BaKhabar, February 2016

Better light a candle than curse the darkness

Monthly e-Magazine ISSN 2319-4049

http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ Volume 9, Issue 02, February 2016BE AWARE, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE

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ToleratingAberrations

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Bakhabar : February 20162

To end terrorism, weshould follow the pathof Prophet Mohammed(PBUH): Dalai Lama

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama who is also aNobel Laureate termed the Holy Quran as a Sa-cred Book which is a priceless Gift of God given

to mankind for guidance and welfare of the entire hu-manity.

According to Karnataka Muslim, the leader express hisviews at the grand global meet of Buddhists in Mysore.The spiritual leader also lauded the great services ofProphet Muhammad (PBUH) to the mankind. He saidthat “The Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life is the bestexample for the entire humanity.”

“We should follow the path shown by the ProphetMuhammad (PBUH) in order to establish global peaceand to end terrorism and tyranny from the world. TheProphet Muhammad’s (PBUH) message of Peace, love,justice and religious tolerance will always be a leadinglight for the whole humanity”, he added.“Thousands of the followers of Buddhism from aroundthe world thronged the venue for their world congrega-tion at Buddhist Monastery in Bylakuppa”, reports Kar-nataka Muslim.

The spiritual leader receives a copy of the English trans-lated Quran from CMA District President MushtaqAhmad. Dalai Lama received it with reverence.http://www.siasat.com/news/end-terrorism-we-should-follow-path-prophet-pbuh-dalai-lama-895214/


Ionce knew an atheist who claimed he had neverbelieved in God’s existence. In his view, believ-ers were supposed to be people of weak charac-

ter who felt the necessity to find a crutch for theirinability and laziness, so they attended church. Hefelt agitated if, when debating religion, he could notpersuade the opponent with his arguments. He de-spised believers in an almost hysterical way. He had,however, a very good friend who believed in God.They agreed to refrain from discussing religionwhenever together.

One day this man, probably in a rare moment ofweakness, accepted the invitation of his friend tovisit his church. To himself, he laughed at thethought of speaking out in the middle of mass andlaughing and pointing his finger at the believersfrom the pulpit. However, as we know, God worksin mysterious ways. He went to church, stood in theback benches, and stared at the people praying.

The mass service started and he gave all of them asarcastic glance. Then the sermon began, lastingabout 15 minutes. Suddenly, in the middle of thesermon, tears welled in his eyes. A strange feelingof joy and happiness washed away his animosity, afeeling that engulfed his entire body. After mass, thetwo friends left together. They were silent until themoment they were to part ways, when he asked hisfriend whether they could go to church togetheragain. They agreed to go again the next day.

It’s possible some of you might have guessed that Iwas that stubborn atheist. I had felt nothing but con-tempt and hatred towards people of faith. But afterthat sermon in 1989, when the priest discussed howwe should not judge others if we don’t want to bejudged, my life suddenly took a dramatic turn.

I started attending church services regularly and wasthirsty for any information on God and Jesus Christ.I took part in meetings with Christian youngsterswhere we exchanged our spiritual experiences. I feltresurrected. Suddenly I felt the need to be in thecompany of believers. I needed to make up for thepast 18 years.

I was brought up in an atheist family, who except forhaving me baptized, did not exercise any attempt toguide my spiritual development. I remember beingin sixth grade when a comrade was sent by the Com-munist Party to explain to us why God does notexist. I remember myself absorbing his every word.In my case, I needed no convincing. I believedeverything he said. His arrogance, contempt, andhatred towards believers became mine. But now Ihad to make up for all those years.

I met with a priest and others who guided me in thisnew direction. I was full of so many questions, towhich they responded. Later I was to realize a bigmistake: I accepted everything without contempla-tion or reflection. I could say that they explainedthings to me in a ‘take-it-as-is’ manner, but thatwould not be fair to them. It was, in fact, my mis-take. I didn’t reflect upon their words, nor did Ithink critically. This would cause me a lot of com-plications later. In retrospect, I believe an importantfactor that influenced my behavior was age. I wastoo young to properly comprehend matters so seriousand complicated as faith.

I wished to become a good Christian, and Godknows I tried very hard. Yet over time, I could notreconcile the contradictions found in the Bible, suchas the divine nature of Prophet Jesus and the conceptof inherited sin. Priests tried to respond to my ques-tions, but eventually, their patience began to run thin.I was told that such matters should be accepted onfaith, and that these questions were a waste of timeand would only serve to distance me from God. Tillthis day, I recall myself quarreling with a spiritualleader, an event that restarted my self-destructivetendencies. Maybe I wasn’t right after all. I wasyoung.

How I Became MuslimMy path toward Islam wasn’t easy at all. You maythink that since I was disappointed with Christianity,I would have immediately accepted Islam as myfaith. This could have been very simple, but all Iknew about Islam at the time were things like Mus-lims refer to God as Allah, they read the Qur'an in-

JOURNEY TO ISLAM:The Journey of a Czech Young Man From Atheism, to Christianity to Islam

I wished to become a good Christian, but some crucial questions of mine were left unanswered...


stead of the Bible, and they worship somebodycalled Muhammad. Also, I think I was not yet readyto accept Islam.

So I withdrew from the church community andclaimed to be a soloist Christian. I found out, how-ever, that even though I didn’t miss the communityof believers or church, God was ‘settled’ so deep inmy heart that I couldn’t let Him go. I didn’t eventry. Quite the opposite. I felt happy to have Godaround and hoped He was on my side.

Later I began to engage in one stupidity after an-other, living a life of luxury and lust. I did not real-ize that such a road would lead me away from Godand towards hell. A friend of mine says that youneed to hit rock bottom in order to feel the groundbeneath your feet. This is exactly what happened tome. I fell really deep. I can just imagine how Satanmust have been waiting for me with open arms, butGod did not give up on me and gave me anotherchance.

In July 2001, I met a young man from Iraq. Hisname was Ibrahim. We very quickly struck up a con-versation. He told me that he was Muslim, and I re-sponded that I was Christian. I was worried that mybeing Christian would be a problem, but I waswrong. I was glad to be wrong. It was interestingthat I did not want to become Muslim and he did nottry to convert me.

Although I considered Muslims an exotic group, Ihad been interested to learn more about Islam. Itwas a good opportunity to learn more. I realized thatI had in front of me a man who could teach me a lotabout Islam, so I mustered the courage to ask him todo just that. That was my first meeting with Islam,indeed my first step. After some time we partedways, and I did not see him again, but the seed hadbeen sown.

I remember once reading an interview with Moham-mad Ali Silhavy (an old Czech Muslim) and beingeager to find his address and write him a letter. Thencame September 11. Because of the political cli-mate, I thought it might not be an appropriate time tocontact Mr. Silhavy. So I found myself at a deadend.

About two months later, I found the courage to writea long letter to Mr. Silhavy. After a while he repliedand sent a package including Islamic literature and

leaflets. He told me that he had informed the IslamicFoundation in Prague about me and asked them tosend me the translation of the Qur'an. So this wasmy beginning. Step by step, I learned that not onlyis Islam not a militant religion, but to the contrary, itis a religion of peace. My questions were answered.

Because of certain circumstances, it wasn’t untilthree years later that I decided to visit Mr. Silhavy.He showed a lot of patience while explaining to medifferent issues, and suggested that I visit themosque of Brno (Czech Republic). When I went tothe mosque of Brno, I was afraid that I would beseen as a stranger, an outsider. How surprised I wasto find quite the opposite. I met K. and L., who werethe first persons to help me. Of course, I met otherbrothers who welcomed me in the warmest possibleway.

I began to delve into all aspects of Islam, and foundhow understandable and logical Islam is. I graduallystarted to learn how to pray, and today I masterprayer with no problem, even in Arabic. I gave up abad habit of mine that was not compatible withIslam. I was a gambler and a very good one indeed.It was a difficult struggle with myself, but withGod’s help I won that battle.

If I ever doubted my interest in Islam or whether Icould live as a Muslim, I know now that my interestis permanent and I consider myself one of them.Maybe it looks very simple, but again with God’shelp I won this internal struggle. I thought carefullybefore I definitively decided to embrace Islam. Tobe honest, throughout 2003 and the beginning of2004, I was not completely sure if I could managethis. Finally I decided definitively. I am not thatyoung man from the early ‘90s anymore.

That’s why today I feel very happy that I am Mus-lim. I finally feel free. I still have my imperfectionsbut I am trying to improve upon them. I believe thatGod will help me. Now, listen to what I want to tellyou and consider this my obligation: I believe in myheart and declare by word that there is no other godbut God and Muhammad is God’s Messenger.

http://www.onislam.net/english/reading-islam/my-journey-to-islam/contemporary-stories/448973-from-atheism-to-christianity-to-islam.html


I By Sameen Ahmed Khan I

Iran has announced the recipients of the inauguralMustafa Prize. In the field of Nano-biotechnol-ogy sciences, it is awarded to Jackie Yi-Ru Ying

from Singapore and to Omar MwannesYaghi fromJordan for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. TheMustafa Prize established by Iran is to recognizeleading researchers and scientists of the Organiza-tion of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states, aswell as Muslim researchers from around the world.Presented biennially by the Iranian government, theMustafa Prize aims to encourage education and re-search by playing a pioneering role in developing re-gional relations between science and technologyinstitutions working in the OIC member countries.OIC is the second largest intergovernmental organi-zation after the United Nations with fifty-sevenmember countries. The Fields and Categories cov-ered by the Prize are: (a) Life Science and MedicalSciences; (b) The Information and CommunicationScience and Technologies; (c) Nano Science andNanotechnologies; and (d) Top Scientific Achieve-ment in other fields. The laureates in each sectionwill be awarded US$500,000 and will be adornedwith a special medal and certificate.

Jackie Yi-Ru Ying was born in Taipei in 1966. Shefirst moved to Singapore with her family in 1973 andthen to New York at the age of fifteen. She obtainedher PhD in Chemical Engineering from the PrincetonUniversity in 1991. She spent a year as a HumboldtFellow at the Institute for New Materials in Saar-brücken and researched nanocrystalline materials.

She served as a professor of Chemical Engineeringat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),before returning to Singapore in 2003. She is cur-rently the Executive Director of the Institute of Bio-engineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore, and anAdjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.Ying’s research is interdisciplinary in nature, with atheme in the synthesis of advanced nanostructuredmaterials for catalytic and biomaterial applications.Her laboratory has been responsible for severalnovel wet-chemical and physical vapour synthesisapproaches that create nanocomposites, nanoporousmaterials and nanodevices with unique size-depen-dent characteristics. These new systems are de-signed for applications ranging from the productionof fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, the efficientuse of energy and resources, the control and preven-tion of environmental pollution, the targeted deliveryof drugs, proteins and genes, to the generation ofbiomimetic implants and tissue scaffolds. For herresearch on nanostructured materials, Ying has beenrecognized with the American Ceramic Society RossC. Purdy Award (1993), David and Lucile PackardFellowship. She is serving on several editorialboards and advisory councils. HosseinZohour,Chairman of the Scientific Committee of theMustafa Prize said, “Amongst the many novel out-comes of her work, Prof. Ying’s contribution to thedevelopment of stimuli-responsive polymericnanoparticles that deliver insulin to diabetic patientsonly when their blood glucose levels are high, with-out the need for external blood glucose monitoring,is considered an outstanding scientific approach ofgreat promise for improving the quality of life of

Iran Launches the MustafaPrize the Muslim Nobel Prize


mankind in the near future.”

Omar MwannesYaghiwas born in 1965 in Jordanand moved to USA at the age of fifteen. Now, he isa Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA. The prizecommittee stated that ‘Omar Yaghi has made semi-nal contributions in the field of metal organic frame-works (MOFs). MOFs possess a wide array ofpotential applica-tions including ma-terials for gasstorage, gas/vapourseparation, cataly-sis, luminescence,and drug delivery.In the last twodecades, he devel-oped MOFsthrough innovativeapproaches to con-struct novel materi-als and exploredtheir applicationsin various fields,including encapsu-lation of bio-molecules, and capturing of gases suchas carbon dioxide and hydrogen’. Metal–organicframeworks are extended porous structures com-posed of transition metal ions (or clusters) that arelinked by organic bridges. They are prepared as crys-talline solids by solution reactions of metal ion saltswith organic linkers. MOFs represent a new class ofnetwork solids that have great potential in specificapplications such as separation, storage, heteroge-neous catalysis and controlled drug delivery. Exten-sive research has been performed on MOFs as thesematerials are excellent for storing hydrogen and car-bon dioxide. Yaghi’s work was recognized by nu-merous awards including the US Department ofEnergy Hydrogen Program Award for outstandingcontributions to hydrogen storage (2007). OmarYaghi received the 2015 King Faisal InternationalPrize for his contributions in the field of metal or-ganic frameworks.

In the inaugural round, only two of the four cate-gories were judged to have outstanding nominations.The nominees must be citizens of one of the 57 OICmember countries, while in the last category thenominee must be a Muslim, although not necessarilya citizen of an OIC country. The Mustafa PrizeCommittee has emphasised that the prize shall serve

as a beacon to other Islamic researchers to show thatthey too can perform high quality, impactful re-search. The Committee further said, “OIC and otherdeveloping countries have to create a paradigm shiftto again become a community that values knowledgeand become proficient in utilising and advancingScience & Technology to enhance their socioeco-nomic wellbeing as well as humanity’s”. The othermajor science prizes instituted by the Muslim World

are the King FaisalInternational Prize(KFIP) by Saudi Ara-bia and the UNESCOSultan Qaboos Prizefor EnvironmentalPreservation. Both ofthem do not have anyrestrictions on the re-cipients. To datethere are 17 KFIPlaureates who also re-ceived Nobel Prizes(mostly after theKFIP). Some of theKFIP laureates arealso recipients of

other prestigious awards including the Fields Medaland the Dirac Medal.

Sameen Ahmad KhanDepartment of Mathematics and Sciences, Collegeof Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar UniversitySalalah, Sultanate of Oman([email protected], http://SameenAhmed-Khan.webs.com/)

Bibliography1. Website of the Mustafa Prize,http://mustafaprize.org/

2. Sameen Ahmed Khan, The 2015 King FaisalInternational Prize, BaKhabar, Vol 8, Issue 03, pp 4-7 (March 2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

3. Sameen Ahmed Khan, UNESCO Sultan Qa-boos Prize for Environmental Preservation for 2013,BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 04, pp 13 (April 2014). Pub-lished by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanju-man.org/.


I By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam I

Iam returning to this column a little earlier thanusual. I must reiterate before proceeding furtherthat this column is meant particularly for Muslim

youth. The idea is that youth have vitality and ex-traordinary physical energy, and older people have awider and longer experience of life because of thesheer fact that they have lived for more years anddecades than the younger generation. Joining to-gether, youth and age can work for greater goalsmeaningfully.

I am writing this column a little earlier because I amafraid the advice offered in the last column was nottaken seriously by some of our youth. I had advisedthat we should respond to insults hurled on us andour religion with care and caution because it couldbe a trap to ensnare us and inflict greater damage onus. Provocations are basically a tool to make us re-spond in anger. The opposition knows it well that anangry response is, more likely than not, inappropri-ate and damaging for us.

The thoughtless remarks of a Hindu Mahasabhaleader, Akhilesh Tiwari, against the holy Prophet(peace be upon him) in retaliation for UP ministerAzam Khan’s remark against the RSS was stupid inthe first place. What he could have done is say some-thing derogatory about Khan’s leader, AkhileshYadav, or the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav,as a revenge against the remark against the RSS.Khan had not criticised Shri Ram or Shri Krishna forthis mad man to react the way he did. I am callinghim mad because no sane person will do what hedid. Can he give us an example of a Muslim slander-ing Shri Ram or Krishna even in Pakistan orBangladesh? Does anybody slander Jesus or Moses,Shri Guru Nanak or Buddha? Only mad men do it.

Tiwari’s rant could have been ignored. Or, protestedagainst with some caution, as was done by largegatherings at different places in India. However, peo-ple of Malda district in West Bengal protestingagainst Tiwari went overboard as the large crowdgathered at Kaliachak in Malda district and the or-ganisers could not control the crowd when a part ofit broke loose and attacked the police station and

some neighbouring properties. Nobody was physi-cally harmed. It was not Muzaffarnagar where morethan 50 Muslims were killed and hundreds of homeswere destroyed. Even this much of lawlessness is re-grettable and we condemn it.

According to some versions, a section of the crowdwas stoned, which provoked them to behave wildly.Such strategically aimed stoning of crowds hasturned them violent in the past. However, the respon-sibility for controlling unruly gatherings lies with or-ganisers alone. In this case, the organisers,frightened by the unruly mob, ran away from thescene, instead of controlling it. Some of them arestill said to be hiding in nearby districts, fearing thepolice. This is reprehensible behaviour, worthy ofcondemnation in strongest terms.

Having said that, I will like to reiterate that the holyProphet (PBUH) cannot be insulted even by theSatan himself, who instigates ignoramuses and lowlycriminals to try to insult him. The Prophet’s originalname was Ahmad (one who profusely praises God).He was given an additional name by God, which wasMuhammad (one who is universally praised). EvenGod praised His Prophet. Our ulama say that nobodycan insult someone whom God Himself praised. Theabusers and slanderers insult somebody of their ownimagination and the Prophet does not live in theimagination of the scum of the earth. Hence, theyabuse themselves.

God said, addressing the Prophet (PHUH): “I haveexalted your name’s mention”. Let someone tell me,is there anyone on earth, or was there anyone ever onearth, whose name is called five times a day loudlyfrom minarets in all the continents? As time zonesvary, the Prophet’s name is called on public addresssystem virtually every moment of day and night.Show me a man whose mention God has thus ex-alted! Thus nobody has the face to disgrace thepraised one, howsoever badly he might try. Theabuse and slander of such miscreants will only recoilon them and their forefathers.

Even after knowing this, and also knowing God’s re-assurance about the exalted status of our Prophet, weget upset every time some eternally damned soul

Emotional response to issues canbe counterproductive


tries to malign him. It is not right to run after barkingdogs. However, being human we feel offended eventhough we know that nobody can insult someonewhose name God has so exalted. Because of this Ionce again advise restraint in the face of provoca-tion.

At the end I am tempted to mention the attitude ofthe media in such cases. The Indian Express in a spe-cial follow-up report, spread over two pages, said theMuslim gathering was of 1 lakh men. The mediaalso reported Hindutva groups’ claims that it was 2-3lakh strong. More level-headed people reported it to20-30 thousand. The latest estimate was 10,000.

So, what do we make of all this? Nothing reallymeaningful. However, the only point to remember isthat we must always act with restraint and consultour elders in all such cases where experience mattersmore than youthful enthusiasm.http://iosworld.org/short_takes/Emotional_re-sponse_to_issues.htm

Lost ‘N’ Found

I By Hajira Khan I

Once a boy named Mike was travelling aloneto Chicago, USA, from Salalah, Oman. Hewas travelling as an unaccompanied minor.

While returning back from there, he was on the lastleg of his long journey: flight from Qatar to Salalah.At Qatar he suddenly realized that his passport wasnot with him. He searched and searched through hispockets and the bags. He then he told the airportstaff that he has lost his passport. Then, he thoughtthat he must have left his passport in the aeroplane.That plane was searched before it left for Dubai.The passport was not found in the plane. Mike

phoned his relatives in Chicago and his parents inSalalah. There was a huge panic fearing that Mikewill be sent to his motherland, India. In such an en-vent he would have to make a new passport in India.The plane returned from Dubai to Qatar. On thetelephonic request of Mike’s parents the airline staffdid a second search. Lo and behold the passport wasfound stuck between to the legs of two seats severalrows away from the seat on which Mike had trav-elled from Chicago to Qatar. It was a miracle ofsorts! The aeroplane had made two flights and no-body else noticed the passport! Otherwise it wouldhave landed in the hands of some person and endedup somewhere else!!! Finally he took the scheduledflight to Salalah. The long wait which Mike hadplanned to spend exploring the Qatar airport was lostin the passport lost ‘n’ found incident. Mike wasgiven a huge welcome at the Salalah Airport by hisanxious parents and their well-wishers.

Mike had travelled from Salalah-Qatar-Chicago asan unaccompanied minor. But while returning thestaff at Chicago treated him like an adult and Mikewas compelled to keep the passport with himself.This was the root-cause of the problem. The uncon-cerned staff should have checked his age from thepassport and treated him like a minor as in the on-ward flights.

What happened with Mike can happen with anybodyirrespective of age: loosing the passport duringtravel. The moral of the incident is to keep the pass-port secure such that it may not slip or fall. Oneshould also keep some photocopies and digitalcopies.

Nonetheless, Mike had an adventure of sorts. Now,he has an adventurous incident to describe to oneand all again and again. This is based on a true inci-dent.

Hajira Khan Indian School SalalahSalalah, Sultanate of Oman

Bibliography: 1. Hajira Khan, A Journey in a Train, BaKhabar,7 (8), 17 (August 2014). Published by Bihar Anju-man, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/. 2. Hajira Khan, Sports Day and Determination,BaKhabar, 8 (12), pp 24 (December 2015). Pub-lished by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanju-man.org/.

Page 1 of 1

Hajira Khan

Indian School Salalah Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

Once a boy named Mike was travelling alone to Chicago, USA, from Salalah, Oman. He was travelling as an unaccompanied minor. While returning back from there, he was on the last leg of his long journey: flight from Qatar to Salalah. At Qatar he suddenly realized that his passport was not with him. He searched and searched through his pockets and the bags. He then he told the airport staff that he has lost his passport. Then, he thought that he must have left his passport in the aeroplane. That plane was searched before it left for Dubai. The passport was not found in the plane. Mike phoned his relatives in Chicago and his parents in Salalah. There was a huge panic fearing that Mike will be sent to his motherland, India. In such an envent he would have to make a new passport in India. The plane returned from

search. Lo and behold the passport was found stuck between to the legs of two seats several rows away from the seat on which Mike had travelled from Chicago to Qatar. It was a miracle of sorts! The aeroplane had made two flights and nobody else noticed the passport! Otherwise it would have landed in the hands of some person and ended up somewhere else!!! Finally he took the scheduled flight to Salalah. The long wait which Mike had planned to spend exploring the Qatar airport was lost in the dent. Mike was given a huge welcome at the Salalah Airport by his anxious parents and their well-wishers. Mike had travelled from Salalah-Qatar-Chicago as an unaccompanied minor. But while returning the staff at Chicago treated him like an adult and Mike was compelled to keep the passport with himself. This was the root-cause of the problem. The unconcerned staff should have checked his age from the passport and treated him like a minor as in the onward flights. What happened with Mike can happen with anybody irrespective of age: loosing the passport during travel. The moral of the incident is to keep the passport secure such that it may not slip or fall. One should also keep some photocopies and digital copies. Nonetheless, Mike had an adventure of sorts. Now, he has an adventurous incident to describe to one and all again and again. This is based on a true incident. Bibliography:

1. Hajira Khan, A Journey in a Train, BaKhabar, 7 (8), 17 (August 2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

2. Hajira Khan, Sports Day and Determination, BaKhabar, 8 (12), pp 24 (December 2015). Published by Bihar Anjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.


I By V.K. Tripathi I

Science implies learning and exploring the lawsof nature. These laws help us in understandingthe processes going on around us and in mak-

ing useful tools, machines and appliances. Technol-ogy is the art of making machines and the skills tooperate them.

An important characteristic of science is to find rela-tionship between cause and effect. We eat rottenfood and fall sick. Food is the cause and sickness isthe effect. By carrying water from the well we gettired. Fatigue, the effect, is related to the work donein carrying weight. By understanding these relation-ships we can make our food habits and work morefavourable and comfortable.

Those who show off the power of their muscles orintellect, forget that this power is associated with thebody, in the making of which they had no contribu-tion. Nor do they have capacity to sustain it. Thebody is sustained by air, water, food and mutual co-operation. The wealth that they have has been cre-ated by the hard work of poor workers.

Modern ScienceThree hundred years ago science took a mighty jumpforward when Newton formulated the laws of mo-tion and put them in simple mathematical form.They provided the basis for quantitative estimate ofvarious processes. The recognition of the power ofthe steam led to the invention of engine, leading tothe development of trains and mills. The understand-ing of laws of electricity and magnetism led to thegeneration of electrical power from coal, oil andflowing water and to the development of motors,machines and appliances.

This development had its maximum impact on theprocess of production. The oil, cloth, sugar (gur) andother commodities of daily use that were manufac-tured in village industry began to be prepared in bigmills. The mill owners needed cheap raw materialand markets for their finished products. To realizethese objectives they and their ruling classes consid-ered it proper to enslave other countries. In this pur-suit they needed weapons, hence they hired scientiststo make weapons. Thus colonialism and imperialism

spread in the world and science, instead of becomingbeneficial to the masses, became an instrument oftheir slavery and poverty.

The Current PhaseScience and technology have entered most areas ofhuman endeavour, from farming and food produc-tion to civil construction, textiles, mining, transport,power, communication. etc. Computer is the mostpowerful instrument that has replaced many vitalfunctions of mind – information storage, informationprocessing, analysing, computing, maintaining ac-counts, and operating machines. Only the function ofdecision making rests with the mind. However, inthe current state of market driven economy, commonman has no role in decision making in respect of ed-ucation policy, economic policy, polity, governance,defence etc. Even scientists and engineers have norole. The authority of decision making rests with theelite controlling markets, resources and polity.

Marginalization of masses is the result of centraliza-tion of decision making and market economy. Animportant role in this process is played by mentalconditioning created through media hype on issueslike narrow nationalism, notions of war based de-fence, show off of superficial identities etc. andglamour. For the liberation of human mind andemancipation of masses we need i) media and socialmedia to be freed from the control of vested inter-ests, ii) decision making to be decentralized, iii)small machines to be given a priority, and iv) objec-tivity and scientific temper to grow. Scholars canreach out to masses. Try to teach them engineeringprinciples related to their field of endeavour.

Science and Freedom


Before you start reading I should warn you thisisn’t something that artists who practicallyare nomads across the world or those who do

not conform to the idea of fighting for a single pieceof land would appreciate or understand. This ismeant for Indians and Pakistanis that enjoy nitpick-ing through history and this is a Pakistani voicingout how one particular Indian got it all wrong. Thusit would be better if the asynchronous communica-tion remained judgment free from the contexts of re-gional unifications, diplomacy and any idea that isideal in only a world where differences don’t exist.

I was looking for an interview by Kamila Shamsi,the author of a book I had hoped to read; a plan thatgot sidelined, and wound up watching Letters fromAcross the Border that included a very lengthy odeto Pakistan written and read by Aatish Taseer themain highlight of the 20 minute transcript being howthe partition was based on the fallacy called the TwoNation Theory and Jinnah himself was a victim tothe notion that Pakistan would be the ultimateproverbial paradise for the Muslims of India.

He made some valuable points that I accept inearnest. Yes the eastern provinces Sindh and Punjabshare cultural similarities with their Indian counter-part. Even though it is slightly less prominent thereis an innate caste system where Syed, Rajput Fami-lies, Shahs, Khans and all the dynastical leadersclaim superiority over other Pakistanis and Muslimsin general. We enjoy spices, songs and clothes thesame way Indians do. Dacca fall is what people con-sider the political demise of the two nation theoryand yet there are factions of our country that wantanother such separation.

But none of that contradicts the fact that Pakistanhad to be made, it was as much a necessity as adream of our founders. Our forefathers bled and sac-rificed everything for a cause that we Pakistanis holddearest to our hearts and would not trade for anotherunited India in a thousand lifetimes.

This is the passion of a young Pakistani from a met-ropolitan city who has lived a privileged life lovesher identity as a Pakistani. My feelings aside there isalso a lot of clarity behind these words and our beliefthat the validation of our ideological state can’t beundone by the words of intellectuals, writers or

artists who criticize Pakistan for her independence,something the world constantly chants should be themotto of all states.

I wonder will they say the same about USA thatopted out of being a British Colony. After all theyspeak the same language; they even have the samepredominant religion or did at the time of their ownseparation; the 50 states continue to become moreand more independent of the federation and if any-thing they had more reasons to stay together thanIndia and Pakistan ever did.

Sure it is absolutely appalling that I would comparemy third world, terrorism-struck country with theworld super power but isn’t that discriminationagainst the poor? There are countries better off thanus and then there are countries worse off than us.Why should Pakistan be the only country subjectedto these unfair questions about why it exists?

It is tactless and rude to suggest that our existence,170 million people that live on a diverse landscapereaching from the Arabian Sea to the Hindu Kushand Karakoram, is a sincere historical blunder atbest. Nobody has the right to question the legitimacyof any state, a lesson Pakistan taught the world theday it accepted the former East Pakistan asBangladesh. At least one lesson we bested our neigh-bor at.

This wasn’t supposed to be personal but it is. Be-cause it wasn’t a political gesture, it wasn’t an ad-ministrative maneuver in the best interests ofPakistan which I do not expect from anybody in theworld because Pakistan needs to be able to take careof herself. I am offended because somehow, peoplejudge the separation as an isolated incident, as some-thing only a few people wanted and the rest of In-dian Muslims have better judgment because theypicked a land they were already situated in.

The fact remains it is a human condition to seek in-dependence. Pakistan and India are the same blood-lines, keeping the facts of Muhammad bin Qasimcoming from Hijaz and Mughals from Persia aside,let us accept this argument for a while to put forthmy case.

We have a Desi system of combined families where

The Clingy Ex


siblings, first cousins and even distant cousins live inthe same house for a generation. In some if not mostcases, with each new generation sons leave their fa-thers’ houses and learn to build life anew. It is amonetary struggle, the new house isn’t as big as theprevious one and the judicial trauma of acquiringtheir shares fractures the cordial relationship theyhave with the rest of their family. This is consideringthe worst case scenario, but suffice to say the worldwitnessed far worse when India and Pakistan split.

Some Pakistanis also share Aatish Taseers senti-ments. They act like children who envy their cousinsfor living in a bigger house without realizing theyare much powerful in their own small cottage whenthey don’t have to make decisions after appeasing along list of personality conflicts because they neverfully grasped the situation before partition as theyonly see Pakistan and India now where Pakistan ispre-dominantly Muslim still; India is secular or atleast gives that impression. If the Pakistan Move-ment hadn’t come along a united India would reflectthe political situation similar to that of 1935-1939.We skip crucial historical facts and so how India her-self portrayed its pro-Hindu bias before 1947 isn’teven mentioned in these debates.

When Indians propose we were better off with them,I feel like Pakistan has a clingy-ex situation at hand.Because despite all of the trouble, the freedom thatcomes with living away from the shadows of some-body else, to craft our own identity and to live ourdream is all worth it. This is The American Dreamfor Muslims that happened in 1947, and yes the situ-ation has deteriorated since then till now in 2016 itstill holds true that we achieved our independencefrom two more powerful and much larger entities on

the same day. Islamic Republic of Pakistan is not thecharity of India or the British Empire. It is the hardearned prize of constant struggle which people fromboth sides who lack practicality miss out on.

Worth the wars, the poverty, the struggles of admin-istering a country and of internal conflicts we standtall and proud. Indian Muslims chose to live in Indiathat works out for them, we couldn’t be happier. Andif Pakistanis suggest we should be a united region,nobody will stop them from filling out dual-national-ities. The need doesn’t stem from the political standsof these countries but the fact that we still have fami-lies across the border. Living with them might seemconvenient but in India we won’t only live withthem.The push and pull relationship Hindus and Muslimshave had since the 13th century doesn’t mean we areall bad people in the sub-continent incapable of liv-ing together. It means we drew a line as to howmuch of a merger we can stand; the Muslims whodreamed of Pakistan did the entire sub-continent afavor by claiming their independence and we need tostop challenging that decision. Most importantly In-dians need to stop questioning the motives of ourforefathers; after all independence means we are notnor will ever be answerable to them again and all ofIndia combined doesn’t have the power to blur thelines across the border. We put it there for a reasonand despite our shortcomings we know how to pro-tect our land and autonomy regardless of their intel-lectuals or their army opposing Pakistan’s existenceto its very core out of sheer ignorance of how patri-otic and ideological Pakistanis value Pakistan andour identity as the only ideologically Muslim stateabove their redundant ideas of a united India.


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I By Vidya Bhushan Rawat I

Indian Parliament paid glorious tribute to BabaSaheb Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversarycelebrations and prime minister asked that the

values of the constitution be promoted all over thecountry yet the home minister wanted the ‘Socialistsecular’ word to be deleted as they are ‘redundant’and ‘misused’ in India and not part of the originalpreamble. Even if these two words were not thereand there might have been reasons does not meanthat they have no relevance. How could Ambedkarwho espoused the cause of socialism giving absolute

guidance through directive principles not like ‘so-cialism’?

The violence and cruelty in this country are not newbut the problem is how our media comes out withgeneral reference suggesting these are ‘aberrations’and then harp on great golden past of ‘tolerance’ andthen this country jump out with candle lights andblack badges against ‘aberrations’. In Parliament Ra-jnath Singh said Ambedkar was humiliated and dis-criminated yet he never felt leaving the country andCongress Party’s leader in Lok Sabha Mr Mallikar-jun Khadage retorted by saying as why should heleave the country, he was the ‘moolniwasi’ indige-nous habitat of the country, Aryans came from out-side to oppress us. What have we done to address

those concern of Dr Ambedkar if we say we gen-uinely respect him and his thoughts. His concern wasfor a social democracy but has it been addressed.Will the government outlaw the Khap Panchayatsand promote self arrange marriages that transcendentreligious, caste boundaries. Will it protect those whodo so? Modi’s successor in Gujarat felt that the 22commandments of Dr Ambedkar to Dalits, can cre-ate animosity between the societies and hence with-draw the book on Ambedkar. Have we seen anycountry where you want to create temples of man,worship him but refuse to implement his socio cul-tural thoughts? Will political parties take to Ambed-

kar’s vision of Prabudha Bharat and it is possibleonly through a fair implementation of our constitu-tional values and ensuring they become part of ourdaily habits culturally too.

When values of liberalism, freedom of thoughts andrespect for dissent comes in our heart and becomepart of our core values then we are capable of evenadmitting that not everything was ‘golden’ in ourpast. It is not important to say that all our forefatherswere the greatest people on earth and did not commitany atrocity or mistake on any one. When you aresurrounded by those who believe more in jargonsand high voltage ‘nationalism’ to fulfill their ulteriorpolitical motives you start glorifying and justifyingeverything of the past and that result in distortion of

‘Tolerating’ aberrations


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facts and con-verting manypeople into he-roes and otherswho disagree tobe as villain. Theliberal ‘follow-ers’ of these the-ories actuallywill condemnthese incidentsbut term them as‘stray’ or fringe.But today the sit-uation is not thatsimple. It is notjust the physicalviolence but aca-demic dishonesty and projecting our past as always‘golden’ and liberal. We are not a theocracy and theconstitution gave us freedom of expression to remindthe good and bad of our past so that the current gen-eration could learn from both. Hiding the dirt of thepast will only create a highly intolerant society. It istime to remember some of the incidents termed asaberrations and our reactions then after the inde-pendence.

1. In 1948, immediately after the independence,a fanatic Brahmin assassinated Gandhi but the nationremained calm. I shudder to think what would havehappened if the murderer of Gandhi were a Dalit or aMuslim but then most of the ‘intellectuals’ pointedout that it was a murder carried by a RSS affiliatedorganization and not really by a Hindu or Brahminfanatic. We were told that it was an aberration aspeople of India love tolerance.

2. In 1982 thousands of innocent Muslims werebutchered to death at a place called Nellie in Asamin the name of ‘outsiders’. The government of Indiafailed. There were other ‘communal riots’ engi-neered in Bijnaur, Moradabad, Bhagalpur andMeerut. The victims did not get any justice and wesatisfied with these aberrations. Life was as usual asever.

3. In 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated bythe two body guards of her who happened to beSikhs and the ‘people’ decided to teach Sikhs a les-son of their life. For next three days the country sawplanned massacre of the worst kind in India in whichchildren were burnt to death and people were chased

away simply because they practiced another faith.Human Rights Organisation worked day and in nightyet we said it was an aberration. Some said it was‘emotional’ outburst while the ‘power’ justified it as‘jab bada ped girta hai to dharati hiltee hai’ when abig tree falls the earth trembles. The movementagainst the highhandedness of the prime minister hadjust started but rather than being apologetic he chal-lenged the opponents in the plain Bollywood style, ‘Unko naani yaad kara denge’.

4. In 1991 when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinatedby the Tamil terrorists the entire country remainedcalm. Why? There were no accusations and counteraccusations. His cremations passed peacefully. Therewas no aberration as perhaps the killers were notMuslims. I walked through the streets of Delhi thatday to see the empty roads but no ‘terror’ unlike thefirst three days of Indira Gandhi’s assassinationwhen the city was virtually burning.

5. In 1992 the Hindu fanatics demolished theBabari Masjid proclaiming that it was a templewhere Lord Rama was born and that the said templewas demolished by Emperor Babur hence it was ahistory ‘correction’ project for them. Accordingly,Babari Masjid was the symbol of slavery and mustbe demolished to pave the way for a grand RamTemple. It is well known fact how the idols of LordRama were installed in the masjid yet even if thosefactors are not accounted none has given right tostreet goons masquerading as politicians to becomeconstitution unto themselves. World watched withhorror how the lynch mob of Hindutva climbed up tothe monument and demolished it. From December7th, 1992 onwards we found ‘secular’ people re-


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membering Gandhi and condemning Sangh Parivarand its affiliates with utterings, ‘our age old traditionof tolerance’ is broken. It brought shame to Hin-duism. Rather than saying that you cannot correcthistory and if you try to dig too much you will onlyfind the Buddhist structure underneath and if theywant to correct everything then you can imaginewhat will be left in India? But again demolition ofBabari Masjid was described as aberration of theHindutva fringe.

6. Immediately in the aftermath of the BabariMasjid riots were engineered in Mumbai in 1993 andstate apparatus failed to protect the people of the cityas political rivals were raising the issue. Hundredsdied and none was punished so far. In fact, the hatemongers became managers of the city and now con-trol the levers of power. Bombay is the city of toler-ance, we were told and this incident was anaberration only. The case continues in the court andthe Tamilnadu government seeks commutation of thedeath penalty respecting the ‘sentiments’ of theTamil people and it is so as the murderers are notMuslims.

7. The thugs burnt a Christian Missionary Gra-ham Stains and his innocent children in the forest ofOdisha blaming him for engaging in ‘conversion. Weall cried and condemned the incident and called itthe work of a ‘fringe’ and mad man influence by thetoxic ‘ideology’ of Hindutva. On the other hand, wedon’t have much appreciation for his wife who par-doned the barbarians who killed her husbands andchildren so brutally.

8. In 2002 hundreds of people died because ofthe absolute failure of the state. A former member ofparliament was burnt to death while begging for pro-tection. We heard many stories of brutality and bar-barism. Many attributed to Godhra incident ofburning of Hindus in the train who were returning bythe Sabarmati Express by the mob incited by theMuslim fanatics. Now, there were two kinds of peo-ple who said Godhara accident was not planted byMuslims as if they can’t do it and the other said itwas only Muslims who did it and that Hindus have aright to avenge it and therefore all that happened inpost Godhara incident in Gujarat was justified. Ourposition was clear on both the front. State cannotjustify tit for tat as it needs to protect people and pro-vide justice to the victims. If the Muslims of Godhrawere engaged in certain incident that can’t be a justi-fication for their lynching in rest of the state and in

the country. The duty of the state is to provide pro-tection to its citizens irrespective of caste and inves-tigate the matter and bring justice to the peoplewhoever he or she is.

9. In between we had seen the murders of Dalitsin Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu,Maharastra, Gujarat by the upper caste landed com-munities. None went to jail. We had numerous castemurders, honored killings, khap justice killing inno-cent lovers who dared to cross caste and religiousboundaries, in the most brutal and barbaric way.There was not a tear shed for them. Communitieslaughed blamed others and went scot free. We the ro-mantics blame a few fringes and said it was an aber-ration.

10. Then came the ‘horror’ moment of India. De-cember 16th Nirbhaya rape put blame on violenceagainst women on the prime minister and the thengovernment. The ‘nation’ burnt and cried. It wanteda new law which was given to it. The ‘nation’wanted to hang the perpetrators of the crime. Weprotested and wanted our streets, markets, home be-come ‘secure’ for our girls but when a Britishwoman make a documentary and ‘reveal’ the dirtyreality of the society in India, we all wanted a ban onthe film. We said that the ‘nation’ is against the cul-ture of ban yet if somebody exposes its culture thenthat must be banned. The film on Nirbhaya wasbanned because the upper caste lawyer was seen say-ing that if his daughter would come late and had aboyfriend he would not hesitate to burn her. We sawthe statement in deep dismay and utter disgust yetwe decided to shoot the messenger and said suchepisode do not ‘reflect’ our society which is very tol-erant.


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11. A Christian professor’s hands were choppedoff by the Muslim fanatics for allegedly ‘insulting’prophet Mohammad. The Hindu communal becameliberals asking for the human rights of the professorwhile the ‘secularists’ ignored the ghastly incident.We all said Muslims are not like that and these arefringe.

12. In district Kannur, Kerala a Dalit womanChitralekha was hounded, named and humiliated bythe people including that of those belonging to rulingleft front leaders that time because she became anauto driver much to discomfort of many drivers whowanted to throw her out because she belong to theDalit community. She fought for her battle for nearly11 years yet our national conscience did not wakeup.

13. In 2013 Western Uttar Pradesh saw the com-munal flashpoint. How the Mujaffarnagar violencekilled people. Blame game started. The goons gotpolitical legitimacy and finally went to their politicalparties and became ministers. Those who werekilled, raped and left homeless still suffer. The help-less People came in the street, protested with candle-light suggesting that such ‘aberrations’ don’t takesplace next time if we follow Gandhiji.

14. Now people are being killed for their foodmenu inside the home. Akhlaq was killed for no faultof his as it was alleged that his family was cookingbeef. We felt outraged at it and said the Hindutvafringe do not represent India. Hindus and Muslimshave lived together and have been very tolerant. Sev-eral years’ back two dalits were killed for tanning theskin of a dead cow in Jhajjar town of Haryana. Thehypocrisy is ‘liberalism’ that in this country killing acow is punishment and raise so much of ‘passion’while killing a Dalit does not attract that much ofpassion and condemnation.

15. Hundreds ofDalit families facedtyranny of the casteHindus in Harayanaand none came tosupport them. Whenthey converted toIslam after all op-tion failed they werethreatened. Nowtwo Dalit childrenwere burnt in

Harayana and the nation woke up to protest,’ thekillers of these brutalities don’t represent us as theseare aberrations’. The minister compared them todogs and get away with it only to show how muchare we ‘tolerant’ towards those who spit venomevery day.

16. When rationalists like Dr Narendra Dab-holkar, Kalburgi and Govind Pansare were killed noremorse was shown. In fact people were threatenedwith dire consequences. None of them were part ofany mainstream political party. They had beenspeaking against prevailing superstition in the soci-ety an issue none of the political parties dare to ques-tion hence not much botheration about their killings.But today when the world watch us in horror and ourculture of ‘tolerance’ stand exposed then we havestarted singing again that ‘they’ do not ‘represent’our society.

17. Amir Khan and Shahrukh Khan are actuallythe ‘brand’ ‘ambassadors’ of ‘Indian tolerance’ and‘inclusive’ democracy world over. We don’t realizethat this country could not convince Maqbool FidaHussain to return as the Hindutva’s lunatics continueto threaten him with diverse cases in different courts.Sad that there is no mechanism from saving peoplefrom such kind of ‘legal’ ‘terror’ where you don’tknow who and where can file a case against you.The local courts are ready to take such frivolous pe-titions and failing to respond could place you in jail.With all this, we have shown remarkable ‘tolerance’for those who are spitting venom on social mediaagainst the opponents, threatening them with mur-ders and exporting people to Pakistan as if they havean agreement with the latter.

18. In the past fifty years, we have ‘tolerantly’witnessed the silence annihilation of Aadivasi cul-ture in the name of development. Millions have been

uprooted from theirnative land to makeIndia a ‘worldpower’. We haveland for big corpo-rate but no land forthe honorable anddignified settlementsof Aadivasis. Everybig dam can narrateyou story of slaugh-tering of aadivasisfrom their land.


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19. Even after 68 years of our ‘independence’people clean filth, go deep into pit to pick upgarbage, millions are still engaged in picking humanexcreta. Prime Minister’s Swachch Bharat cannoteradicate it as it attempt to hide the dirty reality ofmanual scavenging. As a society, don’t we think thatwe should have been highly ‘intolerant’ towardssuch discrimination but then what to do we are a‘tolerant’ society.20. That we have tolerated so much to seewomen’s are disallowed in the temples along withDalits. Girls are being killed in the womb, sold in themarket in many places. Going out without a male aidis a challenge and we witness this with great toler-ance.

21. Haven’t we ‘tolerated’ too much the discrimi-nation to people in North East that AFSPA still re-main in force despite protests by the people there.We will ‘glorify’ Irom Sharmila as ‘greatest’ but notready to listen to her voice.

These are just a few ‘aberrations’ in a society where itis happening at a regular stretch. You need to just godeep into communal violence, massacre of Dalits, vio-lence against women, untouchability, manual scaveng-ing, anti land grabbing protests, encroachment of bigcorporations in the forests, big dams etc to see the levelof ‘tolerance’ that India has towards its own people.

The tolerance-intolerance debate reminds me of a greatword of wisdom by Sardar Hukum Singh in the Con-stituent Assembly related to minority-majority issues.He warned against majority communalism as soon thethin line disappear and criminal communalism becomewar cries of ‘nationalism’. If the minorities who al-ways are threatened react by asserting as well as dis-playing their cultural identity then it is easily termed as‘communalism’. Minority’s assertion to their identitytherefore become a dissent and must be dealt withharshly.

But in the current phase India is passing through thatkind of tolerance where a ‘Muslim’ cannot expressanything against the ‘popular’ notions and he must beproud of our ‘great’ heritage at the same point of timeHindus can speak anything without getting noticed. Sothere is no doubt that we were never tolerant towardsdissent. Muslims may be becoming victim of this ‘in-tolerance’ now but we have history of celebratingkillings right from the mythological text. Don’t we cel-ebrate burning of ‘Holika’ during the Holy festival ?Haven’t we seen celebration of killings of Ravana,Meghnath, Kumbhkaran, Suparnkha, Tadka at such a

huge level ? How can our children think of toleranceand Dharma. How you define it. Rama who exiled hispregnant wife and left her, spied her and doubted herchastity while Ravana who did not even touch her de-spite abducting her just to avenge his sisters humilia-tion. How will our children become rational when theyare told do just follow the ‘symbolism’ and not to thinkas why should we celebrate killing. Don’t we celebratekilling of Mahishasura. No body wants to know as whythese people were killed. The only arguments for themas that they were ‘asuras’. So it means you can kill anyone who is ‘asura’ which was their identity. It meansyour rights and wrongs are judged by your identity.That is the crux which most of our historians refused toaccept. Muslims-Christians face it today. Dalits-aadi-vasis faced it life long not just from the caste Hindusbut also from the upper caste Muslims and Christianstoo. You cannot be tolerant, civilized when you justifykillings in the name of identities. It is important westart scrutinizing these religious texts and historicaltext as what is wrong. The wrong is in our thinkingprocess and social attitude where your identity and dis-play of identity is a ‘dissent’ and that has to be crushed.History is a tool of the power elite to intimidate othersthrough distorting and corrupting the knowledge sys-tem. So Amir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali are goodas Rahul, Vijay, Shankar or so on but not as Moham-mad, Aslam or Naushad. They cant speak anything onMuslim issues as that would prompt reaction from the‘trolls’ who will abuse you, intimidate later and killyou finally. Isn’t it the biggest sign of ‘tolerance’ thatwe as a society continue to legitimize them and justifytheir acts to which ‘liberals’ would again throw their‘jumla’ of ‘aberration’.

Europe, Canada, Australia and Newzealands Parlia-ments have apologised for what they have done to in-digenous people. It was a great gesture. Our Parliamentis discussing so many things during the 125 years of DrBaba Saheb Ambedkar, the father of our modern re-public yet none in the Parliament ever spoke of the his-toric injustice done towards the Dalits, Aadivasis andthe shudras in 2000 years of history of brahmanicalbrutalities and cruelties. It is time Parliament showsome intolerance towards this tolerance of barbaricculture to our own people by our own forefathers. Arewe ready to apologise for what the Manusmriti and itsmasters did to India's Bahujan masses and that wouldbe the real tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar if we ac-cept the fact that we were brutal, barbaric and mal-treated to our own people and now time has come toundo those historical wrongs.

http://iosworld.org/national/Tolerating_aberrations.htm


I By AIJAZ ZAKA SYED I

After long years of reading from the hymnsheet provided by its hosts, sense finallyseems to have dawned on the United Na-

tions. The world body has apparently concluded thatit is insanity, in the words of Einstein, to do the samething over and over again and expect different re-sults.

Addressing the UN General Assembly last Friday,Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not beat aboutthe proverbial bush as he unveiled a blueprint totackle the challenge of extremism.

The UN chief was unusually honest in his counsel tothose busy fighting the ever widening war on terror:“We all lose by responding to ruthless terror withmindless policy – policies that turn people againsteach another, alienate already marginalised groups,and play into the hands of the enemy. We need coolheads and common sense. We must never be ruledby fear – or provoked by those who strive to exploitit. Countering violent extremism should not becounter-productive.”

Cool heads and common sense? That’s the last thinganyone in the coalition of the willing wants to hearright now as it fights ‘Islamist terror’, forever shift-ing goal posts in the crusade against imagined ene-mies.

Has anyone noticed that for the first time since theend of the last Great War, the two superpowers,United States and Russia, and their numerous gofersall find themselves on the same side of the fence asthey purportedly take on the monster called Isis orDaesh.

Indeed, it is interesting that the usually volubleWashington did not make even perfunctory noiseswhen the Russian bear barged into what has tradi-tionally been Uncle Sam’s turf.

In his last State of the Union address, PresidentObama trashed the talk of an imminent World WarIII between the West and Islam, accusing clowns likeTrump of playing into the hands of Isis. The firstblack president of the most powerful white, Westernnation may not see it as such but many in the Westalready seem to have concluded that this is indeed a

civilisational battle for survival. In fact, Pope Fran-cis already sees the Middle East conflict as WorldWar III.

Whether one likes it or not, after long years of West-ern wars and the violent extremism of groups likeIsis that they have spawned, this has indeed acquiredthe proportions of a civilisational clash, somethingthat neocon pundits like Bernard Lewis and SamuelHuntington have long dreamed about.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani columnist of a popular Urdunewspaper thoughtfully pointed out that with the in-volvement of the US, Russia, UK, France, Germanyand other members of Nato in the Middle East’s the-atre of war, nearly all major schools of thought rep-resenting Christianity – from the Catholic churchand Church of England to the Russian Orthodoxchurch – are waging wars in Muslim lands or fight-ing forces that claim to speak on behalf of the be-lievers.

Hardly surprising then, notwithstanding the angerand revulsion that the Isis tactics and its claim torepresent the Muslims evoke everywhere, it contin-ues to attract the young and restless from around theworld.

On the other hand, after all these futile wars andyears of carnage and destruction that have left mil-lions dead and homeless in the region, not to men-tion the mindless destruction of historically richcountries like Iraq, Syria and Libya, there is still nosign of a willingness to confront or even acknowl-edge the sources and drivers of this conflict.Indeed, a few weeks ago the New York Times re-ported that the US is considering a Pentagon pro-posal to set up a string of military bases in theMiddle East, Southwest Asia and Africa which couldbe used, “for collecting intelligence and carrying outstrikes” against Isis’ many affiliates across those re-gions.

The bases would serve as hubs for Special Opera-tions troops and intelligence operatives who wouldconduct counterterrorism missions, creating what theTimes described, in Pentagon-speak, an “enduringAmerican military presence” in these volatile re-gions.

This despite the overwhelming evidence – and ac-

Using cool heads against terror


knowledgement by President Obama among others– suggesting that the Western invasion and occu-pation of Iraq gave birth to the spectre called Isis.

There cannot be a more absurd idea. An “enduringAmerican military presence” from the Middle Eastto Africa, over and on top of what already existsacross the region, may be the best thing to happento the extremist fringe, from Isis to Al-Qaeda andTTP to Boko Haram, further allowing them to por-tray themselves as the ‘defenders of the faithful’and inflate their ranks.

If this isn’t precisely what the West and their alliesare secretly hoping for, they would do themselvesand the region a huge favour by not taking thatperilous route.

Military force and brutal, police state tactics can-not defeat terror and extremism. Short-sighted andcrude measures like UK Prime Minister DavidCameron’s threat to deport Muslim women if theydo not learn English and his promised ban on theMuslim veil do not help the cause of fighting ex-tremism either. These pronouncements are hardlyany different from the intemperate rants of USpresidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Camerons and Trumps would do well to spare 15minutes to scan and mull over Ban Ki-moon’s pro-posals, delivered as part of the UN action plan tocounter extremism. The UN chief offers 70 spe-cific recommendations for action under five broadcategories:

Prevention: It requires improving underlying con-ditions, helping individuals attain their full poten-tial growth. It is humiliation and desperation thatdrive men towards extremism. “Extremism flour-ishes when human rights are violated, politicalspace is shrunk, aspirations for inclusion are ig-nored, and too many people – especially youngpeople – lack prospects and meaning in theirlives”, pointed out the UN chief.

Principled leadership and effective institutions:The UN calls for building “inclusive institutionsthat are truly accountable to people.” The UNchief points out that “poisonous ideologies do notemerge from thin air. Oppression, corruption andinjustice are greenhouses for resentment.”

Prevent extremism by promoting human rights:“All too often”, the UN chief noted, “sweepingdefinitions of terrorism or violent extremism areused to criminalize the legitimate actions of oppo-sition groups, civil society organizations andhuman rights defenders. Governments should notuse these types of sweeping definitions as a pretextto attack or silence one’s critics.”

Inclusive approach: An ‘all of government’ ap-proach that breaks down “the silos between thepeace and security, sustainable development,human rights and humanitarian actors at the na-tional, regional and global levels – including at theUnited Nations.”

UN engagement: It involves actions by the UN it-self while also promoting coordination with andsupport for national plans of action that addressthe many inter-linked dimensions of the violentextremism and terrorism threats.

Real food for thought there. The UN approach atlast acknowledges why violent extremism hasspread so rapidly around the world and attempts tocraft an effective response to it that, in the wordsof Rami Khouri, cuts out its core drivers at theroots, rather than snipping off the buds that sproutat its extremities.

But if governments around the world, especiallythe world powers and their allies busy fire-fightingin the Middle East, do not take these recommenda-tions seriously and adopt them as a global actionplan, the UN recommendations are not worth thepaper they are written on.

Doubtless, the battle ahead is long and arduous.You cannot win it by quick-fix, dishonest tactics orby unleashing more firepower and boots on theground. What is really needed is serious, meaning-ful dialogue and hearts-and-minds engagement be-tween the West and the Islamic world at the civilsociety level, while addressing the ideologicaldrivers and sources of this long-festering conflict.

Email: [email protected]://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/868681


I By AIJAZ ZAKA SYED I

India’s Tehelka magazine hascome up with an interesting,if belated, special issue,

marking the 50th anniversary ofJawaharlal Nehru’s death. Ironi-cally, the special occasion onMay 27 last year passed offwithout much fanfare. Only theCongress Party offered perfunc-tory tributes. In tune with thechanged order and ideologicalflavor of the times that we livein, even the Congress has beenrather apologetic and timid aboutowning the legacy of the manwho led it for long years in verychallenging circumstances.

As for the government of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, it hasgone to elaborate lengths to ig-nore and belittle the man whofirmly and defiantly standsagainst everything that theBharatiya Janata Party and thelarger Hindutva Parivar repre-sent and believe in.

Since it came to power, the BJPand members of its extended clan have been pursu-ing a clever strategy of hijacking national icons suchas Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and even the Dalit iconDr. Ambedkar, the father of Indian Constitution whodespised Hinduism and its caste hierarchy, and can-onizing them as part of their own pantheon of ‘na-tional leadership’.

On the other hand, they have been relentlessly at-tacking Nehru and chipping away at his awesomelegacy. The architect of modern India and easily itstallest leader after Gandhi is being portrayed as aweak, indecisive man with feet of clay (and ‘corrupt’morals) and blaming him for all of modern India’swoes and warts. More mischievously, they have pit-ted Patel with his hard-line, anti-Muslim imageagainst Nehru projecting him as a bigger and ablerleader who should have, in their view, succeededGandhi as the leader of the Congress and independ-ent India.

In the run up to the 2014 General Elections, Modiwho has for long consciously fashioned himself inthe mold of the ‘iron man’ and fellow Gujarati choseto trash Nehru in the presence of Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, bemoaning the fact that Patelcould not lead India after Independence. It is pro-foundly ironic that, in the words of historian Ra-machandra Guha, the BJP and Sangh idolizesomeone who had been a lifelong Congress man.

It is nonetheless true that the Hindu Right shares asense of ideological kinship with Patel. In 1966, M SGolwalkar, the RSS supremo wrote in his book,Bunch of Thoughts, “We were fortunate that we hadin Sardar Patel a person with an iron will to face thereality in those days.”

For his part Patel, a religious conservative at heartand perhaps the first practitioner of ‘soft Hindutva’,

Growing up with Nehru’s India


clearly admired the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghas a “socio-cultural” organization and its members as“patriots who love their country.”

Three weeks before Gandhi’s assassination, Pateleven invited RSS workers to join the ruling Con-gress Party: “In the Congress, those who are inpower feel that by the virtue of authority they will beable to crush the RSS. You cannot crush an organiza-tion by using the danda (stick). The danda is meantfor thieves and dacoits. They are patriots who lovetheir country. Only their trend of thought is diverted.They are to be won over by Congressmen, by love.”

Things dramatically changed after the assassinationof Gandhi, carried out by Nathuram Godse, a vet-eran of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. Of course,RSS quickly disowned Godse. And the fact that itsideology of hate and propaganda demonizingGandhi, holding him responsible for the Partitionand being “soft” on Muslims led to his killing wasnot sufficiently proved in the court. However, it washardly a secret who inspired and directly or indi-rectly was responsible for the assassination of theMahatma.

No wonder Patel was forced to ban the RSS. In aletter to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, latter thefounder of the Jan Sangh, the forbear of the BJP,Patel wrote: “As a result of the activities of thesetwo bodies (RSS and Hindu Mahasabha), particu-larly the former, an atmosphere was created in thecountry in which such a ghastly tragedy becamepossible. There is no doubt in my mind the extremesection of the Hindu Mahasbha was involved in thisconspiracy. The activities of the RSS constituted aclear threat to the existence of the Government andthe State.”Surprisingly, Patel withdrew the RSS ban only ayear and half later with a warning that the RSSwould not take part in politics. Within a yearthough, the RSS floated the Jan Sangh which wouldlater be replaced by the BJP under the leadership ofVajpayee and Advani.

No wonder the BJP and the rest of the Parivar feelso indebted to Patel. However, there is more to itthan merely the love of the man who after the Parti-tion bluntly told India’s Muslims to “behave” or goto Pakistan and presided over the “Police Action” in1948 against the State of Hyderabad, the last bas-tion of Muslim glory in India, resulting in thou-sands of killings and rapes.

Behind the deification of Patel and shameless ap-propriation of national icons lies the Hindutva strat-agem to paper over its own role, or lack of it, inIndia’s freedom struggle on the one hand andreimagine the national narrative from purely aHindu perspective as against Nehru’s pluralist ap-proach on the other. The Parivar knows full wellthat without demolishing Nehru’s legacy, it cannotsucceed in reshaping the idea of India. For thecountry we know as India today was built on the vi-sion and ideals of the first prime minister. If India,bucking the trend in the region, grew into a secularand tolerant, multicultural democracy with a benev-olent state pursuing balanced growth and lookingout for its poor and dispossessed, the credit entirelygoes to Nehru.

John K Galbraith, the eminent US economist whoserved as his country’s ambassador to India duringthose defining years, offers an interesting assess-ment of Nehru: “With Gandhi, Nehru was, indeed,India: Gandhi was its history; Nehru, after inde-pendence, its reality.” Leading the young nation inits formative and crucial years, Nehru was indeedIndia. He defined its identity, charted its trajectoryof growth, informed its world view and shaped itspolitical and national character. Urbane, liberal, hu-manist, left-of-the-center and yes above all,staunchly secular — the most abused trait and beliefin Modi’s India — Nehru fashioned the young,emerging nation in his own image. Even people ofmy generation, born after Nehru’s death, grew upperpetually feeling his brooding presence and influ-ence everywhere.

Today, 50 years after his death, he still stands tall,towering above everyone else, including the in-flated pygmies of Hindutva, thanks to his immensecontribution and the indelible imprint he has left onthe country and its institutions. More important,Nehru and his powerful legacy, seen in the strongpolitical and democratic institutions of the country,remain a challenge and stumbling block in the wayof the Parivar’s ambitions to paint India saffron. If the Parivar’s idea of Hindu Rashtra is to takeshape, Nehru’s idea of an inclusive, tolerant Indiamust die. But, as Dilip Cherian notes in Tehelka, inpulling Nehru down, without understanding hisachievements, his detractors reveal their own small-ness. In trying to obliterate Nehru’s legacy, the Hin-dutva clan could end up destroying India.


On August 8 and 9, 2015, Sadbhav Mission,Indore organized a 2-Day Sadbhav ChintalShivir at Visarjan Ashram, Indore with the

dedicated efforts by Prof. A.A. Abbasi and ShriTapan Bhattacharya. Ninety people participated.From Delhi Mrs. Khadeejah Farooqui and Prof. V.K.Tripathi joined. Four sessions were held on the fol-lowing themes: i) Peoples’ History and Culture, ii)Class Character of India’s Partition and Rise of Sec-tarianism after Independence, iii) Neo-imperialism,Fascism and Terrorism, iv) Sadbhav Network andProgram.

Peoples’ History and Culture

For three thousand years India has been an agricul-ture based society. All the essentials, ranging fromfood grain, vegetables, fruits, spices, milk, oil, andbutter to clothes and shoes were produced in the vil-lage. To a large extent villages were self reliant orwould fulfil their needs with the cooperation ofnearby villages. In place of currency, exchange ofgoods was prevalent. Ironsmith, carpenter, cobbler,potter, goldsmith, weaver, tailor, barber, oilman,mason, and artisans were integral parts of agrariansociety. A small section in the village had large sharein ownership, had opportunities for education andhad influence over religious institutions. By the timeof arrival of Gautam Buddha and Mahavir Swami(500 BC) the authority of this class had increasedsubstantially and it began asserting itself as uppercaste. Common men were divided into castes thathad several levels of superiority. Dalits and tribalswere largely deprived of ownership of land. Thefreedom of landless laborers and tribals (who madeforest produce available to the village) was curtailedto a large extent.

When big empires came into existence, trades ex-panded, centers of higher education were created,mining grew, and the interference of state in the vil-lage increased. There were conflicts for power also.Big wars took place. A part of earnings of farmersand laborers went to the treasury. Soldiers wouldalso be hired from among them. Some masons andartisans would find work in state activities. How-ever, the interference of state in the villages was lim-ited. To a large extent the self reliance and freedomof villages remained intact. So remained the caste hi-erarchy. Village Panchayats would resolve the dis-

putes according to prevailing laws and customs, al-beit one can’t say that the laws were fully rationaland just. When it is recognized lawful that the Dalitsand tribals have no right to study then how could ajudgment on the issue of education would be just.The status of girls was also discriminatory and un-just. Despite these inconsistencies, a system had de-veloped between the farmers, laborers and artisans.Bauddha Bhikshus tried to take education to com-mon man. Some other people also came forward.

One common characteristic of all agrarian societiesthe world over has been adaptability. The agriculturebegan ten thousand years ago from the middle ofDajla and Farhat rivers in Iraq and the masses allover the world adopted it. Babur brought with himwax and new handicraft skills and these spreadwidely. Buddhism went from India to China, Viet-nam, Japan, Sri Lanka etc. Christianity came to Indiasoon after the crucifixion of Jesus when his discipleSt. Thomas came to Kerela. Islam too came to Indiaduring the life time of Prophet Mohammad (s.a.)through the traders and King Cheraman Perumal ac-cepted Islam. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca.Many others adopted Islam.

In 1194 when Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti came toIndia from Iran and established his khankah inAjmer, Sufi-Saint movement began in India. Fromevery section and class emerged sufis and saints –Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia,Kabir, Guru Nanak, Ravidas, Namdev, Mira, Tulsi-das, Soordas, Rahim, Bulleshah, Hamdani etc. – whospread the message of truth, love and equalitythrough their lives and behaviour. They expressedthe essence of Vedas, Upnishads and Qoran in sim-ple words/ verses and brought religion to thedoorstep of masses. This lessened casteism, and fun-damentalism. Many people, influenced by Sufis ac-cepted Islam. For Dalits it provided a way ofliberation from generations of oppression. Thusnearly one quarter of India’s population adoptedIslam. Even those who didn’t convert, adopted sev-eral of Sufi’ teachings. Many people influenced bythe life and message of Jesus and the behaviour offathers and nuns accepted Christianity. Only a fewmight be there who converted under greed or pres-sure. The influence of state on social structure wasnot large. Under the rules of kings like Akbar, therewere some improvements in laws related to owner-ship of land, land revenue, and justice. Tolerance

Essence of Discussions at Chitan Shivir Indore


also grew.

In the 17th century, Science took a mighty leap for-ward when Newton formulated laws of motion insimple mathematical form and James Watt inventedthe steam engine. This led to the development oftrains and mills. The understanding of laws of elec-tricity and magnetism led to the generation of elec-trical power from coal, oil and flowing water and tothe development of motors, machines and appli-ances.

This development had its maximum impact on theprocess of production. The oil, cloth, sugar (gur) andother commodities of daily use that were manufac-tured in village industry began to be prepared in bigmills. The mill owners needed cheap raw materialand markets for their finished products. To realizethese objectives they and their ruling classes consid-ered it proper to enslave other countries. In this pur-suit they needed weapons, hence they hired scientiststo make weapons. Thus colonialism and imperialismspread in the world and science, instead of becomingbeneficial to the masses, became an instrument oftheir slavery and poverty.

In India British rule began in 1757 when Sirajud-daula was defeated in Plassey. British destroyed thetextile cottage industry, put restrictions on agricul-ture, took away rights of Panchayats (village re-publics), raised an army of landlords and officers tohave direct control of villages. This broke self re-liance of villages and led to famines every ten years,killing 1 to 2 million people.

However, science in Europe led to expansion of edu-cation and scientific thinking. Marx discovered thesurplus value of labor and quantified exploitation,That led to freedom movements in the world. In1857 India had a massive rebellion against theBritish rule. Farmers and tribals participated in it inmany parts. Its prime feature was Hindu-Muslimunity. In Awadh alone, one lakh people were killed, alarge number of whom were Muslims.

In 1885 Indian National Congress was establishedthat laid the foundation of political struggle for free-dom. Dadabhai Naoroji exposed acute economic ex-ploitation of the Indian masses by the British. In1915 Gandhi returned from South Africa. He gave anew meaning to Freedom – freedom in which everyone is freed from oppression and exploitation, and inattaining which he/ she has a role. It was not possible

through guns to give strength to the souls of the op-pressed and meek masses. Gandhi touched peoples’souls through truth, labor and realization of pain.From that evolved the power of the people. Farmers,workers, weavers, Hindus, Muslims, Christians,Sikhs, Dalits, tribals, backwards, upper castes, boysand girls participated in every struggle from Cham-paran Satyagraha to Salt Satyagraha and Quit Indiamovement. In 1947 India gained freedom.

Class Character of Partition

The foundation of partition was laid in the aftermathof 1857 revolt with the return of the British to powerwhen they suppressed Muslims more than Hindusand latter Hindus more. This began antagonism inthe elite of both the communities against each other.The structure of landlords, officers, traders andprinces, created by the British, was such that theywere devoted to the British. When Satyagraha andKhilafat and non-cooperation movements of 1919-1922 shook the roots of British empire, these classescreated a network of communalism – Hindu Ma-hasabha , Muslim League (initially both these werein favour of freedom), and RSS. For them Hindus’biggest enemies were not the British rulers but Mus-lim working classes and the enemy of Muslims werepoor Hindus. The poison of sectarianism was so ef-fective in the help of imperialism that even now itcontinues to be the powerful weapon of neo-imperi-alism.

The 1943 famine that killed two million people,mostly in Bengal, also helped the communalists toraise the bogey of higher percentage of Hindusamong the people who became instantly rich throughhoarding. In March 1947 the demand of partition ofPunjab and Bengal by non-Muslim political partiesalso advanced the cause of partition. Gandhi had nodistinction between Hindus and Muslims. When thevolcano of hatred erupted, he jumped into it whilethe government encouraged the rioters. Neverthelesspartition was not the division of people or land. Itwas only the division of political power – rule of theCongress on some states and the rule of MuslimLeague on some others.

Rise of Sectarianism after Independence

Gandhi’s assassination in 1948 stopped the commu-nal storm in India and Pakistan, For 20 years India


remained peaceful barring a few riots in Jabalpur,Ranchi etc. However, sectarian forces continuedspreading their network underneath the surface.They already had their base among the officers,traders, landlords and princes. Through them theystrengthened their hold on administration, academicinstitutions, religious institutions and markets. In1969, by invoking massive communal riots in Bhi-wandi and Ahmedabad that killed several thousandpeople, they established sectarianism as the primeinstrument to break the unity of masses and accentu-ate exploitation. After that, massive riots, e.g. theones in Nellie, Delhi and Bhagalpur, became a fre-quent occurrence. The temple movement, wheremiddle and elite classes played a major role, raisedpassions to sky high. Around that time began global-ization and privatization that rapidly increased theeconomic power of these classes. Their control overmedia and polity also grew. Post-Babri Mumbairiots, 2002 Gujarat pogrom, 2012 Bodoland vio-lence, 2013 Muzaffarnagar violence that killed thou-sands of people and rendered lakhs homeless areexamples of the ferocity of communalism. The on-going process of polarizing farmers and workersarousing religious hatred is even more dangerous,specially when the villages are facing ruination atthe hands of market forces. Communal forces are notoppressive and exploitative only to minorities butmasses of all religions.

Neo-Imperialism, Fascism andTerrorism

After World War II, capitalist camp declared com-munism as its main foe. Bloody coups were executedagainst elected/ progressive governments in Iran, In-donesia, Congo, Chile, and other nations and dicta-tors were installed. Millions ofpeople were killed by imposingdevastating wars on Korea, Viet-nam, Al-Salvador, Nicaragua etc.In this campaign communalistsand terrorists of all shades –Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sin-halese etc. became their trusted al-lies.

In 1979 this fearsome designreached our neighbourhood. Untilthen Afghanistan had no extrem-ism or violence. During our free-dom struggle it had provided us

maximum help. In 1979 US intelligence got Presi-dent Taraqi killed and Amin installed. Soon Russianintelligence got Amin killed and Karmal installed.The latter invited Russian forces to Afghanistan.USA funded fundamentalism and raised Taliban andOsama Bin Laden, to fight against them. After 10years Russians left, however, super power tusslekilled lakhs of innocents. When USSR vanished,capitalist bloc declared Islamic fundamentalism asits new enemy.

Terrorism for the last sixty years has been a slave ofrich nations. They raise it and in the name of finish-ing it kill lakhs of innocents. Today they talk of Is-lamic terrorism, while 80% Muslims of the world,like other masses, are victims of violence and ex-ploitation - half a million Muslims got killed inBosnia, one million died of hunger and lack of medi-cine in Iraq due the sanctions imposed by the richnations, Palestinians are oppressed and so on. Onlyhandful of Muslims indulge in terrorism and thatkind of people are there in all religions, who killedthousands of people including Gandhi, MartinLuther King, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi. However,real culprits that brought death 40 million people,Hitler, Mussolini etc. were the rulers of affluent na-tions. In last sixty years too the ones responsible forkillings of millions are the ruling elite of affluent na-tions.

The real motive of rich nations is economic exploita-tion. In the garb of countering terrorism they aremaking military bases in developing nations andspreading their intelligence network that keep lead-ers frightened and remain subservient to interests ofmultinational capital. This is the way to slavery. Be-sides this, they are strengthening sectarian forces.


I By Sameen Ahmed Khan I

The 2015 UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Awardfor Environment Preservation has beenawarded to Fabio A. Kalesnik, Horacio

Sirolli and Luciano Iribarren of the Wetlands Ecol-ogy Research Group of the University of BuenosAires, Argentina. The Prize is awarded every twoyears. The prize consists of a diploma, a medaland a cash endowment of US$70,000. It is fundedby a generous donation by His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos Bin Said Al Said of Oman. The awardingceremony took place on the first day of the WorldScience Forum held in Budapest, Hungary, from4-7 November 2015, under the auspices of UN-ESCO. This year marks 150th anniversary of theHungarian Academy of Sciences; the 70th anniver-sary of the foundation of UNESCO and coincideswith the silver jubilee of the prize.

The research and advocacy work of Kalesnik,Sirolli and Iribarren have contributed to the estab-lishment and management of the Delta del ParanáBiosphere Reserve of the UNESCO Man and theBiosphere Programme. Established in the year2000, this Biosphere Reserve is a coastal freshwa-ter delta of the Paraná River located just north ofBuenos Aires. It is an area rich in biodiversity in-cluding species that find their southernmost limitof distribution, which makes the area interestingfor the conservation of genetic diversity. TheBiosphere Reserve contains low forests, forestecosystems and secondary forests with plants suchas Black Cottonwood (also known as western bal-sam poplar or California poplar). The main humanactivity in the delta is the exploitation of the wil-low forest for commercial purposes. Some areas

are however difficult to access and human impactis low. The region has suffered from a loss ofhuman population and there were only 3,600 habi-tants living there, when the project was estab-lished. The establishment of the BiosphereReserve aims at revitalizing the economy of the re-gion at the same time as conserving the naturaland cultural values of the area.

In order to support international efforts in the fieldof environment conservation, His Majesty SultanQaboos Bin Said of Oman declared the establish-ment of the prize during his visit to the UNESCOHeadquarters (Paris, France) in 1989. The award-ing of the prizes commenced in 1991. The pur-pose of the UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize forEnvironmental Preservation is to afford recogni-tion to outstanding contributions by individuals,groups of individuals, institutes or organizations inthe management or preservation of the environ-ment. Contributions have to consistent with thepolicies, aims and objectives of UNESCO, and inrelation to the Organization’s programmes in thisfield, i.e. environmental and natural resources re-search, environmental education and training, cre-ation of environmental awareness through thepreparation of environmental information materi-als and activities aimed at establishing and manag-ing protected areas such as biosphere reserves andnatural World Heritage sites.

The UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environ-ment Protection aims at finding scientific solutionsto the environmental problems being faced byplanet Earth. Since its launch in 1991, the prizehonoured individuals and institutions across theglobe. The prize is a noble message by His

2015 UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation

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Majesty Sultan Qaboos and is meant to invite thewhole world to put in effort to achieve environ-mental safety for humanity. It is the first Arab en-vironmental protection prize to be awarded at theinternational level. The other major science prizeinstituted by the Arabs is the King Faisal Interna-tional Prize.

Nominations for the Prize can only be made byUNESCO Members States and by InternationalOrganizations or by Non-Governmental Organiza-tions which have consultative status with UN-ESCO, each of which may make only onenomination. Others can propose their candidate totheir country’s National Commission for UN-ESCO. The deadline for submitting nominationsfor the 2017 Prize is around June 2017.

Department of Mathematics and Sciences, Collegeof Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar University

Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

([email protected], http://SameenAhmed-Khan.webs.com/)

Bibliography1. UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Envi-ronmental Preservation Websites: http://www.un-qaboos-prize.net/ andhttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/man-and-biosphere-programme/awards-and-prizes/sultan-qaboos/

2. World Science Forum 2015 Websites,http://www.sciforum.hu/http://en.unesco.org/events/world-science-forum-2015

3. Environment Society of Oman,http://www.eso.org.om/

4. King Faisal Foundation Website:http://www.kfip.org/

5. Sameen Ahmed Khan, UNESCO SultanQaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation for2013, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 04, pp 13 (April2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/.

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I By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam i

Over the last few weeks there has been a grow-ing sense of uncertainty among Muslims whenthey read about attacks on their co-religionists,

their religious symbols, and malicious statementsagainst celebrities with Muslim names. There is aclearly discernible method in this madness.

After the crushing defeat of BJP in Bihar elections, theSangh-controlled, hate-driven organisations had for awhile slowed down their rowdyism, fearing that suchacts would further alienate voters from their politicalparty, the BJP.

Interestingly, as the demoralised Sangh organisationsde-escalated their goonda attacks, the large communityof our writers, poets, artists and scientist relaxed andallowed the powerful award wapsicampaign to gradu-ally taper off. As if on a cue, a fresh round of violenceand provocation has begun.

The lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri for allegedly storingbeef in his fridge was a better- known incident, butsimilar, less murderous, attacks have been going on invillages away from media glare. The police are notknown to have thwarted a single attack, or brought theculprits to book.

Such attacks by Gorakhsha (cow protection) gangs arenow more frequently reported. They are making ran-dom raids on non-vegetarians and alleging people to beeating, carrying or storing beef before beating them upbadly. More often than not, it turns out to be mutton, orbuffalo meet, not beef.

Nobody cares to know whether the flesh in question isbeef. Even the meat taken away from Akhlaq’s fridgefor forensic test is still not known whether it was beef.Supposing it was beef, the law does not allow vigilanteviolence or murder, as in the case of Akhlaq, for this“crime”.

The latest case has been reported from Harda district inMadhya Pradesh. Last week gang of ruffians boarded atrain near Bhopal and straightaway started roughing upMuslim-looking men and women, alleging that theycould be carrying beef. They announced that they wereGorakhsha volunteers. They demanded from all Mus-lim-looking men and women to show their baggage.They snatched a sack from a couple and asked whatwas inside. They said 30 kg of pulses and other grains.Then the ruffians threw away the sack out of the run-

ning train.

The Muslim husband and wife, whose sack had thusbeen thrown away, started a senffle with the ruffians.Then a policemen materialised from nowhere and dis-engaged them. The Gorakhsha men moved to the nextcompartment, hunting for some other Muslim.

The police almost never come to the victim’s rescue.Even in this case the policeman intervened only afterthe sack with 30 kg of pulses and other grains in it wasthrown out of the running train. However, in this casethe Harda SP acted more boldly and arrested some ofthe culprits.

Undaunted, the ring leader of the gang has threatenedthat if SP did not relent, he would have to face a mas-sive anti-Muslim riot. He threatened to “repeat 2013 inHarda.” He was alluding to the huge anti-Muslim riotof 2013 in Harda, which was a handiwork of these peo-ple. The man has several criminal cases against him.Fortunately, the SP has refused to be bullied by this po-litically-connected mischief maker.

This terror campaign against Muslims has several com-ponents. One of them is making derogatory remarksagainst Islam, Muslims and their Prophet (PBUH) pub-licly. The obvious goal is to humiliate Muslims enoughfor them to retaliate, which then is turned into a full-fledged riot situation.

Another is to target high-profile Muslims and publiclymalign them as anti-national. At least on two occasionsthey tried to humiliate Vice President Hamid Ansari bysuggesting that he was not patriotic enough. On bothoccasions the veep was constitutionally right andproper while the Sangh trouble-makers were in thewrong.

Every now and then they ridicule Dilip Kumar,Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan for their Muslimbirth. Shahrukh’s and Aamir’s high-security protectionhas been taken away and Aamir has been dropped fromgovernment ad campaign. These steps have been takenafter a long demonisation campaign against them.Salman Khan has been spared because of his father’sand his closeness to the PM.

All this shows that no lesson has really been learntfrom Bihar.http://iosworld.org/short_takes/Fresh_wave_of_goonda_attacks.htm

Fresh wave of goonda attacks


i Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood i

Last week an elderly lady in my extended fam-ily left for her eternal abode. May Allah blessher soul with a high pedestal in Paradise,

amen. Later during condolence sessions it came tolight that her son is highly technically qualified andworked in the Gulf at half a million Rupees monthlysalary. As mother began falling frequently ill he re-quested his wife to shift to New Delhi, permanentlystay with mother and serve her. The good wife hap-pily agreed and shifted base to the Indian capital. Indue course, as mother began remaining regularly un-well, the son quit his lucrative job in the Gulf, tookup a not so good position in the national capital re-gion and both of them started living full time withmother. He noticed that due to her aching kneesmother was not able to climb up while she liked tosit in the sun on the roof. He carved out space in acorner of the house and got an elevator installed. Lo& behold, even in the 21st century there are somepersons in the world who discern God's real purposebehind creating the humanity and act thereupon. Onefeels like envying the parental upbringing of thisyoung couple. The boy and his wife were actuallyimplementing God's command in letter and spirit: Inthe best way possible do good to your parents andthe relatives (holy Quran 4.36). Even Dr Sir Moham-mad Iqbal was amazed at such high level of parentalupbringing:

Ye faizan-e nazar tha ya kimaktab ki karaamat thiSikhaaye kis-ne Ismaeel koadaab-e farzandeeWas it the school lesson orparental upbringing thattaught Ismail (Ishmael)what should he happily for-bear for the sake of his par-ents' pleasure ?

While the significance ofserving the parents is gen-erally well known let's tryto understand what God hasenjoined upon us in respect

of our relatives. In order to describe the relativesGod has used two types of terms in the Quran:Arhaam and Aqraboon or other derivatives of the 3-letter Arabic root QRB like Qurba, Aqrabeen,Maqraba. Arhaam is plural of Rahm that's the cham-ber in the mother's sacrosanct body in which thehuman being gestates. But as a collective noun,Arhaam has been used in Quran Kareem to describeone's extended family comprising all the relativesboth through birth and matrimony. As per divine in-struction each one of us has to continuously and dulydischarge the obligations of kinship (4.1). MaulanaAbdul Majid Daryabadi writes in Tafseer-e-Majidithat according to the divine law (Shari'at) the kinshipgroup is the basic unit of society. Prophetic traditionsays that, hanging from the celestial throne, thewomb supplicates God to 'bless those who augmentme and censure those who frustrate my centrifugalaspirations'. Quranic commentators mutually agreethat patronizing the relatives is a fundamental obli-gation of faith (Wajib) and to deliberately disregardthem is sacrilegious. For this, the individual is undercontinuous divine surveillance. The Prophet (S) alsoexhorted that even if the other fellow tries to sabo-tage the relationship bond, one should still stick onunilaterally. He declared: Whosoever wishes aug-mentation of provisions and elongation of life periodmust indulge in obliging and appeasing the relatives(Sila-Rahmi).

Abu Huraira (R) complained, "I try to strengthen the

Appeasing the Relatives: Article of Faith


bonding while some of the relatives frustrate my ef-forts"; the Prophet (S) informed him that till he doesthat an angel would remain deployed by his side.God further desires (26.214) us to keep remindingthe society about such injunctions of Shari'at. Also,He cautions us that the relatives deserve our atten-tion on priority vis a vis the other members of the so-ciety (33.6). According to Tafhim-ul-Quran any actof charity done ignoring and superseding the needyrelatives doesn't squarely measure up to the divinereckoning. There is a special mention in the Book re-garding helping the relatives who are orphan (Yatee-man za maqraba - 90.15) that commands greaterreward. We are forewarned (47.22) that our goingagainst these heavenly writs may tantamount totwisting the basic infrastructure leading to societalupheaval; God detests and deprecates such assailantsof His design. Tafhim-ul-Quran says that this verseenlists Qata-Rahmi (cutting off a natural relation-ship) among the fundamental prohibitions (Haraam).Conversely, Sila-Rahmi has been bracketed (2.177,4.36) among the best deeds (A'maal-e-Saaleh).According to the commentators all the relatives -distant & close - of an individual constitute what isknown as Zawil Arhaam. For special considerationof this group God has used (42.23) the term Al-mawaddata Fil-Qurba. Closer the relationship moreintense is the obligation and bigger is the sin forpausing or laying off the relationship. As per divinescheme Zawil Arhaam has been made internally self-sufficient. In a kaleidoscope, turning around thecylinder in a circular motion shows different designsand colour combinations. Similar is the internalmechanism of Zawil Arhaam: in the group of rela-tives some arevery rich, somevery poor, someon the threshold,some verylearned, some il-literate, but thegroup as a wholeis internally self-reliant. God keepsa tab on everygroup member asto his/her behaviorwith others. God'sminimum expec-tation from usunder Sila-Rahmiis to "not avoidwhat best one is

capable of doing" for the fellow group members. Intwo verses of Quran Karim (17.26 & 30.38) Sila-Rahmi has been declared as the right of the needyrelatives in the assets & capabilities of the better offmembers of Zawil Arhaam. Mind you, God maysometimes even turn around the kaleidoscope ofZawil Arhaam and thereafter the red color may beginlooking white .. and the white, pink etc. Qata-Rah-miis ill-treatment with the relatives or deliberatelynot doing what best one is capable of doing with therelatives. In 17.26 God enjoins upon us not to bespend-thrift and squander away our wealth & incomeand, instead, discharge the obligations of the needyrelatives.

Simultaneously, God has also put a caveat (60.3) thateven in order to favor the relatives nothing should bedone in violation of God's law otherwise on theJudgement Day the relatives too would not be ofhelp. Also in 4.135 God clarifies that we are ex-pected to remain on the side of justice even though itgoes against ourselves, our parents or any other rela-tives; be he/she rich or poor, God warrants our obe-dience in supersession of his/her interests. We neednot let our desires have the upper hand vis a vis thedivinely mandated straight path and should, rather,fulfill the promise that we've made to our Creator(6.152). God told the Prophet (S), 'Say, I do not askfrom you for any compensation (for guiding to theright path) except valuing the natural relationships'.The scriptural research done by the famous commen-tator Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanvi (R) tells us that pa-tronizing the relatives amounts to pure observance offaith (Iman).


i By Sameen Ahmed Khan I

The King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, SaudiArabia has announced the King Faisal Inter-national Prize for the year 2016. The recipi-

ents in the categories are as follows. Service toIslam: Shaikh Dr. Saleh Abdullah bin Himeid ofSaudi Arabia; Islamic Studies (Topic: Muslim Geog-raphy Heritage): Professor Abdullah bin Yousif Al-Ghunaim of Kuwait; Arabic Language and Literature(Topic: Analysis of The Arabic Poetic Text); Profes-sor Mohamed Abdalmotaleb Mostafa of Egypt andProfessor Mohammed El-Ghazouani Miftah of Mo-rocco; Medicine (Topic: Clinical Application of NextGeneration Genetics): Professor Joris Andre Veltman and Professor, both from Netherlands; and Sci-ence (Topic: Biology) was awarded to ProfessorVamsi Krishna Mootha of USA and ProfessorStephen Philip Jackson of UK. The prize consists ofa certificate, hand-written in Diwani calligraphy,summarizing the laureate's work; a commemorative24 carat, 200 gram gold medal, uniquely cast foreach Prize; and a cash endowment of Saudi Riyal750,000 (about US$200,000) to be shared equally.The winners received their awards in a ceremony inRiyadh under the auspices of the King of Saudi Ara-bia.

The prizes are named after the third king of SaudiArabia. In the year 1976, the sons of late KingFaisal (1906-1975) established a large-scale philan-thropic organization based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,and named it as King Faisal Foundation (KFF). Oneof the activities of the KFF is the King Faisal Inter-national Prize (KFIP), to honour scholars and scien-

tists, who have made the most significant advancesto benefit humanity and enrich human knowledge.The annual prizes are in five broad categories.Prizes for Arabic Literature; Islamic Studies; andServices to Islam; were first given in 1979. Medi-cine and Science were introduced in 1982 and 1983respectively. Each year the selection committee des-ignates subjects or subcategories to each of theabove five. The science subcategories cover a broadscope: physics; mathematics; chemistry; and biologyby rotation cycle of four years. Over the thirty-seven years (1979-2015), there have been 247 laure-ates from 43 nationalities. The distribution isService to Islam (44 scholars from 21 countries); Is-lamic Studies (36 scholars from 14 countries); Ara-bic Language and Literature (48 scholars from 13countries); Medicine (65 scholars from 13 coun-tries); and Science (54 scholars from 12 countries).Within Science, the individual subject recipients arePhysics (17 from 7 countries); Mathematics (10 from6 countries); Chemistry (14 from 6 countries); andBiology (13 from 4 countries). Within three decadesthe KFIP are ranked among the most prestigiousawards. To date there are 17 KFIP laureates whoalso received Nobel Prizes (mostly after the KFIP).There are two KFIP laureates (in Mathematics) whoare also recipients of the Fields Medal.

The prize for Service to Islam has been awarded toShaikh Dr. Saleh bin Abd Allah bin Humaid Con-sultant, Saudi Royal Court; Member of the Commis-sion of Senior Religious Scholars, Imam andPreacher of the Holy Mosque in Makkah and Presi-dent of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Jed-dah (http://www.fiqhacademy.org.sa/). He was

King Faisal InternationalPrizes for 2016


awarded the King Faisal International Prize in recog-nition of his outstanding services to Islam, includingthe following: (a) His leading role in the Interna-tional Islamic Fiqh Academy which serves the Is-lamic nation with regards to contemporary andforthcoming fiqh issues. His Excellency has putforth a strenuous effort, profound wisdom, deep vi-sion and positive influence when dealing with con-temporary fiqh issues. His input illustratesmoderation and combines original fiqh opinions withpresent time changes. (b) His meticulous efforts inreligious education and call to Islam through hun-dreds of classes, lectures and conferences in differ-ent congregations and cultural centers. (c) Inaddition to his dedicated efforts in supporting the Is-lamic nation through his classes, fatwa and speeches

at the Holy Mosque. (d) His authorship of many Is-lamic texts highlighting the virtuousness, values andhistory of Islam. A total of 44 scholars from 21countries have been awarded the King Faisal Inter-national Prize for Service to Islam. The previousfour winners from the Indian subcontinent areSayyid Abul Ala’a Al-Mowdoodi (1979); SayyidAbul-Hasan Ali Al-Hasani Al-Nadawi (1980); Khur-shid Ahmed (1990) and Dr. Zakir Abdul Karim Naik(2015).

The prize for Islamic Studies (Topic: Muslim Geog-raphy Heritage) has been awarded to Professor Ab-dullah bin Yousif Al-Ghunaim of Kuwait. Inrecognition of his seminal contributions both as anauthor and critical editor of original manuscripts ofMuslim geographic legacy and his distinguishedventure to revive ancient Arabic terms on shapes ofthe earth’s surface and adapt them to contemporarygeography. This is exemplified by his Arabic texts“The Pearls” and “The Arabic Geographic Heritage”in addition to his unprecedented record of earth-quakes in his book: “Arabic Register of Earth-quakes”. He is the President of the Kuwaiti Studiesand Research Center (http://www.crsk.edu.kw/). Atotal of 36 scholars from 15 countries have been

awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Is-lamic Studies. The two recipients from India areMuhammad N. Siddiqui (1982); and Ali AhmadGhulam Muhammad Nadvi (2004).

The prize for Arabic Language and Literature(Topic: Analysis of The Arabic Poetic Text); Profes-sor Mohamed Abdalmotaleb Mostafa of Egypt andProfessor Mohammed El-Ghazouani Miftah of Mo-rocco. Professor Mohamed Abdalmotaleb Mostafa

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is recognized for his important accomplishments inapplied analysis of Arabic poetry; he has compe-tently and skilfully coined his analysis of poetic textswith deep knowledge of Arabic culture and insightof contemporary literary and stylistic concepts. Pro-fessor Mohammed El-Ghazouani Miftah is recog-nized for his distinguished methodical andtheoretical endeavours in the Prize’s topic. He hasemployed modern concepts in analyzing and de-scribing Arabic poetic texts, perceiving them withinthe context of human culture. A total of 48 scholarsfrom 13 countries have been awarded the KingFaisal International Prize for Arabic Language andLiterature.

The prize for Medicine (Topic: Topic: Clinical Ap-plication of Next Generation Genetics) is awarded toProfessor Joris Andre Veltman and Professor ofNetherlands. Joris Andre Veltman is a Professor ofTranslational Genomics at the Radboud UniversityMedical Center, Nijmegen, and at the MaastrichtUniversity Medical Center, Maastricht. Han GrritBrunner is a Professor of Medical Genetics andHead of the Department of Human Genetics at theRadboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre,and Head of the Department of Clinical Geneticsof the Maastricht University Medical Center,Maastricht. Professors Brunner and Veltman wereselected as winners in recognition of their promi-nent role in moving into clinical practice a novelmethod of analyzing DNA, referred to as next gen-eration sequencing. This has greatly improved theway of identifying genes that cause disease in pa-tients and families suspected of having an inher-ited disorder. They have also initiated stronginternational collaboration in both research and di-agnostics. They have published widely in out-standing scientific journals and have beenrecognized by their peers as innovative scientists.A total of 65 scholars from 13 countries have been

awarded the King Faisal International Prize forMedicine.

This year’s prize for Science is in the area of Biol-ogy. It has been awarded to Professor Vamsi Kr-ishna Mootha of USA and Professor StephenPhilip Jackson of UK. Vamsi Krishna Mootha wasborn in Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), India and hisfamily moved to the USA when he was an infant.Mootha comes from a family of doctors. His fa-ther is a doctor, as are his two brothers, his sister,and all of their spouses! In 1993, Mootha receivedhis BS in Mathematical and Computational Sci-ence from Stanford University. He too joined thefamily’s medical fold, but with his tastes sharp-ened for laboratory research. He received an MD(1998) from Harvard University Medical School.It was as a first-year medical student at Harvardthat he found his passion: mitochondria, the micro-scopic “power plants” inside cells that convertfood into energy. Vamsi Mootha is an Investigatorof the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and aProfessor of Systems Biology and of Medicine atHarvard Medical School. Mootha is currently notclinically active, but rather, leads a research teamdedicated to fundamental mitochondrial biologyand disease. His research group consists of clini-cians, computer scientists, and biologists, whowork collaboratively to elucidate the networkproperties of mitochondria, and how these proper-ties go awry in human disease. They are alsousing chemical genomics to find disease biomark-ers and identify therapeutic strategies. Dr. Moothahas received a number of honours, including aPadma Shri from the Government of India (2014).Stephen Philip Jackson was born in 1962 in UK.Jackson received BS in Biochemistry from Uni-versity of Leeds in 1983. He was awarded thePhD in 1987 for his work on the yeast RNA splic-

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Main Features of the King Faisal International Prize

Postage Stamps On 3 April 2006, Saudi Arabia issued the following two postage stamps with the theme, "King Faisal International Prize - Supporting Research"


ing carried out at Imperial College London andEdinburgh University. He is a Senior GroupLeader and Head of Cancer Research UK Labora-tories at the Gurdon Institute, and an AssociateFaculty member at the Wellcome Trust Sanger In-stitute. Jackson’s work focuses on the DNA-dam-age response, which optimises cell survival andgenome integrity by detecting DNA damage, sig-nalling its presence and mediating its repair. Suchdefects are associatedwith neurodegenera-tive diseases, immune-deficiencies,premature ageing, in-fertility and cancer.This research mightsuggest new ways toalleviate such condi-tions. He is also cred-ited with an innovativeapproach to bring hisfindings into tangibletherapeutic products totreat cancer. It ishoped that, togetherwith the work of oth-ers, such research willindicate how defectsin the DNA damageresponse can lead to diseases such as cancer; neu-rodegenerative diseases and premature aging, andhow such diseases might be better diagnosed andtreated. A total of 54 scholars from 12 countrieshave been awarded the King Faisal InternationalPrize for Science. Prof. Mudumbai SeshachaluNarasimhan is the only Indian to have won theKFIP in the science category (for Mathematics).

Here, it is relevant to recall the Egyptian bornAmerican chemist Ahmed Hassan Zewail, who pi-oneered the Femtosecond chemistry in the 1980’sby observing the chemical reactions (a femtosec-ond is a thousandth of a billionth of a second). Hewas the first person to observe the formation andbreaking of chemical bonds in real time. AhmedZewail was recognized by the King Faisal Interna-tional Prize for Science in 1989 in the subcategoryphysics with the co-winner Theodor WolfgangHänsch from Germany. Ahmed Zewail receivedthe 1999 Nobel Prize for Chemistry unshared.Egypt recognized him by issuing the postage

stamps in 1998 and 1999; Order of Merit in 1995;and Order of the Grand Collar of Nile in 1999. Itis to be further recalled that the Mathematician andScience Historian Roshdi Hifni Rashed receivedthe Award in 2007 under the category of IslamicStudies for the Topic: Muslims’ Contribution toPure or Applied Sciences. The other major scienceprizes instituted by the Middle Eastern region arethe UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environ-

mental Preservation and therecently launched MustafaPrize for Science by Iran.

The topics for the fiveprizes for the year 2017(1438 Hijri) are Service toIslam; Islamic Studies; Ara-bic Language and Litera-ture; Medicine (Topic:Biologic Therapeutics inAutoimmune Diseases); andScience (Topic: Physics) re-spectively. The deadline forall nominations is Sundaythe first May 2016 (23Rajab 1437). Additional de-tails at the King FaisalFoundation Websites:http://www.kff.com/ and

http://www.kfip.org/ repectively.

Department of Mathematics and Sciences, College of Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar UniversitySalalah, Sultanate of Oman([email protected], http://SameenAhmed-Khan.webs.com/)

Further Reading1. Sameen Ahmed Khan, The King Faisal In-ternational Prize for 2014, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue02, pp 21-22 (February 2014). Published by BiharAnjuman, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/. 2. Sameen Ahmed Khan, The 2015 KingFaisal International Prize, BaKhabar, Vol 8, Issue03, pp 4-7 (March 2014). Published by Bihar An-juman, http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/. 3. Sameen Ahmed Khan, UNESCO SultanQaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation for2013, BaKhabar, Vol 7, Issue 04, pp 13 (April2014). Published by Bihar Anjuman,

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Main Features of the King Faisal International Prize

Postage Stamps On 3 April 2006, Saudi Arabia issued the following two postage stamps with the theme, "King Faisal International Prize - Supporting Research"

BaKhabar, February 2016

Documents

Transcript of BaKhabar, February 2016