana Pratap’s son Amar Singh developed a friendship with Jahangir; in the later period, Guru Gobind Singh came to an agreement with the Mughal ruler. Their only intent, like the Muslim rulers of the age was to preserve their power in their kingdoms- not to build an Indian nation, a process that began much later.

Babar’s Will:

Son, this nation Hindustan has different religions. Thank Allah for giving us this kingdom. We should remove all the differences from our heart and do justice to each community according to its customs. Avoid cow-slaughter to win over the hearts of the people of this land and to incorporate the people in the matters of administration. Do not damage the places of worship and temples, which fall in the boundaries of our rule. Evolve a method of ruling whereby all the people of the kingdom are happy with the king and the king is happy with the people.
Islam can progress by noble deeds and not by terror. Ignore the differences of Shia & Sunni as this is the weakness of Islam. Keep the people following different customs integrated into a single whole so that no part of this kingdom becomes diseased. [Translated from the original at national Museum, New Delhi]

This statement is clear evidence that Babur would not have destroyed the Ram Mandir to build a Babri Masjid.

Did Muslim Kings destroy the Hindu Temples to humiliate Hindu religion and to spread Islam?

Temple have always been repositories of wealth . Temples were plundered by kings irrespective of their religion. Religion was the ideological fig leaf to justify desecration. Temples were plundered by the Marathas in Tipu’s Sultanate. The Shri Rangapatnam Temple was destroyed by the Maratha armies and was repaired by Tipu Sultan.

Attacking temples was also a way of humiliating other kings.
The famous temple of Somnath was looted by Muhammad Ghazni. His main aim was to loot the huge quantities of gold kept in the temple. On his way to Somnath, he first had to fight with Muhammed Fath Dawood and in the process, the mosque of Multan was damaged.

He allied with Anandpal, the ruler of Thaneshwar, before attacking the temple. Many of his army generals, Tilak, Sondhi, Rai Hind, and Harzan were Hindus and a substantial part of his army comprised of Hindu soldiers. Later, his son sent his army to destroy a mosque in central Asia.

Temples were looted by King Harsha of Kashmir in the 11th century. Mention of this is in Kalhan’s book ‘Rajtarangiri’ which states that he appointed a special officer to uproot the golden idols from the temples. This officer was designated as devotpatan nayak (officer who uproots the Gods).

The Parmar King (Shubhatvarman 1193-1210 a.d.) destroyed Jain temples in Cambay and Dabhoi in addition to plundering temples in his own kingdom.

Often portrayed in bad light in history with regard to his attitude towards Hindus as desecrator of a number of Hindu temples, Aurangazeb not only destroyed temples and masjids, he also gave jagirs to many temples. States historian Audrey Truschke , in her new book: ‘Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth’, : “Hindu and Jain temples dotted the landscape of Aurangzeb’s kingdom.”

Documents at the Vrindavan Research Centre show that Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan too gave a number of jagirs to these temples.

Religious institutions were entitled to Mughal state protection, and Aurangzeb generally endeavored to ensure their well-being. But, by the same token, from a Mughal perspective, that goodwill was revoked when specific temples or their associates acted against imperial interests. Then, Emperor Aurangzeb authorized targeted temple destructions and desecrations throughout his rule.

Demolition of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple by Aurangazeb

While Aurangazeb was passing near Varanasi on his way to Bengal, the Hindu rajas in his retinue requested that they halt for the day, so that their ranis could go to Varnasi, take a dip in the Ganges and pay their homage to Vishwanath.

Aurangazeb readily agreed and army pickets were posted on the five mile route to Varnasi. The ranis made the journey in palkis. They took their dip in the Ganges and went to the Vishwanath temple to pay homage. After offering puja, all the ranis returned, except one, the Maharani of Kutch. A thorough search was made of the temple precincts, but the Rani was nowhere to be found.. When Aurangazeb came to know about it, he was enraged. He sent his senior officers to search for the Rani.

Finally, they found that the statue of Ganesh which was fixed in the wall was a movable one. When they moved the statue, they discovered a flight of stairs that led to the basement. To their horror, they found the missing Rani there, dishonored and crying. The basement was just beneath Vishwanath’s seat.

The rajas expressed their protests vociferously. As the crime was heinous, the rajas demanded exemplary action. Aurangazeb ordered that as the sacred precincts had been despoiled, idol of Vishwanath should be moved elsewhere, the temple be razed to the ground and the mahant be arrested and punished.

This evidence of history has been confirmed by the erstwhile curator of the Patna museum, Dr. PL Gupta [Asghar Ali Engineer 1995, Communalism in India. New Delhi : Vikas Publishing House.]

Aurangzeb carried on the traditions of his forefathers in granting favours to Hindu religious communities, a continuity underscored by his dealings with the Jangam, a Shaivite group.

The Jangam benefited from Mughal orders beginning under Akbar, who confirmed their legal rights to land in 1564. The same Jangam received several farmans from Aurangzeb that restored land that had been unfairly confiscated (1667), protected them from a disruptive local Muslim (1672), and returned illegally charged rent (1674).

Mughal rulers including Aurangazeb had a very liberal policy towards the Mathura-Vrindavan region where a number of places of pilgrimage are located. The documents available with the Vrindavan Research Centre show that Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan gave a number of jagirs to these temples.

There is nothing to justify the belief that the Muslim Kings destroyed Hindu temples to convert Hindus to Islam. ‘How can one think that the way of winning over people’s hearts is to go and demolish temples?…’
-Harbans Mukhia (1994)Medieval History and Communal Approach. New Delhi: Peoples’ Publishing House.]

I conclude by quoting the great Indian personality Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the distinguished Muslim leader who served twice as the President of the Indian National Congress. He declared in 1940: “I am a Muslim and profoundly conscious of the fact that I have inherited Islaam’s glorious traditions of the last thirteen hundred years. I am not prepared to lose even a small part of that legacy…I am equally proud of the fact that I am an Indian, an essential part of the indivisible unity of Indian nationhood, a vital factor in its total make-up without which this noble edifice will remain incomplete. I can never give up this sincere claim.” [see Hameed 1990:161]

Imtiaz Ahmed is a lecturer and a writer. He is also an instructor at Chennai-based Illume Academy. He regularly tweets under @imti131.