The post Implementation of UN Resolutions Is Only Solution for Kashmir appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Ghulam Nabi Fai
Sep/Oct 2024
Displaying a calculated and considered callousness and insensitivity to the Kashmiris’ wishes and aspirations, Indian Home [interior] of Minister Amit Shah announced (following a Supreme Court’s Dec 12, 2023 order) that “[The] Assembly poll will be held in Jammu and Kashmir before September 30, 2024” and that “BJP believes in winning hearts” (Ravi Krishnan Khajuria, Hindustan Times, April 16, 2024). The Indian Election Commission has proclaimed a two-phased parliamentary election schedule: in Jammu on April 26 and in the Srinagar constituency on May 13 in four phases. Chief Election Officer of J&K Hirdesh Kumar said on Aug. 17, 2022, that “We are expecting an addition of (2 to 2.5 million) new voters in the final list,” including non-Kashmiris living in the region (Reuters, Aug. 17, 2022).
Today, India confronts a Kashmir Rubicon in terms of electing members to its rubber stamp parliament. If it boldly conducts free, fair, and transparent elections that reflect the inhabitants’ genuine sentiments, then a final peaceful settlement of the 77-year-old conflict will be in sight. If it continues its habit of rigging elections and denying Kashmiri self-determination as proclaimed in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) January 1949 resolutions, then Kashmir will remain beleaguered by repression, misery, and destitution.
India’s colonial and antidemocratic ways in Kashmir have a long history. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell said in 1964, “The high idealism of the Indian government in international matters breaks down completely when confronted with the question of Kashmir.”
Jayaprakash Narayan, known as “The Second Gandhi of India,” confided to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1960, “We profess democracy but rule by force in Kashmir… [The Kashmir] problem exists not because Pakistan wants to grab Kashmir, but because there is deep and widespread political discontent among the people” (“Why we must listen to Jayaprakash Narayan on Kashmir”, Ramachandra Guha, Sept. 26, 2016, Hindustan Times).
George Fernandes (d. 2019), a former Federal Minister of Kashmir Affairs, stated at Harvard University’s [now Weatherhead] Center for International Affairs on Oct. 12, 1990, “In so far as the immediate situation in Kashmir is concerned, I feel that we need to go back to 1984, when an elected government was dismissed by Delhi. The dismissal of the government sent [a] signal to the people of Kashmir that any honest decision that they take in regard to the governance of the State could easily be set aside by the power that is in Delhi. Naturally, the anger against Delhi built up. In 1987, there could have been a fair election. Unfortunately, there was not. A lot of people were roughed up. A lot of young people were subjected to considerable humiliation. The Kashmiris felt that Delhi would prevent for all times any expression of people’s will in a fair and objective election. All this created among the youth a sense of total despondency and alienation.”
Rigged Elections
P. K. Dave, a former Chief Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Government, confessed in 1991 that, “Elections in Kashmir have been rigged from the beginning.”
Booker Prizewinner Arundhati Roy remarked on Sept. 27, 2009, “Elections in Kashmir have had a long and fascinating past. The blatantly rigged state election of 1987 was the immediate provocation for the armed upsrising that began in 1990. Since then, elections have become a finely honed instrument of military occupation, a sinister playground for India’s deep state. It is Intelligence agencies more than anyone else who decide what the outcome of each election will be. After every election, the Indian establishment declares that India has won a popular mandate from the people of Kashmir.”
In his “Twenty Tumultuous Years Insights into Indian Polity,” Shri Prakash writes, “The Kashmiri anger actually began with the mass rigging of elections in 1987…” (p.568; Gyan Publishing House, 2003).
Amy Waldman wrote in the New York Times that “Rigged elections in Kashmir in 1987 helped trigger the armed uprising that India estimates has taken more than 35,000 lives” (Aug. 24, 2002).
The 1987 fraudulent elections extinguished the Kashmiris’ last flicker of hope that India would bow to the UNSC prescribed free and fair plebiscite.
The cure for counterfeit elections is providing genuine democratic articles. Thus, the Kashmiris are eager to participate in the referendum if it’s conducted with the trapping of free and fair choice, monitored, and supervised by a “neutral” agency like the UN.
The status of East Timor was resolved in 1999 by a free and fair vote of the population. The same, championed by the U.S. and the E.U. happened in Kosovo, Montenegro, and Southern Sudan. The solution to Kashmir’s indigenous upheaval is no different. The irresponsible coveting of dignity, liberty, and pride that comes with self-determination knows no territorial or regional boundaries.
The UNSC Resolution 122 of 1957 denounced the Indian elections subterfuge, reminding the concerned governments and authorities “of the principle embodied in its resolution that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the peoples’ will expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under UN auspices.
The resolution further elaborated that “the convening of a Constituent Assembly … and any action that Assembly may have taken or might attempt to take to determine the future shape and affiliation [of Kashmir]” would be no surrogate for Kashmiri self-determination.
The following steps need to be taken to make a referendum happen:
First, demilitarizing the state on either side of the ceasefire line.
Second, creating an atmosphere of peace and security.
Third, annulling all draconian laws, especially the Domicile Law, which is designed to change the state’s demography.
Fourth, releasing all political prisoners, including Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam Bhat, Aasia Andrabi, Khurram Parvaiz, and others immediately and unconditionally.
Fifth, restoring the rights of peaceful association, assembly. and demonstrations.
Sixth, permitting the Kashmiri political resistance leadership to travel abroad without hindrance,
Seventh, satisfying the democratic principles, rule of law, and security for every Kashmiri, irrespective of religious affiliation.
Eighth, deputing an international and neutral team to conduct the referendum.
Kashmir’s suffering is a rebuke to the UN for its inaction. This decades-long situation is a call on the conscience of the UNSC’s members, particularly in the U.S.
A sincere and serious effort toward devising a just settlement must face and deal with the realities of the situation and fully respond to the people’s rights. Indeed, any process that ignores their wishes and is designed to sidetrack the UN will prove to be not only an exercise in futility, but also a source of incalculable human and political damage.
Ghulam Nabi Fai is secretary general, World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Washington, D.C. and chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice. He can be reached at [email protected], and www.kashmirawareness.org.
[Editor’s note: No sources were provided for some of the quotations, and therefore IH was unable to verify their accuracy.]
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Implementation of UN Resolutions Is Only Solution for Kashmir appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Can India Hold Kashmir at Gunpoint Forever? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Tariq Ahmed
Sep/Oct 2024
Just about everyone who has not cloaked his/her head in the proverbial sand acknowledges that Kashmir’s political history is a litany of betrayal, manipulation, massive state-sponsored structural and militaristic crimes, as well as human rights violations. All this has been enacted by the rulers, politicians, political and military establishments and India’s nationalist media warriors against a hapless people demanding an end to the settler-colonial occupation of their land.
Repression, erasure, disempowerment, invisibilization, a devious combination of assimilationist and eliminationist strategies, along with dehumanization of the subaltern Kashmiri and appropriation of Kashmir’s history, have been foundational to and constitutive of India’s settler colonization project.
These violations, described by international legal luminaries as “crimes against humanity,” have surpassed the threshold of crimes under international law. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has observed, “Impunity for human rights violations and lack of access to justice are key human rights challenges in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.”
Nonetheless, the international community has largely watched in silence, much as they have done in the case of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. In unwitting ways, these amount to sanctioning India’s occupation of Kashmir and the genocide in Gaza.
Kashmir’s landscape simmers with unease and indignant resignation. Military bunkers, concertina wires, unmarked mass graves, a panopticon of digital surveillance and militarized medical spaces and schools dot the landscape. The people’s memory is soaked with the countless rapes, killings, blinding, murders, tortures, disappearances and imprisonments.
Fear permeates every corner of people’s lives. Indian authorities have targeted human rights advocates, journalists, academics and civil society members in the occupied colony.
Its obsession with entrenching the occupation means that India shows no interest in a form of transitional justice that addresses the root causes of the long-standing discontent and ends egregious human rights violations and impunity for killing, maiming and silencing dissenters. A settlement-colonization enterprise cannot afford such concessions.
Several journalists — some of whom have won Pulitzer awards — have been detained, tortured or denied their right to travel abroad by confiscating and canceling their passports, as detailed in a recent report by the Kashmir Law and Justice project titled “They Should Be Beaten and Skinned Alive: The Final Phase of India’s War on Kashmir Civil Society” (March 21, 2024, https://www.kljp.org/).
The family of prominent human rights advocate Khurram Parvez has endured harassment and incessant house raids during his incarceration in India’s high-security prison. Listed among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022, Parvez has been described as the “modern-day David” who has been “silenced, for his voice resounded around the globe for his fierce fight against human rights violations and injustices in the Kashmir region” (Rana Ayyub
May 23, 2022, https://time.com).
Several academics have been expelled from their university positions and incarcerated. Measures against academics and scholars include close surveillance, intimidation and harassment. For raising Kashmir at a conference 14 years ago, Dr. Sheikh Showkat (principal, Kashmir College of Law) was charged with sedition.
Public Safety Act
In what Haley Duschinski and Sankar Gosh have described as “occupational constitutionalism,” the ruling Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Modi has unashamedly politicized the law and legalized repression in Kashmir. The colonizing authorities have used several laws to suppress Kashmiris and justify repression, including the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA).
PSA is the primary tool used against dissenting voices to justify capricious and prolonged incarceration. Amnesty International describes it as “lawless law.” Military administrations use the AFSPA, the other equally brutal tool, as a sword and a shield to suppress dissent while shielding themselves from accountability. The law provides them with the cover of impunity.
In contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws, the state privileges AFSPA and PSA over India’s Protection of Human Rights Act (1993) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Detention without trial for two years under the PSA violates fundamental principles of justice such as equality before the law, formal charge sheets, due process and access to counsel. Those police and military personnel who misuse this instrument of suppression to win medals for killing dissidents are never held accountable.
Athar, 16, along with two other civilians, was killed in a staged police encounter in December 2020. A counter-terrorism charge was filed against his parents and other family members when they demanded the deceased’s corpse.
The military authorities are utilizing technology-assisted surveillance and predictive tools against Kashmiris as a means of force-multiplying their physical repression. They require that in businesses CCTV systems must be installed, filmed daily and submitted to authorities.
With this unmistakable digital panopticon, the Kashmiris will be surveilled for alleged anti-Indian activities in public spaces and any mass mobilization attempts by people already besieged at gunpoint.
Amnesty International’s (AI) India office has been blatantly targeted by New Delhi for highlighting the human rights situation in India generally and Kashmir specifically. As a result of police intimidation and legal harassment, the UN Special Rapporteur asked India, among other things, to provide proof of allegations against AI, the legal basis for government action and demonstrate that the government will ensure human rights activists, including lawyers, operate in a conducive environment without fear of threats or acts of intimidation and harassment of any kind.
Indian authorities have intimidated, harassed and detained Kashmiri poets and musicians. Despite being hunted by the government forces, these activists have chosen to go underground to continue making protest music.
As India’s lawyer community shuns Kashmiri students across India, vigilante groups and law enforcement abuse, harass, intimidate and kill them equally brutally. Among the flimsiest charges against the students are their alleged or actual celebrations of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup victory over India.
Weaponized Media
Weaponized media is the most incredible soft repression tool. The nationalist press reframes resistance as anti-national. Rather than deliver the facts as they are, allowing for a more neutral and in-depth analysis, the media manufactures the consent of unsuspecting Indians for military violence against Kashmiris by invoking terrorism and generating anti-Kashmiri and anti-Pakistan sentiment.
Settler-colonial authorities have designated and then banned several resistance groups as unlawful associations. Labeling them as such is meant to stigmatize, discredit and delegitimize them, thereby undermining their recruitment and any attempts at mass mobilization.
As a result of this preemptive repression, paramilitary personnel defile, harass, watch, prohibit, detain, torture and kill members of such organizations to increase the costs of supporting resistance to Indian rule.
In denial, the colonizing power uses police and army spokesmen as objective purveyors of the reality on the ground, minimizes Kashmiri political resistance and justifies dubiously legalistic and excessively militaristic retaliation as a legal response to the assumed “threatening law-and-order situation.” In Kashmir, any challenge to Indian hegemony is hideously portrayed as a threat to India’s national security and territorial integrity.
Despite what India would have the world believe, the petitioning of national security and preventive incarceration laws against Kashmiri dissenters is not an exceptional and extraordinary or extra-constitutional measure. These cherished cutting-edge tools with which they chisel the settler-colonial Hindu state are constitutive of and integral to their Brahminical colonial-settler enterprise.
Through its deceitful political maneuverings and brutal militaristic doctrine, the Kashmiri political-military establishment has elevated Kashmiris’ resentment to a point beyond repair. Court-sanctioned repression, glamorized by its cabal of anti-Kashmir and anti-Pakistan rhetoric in the media, has stifled all voices of colonized territories.
As Kashmiris are portrayed as pro-Pakistan (and therefore anti-Indian) agents, state-sponsored violence is justified. With its ever-evolving repressive regime, the state has lost its claimed moral authority to rule Kashmiri hearts and minds.
India’s goal is to hold Kashmir forever, even if that means keeping it at gunpoint. The asymmetrical power relations in Kashmir make Kashmiris vulnerable to colonizers on all three levels: materially, mentally and physically. For them, a long haul is ahead. They are digging their heels in for now.
Tariq Ahmed is a freelance writer.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Can India Hold Kashmir at Gunpoint Forever? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Can India Hold Kashmir at Gunpoint Forever? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Tariq Ahmed
July/Aug 2024
Just about everyone who has not cloaked his/her head in the proverbial sand acknowledges that Kashmir’s political history is a litany of betrayal, manipulation, massive state-sponsored structural and militaristic crimes, as well as human rights violations. All this has been enacted by the rulers, politicians, political and military establishments, and India’s nationalist media warriors against a hapless people demanding an end to the settler-colonial occupation of their land.
Repression, erasure, disempowerment, invisibilization, a devious combination of assimilationist and eliminationist strategies, along with dehumanization of the subaltern Kashmiri and appropriation of Kashmir’s history, have been foundational to and constitutive of India’s settler colonization project.
These violations, described by international legal luminaries as “crimes against humanity,” have surpassed the threshold of crimes under international law. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has observed, “Impunity for human rights violations and lack of access to justice are key human rights challenges in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.”
However, the international community has primarily looked on silently, just as they have in Gaza when there is ongoing genocide, occasionally making perfunctory noises. In unwitting ways, these amount to endorsing India’s occupation of Kashmir and the genocide in Gaza.
Most Militarized Zone in the World
Kashmir’s landscape simmers with unease and indignant resignation. Military bunkers, concertina wires, unmarked mass graves, a panopticon of digital surveillance, and militarized medical spaces and schools dot the landscape. The people’s memory is soaked with the countless rapes, killings, blinding, murders, tortures, disappearances and imprisonments.
Fear permeates every corner of people’s lives. Indian authorities have targeted human rights advocates, journalists, academics, and civil society members in the occupied colony.
Its obsession with entrenching the occupation means that India shows no interest in a form of transitional justice that addresses the root causes of the long-standing discontent and ends egregious human rights violations and impunity for killing, maiming, and silencing dissenters. A settlement-colonization enterprise cannot afford such concessions.
Crackdown on Dissent
Several journalists — some of whom have won Pulitzer awards — have been detained, tortured or denied their right to travel abroad by confiscating and canceling their passports, as detailed in a recent report by the Kashmir Law and Justice project titled “They Should Be Beaten and Skinned Alive: The Final Phase of India’s War on Kashmir Civil Society” (March 21, 2024, https://www.kljp.org/).
The family of prominent human rights advocate Khurram Parvez has endured harassment and incessant house raids during his incarceration in India’s high-security prison. Listed among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022, Parvez has been described as the “modern-day David” who has been “silenced, for his voice resounded around the globe for his fierce fight against human rights violations and injustices in the Kashmir region” (Rana Ayyub May 23, 2022, https://time.com).
Several academics have been expelled from their university positions and incarcerated. Measures against academics and scholars include close surveillance, intimidation, and harassment. Dr. Sheikh Showkat (principal of Kashmir College of Law) was charged with sedition for raising Kashmir at a conference 14 years ago.
The Indian authorities have intimidated, harassed, and detained Kashmiri poets and musicians. Despite being hunted by the government forces, these activists have chosen to go underground to continue making protest music.
As India’s lawyer community shuns Kashmiri students across India, vigilante groups and law enforcement abuse, harass, intimidate, and kill them equally brutally. Among the flimsiest charges against the students are their alleged or actual celebrations of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup victory over India
Politicizing Law and Legalizing Repression
In what Haley Duschinski and Sankar Gosh have described as “occupational constitutionalism,” the ruling Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Modi has unashamedly politicized the law and legalized repression in Kashmir. The colonizing authorities have used several laws to suppress Kashmiris and justify repression, including the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA).
PSA is the primary tool used against dissenting voices to justify capricious and prolonged incarceration. Amnesty International describes it as “lawless law.” Military administrations use the AFSPA, the other equally brutal tool, as a sword and a shield to suppress dissent while shielding themselves from accountability. The law provides them with the cover of impunity.
In contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws, the state privileges AFSPA and PSA over India’s Protection of Human Rights Act (1993) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Detention without trial for two years under the PSA violates fundamental principles of justice such as equality before the law, formal charge sheets, due process, and access to counsel. Those police and military personnel who misuse this instrument of suppression to win medals for killing dissidents are never held accountable.
Athar, 16, along with two other civilians, was killed in a staged police encounter in December 2020. A counter-terrorism charge was filed against his parents and other family members when they demanded the deceased’s body.
Digital Panopticon
The military authorities are utilizing technology-assisted surveillance and predictive tools against Kashmiris as a means of force-multiplying their physical repression. The government requires business establishments to install CCTV systems and submit their daily recordings to the government.
With this unmistakable digital panopticon, the Kashmiris will be surveilled for alleged anti-Indian activities in public spaces and any mass mobilization attempts by people already besieged at gunpoint.
Amnesty International (AI) is concerned about the intensifying clampdown in Kashmir in recent years. The AI has noted that the Indian government has sought to gain increased control through “a system of laws, policies, and practices that systematically annihilate critical voices and violate the rights to freedom of expression and opinion of journalists and human rights defenders.”
Weaponizing Media
The settler colonial authorities have used weaponized media as one of their most potent soft repression tools. The nationalist press reframes resistance as anti-national. Rather than deliver the facts as they are, allowing for a more neutral and in-depth analysis, the media manufactures the consent of unsuspecting Indians for military violence against Kashmiris by invoking terrorism and generating anti-Kashmiri and anti-Pakistan sentiment.
Settler-colonial authorities have designated and then banned several resistance groups as unlawful associations. Labeling them as such is meant to stigmatize, discredit, and delegitimize them, undermining their recruitment and any attempts at mass mobilization.
As a result of this preemptive repression, paramilitary personnel defile, harass, watch, prohibit, detain, torture, and kill members of such organizations to increase the costs of supporting resistance to Indian rule.
In denial, the colonizing power uses police and army spokesmen as objective purveyors of the reality on the ground, minimizes Kashmiri political resistance and justifies dubiously legalistic and excessively militaristic retaliation as a legal response to the assumed “threatening law-and-order situation.” In Kashmir, any challenge to Indian hegemony is hideously portrayed as a threat to India’s national security and territorial integrity.
Disabling and Erasing Kashmiri Memory
Despite what India would have the world believe, the petitioning of national security and preventive incarceration laws against Kashmiri dissenters is not an exceptional and extraordinary or extra-constitutional measure. These cherished cutting-edge tools with which they chisel the settler-colonial Hindu state are constitutive of and integral to their Brahminical colonial-settler enterprise.
Through its deceitful political maneuverings and brutal militaristic doctrine, the Kashmiri political-military establishment has elevated Kashmiris’ resentment to a point beyond repair. Court-sanctioned repression, glamorized by its cabal of anti-Kashmir and anti-Pakistan rhetoric in the media, has stifled all voices of colonized territories.
As Kashmiris are portrayed as pro-Pakistan (and therefore anti-Indian) agents, state-sponsored violence is justified. As its repressive regime has evolved, the state has unleashed its settler colonial agenda with full force. This agenda aims to disempower, erase, and replace Kashmiri memory and history with Indian memories and histories.
In the long run, India wants to hold Kashmir forever, even if it must be held at gunpoint. In Kashmir, asymmetric power relations make Kashmiris vulnerable to colonizers on all three levels: materially, psychologically, and physically. For them, a long haul is ahead. They are digging their heels in for now.
Tariq Ahmed, an observer of South Asian affairs, is a freelance writer.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Can India Hold Kashmir at Gunpoint Forever? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Ramadan in Malaysia appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Amani Salahudeen
July/Aug 2024
For three consecutive years recent surveys conducted by Singapore’s Crescent Rating and the United States’ Dinar Standard have chosen Malaysia as the world’s top destination for Muslim travelers. This hardly comes as a surprise, for the country has all the necessary ingredients of an ideal Islamic tourism destination. With an abundance of halal food, prayer facilities and Islamic attractions, Malaysia perfectly caters to the needs of Muslim travelers. The country’s rich Islamic history and heritage also form layers of fascinating experiences just waiting to be discovered.
Ramadan in Malaysia is also a special celebration. In fact, it felt like a daily celebration. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a vibrant metropolis where all cultures, religions and tastes collide to create a new, modern Asia that bears no resemblance to any other place I’ve ever been.
Spending Ramadan in a Muslim-majority country was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Hearing the adhan throughout the day and seeing advertisements featuring Muslimas all around was amazing. As an American, this was unusual for me, but wonderful to witness. Malaysia is also one of the prettiest places to visit. There’s so much Islamic history there, and the country is so picturesque.
During Ramadan, Malaysia’s Muslims abstain from eating in public and eateries typically do not serve Muslim customers during fasting hours. Non-Muslims wishing to show respect for this tradition can opt to dine during quieter times and avoid public restaurants during the day.
My family enjoyed visiting Kuala Lumpur’s National Blue Mosque and Pink Mosque, both of which provide ample space for women to pray and perform their pre-prayer ablutions. These facilities are among the best I’ve ever used. Malaysians have a traditional prayer outfit, and many spares are available for those who might like to wear one.
The mosques are open to everyone. Non-Muslims are given robes to wear upon entering. The taraweeh prayer was a lot shorter than expected, but the sense of community is palpable. The only downside was that many of these mosques were not wheelchair accessible, so my grandmother couldn’t join us.
Malaysia has a joyful atmosphere during Ramadan. Large retail centers in the capital go all out for Eid al-Fitr (aka Hari Raya Aidilfitri), bursting with sales and community dinners as moreh, a Ramadan supper held after the taraweeh prayer. The radio plays regional songs celebrating Eid, and at night the sky is filled with fireworks.
Foodies Rejoice
Since 64% of Malaysians are Muslim, most of the food is halal. This makes going to the grocery stores less of a hassle than it is here in the U.S. The food is flavorful and isn’t as spicy as I anticipated.
An absolute haven for foodies, Kuala Lumpur is transformed into a feast of stories and cultures thanks to this melting pot of nationalities. Since rice (nasi) is a staple of most major meals, one of the best dishes I enjoyed was nasi lemak, a delicious combination of coconut milk rice served with sambal (chili sauce or paste), fried crispy anchovies, toasted peanuts and cucumber. You can also add a fried egg on top to enjoy nasi goreng.
The capital is known for its street food, which I loved. But I also made sure to check out more contemporary restaurants and hangouts in the area because I’m constantly searching for the best place to eat. Getting to sample halal Vietnamese pho (fragrant beef noodle soup with fresh toppings) for the first time was one of the nicest meals.
Among the best sights to see is the Islamic Art Museum Malaysia (IAMM). Located in central Kuala Lumpur’s Lake Gardens neighborhood, it spans 33,000 square feet. Since its opening in 1998, IAMM has housed over 10,000 artifacts. Its Scholar’s Library has an outstanding collection of Islamic art publications. Among the artworks on exhibit are the smallest jewelry items to one of the largest scale replicas of the Masjid al-Haram. The museum emphasizes Asia, rather than focusing on works from the Middle East and Persia. Most notably, China, India and Southeast Asia are well represented.
My favorite part was getting to see how masjids looked in various Asian countries through decades. I also loved seeing that the museum’s library had works by popular Malaysian authors, including Hanna Alkaf, one of my favorites.
The Istana Negara (King’s Palace) draws tens of thousands of tourists with its Islamic style architecture and golden domes. Under its constitutional monarchy system, each of the country’s nine states has its own monarch. Every five years, or whenever a vacancy occurs, they convene as the Majlis Raja-Raja (Conference of Rulers) to elect among themselves the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Supreme Head of the Federation).
The Royal Museum, which is situated on the royal grounds, offers information on the monarchs even though one cannot enter the palace itself. For example, it was fascinating to discover during a tour that many people do not realize that the king usually serves the nation for a term of five years before handing it over to someone else.
Even though the weather is incredibly hot, there is the occasional pleasant evening breeze. It would be preferable to stay somewhere that offers central air conditioning. Getting around with Malaysia’s version of Uber was also a little difficult because of the language, some miscommunication and the blatant lack of customer service — one day we spent over 35 minutes waiting in the heat for a car to pick us up.
This was a very different trip from any place I’ve ever visited. In Malaysia, Ramadan is a vibrant celebration of faith, culture and community, rather than just a time for religious devotion. Whether you choose to join in the customs or just watch the celebration, spending the holy month in a Muslim country offered a unique cultural experience that made a lasting impression upon me.
Amani Salahudeen (B.A., professional writing and journalism, The College of New Jersey; M.A., secondary English education, Western Governors University) has been published in Pop Culturalist, Muslim Girl, Her Campus and The Signal.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Ramadan in Malaysia appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post When Will the Real Syria Return? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Nawal Ali
July/Aug 2024
One night in the depth of slumber, I found myself ensnared in a vivid nightmare, submerged in a watery abyss, my lungs burning for air as I fought against an unseen force holding me down. I clawed at the darkness frantically, desperate to break free; however, the suffocating weight of the water refused to relinquish its hold. With each passing moment, panic gripped me tighter until, mercifully, a violent shaking tore me from the depths of my subconscious, gasping for air, heart racing.
As I emerged from the grip of sleep, disoriented and trembling, the concerned faces of my roommates surrounded me, their voices a stark contrast to the chaos that lingered in my mind. “You’re okay, you’re okay. It was just a nightmare.” They spoke of my face turning blue, of my desperate gasps for air, a silent testament to the turmoil that raged beyond the threshold of our sanctuary.
Blinking away the remnants of sleep, I struggled to reconcile the tranquility of our dimly lit room with the chaos that had engulfed Syria during the Arab Spring. Outside, the cries of women mingled with the shouts of soldiers, a grim reminder of the unrest that had descended upon our once peaceful streets in 2011. The revolution had transformed our community into a battleground, tearing apart the fabric of our lives with each passing day.
As an American student at Abu Nour University, Damascus, I had been drawn to the warmth of Rukn Eddine, the area where locals and foreigners coexisted in harmony. But it was more than just the sense of community that captivated me. Syria was unlike any other country I’d ever experienced.
Despite being ruled by a dictatorship, the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party, Syria seemed to embody values that even Western states struggled to uphold. It provided a multitude of social services, including free health care, subsidized housing and utilities, food assistance, employment services, free education and subsidized goods, thereby ensuring a level of social welfare that surpassed that of many Western nations. Crime was scarce, prices were affordable and, in addition, everything was locally produced. Homelessness was virtually nonexistent, and the population was composed largely of highly educated individuals.
Contrary to the portrayals on television, society appeared remarkably open, challenging stereotypes of the Middle East as uncivilized and conservative.
But while the veneer of stability remained unbroken, beneath the surface discontent simmered, waiting to boil over into revolution. And when it finally did, I found myself torn between the idyllic image of the Syria I had come to know and the harsh reality of its authoritarian regime.
Protests became more frequent, only to be met with violence and repression at every turn. The national anthem, once uplifting melodies echoing through the airwaves, had now been transformed into haunting reminders of the regime’s unyielding grip, its power seemingly unassailable in the face of its merciless methods. By summer, several students had vanished without a trace, as if they had never been there to begin with. The local internet café faced strict surveillance and was compelled to surrender databases containing personal searches and emails, adding to the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
And then there were the institutions themselves. Stories emerged of students being surveilled via audio recording devices installed in the dormitories and teachers reporting comments made in class to the authorities. On one notable occasion, upon my return home, my roommate revealed that all my belongings, including my laptop, had been subjected to a thorough search, fueled by fears that I might be sharing information with the U.S. government.
Of course, the paranoia gripping the Syrian government, particularly within the Ba’ath Party and the Alawite community, was on some level understandable, given the region’s instability. The Alawites, also known as Nusayria, are an Arab ethno religious group that lives primarily in the Levant and follow Alawism, a religious sect that split off from early Shi’ism as a ghulat (exaggerators) branch during the ninth century.
Amid Israel’s assaults, Lebanon’s internal struggles and mounting tensions over Kurdish independence in the north, Syria teetered on the brink of profound instability. The intervention of a lone Western power held the potential to thrust Syria into a whirlwind of upheaval, mirroring the enduring turmoil that defines the wider region. Under Hafez al-Assad’s leadership, the regime brutally crushed any perceived threats to its power. The notorious events in Hama, where the Muslim Brotherhood uprising occurred in 1982, was violently suppressed to serve as a stark reminder of the regime’s willingness to use extreme measures to maintain control.
This ruthless display of power effectively quashed dissent and solidified the Alawite dominance. However, by the time I arrived in Syria, Assad’s son Bashar — an ophthalmologist turned into the heir apparent and groomed for 6.5 years to succeed his father — had assumed the presidency, ushering in a period of gradual change. Unlike his father’s era of ironfisted rule, Bashar’s leadership brought some reforms and openness to Syrian society.
For instance, restrictions on women wearing the hijab in universities were lifted, reflecting a more tolerant approach to social and religious practices. Additionally, there was a newfound openness to the outside world, with increased access to the internet and foreign television programs. These changes hinted at a desire for modernization and engagement with the global community, signaling a departure from the repressive tactics of the past. Yet, despite these reforms, the underlying sense of paranoia and the regime’s determination to maintain its grip on power remained palpable.
I left Damascus on May 29, 2011, with a heavy heart. The dormitory’s headmistress presented me with a stark choice: Either I stayed and risked my roommates being arrested, or I left the country to spare everyone involved. The decision weighed heavily on me, knowing I had three more years of studies ahead. As I packed my belongings, I clung to the false hope that I would return by the summer’s end.
Boarding the plane, tears welled in my eyes and a lump formed in my throat. The memories I left behind felt like fragments of a past never to be revisited. The serene mornings before fajr with the ethereal sound of the morning wird (litany) resonating through the mosque loudspeaker, the laughter-filled nights in the courtyard with my roommates, not to mention the clandestine lessons at my teacher’s house — all held a precious significance.
With all its flaws, Syria was a humble setting inhabited by wonderful individuals, and its essence filled every emptiness that no level of Western liberties could ever complete within me.
Even as time passes, my mind frequently drifts back to those days. Every now and then, I catch glimpses of familiar faces on the news: some enduring political imprisonment in Israel, others leading mosques in Tokyo, or aiding humanitarian efforts on the Turkish border. Occasionally, I receive a call from one of the girls I shared those moments with, now dispersed across the globe, each pursuing her own unique path. With each conversation, we revisit our shared memories. “Do you remember Syria?” we ask, our voices tinged with longing. “Do you think we’ll ever return?”
As life moves forward, I find myself grappling with the echoes of those conversations long after the calls end. The yearning to revisit Damascus, to reclaim the sense of belonging and purpose I felt there, remains a persistent ache in my heart. Despite the passage of time and the distance that separates us, the bonds forged in that ancient city endure, tethering me to a past that feels more vivid than the present. And so I continue to carry Syria with me, its spirit woven into the fabric of my being, a beacon of hope amidst the uncertainties of the world.
Nawal Ali is head of ISNA Fund Development
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post When Will the Real Syria Return? appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Disintegration of the Swedish Model appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Emin Poljarević
May/Jun 2024
The father of Sweden’s welfare society (folkhemmet) is arguably Tage Erlander (d.1985), the country’s Social Democratic prime minister for 23 years. Erlander’s Sweden was marked by a strong economy, progressive taxation and an expansive social safety net that included universal healthcare, free education, and substantial public pensions. For those and many other reasons, this Nordic country of 10.7 million people was traditionally celebrated as a beacon of social democracy known for its commitment to fairness, equality and solidarity. The resulting wide-ranging welfare system and economic stability was called “the Swedish model.”
Its enviable sociopolitical stability and economic prosperity were secured by the delicate stewardship of a large state apparatus, increased work migration, the self-regulating employer-employee system and a stable industrial base that supplied the world with high quality steel, music (ABBA), cars (Volvo), furniture (IKEA), weapons (Bofors) and a range of various technological products.
The ideological vacuum among the relatively homogeneous population left by the intense pre-WW2 secularization processes was increasingly filled with the secularized traditional principles of equality and solidarity. Social democracy, just like 19th-century Lutheranism had in many ways, provided an underlying state ideology that was embodied by a robust civil society engagement.
At the heart of this engagement was the concept of “popular education” (folkbildning), a notion as revolutionary as it was simple. Springing from the Lutheran belief that education should be holistic, it involves the entire human being and holds intrinsic value beyond the mere acquisition of skills. Folkbildning champions the idea that learning is a voluntary free endeavor, one in which individuals aren’t just passive recipients of knowledge, but active creators of their own learning journey. This philosophy ensured that values like solidarity and fairness weren’t just theoretical concepts, but actual lived experiences guiding civil society activism and engaging large segments of the population.
A lion’s share of civil society organizations took the forms of associations and local organizations created around the idea of educating the public through sports, handcrafting and other creative arts. The main idea behind folkbildning is that learning ought to involve the entire human being, because it has an intrinsic value of its own.
Another important aspect is that folkbildning is not only voluntary and free, but also that participants create the learning process. In many ways, this idea and practice has enabled large-scale broad and well-anchored citizen participation. Values such as solidarity, fairness and equality became some of the guiding principles through which civil society activism came to — and continues to — engage large segments of Swedish population until today.
Sweden Begins to Change
Yet every story, no matter how idyllic, has its shadows. In many ways, the evening of Feb. 28, 1986, marked a turning point in Sweden’s narrative. The assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, the heir of Erlander’s legacy and a towering national political figure, sent shockwaves throughout the nation. Palme was a strong supporter of welfare state principles and forcefully opposed to apartheid in South Africa and the U.S. war on Vietnam. This still-unresolved murder was more than a personal tragedy; it symbolized the toxic and dangerous levels of hatred for the social democratic project among segments of right-wing political circles.
These circles ranged from mainstream conservative parties that disagreed with the extent of state intervention in the economy and sought more market-oriented reforms to more extreme elements that opposed the Social Democrats on ideological grounds, including far-right and fascist groups that were vehemently anti-communist and nationalist.
The assassination also hinted at an underlying turmoil, suggesting that the Swedish model’s seamless fabric was beginning to fray at the edges. The country eventually became part of the “Great Capitalist Restoration” of the 1980s and 1990s. In most, if not all, traditionally democratic and industrially advanced countries, this has resulted the retrenchment of the welfare state, as evidenced by sizable reductions in social spending, tax cuts, deregulation and privatization, along with a weakening of the influence of organized labor — in effect, dismantling the Social Democratic party’s core policies.
In the aftermath of the Berlin Wall’s fall, during the early 1990s we also observed rapid economic deterioration, social segregation along ethnic and class lines, in addition to radical school reforms overlapping with a rapid increase in refugee intake from the wars in Bosnia and the Horn of Africa. Fast forward to the 2000s, and the gradual weakening of the “Swedish model” sparked further cracks in the welfare system that followed the increased segregation and higher poverty levels that fueled the rising crime rates, drug consumption and, subsequently, gang violence. By the time of the 2008 financial crisis and a number of terrorist attacks in Europe, Swedish society’s perception of security and multiculturalism had shifted dramatically to the right.
Neo-liberalism, emerging as the new global economic orthodoxy, catalyzed a cascade of effects that undermined the country’s long-standing principles of solidarity, fairness and equality. These processes were most vividly manifested during the 2010s, a decade that witnessed a seismic shift toward higher levels of privatization, thereby weakening the state’s support for civil society organizations, and the rise of Islamophobia, populism and ethnonationalism. By the 2020s, the “Swedish model” had become nothing more than a distant memory.
Not only have these processes of change threatened the inclusivity and progress that Sweden was once known for, but they have also cast long shadows over its societal fabric. Once a model of social democracy, the broader society is now grappling with how to navigate these turbulent waters and seeking ways to redefine itself while retaining the core values that have guided it for so long.
Swedish Muslims are Scrambling
This has had a profound effect on entire populations and even more so on religious and ethnic minorities. For instance, Swedish Muslim civil society organizations are scrambling in utter panic to find ways to maintain their identity and faith in an increasingly hostile environment. Their struggle is not just about survival, but about finding a voice in a society that traditionally prided itself on inclusivity and openness.
Organizations such as Ibn Rushd (Study Association), Muslims for Peace and the Bosnian Muslim Youth Organization often highlight the Swedish experience with folkbildning and civil society activism and are searching for a way to be part of a society that is increasingly wary of diversity. Their journey is emblematic of the broader challenges facing civil society in an age of the paradox of globalization and rising nationalism.
The award-winning Swedish-Ugandan writer Johannes Anyuru, 45, himself a Muslim born in Sweden, has captured some of the scariest effects of this change. In one of his books, “They Will Drown in Their Mothers’ Tears” (Two Lines Press, 2019), Anyuru tells a reflective and cautionary tale that intertwines Sweden’s present societal tensions with a dystopian vision of its future. The book delves into themes of marginalization, focusing not only on Muslims but also on other groups facing prejudice, thereby emphasizing the importance of understanding and dialogue across different communities. It oscillates between despair and hope, suggesting that the future isn’t fixed but can be shaped by collective action today.
A reminder of the Swedish past, a time when solidarity and fairness were the guiding principles, Anyuru’s novels serve as a poignant commentary on the challenges to openness and freedom in contemporary Swedish society. Given this context, he advocates for a reevaluation of societal ethics toward inclusivity and understanding. His works are not just speculative fiction, but meaningful explorations of how to navigate the complexities of identity, belonging and societal change to avoid a dystopian future in which Islamophobia and injustice are institutionalized realities. As Swedes, both old and new, navigate the new social, economic and political landscape, Anyuru’s narrative represents a reflective and cautionary tale that intertwines present societal tensions with a dystopian vision of the future.
Anyuru inadvertently points toward the importance of community-based education and activism in fostering a society that is inclusive, equitable, and perhaps even united in its diversity. As Sweden continues to grapple with the realities of a rapidly changing world, the principles of folkbildning and the spirit of civil society activism become more relevant than ever, for they are guiding the country toward a future where everyone, regardless of background or belief, can find their place and make their contribution.
Emin Poljarević is an associate professor of Islamic studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Disintegration of the Swedish Model appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Genetic Research Disproves Hindutva’s Asserted Indian Origin of the Aryans appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Misbahuddin Mirza
May/Jun 2024
Recent genetic research confirms earlier anthropologic studies that Aryans from the Central Asian Steppes migrated both into the Indian subcontinent as well as to various parts of Europe after 2000 B.C. (“How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate,” June 16, 2017, https://www.thehindu.com; “How ancient DNA may rewrite prehistory in India,” Tony Joseph, BBC, Dec. 30, 2018). The first group, bringing their Indo-Aryan Sanskrit language and Vedic religious texts, violently pushed the native Dravidians southward and imposed their rigid Brahmanical Hindu religious caste system. This long-held view of the “Aryan invasion,” was never an issue in Europe or in India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan (the future Bangladesh), all of which obtained independence from the British at the same time in 1947. Then why is it such a contentious issue for India’s ruling right-wing BJP party and its Hindutva parent organization, the Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS)?
During India’s freedom struggle, Vinayak Savarkar (1883-1966) and Madhav Golwalkar (1906-1973) created “Hindutva,” an ideology of hatred, a radical ideology that should not be confused with “Hindu” or “Hinduism,” which is a religion. According to Hindutva, Muslims are invaders and India belongs only to the land’s original natives. Savarkar defines “native,” or “true Indian,” one has to satisfy two conditions: (1) India is his/her pitribhumi (ancestral land) and (2) India should be his/her punyabhumi (land of his/her religion). Golwalkar, an avid Hitler supporter, stated, “Hindus came into this land from nowhere, but are indigenous children of this soil always from time immemorial,” and that this race “is by far the important ingredient of a nation.” Renowned historian Romila Thapar explains this Hindutva mindset as “a Hindu therefore could not be descended from alien invaders…. Since Hindus sought a lineal descent from the Aryans, and a cultural heritage, the Aryans had to be indigenous.”
For decades, Hindutva ideologies dismissed all anthropologic studies supporting the Aryan invasion as an invention of the British colonialists to justify their own invasion of India. This is important, because if Central Asian Aryan invaders brought the Brahmanical Hindu religion into India, then the Hindutva adherents claim that India is the Hindus’ pitribhumi and punyabhumi have been a massive hoax. By extension, it would also mean that they should now stop labeling their fellow Indian Muslims as “invaders,” as they themselves would be considered as “invaders”’ who just happened to arrive earlier.
As genetic research results started trickling in, Hindutva started to modify their position slightly by stating that the Aryans originated in India and later spread to Europe and Central Asia along with their Indo-Aryan languages. A few Hindutva proponents tried to spin the scientific studies by saying that the Aryans’ migration into India was peaceful and resulted in their eventual assimilation with the native Dravidians.
Latest Studies
The latest, extensive genetic studies, however, have proved that not only did Aryans migrate into the Indian sub-continent, but that their encounter with the local Dravidians was extremely violent. Daniyal writes since most of the Steppe DNA is male, it means that Steppe migrants “were more successful at competing for local mates than men from the local groups,” indicating the aggressive nature of Indo-Aryan migration. In David Reich’s words, this means that this encounter “cannot have been entirely friendly.” In western Europe, these Steppe people completely displaced local males, very quickly indicating a possible genocide against the native population. (“Two new genetic studies upheld Indo-Aryan migration. So why did the Indian media report the opposite?” Shoaib Daniyal, Sept. 12, 2019, https://scroll.in/).
Renowned American geneticist Razib Khan states, “The recent arrival of steppe pastoralists from the steppe bearing R1a1a-Z93 into the highland zone to the north and west of the Indian subcontinent in the period after 2000 BC now seems assured. The few samples we do have from the mature-phase IVC [Indus Valley Civilization] indicate that this ancestry was absent in South Asia during this period. We also see today that steppe ancestry is present at much higher fractions among upper castes, and in groups in the north of India and in Pakistan. All this evidence strongly points to the arrival of a group of pastoralist Indo-European speakers to South Asia in the period after 2000 BCE. We know these pastoralists were Indo-European speakers, because literate civilization persisted continuously in the Near East, and Indo-Aryans are attested in the historical record from Mesopotamia in the first half of the second millennium BCE” (“Which of us are Aryans,” Thapar, Romila, et al., 2019).
Writing for Smithsonian.com, Brian Handwerk states, “Indo-European languages may have reached South Asia via Central Asia and Eastern Europe during the first half of the 1000s B.C.” (Sept. 5, 2019). Zhang notes that Steppe people “brought horses and the Indo-European languages now spoken on the subcontinent” (“A Burst of Clues to South Asians’ Genetic Ancestry,” Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, Sept. 5, 2019).
Swaminathan A Aiyar, in his scholarly article “What science tells us about Hindu majoritarianism,” explains, “India is not a country of original Aryan Hindus invaded by Muslims, as portrayed by some RSS historians. Primitive ape-like proto-humans lived in India over 100,000 years ago. But the land’s first Homo sapiens came from Africa 65,000 years ago and spread gradually. The proto-humans lost ground and eventually became extinct. Another out-of-Africa branch that had settled in the Zagros Mountains of Iran entered India 7,000 years ago. It brought agricultural techniques that helped create the great Harappan civilization. This developed major cities, the Indus Valley script and Dravidian languages” (The Economic Times, April 24, 2019)
And yet diehard Hindutva proponents like Vasant Shinde (former professor and vice-chancellor, Deccan College, Deemed University, Pune, India) continue his baseless arguments, despite condemnations by experts such as Razib Khan, Nick Patterson and David Reich. Writing in the scroll.in, Shoaib Daniyal described the difficulties faced by Reich, “This inquiry into the origin of modern Indians has set off hectic political debate in India. David Reich recounted how politics played a part in his work. Given the significant Steppe ancestry in the Ancestral North Indian component, Reich had originally termed this group ‘West Eurasians’ — a move that received violent pushback from Reich’s Indian collaborators, who controlled the access to genetic material. Reich recounts these discussions as the ‘tensest 24 hours of my scientific career’ and ‘At the time I felt that we were being prevented by political considerations from revealing what we had found,’ he complained” (“Two new genetic studies upheld Indo-Aryan migration. So why did the Indian media report the opposite?” Sept. 12, 2019).
It’s time for the world to unite and demand that India outlaw this outrageous and outlandish anti-Muslim ideology of hatred and treat Indian Muslims as equal citizens.
Misbahuddin Mirza, M.S., P.E., is a licensed professional engineer, registered in the States of New York and New Jersey. He served as the regional quality control engineer for the New York State Department of Transportation’s New York City Region, authored the iBook “Illustrated Muslim Travel Guide to Jerusalem” and has written for major U.S. and Indian publications.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Genetic Research Disproves Hindutva’s Asserted Indian Origin of the Aryans appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Relief to Gaza appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Hamza Mohammed
Mar/Apr 2024
As this issue was going to press, 24,927 Palestinians were killed (more than 10,000 being children), over 62,388 wounded, and more than 1.9 million displaced.
Those looking to help victims suffering through this compounding humanitarian crisis often wonder which relief organizations are on the ground in Gaza. Due to blockades and restrictive border controls, many agencies don’t have an actual physical presence there. Some organizations provide support at the Rafah (Egypt) border. There are, however, a few organizations that do have an on-the-ground presence and, as a result, can distribute supplies to those who need them the most.
We look at a few such organizations.
Helping Hand for Relief and Development
In Palestine, Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) provides rehabilitation and physical therapy services for children with disabilities. These initiatives have helped more than 28,000 beneficiaries of emergency relief, assistance for more than 6,000 orphans and educational support for around 500 people.
“The best way to help is donating online and bringing brand new winter jackets and blankets to our local offices,” said Rafid Ahmad, who works in the Dallas branch. “We also accept zakat donations that are spent in accordance with Islamic guidelines.”
HHRD, founded by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in the early 2000s to provide emergency aid to countries around the world, is one of the relief organizations working with the UN to provide support and deliver supplies to those in need. They collect items like food, water, clothes, medicine, blankets and shoes from those organizations that cannot enter Palestine and bring them to Rafah. They then give these items to the UN, which distribute them in affected areas. The UN shares a report with HHRD and other organizations after the distribution is complete to let them know where the aid was sent.
Headquartered in Southfield, Mich., HHRD is an accredited 4-star charity with more than 15 years of service and 14 ongoing programs in 128 countries. It has 19 regional offices across the U.S.
Islamic Relief
Since being founded in 1993, Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) has been able to assist over 50 million people across the world. This Virginia-based charitable organization has been working in
Palestine for over 20 years and has responded to many events and crises in the area working
with local partners on the ground to provide emergency aid. Currently, IRUSA has been
redirecting funds from other ongoing projects toward emergency aid in Palestine. Through their
efforts, they have been able to distribute medical aid and support to hospitals, and hygiene kits
to people sheltering in places like schools.
As with many other organizations providing support and aid in the region, ongoing blockades
and restrictions have made it increasingly difficult to get aid into affected areas. As a result,
IRUSA is currently using stored supplies in warehouses to provide aid. “The need is great and
getting sufficient supplies quickly has remained difficult for all humanitarian organizations,”
stated Minhaj Hassan, senior communication & media specialist for Islamic Relief USA.
Since October 7, 2023, IRUSA has been able to provide over 2.2 million items to provide medical aid, over 1 million ready-to-eat meals, and has distributed hygiene supplies and kits to over 200 shelters. In total, they have been able to provide aid to a total of over 50,000 children and 200,000 households. They need more supplies and funds to continue to be able to keep up with the rising need for aid.
The Humaniti Foundation
Founded in Markham, Canada, by entrepreneur Shoaib Khan, Humaniti Foundation is now also a registered U.S. charity based in Frisco, Texas. The foundation works with organizations in Palestine and has many long-standing partnerships with registered nonprofits in the region. Staff members work with their partners to deliver emergency aid, despite the dire conditions.
Humaniti has mobilized multiple emergency campaigns focused on providing hot meals, clean water and medical support to Palestinians. Currently, it has been able to deliver food, water, clothes, blankets and fuel, as well as obtain four pallets of medicine and medical supplies, which were to be distributed by their medical partners in Gaza.
“Each passing day restricts aid entering Gaza. Our partners are struggling to provide support, given the dire conditions,” said Humaniti’s Shabnam M. “Thankfully we have been able to provide food parcels and Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meals, hygiene kits, soup, detergent, fresh flour to make bread, mattresses, pillows, children’s winter clothes and water tanks.”
In the coming months, Humaniti will focus on providing medical aid and services in the affected areas. They will be delivering medication, supplies and equipment, as well as supporting the many orthopedic surgeries that need to take place to treat the countless injuries, including amputations and broken bones. They also plan to deploy temporary shelters near the Rafah border to support those trapped in southern Palestine with no shelter.
“The best way to help Humaniti continue to provide relief is to donate on our website,” Shabnam said. “Supplies are available in Egypt and across the region; however, we need to maintain adequate financial resources to ensure our partners can procure the supplies and be ready to transport and distribute within Gaza as needed.”
Human Concern International
Human Concern International (HCI), one of the oldest Canadian Muslim relief charities, has raised over $22 million for Palestine relief. They have been distributing aid in Gaza since Oct. 10, 2023, just three days after the war started. Despite the borders being closed, HCI, which has warehouses inside Gaza, was able to distribute the stored supplies.
In mid-December last year, this stored aid ran out. To continue this important work, Hassan Wadi, director of fundraising, and volunteer Syed Rahman flew to Egypt and filled three trucks — two with food and one with medical supplies — totaling about $3 million in value. Thanks to HCI’s connections, they were able to get the trucks to their warehouses in Palestine.
“The biggest challenge has been getting the aid in,” said Rahman. “There are many restrictions when bringing in supplies. Trucks must be clearly categorized, and types of aid cannot be mixed. If any rules are not followed, there is a risk of being turned around and denied entry.”
Even after there is a ceasefire, a tremendous amount of work will need to be done to rebuild Gaza. While Muslims across the world are praying and protesting, there needs to be a steady stream of donations as well. Gazans have already lost more than one can imagine.
Heroic Hearts
Heroic Hearts, a Chicago-based charity, has had teams in Gaza for several years, most of which include native Gazan residents. Embedded in the region since the beginning of the recent conflict, they have been traveling from the north to the south of Gaza, providing aid.
The organization has developed multiple relief programs, among them delivering food parcels containing mostly non-perishable foods, winter clothing and supplies, along with hygiene items, to the displaced. Heroic Hearts also has clean water tanks to deliver fresh water to people sheltering at sites in Gaza. Their established soup kitchens in Deir al-Balah and Rafah provide hot meals to thousands.
Heroic Hearts faces many challenges. Making deliveries can be very risky, and their ground teams have to be very careful, ready to move and take shelter at a moment’s notice.
“The number of people in need of aid is also very sad and difficult to navigate. It seems as though we are climbing a mountain that never stops growing,” said Sara Hassan (vice president, Heroic Hearts). “The cost of supplies has also skyrocketed, so it has been a challenge to continue to collect funds to sustain ongoing projects.”
Heroic Hearts currently has multiple trucks of supplies in Egypt awaiting clearance to enter. They are working on collecting hygiene kits and opening soup kitchens in Gaza. They also are looking for individuals to partner with to create more dynamic fundraising events, such as organizing sporting events, to help support their efforts.
Siraj Muhammed, who founded the organization in 2016, has 10+ years of experience in international relief. Now serving as its president, he is implementing its vision and overseas operations.
Donate online at:
hchearts.org/palestine-emergency-relief
wearehumaniti.org/causes/gaza-relief/
humanconcern.org/palestine-relief
Hamza Mohammed, a Farragut High School in Tennessee, is an avid reader and enjoys writing in his free time.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Relief to Gaza appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post The Mythical Ayodhya Mandir appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Dr. Aslam Abdullah
Mar/Apr 2024
On January 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly inaugurated the Ram Mandir (temple) to great fanfare.
Historians generally don’t believe that the Hindu deity Ram really existed, yet there are 300 versions of his story. Many devotees call him the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, yet credit him for killing a shudra (Hinduism’s lowest caste) for learning Brahmanical scriptures and performing religious rituals.
Ram is a Brahmin-controlled god with no will or power of his own. The story says that when he was ruling Ayodhya, a Brahmin approached the court and told everyone that his young son had died due to Ram’s misrule. Ram immediately called a meeting of all his ministers and inquired about the cause. Sage Narada told him this had happened because a shudra named Shambuka was performing tapas (a voluntarily ascetic practice to achieve spiritual power or purification), which was denied in the age of Treta (Treta Yuga, which Hindus claim, lasted for 1,296,000 years, as life expectancy was gradually reduced to 1,000 years).
After finding Shambuka and confirming his lowest-caste status, Rama killed him. The gods then praised and congratulated him for protecting their interests and not allowing a shudra to attain heaven in person. The Brahmin’s son even got a new life.
Stories abound about Ram’s character as an ideal husband; however, based upon the Hindu scriptures, most Hindus believe Ram expelled Mata Sita (Mother Sita) from the royal palace because Ayodhya’s people had severe concerns about her fidelity, given that she had remained near Ravana for so many months. Poet Goswami Tulsidas’ version denies her abduction. In “Ram Charit Manas,” an epic poem based on the “Ramayana,” Ravana abducted her clone.
Another contradiction exists in Valmiki and Tulsidas’ versions about Hanuman’s nature. Maharishi Valmiki calls him a monkey; Tulsidas describes him as a human. He destroyed Sri Lanka by burning it down. But historically, no such fire burned the town of Ravan and there are no fossils to prove that it ever existed.
Competing Claims and Agendas
Based on unproven stories, Hindu nationalists have constructed a version of theology that defies reason. They have brainwashed generation after generation, causing one of the biggest frauds in religious history.
Many call Ram the most benevolent character, yet his devotees tore down the 650 year old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, which they claimed was his birthplace.
Ram’s followers give 5114 BCE as his birth year. Valmiki wrote his story in 300 BCE in Sanskrit, claiming to have met him. Legend says that Ram ruled for 11,000 years. Based on his birth year and his reign dates, he may still be alive overseeing the destruction of the Babri Masjid on Dec. 6, 1992, and directing India’s Supreme Court in its decision on Nov. 9, 2019, to give Ram Lalla (Infant Lord Rama) the land’s possession.
What a way to celebrate a deity claiming to own the universe after making it!
Hindu nationalists claim that the plot of land on which Babri Masjid sat was Rama’s birthplace, which is another myth perpetuated by devotees. Many historians state that such claims sprang up only after the 18th century. Ayodhya emerged as a place of Hindu pilgrimage only in medieval times, since ancient texts do not mention it as such. For example, chapter 85 of the “Vishnu Smriti,” one of the latest books of Hinduism Dharmaśāstra tradition, lists 52 places of pilgrimage. Ayodhya isn’t one of them.
Many also claim that present-day Ayodhya was originally a Buddhist site, based on its identification with Saketa, a Sanskrit appellation of the city of Ayodhya found in Buddhist texts. According to historian Romila Thapar, ignoring the mythological accounts, the city’s first historical mention dates to the 7th century, when the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described it as a Buddhist site (Romila Thapar, ed. “Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History,” 2000).
Hindu fascists use this religious myth to mobilize Hindus against Islam and Muslims. They have weaponized Ram to fan hatred and reassert upper caste hegemony.
None of the four shankaracharyas, the religious leaders who head the four monasteries founded by Adi Shankara (c.500-c.550) according to the Advaita Vedanta tradition, attended the temple’s inauguration. These men are among Hinduism’s foremost spiritual authorities. According to Prime Asia News (Jan. 11; www.asianews.it/) none of them spoke against the mosque’s demolition.
No historical account proves that Muslims demolished an existing temple to build a mosque. The claim that this was Ram’s birthplace is false. There is no record of a temple built by Ram’s devotees where the present temple stands.
Do Hindu nationalists intend to use the temple for electoral purposes? Many would believe so, thinking that anti-Islam electoral politics will win them elections and unite Hindus divided among their 33 million deities and thousands of castes (a figure cited by Yagyavalkya, a Hindu Vedic sage, www.pandeymarblearts.com/).
The nationalists want to build an India full of hatred and animosity against Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism to give legitimacy to a structured system of inequality. India is controlled by a caste — the Brahmins — that believes in its superiority.
The temple is a symbol of Hindutva terror and violence. Its existence should always remind all religious people of the Hindu fascists’ tyranny. It uses scriptures to justify the division. As long as castes exist, Hinduism will remain a fascist ideology. The Ayodhya temple is a living testimony of Hindutva’s promotion of human inequality.
Events Leading to the Current Status Quo
During the 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign to construct a temple dedicated to Ram at the site, with the now ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as its political voice. On Dec. 6, 1992, they organized a rally of 150,000 Hindus. The rally turned violent, and the crowd overwhelmed the deployed security forces and destroyed the mosque. A subsequent inquiry found 68 people responsible, including several BJP and VHP leaders.
For at least four centuries, the site was used for religious purposes by both Hindus and Muslims. The claim that it stood on the site of a former temple was first made in 1822 by a Faizabad court official. The Nirmohi Akhara sect cited this statement while laying claim to the site during the 19th century, which led to the first recorded incidents of religious violence there in 1855. In 1859, the British colonial administration erected a railing to separate the mosque’s outer courtyard to avoid disputes.
This status quo remained in place until 1949, when Hindu Mahasabha activists allegedly placed idols of Rama secretly inside the mosque. This caused an uproar, with both parties filing civil suits laying claim to the land. The idols’ placement was seen as a heresy by the mosque’s users. The site was declared to be in dispute, and the gates to the mosque were locked.
During the 1980s, the VHP began a campaign to construct a temple dedicated to Rama at the site. The movement was bolstered by the decision of a district judge who, in 1986, ruled that the gates would be reopened and Hindus permitted to worship there. Indian National Congress politician Rajiv Gandhi, at that time India’s prime minister, endorsed this decision.
In September 1990, BJP leader L. K. Advani began a rath yatra, a political rally traveling across much of northern India to Ayodhya, to generate support for the proposed temple and unite Hindu votes by mobilizing anti-Muslim sentiment. The Bihar state government arrested him before he could reach his destination. But despite this, a large body of Sangh Parivar supporters reached the site and attempted to attack the mosque.
The ensuing pitched battle with the paramilitary forces ended with the death of several rioters. The BJP withdrew its support of V. P. Singh’s ministry necessitated fresh elections during which it substantially increased its tally in Parliament and won a majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
On Dec. 6, 1992, the RSS and its affiliates organized a rally of 150,000 VHP and BJP supporters at the site. The ceremonies included speeches by BJP leaders such as Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. During the rally’s first few hours, the crowd grew increasingly restless and began chanting slogans. Around noon, a young man slipped past the cordon and climbed the mosque brandishing a saffron flag. Seeing this as a signal, the mob overwhelmed the police cordon — the vastly outnumbered police fled. Using axes, hammers and grappling hooks, within a few hours the mob leveled the mud-and-chalk structure.
The then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao has often been criticized for mishandling the situation. In his book “Ayodhya December 6, 1992,” he wrote that the demolition was a “betrayal” by Kalyan Singh, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who repeatedly assured the Congress government that the mosque would be protected.
In his March 2005 book, “Open Secrets: India’s Intelligence Unveiled,” former Intelligence Bureau head Maloy Krishna Dhar claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), BJP and VHP’s top leaders had planned the demolition for 10 months and criticized how Rao had handled the situation.
Dhar also claimed that he was told to arrange security for a meeting between individuals from the BJP and other constituents of the Sangh Parivar and that the meeting “proved beyond doubt that they (RSS, BJP, VHP) had drawn up the blueprint of the Hindutva assault in the coming months and choreographed the pralaya nritya (dance of apocalypse) at Ayodhya in December 1992.”
The RSS, BJP, VHP and the Bajrang Dal leaders present agreed to work in a well-orchestrated manner. Claiming that he personally handed over the meeting tapes to his boss, Dhar asserts that he has no doubts that his boss had shared their contents with Rao and Home Minister Shankarrao Chavan. The author further claims that there was a silent agreement that Ayodhya offered “a unique opportunity to take the Hindutva wave to the peak for deriving political benefit.”
In April 2014, a sting operation by Cobrapost claimed that the demolition was not an act of a frenzied mob, but sabotage planned with so much secrecy that no government agency got wind of it. It further said that VHP and Vjv Sena drew the plan, which later, the BJP government and the Courts would adopt.
Dr. Aslam Abdullah, editor-in-chief of Muslim Media Network, is a resident Islamic scholar and former imam.
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post The Mythical Ayodhya Mandir appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>The post Kashmir: Genocide as a Process, not a Single Event appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>By Ghulam Nabi Fai
Mar/Apr 2024
In its unofficial press release of Dec. 29, 2023, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stated, “South Africa filed an application instituting proceeding against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the ‘Genocide Convention’) in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Earlier in December 2019, Gambia, with the support of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), also filed a case before the ICJ alleging that the human rights violations committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya violate various provisions of the same convention.
Both of these developments are significant steps toward greater international recognition of the serious alleged abuses committed against civilian populations. Filing an application may lift the veil of secrecy off these alleged violations. Perhaps now the global community will share the outrage felt by these two civilian groups.
Similar Pattern in Kashmir
Yet in another part of the globe — Kashmir — the 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces (https://theintercept.com, Oct. 3, 2019) continue to perpetuate a similar pattern of atrocities with no fear of a corrective international response. The scale of these human rights atrocities dwarf those in Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and East Timor, all of which triggered international interventions. But the world powers and the UN continue to remain silent, not even bothering to employ the usual moral suasion against India’s shockingly indiscriminate violence in Kashmir, as they did to South Africa during its ugly years of apartheid.
Dr. Gregory Stanton (president, Genocide Watch; chair, the Alliance Against Genocide) warned the world on Feb. 5, 2021, that “We believe that the Indian government’s actions in Kashmir have been an extreme case of persecution and could very well lead to genocide.” His warning was largely ignored. On Jan. 18, 2022, he stated that genocide is a process, not an event … and early signs and this process are already visible.
It is painful but necessary to mention here how Indian law grants virtual legal immunity to any type of war crime perpetrated in Kashmir. The Indian army has subjected countless Kashmiri women to rape, a recognized war crime. Despite torture being an international crime, as the legal proceedings against General Augustino Pinochet in Britain proved, Indian leaders who permit it aren’t prosecuted in jurisdictions they may be visiting.
Narendra Modi was once banned from entering the U.S. and U.K. because of his involvement in the 2002 massacre of Gujarat’s Muslims — he was the state’s chief minister at that time. And now he’s being given the red-carpet reception in many capitals! People are asking if an international crime is somehow less criminal if the aggressor is India and the victims are Kashmiris.
Kashmiri civilians are also asking: “Are we less human than peoples of other nations?” To borrow from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” “Hath not a Kashmiri eye? hath not a Kashmiri hand, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as other peoples are? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?”
It is true that violence characteristically stems from dehumanizing an adversary or an enemy. The more that others seem distant, odd, inferior or different, the easier it is to kill, maim and oppress them. This psychological insight is corroborated by thousands of years of experience. Take genocide. The Nazis and Germans generally perpetrated the Holocaust by demonizing Jews and inculcating the idea of their racial or religious inferiority. Jews looked different from Aryans and for centuries had been stigmatized by Christian officials and their followers as the killers of Christ, making them all deicides.
Perceiving the “Other” as Subhuman
In this way, participants were psychologically able to block out their own evil by perceiving Jews and others (e.g., Gypsies, Slavs, Sinti, and the handicapped) as subhuman, and thus their extermination was no different than killing animals for food. The Holocaust would never have reached its horrifying scale if the Nazi Party had perceived and treated their victims as human peers and subscribed to John Donne’s (d.1631) timeless poetic recognition of humanity’s unity.
Ditto regarding the Hutu’s genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda. The two tribes viewed themselves as different, physically and otherwise. The Hutu resented their sense of inferiority, which they ascribed to Tutsi arrogance and refusal to treat them as social equals. Difference led to dehumanization, which fostered mass killing based on ethnicity.
If international law had been applied evenhandedly in Kashmir, it’s quite possible that an international war crimes tribunal would have been established years ago to try the scores of Indian civilian and military leaders guilty of crimes against humanity and aggression. What Slobodan Milosevich did in Kosovo and Bosnia pales in comparison to what the Indian civilian and military grandees have done in Kashmir for 76 years — something resembling genocide on the installment plan.
Let’s have a pragmatic view of the world. The world powers seldom place democracy and human rights above their geo-strategic or economic concerns. Let me conclude with these sobering observations. U.S. foreign policy does not emerge from a simple algorithm, but is driven partly by popular emotions, daily headlines, domestic considerations and long-term global concerns that transcend the momentary and transient. And what relative influence these varied elements play in a particular foreign policy decision varies depending on the country, the timing and the circumstances. If anyone thinks there are simple markers for predicting American foreign policy, then they are seriously mistaken. It’s much more ad hoc and improvised than systematic and thematic. Thus, the opportunities to try to reason with policymakers are great, but so are the hazards and imponderables of such an enterprise.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai is chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
Tell us what you thought by joining our Facebook community. You can also send comments and story pitches to [email protected]. Islamic Horizons does not publish unsolicited material.
The post Kashmir: Genocide as a Process, not a Single Event appeared first on Islamic Horizons.
]]>