The Heirs of the Prophet Mohammad

I recently read "The Heirs of the Prophet Mohammad And the Roots of the Sunni-Shia Schism" by Barnaby Rogerson, who also wrote "The Prophet Muhammad A Biography." The book is a fascinating account of the history of Islam from the death of the Prophet to the tragedy of Karbala. Rarely would you find a history book so engrossing to read. The author has to be given due credit for maintaining a balance between the Sunni and Shia stand. It's a neutral study highlighting the issues that come out of absolute power!

If you are looking for an impartial account of the early Islamic history, look no further.

An extract from the book, which I particularly liked. It sums up the lives of the 4 Caliphs of Islam.

Whose Mecca is this?

As I read this article on Yahoo recently, a sense of resignation hit me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mecca_lost_heritage

Mecca’s hallowed skyline transformed: Excerpts

The building boom is in some cases destroying Mecca’s historic heritage, not just overshadowing it. In 2002, Saudi authorities tore down a 200-year-old fort built by the city’s then-rulers, the Ottomans, on a hill overlooking the Kaaba to build a multi-million-dollar housing complex for pilgrims.

The holy sites have also been targeted for decades by the clerics who give Saudi Arabia’s leadership religious legitimacy. In their puritanical Wahhabi view, worship at historic sites connected to mere mortals — such as Muhammad or his contemporaries — can easily become a form of idolatry. (Worship at the Kabaa, which is ordered in the Quran, is an exception.)

“Obviously, this is an exaggerated interpretation. But unfortunately, it is favored among officials,” said Anwar Eshky, a Saudi analyst and head of a Jiddah-based research center.

The house where Muhammad is believed to have been born in 570 now lies under a rundown building overshadowed by a giant royal palace and hotel towers. The then king, Abdul-Aziz, ordered a library built on top of the site 70 years ago as a compromise after Wahhabi clerics called for it to be torn down.

Other sites disappeared long ago, as Saudi authorities expanded the Grand Mosque around the Kaaba in the 1980s. The house of Khadija, Muhammad’s first wife, where Muslims believe he received some of the first revelations of the Quran, was lost under the construction, as was the Dar al-Arqam, the first Islamic school, where Muhammad taught.

At Hira’a Cave, where Muhammad is believed to have received the first verses of the Quran in the mountains on the edge of Mecca, a warning posted by Wahhabi religious police warns pilgrims not to pray or “touch stones” to receive blessings.

Are the Saudi authorities so carried away by the wave of development that they are blindly wiping their past! It’s a pity that such revered historical places have been razed to the ground without a whipmer from the Muslim world. Ironic indeed that the destruction of a few centuries old mosque in india created such a furore worldwide but the demolition of the Prophet’s [PBUH] 1400-year-old home not even a passing mention. What’s happening to us?

With the rate at which the Saud family is going I can only see the Masjid-e-Nabavi and Khan-e-Kaaba standing 10 years from now. And they too will be dwarfed by the new high rise buildings coming up. Not to mention McDonald’s Golden Arches.

As for me, you can’t flourish if you destroy your very roots.

60 Years and some Proud Moments!

As India celebrates its 60th independence day it's time to reflect on what all we've achieved so far.

For me these are some of the moments frozen in time, moments that made the Indian in all of us proud. I'm sure they will continue to encourage and inspire generations of Indians to come.

I took only the post partition events and personalities (Indian nationals) into consideration.

1 Milkha Singh breaks the 400m atheletics world record

The 'flying Sikh' left Faisalabad in Pakistan during the partition to settle in India. His exploits in the 1960 Athens Olympics, even though he finished 4th in the final race, made him a darling of the crowd and the pride of a nation.

2 Dr. Hargobind Khorana wins the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology

Dr. Hargobind Khorana was responsible for producing the first man-made gene in his laboratory in the early seventies. This historic invention won him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1968, sharing it with Marshall Nuremberg and Robert Holley for interpreting the genetic code and analyzing its function in protein synthesis.

3 India goes nuclear

The Atomic Energy Commission of India detonated its first underground nuclear weapon at Pokhran on May 18, 1974. The country comes of age!

4 India wins the Cricket World Cup

Easily the most covered event in India. The year 1983 saw 11 inspired underdogs snatch away the Cricket's most desired trophy from two times winner and the world's best team, the West Indies!

5 Rakesh Sharma goes into space

Rakesh Sharma, then squadron leader and pilot with the Indian Air Force embarked on the historic mission in 1984 as part of a joint space program between the ISRO and the Soviet Intercosmos space program and spent eight days in space aboard the Salyut 7 space station. In a famous conversation, he was asked by the then PM Indira Gandhi how India looked from the space and he replied, "Saare Jahan Se Achcha."

6 PT Usha steals the limelight in the 10th Asian Games

P.T.Usha won 4 gold and 1 silver medal in the track and field events at the 10th Asian Games held at Seoul in 1986. She created new Asian Games records in all the events she participated in.

7 Miss Universe and Miss World comes to India

The year 1994 belonged to two beauties going by the names of Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai. Sush became the first Indian woman to win the Miss Universe title, Aish followed with a Miss World crown.

8 India's GPD growth hits double-digit

India's fourth-quarter GDP growth hit double-digits in 2003, thanks to some bumper crops and growth in IT and outsourcing. The 10.4% rate was the fastest among emerging nations.

9 India launches world's first educational satellite

The year 2004 saw India launching a satellite devoted exclusively to long distance learning. The $20 million, 2-tonne EDUSAT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal, is world's first dedicated educational satellite, according to ISRO.

10 Taj Mahal makes it to the list of the new seven wonders

I've yet to come across an Indian who uses the Net and didn't vote for this online exercise to select the new seven wonders of the world. What more the proud moment was announced by an Indian herself (Bipasha Basu).

I know we still have a long way to go before we can truly say that India is great. The deep-rooted corruption in our society has to be eradicated, the hatred based on caste and religion has to go, poverty has to be dealt with, education standards have to improve, so on and so forth. It's a difficult task, but, not one that's impossible.

So let's pledge on this day, 15th August 2007, that we will all do our bit to take India forward. That's the least we could do to honour those, who laid their lives for the freedom we enjoy today.

Chak De - The Spirit of Nationalism!

Well 'Chak De' was one film I waited anxiously for. And trust me the film delivers in all the departments. The movie takes off from where 'Rang De Basanti' left. This time it's not about killing somebody to help your country, it's about reviving a dying sport (so called national game) to make you and your country proud. And what better team than a bunch of 16 ill mannered and raw women from all corners of India.

The best part of this movie is the director Shimit Amin's control on the narrative. Right from the opening shot to the credit titles, the focus is on the game of hockey. The characters are neatly fitted in the bigger picture. Probably this is something which makes this movie a first in Bollywood. The camera work is one of the best that I've seen in Indian films. There is a sense of reality when the focus shifts on the playing ground. You actually feel a part of the stadium rather than the theatre.

Having said it all, the actors needs to be applauded equally well. Almost every single character in the movie stands out. I was particularly impressed by the girls who played Bindiya Naik and Komal Chautala. As for the main protogonist of the movie, Kabir Khan, Shahrukh should be proud of him. This is easily Khan's finest performance. A no-nonsense film like this once again bring to fore the theatre artist in him.

For me it was a thoroughly enjoyable two and a half hours of pure entertainment. It brought fond memories of my own father's passion for the game as we sat together to watch a game of hockey, we still do whenever we get a chance.

As I left the theatre, I wondered, who was better Kabir Khan the coach or Shahrukh Khan the actor!

As for hockey, it's not dead yet.

Will Sanjay's Case Give Hope to the Godhra Victims?

Fourteen years later the verdict is finally out! I know it's very hard for Sanjay Dutt to go through this all, but, the judiciary has to be fair. The other accused in the case have been convicted and there was strong evidence against Sanjay. The case was so much in the limelight that there was an extra pressure on the judiciary to deliver.

It's another story that we all know Dutt is not a criminal, let alone a terrorist. He may be dangerous for his own self but a good guy for the rest. I'm sure with his good conduct he'll come out of prison well before 6 years. I wish him all the best!

Perhaps we should also see this case as a benchmark for the Indian Justice System. Hopefully the same standards will be applied to the Gujarat's accused regardless of the position they hold.

Lal Masjid - A time for Retrospection

I recently came across an interesting piece of article on a forum. There were two paras that particularly caught my attention and forced me pen down something. I'm listing them below for reference.

Lessons of the Red Mosque Massacre: The Role of the Military

Sheharyar Shaikh

As the dust from the Red Mosque slowly settles on the ground and the decapitated body parts of Jamia Hafsa’s female students are sullenly picked up from the smoking rubble, the prevailing mood in Pakistan is anything but jubilant. An army reared to protect and serve the country deliberately used brute force against a largely innocent people caught in the imbroglio. Moreover, many who had been following the Red Mosque crisis for days are now left with dozens of unanswered questions surrounding the official version of the event. Reports are now surfacing that General Musharraf had planned to raid the mosque complex back in February but then decided to delay it so as to bring maximum PR advantage to his government – a government heavily discredited inside the country for failing its people and which now readies, after having won a shameful victory, for an undeclared war against its citizenry. A recent Stratfor report predicts that the Red Mosque operation ‘is likely the beginning of a long confrontation’ and such operations will inevitably lead to a clash involving ‘nationwide social unrest’. Way to go, General Musharraf!

Were the imams of Red Mosque wrong in their understanding of the fallen soldiers as non-martyrs? One might as well ask: How can a Pakistani Muslim soldier who fires arms against another Muslim and dies in the process all the while serving the Bush agenda for Pakistan become a martyr? He is a mercenary – a meager tool to carry out foreign designs, not a shaheed. Even the possibility of a moral ambiguity in the matter is surprising.


The Muslims in Pakistan were never more divided on the role of religion in politics. But, the fact remains: Democracy in Pakistan was always fragile. And the problem lies with the people themselves.

Pakistan was always a different and difficult country to govern. Where else would you find an elected PM hanged despite many clemency appeals from foreign leaders! General Zia started the Islamization of Pakistan at the cost of a sectarian strife, which has already seen several thousand Muslims die over the years. The state in which Pakistan finds itself today, there can't be a better leader than Musharraf, who's both a moderate Muslim and a strong administrator.

As for Mr Shaikh, I think he got it all mixed up. First, who were those so called students carrying weapons in a place of worship? Second, the mosque was never used as a battleground in the history of Islam. Third, the events that add up to the final onslaught suggest that the government tried all kind of diplomacy to avoid such a bloody outcome. But, the people inside had other ideas. It was infact developing as a state within an state. Perhaps this verse from Qur-'an will shed some more light on this issue:

"We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people."
-------------------------------------------Surah Al-Maeda (Chapter 5), Verse 32

Today Islam is the fastest growing religion. In other words people are influenced by the holy Qur-'an and the teachings of Islam. Ironically the born Muslims are mostly ignorant about their religion. And that's why the edcuated ones amongst us need to stand up and propagate the true essense of Islam. And by doing that we will be undoing some of the damage that has already been done.