[Kissntell]

Following is a translation of an article that appeared in the Inquilab of 8.06.2012 (http://epaper.inquilab.com/showtext....&edd123=Mumbai http://epaper.inquilab.com/showtext....&edd123=Mumbai)

Little did I know that atheism will come along too!

Peace is being restored in the valley of Kashmir, routine life is returning, educational and economic activities have been revived, Kashmiri Muslims are displaying their high caliber in the highest Civil Services exams. These happy auguries are accompanied by a painful development, here the fitnah of apostasy is making a silent entry into the Muslim society like a cancer.

By Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani

The author got an opportunity to spend the last week of May 2012 in Kashmir. Kashmir is the crown of India by its geographical location. Anyone descending into the Valley of Kashmir feels a great bliss and exultation. Beautiful high mountains covered with a sheet of snow, as if a fairy wrapped in a stole of glass…tall and huge Chinar and Deodar trees, as if a squad of green uniformed sentinels standing in formation welcoming you… rollicking brooks falling from mountain peaks… the undulating waves in the valleys, pellucid and pure, as if singing to you a sonnet to their beauty and youth. ..step into the plains there, green meadows as if green velvet rolled out by nature with her own hands… magical lakes that enchanting the sight … parks so beautiful, a pleasure to behold, enfolding you in perfume…In sum, this region is the greatest masterpiece of nature’s beauty in the whole world. And this visual beauty is not restricted only to the hills, the valleys, the tress and the meadows. The people of Kashmir are also famed for their beauty all over the world. Tall, well built, fair and ruddy, live and fresh visage, such are the looks of all Kashmiris. It is this beauty that inspired the poet to proclaim: gar firdous bar ru e zameenast (if there’s paradise on earth), hameenast o hameenast o hameenast (it is here, it’s here, it’s here)!

Going to Kashmir, a Muslim is even happier, because in India this is the only state where the Muslims are a majority, and which alone has Urdu as its official language. The signs of Muslim culture and civilization are very visible here. At every step there are Mosques, and graves of the pious servants of Allah. Here the proportion of people having beard is greater compared to other regions. At namaz times, the words of Azaan sound high in the air all around. Business and professions are in the hands of Muslims and those living in cities are economically well off. During the period Jagmohan unleashed his cruelties, on the one hand it filled the hearts of Muslim youth with hate against India, and on the other, Muslims became dominant in trade and professions as the Pandits fled from there.

Thanks are due to Allah that now peace and tranquility is being restored in thestate, routine life is returning, educational and economic activities have been revived. So much so that in recent years, Kashmiri Muslims are displaying their high caliber in the highest Civil Services exams. These happy auguries are accompanied by a painful development, which the author encountered and heard during the recent sojourn: here the fitnah of apostasy is making a silent entry into the Muslim society like a cancer.
On one side is the fitnah of Qadiyaniyat. This fitnah is a very old one. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani’s had a close companion , Hakim Nooruddin who was a great rationalizer and logician.He was the personal physician to the anti-muslim ruler Mahraja of Kashmir. Hakim Nooruddin would come up with some explanation for those of Mirza sahib’s self-contradictions which he himself could not answer for. The fact is that in manipulating words, sophistry and false justifications, he was par excellence. This is the person who sowed the seed of the unholy tree of Qadiyaniyat in Kashmir for the first time and he propagated his religion taking advantage of the uneducated masses. He even claimed to have discovered the grave of Hadrat Isa (a.s). Its reality was revealed by Allama Anawar Shah Kashmiri in the trial of Bahawalpur, where hee informed that what is written on the headstone of that grave is, “This is the grave of the messenger of the Messenger of Allah, Masih ibn Maryam”. But the Qadiyanis, omitting the first “messenger”, claimed the engraving to be “this is the grave of Had. Isa, the Messenger of Allah”. Though the fact is that Hadrat Isa did not die but he was lifted away and will again descend close to the day of judgement. So the fitnah of Qadiyaniyat is of old vintage which took wings leveraging on the illiteracy and underdevelopment of Kashmiri Muslims. This fitnah had been curbed by the efforts of the Ulama. But, sadly, Qadiyanis have become active again profiting from the adverse conditions and resultant hardships faced by Kashmiri Muslims during the last 20 years.

The second, and bigger, fitnah is that of Christianity. The militancy in the last 20 years has rendered thousands of women into widows and thousands upon thousands of children into orphans. During this period, trade came to a halt, professions withered away and people became dependents even for the basic necessities. At that time there was no one to offer support or to even put an affectionate hand on the head. Christian missionaries took full advantage of this opportunity. These missionaries’ network is spread all over Kashmir and they have their schools across Kashmir in large numbers. Ulema and politicians, almost everybody, has been educated in these schools. Making full use of these conditions they began Christianising the Muslims with careful planning. Thus, the numbers of Christians in Muslim majority areas increased manifold as indicated in the census of 2005. Things have come to such a pass that family members of even some Imams in mosques have apostatized. All this was with such craft that the brother did not get a hint about his sister, the uncle about his nephew, and in some cases not even a mother about her son!

Alas the Muslim political leaders of Kashmir aren’t at all concerned with this. However, thanks to Allah, some of the Ulama there have girded up their loins to take on this fitnah. They are working with wisdom, insight, great courage and a sense of honour to Imaan. Many religious schools are shoulder to shoulder in this cause, in spite of their mutual differences. Instead of extremism they have adopted the path of affection and advice. It is expected that if they persist in this endeavor with constancy, not only those who apostatized recently will return to the fold of Islam, even those who are Christians of old, and whose forefathers must certainly have been Muslims, would come towards Iman.

The author got an opportunity to address selected ulama from the whole valley of Kashmir, those in charge of the religious schools, intellectuals and those running religious organisations. Bar council of Srinagar High Court arranged a large programme in honour of the author, where many advocates and judges had been present. Though the programme of bar council was on the topic of Muslim personal law, at other conventions attention was drawn towards the scandal of apostasy and three things were especially emphasized:

First, when faced with an external enemy the internal difference are not to be exaggerated so much that attention is diverted from the real issue. It is a conspiracy of Zionist, Christian and Saffron forces to keep Muslims entangled in their internal differences so that they become oblivious of their real issues. It is sad, that some Muslims did not deem it enough to adopt their choice maslak, they started to propagate it too, inviting others to it. Allah’s fear did not restrain them from labeling other Muslims as kafir and mushrik. Even though, as per Hadrat Maulana Qari Tayyib, maslak is a matter of preference not a matter of propagation, it is only deen that ought to be propagated. Having lost sight of this fact, a sequence of actions and reactions has set in motion among the Ulama, as if this is the most essential service to the deen.

The second issue is a complete lack of awareness. The situation is that the people living in cities are unaware of those in villages, residents of one locality are oblivious of what is happening to those in the next locality. The result is that in your neighbourhood the Qadiyanis and Christians are bent on stealing the belief of your brothers and you have no inkling of it. Rasulullah (s.a)has declared the momineen to be like a body . The characteristic of a body is that pain in one limb will make the whole body restless. It’s other aspect is that if a thorn pierces the sole, the mind sends this information to the whole body. The life of ummah should be similarly organsied so that we remain informed of each other. If a thorn of kufr, apostasy or fisq or fujoor pierces anywhere it ought to make the whole of the ummah restless.

The third most important issue is that the ulama and religious section of society has surrendered the contemporary education sector completely to either non-Muslim organisations or to such Muslims who look at education as a business rather than as a service. Such Muslims proclaim the name of Islam only to entice the Muslim children to their schools. Beyond that they have no concern for Islam. In these schools, the children’s uniform, their cultural events, their characters and their routines are all immersed in the hues of western civilization and they are being moulded in the shape of western mind.

It is a great need of hour that the ulama and religious Muslims assume the control over contemporary education. They should prepare such a curriculum that will assimilate the Islamic teachings into the students and a training which may shape their intellect into the mould of Islam. And yet there should be no compromise with the standards of education. The teachers should be the very best, English should be adopted as the medium of instruction. The educational level must should reach the high standards of the missionary schools.

Two great movements began in the second half of the twentieth century, one was centred in Deoband and the other had Aligarh as its centre.. The first had religious education as its mission and it laid foundation of the Madarsah movement. The basic agenda of the second movement was the spread of contemporary education in muslims. Both the movements achieved extra-ordinary results in their respective missions. Today religion has remained in the life of Muslims, thanks to the Madarsahs and whatever inclination towards contemporary education is there, is a fruit of Aligarh movement. But perhaps it was a historical lapse that the ulama surrendered the system of contemporary education completely to those elements who were not just oblivious of deen but were even rebels against it. On the other hand those who took up contemporary education as the field of their efforts, did not realize that though the knowledge and skills originating in Europe are certainly valuable yet the thought and culture of Europe is sheer poison covered with sugar. It is incumbent upon Muslims to embellish themselves with its knowledge and skills while keeping clear of the poison. It is sad that these errors have been repeated and are being committed even now. The hour has now arrived that this lapse is corrected. While it will certainly not be appropriate that the deeni Madarsahs are converted into institutions of contemporary education as these are the principal artery for ummah’s life providing nourishment to all the sections of deen. But it is the need of the times that the Ulama and deendar section of society assume control of the system of contemporary education and Islamize it. In next ten to twenty years a good number of individuals should be prepared who would enter various arenas of life with Islamic thinking and Islamic identity.

Else the following prophecy of Akbar Ilahabadi’s may come to pass:

Mein ne samjha tha laegi faraghat ta’leem (I expected education to bring prosperity)
Kya khabar thi ke chala aaega ilhaad bhi saath? (little did I know, atheism will come along too!)

[nuabuncarnigo]

Following is a translation of an article that appeared in the Inquilab of 8.06.2012 (http://epaper.inquilab.com/showtext....&edd123=Mumbai http://epaper.inquilab.com/showtext....&edd123=Mumbai)

Little did I know that atheism will come along too!

Peace is being restored in the valley of Kashmir, routine life is returning, educational and economic activities have been revived, Kashmiri Muslims are displaying their high caliber in the highest Civil Services exams. These happy auguries are accompanied by a painful development, here the fitnah of apostasy is making a silent entry into the Muslim society like a cancer.

By Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani

The author got an opportunity to spend the last week of May 2012 in Kashmir. Kashmir is the crown of India by its geographical location. Anyone descending into the Valley of Kashmir feels a great bliss and exultation. Beautiful high mountains covered with a sheet of snow, as if a fairy wrapped in a stole of glass…tall and huge Chinar and Deodar trees, as if a squad of green uniformed sentinels standing in formation welcoming you… rollicking brooks falling from mountain peaks… the undulating waves in the valleys, pellucid and pure, as if singing to you a sonnet to their beauty and youth. ..step into the plains there, green meadows as if green velvet rolled out by nature with her own hands… magical lakes that enchanting the sight … parks so beautiful, a pleasure to behold, enfolding you in perfume…In sum, this region is the greatest masterpiece of nature’s beauty in the whole world. And this visual beauty is not restricted only to the hills, the valleys, the tress and the meadows. The people of Kashmir are also famed for their beauty all over the world. Tall, well built, fair and ruddy, live and fresh visage, such are the looks of all Kashmiris. It is this beauty that inspired the poet to proclaim: gar firdous bar ru e zameenast (if there’s paradise on earth), hameenast o hameenast o hameenast (it is here, it’s here, it’s here)!

Going to Kashmir, a Muslim is even happier, because in India this is the only state where the Muslims are a majority, and which alone has Urdu as its official language. The signs of Muslim culture and civilization are very visible here. At every step there are Mosques, and graves of the pious servants of Allah. Here the proportion of people having beard is greater compared to other regions. At namaz times, the words of Azaan sound high in the air all around. Business and professions are in the hands of Muslims and those living in cities are economically well off. During the period Jagmohan unleashed his cruelties, on the one hand it filled the hearts of Muslim youth with hate against India, and on the other, Muslims became dominant in trade and professions as the Pandits fled from there.

Thanks are due to Allah that now peace and tranquility is being restored in thestate, routine life is returning, educational and economic activities have been revived. So much so that in recent years, Kashmiri Muslims are displaying their high caliber in the highest Civil Services exams. These happy auguries are accompanied by a painful development, which the author encountered and heard during the recent sojourn: here the fitnah of apostasy is making a silent entry into the Muslim society like a cancer.
On one side is the fitnah of Qadiyaniyat. This fitnah is a very old one. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani’s had a close companion , Hakim Nooruddin who was a great rationalizer and logician.He was the personal physician to the anti-muslim ruler Mahraja of Kashmir. Hakim Nooruddin would come up with some explanation for those of Mirza sahib’s self-contradictions which he himself could not answer for. The fact is that in manipulating words, sophistry and false justifications, he was par excellence. This is the person who sowed the seed of the unholy tree of Qadiyaniyat in Kashmir for the first time and he propagated his religion taking advantage of the uneducated masses. He even claimed to have discovered the grave of Hadrat Isa (a.s). Its reality was revealed by Allama Anawar Shah Kashmiri in the trial of Bahawalpur, where hee informed that what is written on the headstone of that grave is, “This is the grave of the messenger of the Messenger of Allah, Masih ibn Maryam”. But the Qadiyanis, omitting the first “messenger”, claimed the engraving to be “this is the grave of Had. Isa, the Messenger of Allah”. Though the fact is that Hadrat Isa did not die but he was lifted away and will again descend close to the day of judgement. So the fitnah of Qadiyaniyat is of old vintage which took wings leveraging on the illiteracy and underdevelopment of Kashmiri Muslims. This fitnah had been curbed by the efforts of the Ulama. But, sadly, Qadiyanis have become active again profiting from the adverse conditions and resultant hardships faced by Kashmiri Muslims during the last 20 years.

The second, and bigger, fitnah is that of Christianity. The militancy in the last 20 years has rendered thousands of women into widows and thousands upon thousands of children into orphans. During this period, trade came to a halt, professions withered away and people became dependents even for the basic necessities. At that time there was no one to offer support or to even put an affectionate hand on the head. Christian missionaries took full advantage of this opportunity. These missionaries’ network is spread all over Kashmir and they have their schools across Kashmir in large numbers. Ulema and politicians, almost everybody, has been educated in these schools. Making full use of these conditions they began Christianising the Muslims with careful planning. Thus, the numbers of Christians in Muslim majority areas increased manifold as indicated in the census of 2005. Things have come to such a pass that family members of even some Imams in mosques have apostatized. All this was with such craft that the brother did not get a hint about his sister, the uncle about his nephew, and in some cases not even a mother about her son!

Alas the Muslim political leaders of Kashmir aren’t at all concerned with this. However, thanks to Allah, some of the Ulama there have girded up their loins to take on this fitnah. They are working with wisdom, insight, great courage and a sense of honour to Imaan. Many religious schools are shoulder to shoulder in this cause, in spite of their mutual differences. Instead of extremism they have adopted the path of affection and advice. It is expected that if they persist in this endeavor with constancy, not only those who apostatized recently will return to the fold of Islam, even those who are Christians of old, and whose forefathers must certainly have been Muslims, would come towards Iman.

The author got an opportunity to address selected ulama from the whole valley of Kashmir, those in charge of the religious schools, intellectuals and those running religious organisations. Bar council of Srinagar High Court arranged a large programme in honour of the author, where many advocates and judges had been present. Though the programme of bar council was on the topic of Muslim personal law, at other conventions attention was drawn towards the scandal of apostasy and three things were especially emphasized:

First, when faced with an external enemy the internal difference are not to be exaggerated so much that attention is diverted from the real issue. It is a conspiracy of Zionist, Christian and Saffron forces to keep Muslims entangled in their internal differences so that they become oblivious of their real issues. It is sad, that some Muslims did not deem it enough to adopt their choice maslak, they started to propagate it too, inviting others to it. Allah’s fear did not restrain them from labeling other Muslims as kafir and mushrik. Even though, as per Hadrat Maulana Qari Tayyib, maslak is a matter of preference not a matter of propagation, it is only deen that ought to be propagated. Having lost sight of this fact, a sequence of actions and reactions has set in motion among the Ulama, as if this is the most essential service to the deen.

The second issue is a complete lack of awareness. The situation is that the people living in cities are unaware of those in villages, residents of one locality are oblivious of what is happening to those in the next locality. The result is that in your neighbourhood the Qadiyanis and Christians are bent on stealing the belief of your brothers and you have no inkling of it. Rasulullah (s.a)has declared the momineen to be like a body . The characteristic of a body is that pain in one limb will make the whole body restless. It’s other aspect is that if a thorn pierces the sole, the mind sends this information to the whole body. The life of ummah should be similarly organsied so that we remain informed of each other. If a thorn of kufr, apostasy or fisq or fujoor pierces anywhere it ought to make the whole of the ummah restless.

The third most important issue is that the ulama and religious section of society has surrendered the contemporary education sector completely to either non-Muslim organisations or to such Muslims who look at education as a business rather than as a service. Such Muslims proclaim the name of Islam only to entice the Muslim children to their schools. Beyond that they have no concern for Islam. In these schools, the children’s uniform, their cultural events, their characters and their routines are all immersed in the hues of western civilization and they are being moulded in the shape of western mind.

It is a great need of hour that the ulama and religious Muslims assume the control over contemporary education. They should prepare such a curriculum that will assimilate the Islamic teachings into the students and a training which may shape their intellect into the mould of Islam. And yet there should be no compromise with the standards of education. The teachers should be the very best, English should be adopted as the medium of instruction. The educational level must should reach the high standards of the missionary schools.

Two great movements began in the second half of the twentieth century, one was centred in Deoband and the other had Aligarh as its centre.. The first had religious education as its mission and it laid foundation of the Madarsah movement. The basic agenda of the second movement was the spread of contemporary education in muslims. Both the movements achieved extra-ordinary results in their respective missions. Today religion has remained in the life of Muslims, thanks to the Madarsahs and whatever inclination towards contemporary education is there, is a fruit of Aligarh movement. But perhaps it was a historical lapse that the ulama surrendered the system of contemporary education completely to those elements who were not just oblivious of deen but were even rebels against it. On the other hand those who took up contemporary education as the field of their efforts, did not realize that though the knowledge and skills originating in Europe are certainly valuable yet the thought and culture of Europe is sheer poison covered with sugar. It is incumbent upon Muslims to embellish themselves with its knowledge and skills while keeping clear of the poison. It is sad that these errors have been repeated and are being committed even now. The hour has now arrived that this lapse is corrected. While it will certainly not be appropriate that the deeni Madarsahs are converted into institutions of contemporary education as these are the principal artery for ummah’s life providing nourishment to all the sections of deen. But it is the need of the times that the Ulama and deendar section of society assume control of the system of contemporary education and Islamize it. In next ten to twenty years a good number of individuals should be prepared who would enter various arenas of life with Islamic thinking and Islamic identity.

Else the following prophecy of Akbar Ilahabadi’s may come to pass:

Mein ne samjha tha laegi faraghat ta’leem (I expected education to bring prosperity)
Kya khabar thi ke chala aaega ilhaad bhi saath? (little did I know, atheism will come along too!)

for your time and effort in translating this and may Allah (SWT) reward you in this world and the next (Ameen).

I will discuss this with some Kashmiri friends and I don't know where Maulana went in Kashmir but they are not all "Tall and well built..." Its a myth...