By: Tawfik Hamid
However, it is vital that the Muslim world realize that most — if not all — of the criticism of Islam and the prophet is based on what traditional and mainstream Islamic books teach. In other words, it is unfair to say that criticism of Islam is based on or motivated merely by bias against the religion, especially when we see thousands of Mosques and Islamic schools built in and sometimes supported by Western countries.
Many more limitations are placed on the rights of minorities to build their religious temples or to practice their religion freely in Muslim countries than in the West. For example, Christians are not permitted to have their Bibles with them in Saudi Arabia while Muslims have complete freedom to have the Quran in the United States and European countries.
Muslims MUST ask themselves who actually discriminates against the other: Is the West discriminating against Islam or is the Muslim world discriminating against people of other faiths? Who needs to change and show more tolerance for religious minorities, the West or the Muslim world?
In addition, when the Taliban destroyed the historical Buddha statues, the Muslim world was virtually silent, which may indicate a form of acceptance for this barbaric act. The Muslims MUST ask themselves, what would they have felt if the Buddhists, for example, destroyed the Muslim holy mosque in Mecca?
Furthermore, Muslims enjoy full freedom in the West to preach to non-Muslims and to convert them to Islam. On the contrary, Muslims in general become very furious if they discover that non-Muslims are proselytizing to Muslims to convert them to other faiths. In fact, proselytizing to Muslims is illegal in many Islamic countries.
The Muslim world needs to ask itself again: Is the West discriminating against them, or are the Muslims discriminating against the others?
The Muslim world needs to realize that Muslims themselves have created the negative image of Islam in the West.
When mainstream Islamic books of Sira (biography of the Prophet Mohammad that was essentially written by Muslims) teach that the prophet took a woman as booty in the war after forcing her to see her father and brother decapitated. Do Muslims expect the world to say, “Wow, this is a wonderful model for tolerance!”
When we teach in several Islamic books that Prophet Mohammad said Allah ordered him to fight the entire world until they subjugate to Islam and in current shariah books that Muslims have to wage wars against non-Muslims and offer them to choose one of the following options: to convert to Islam, to pay humiliating tax, or to be killed, do we expect others to tell us that Islam is the religion of peace?
I wonder whether Muslims would consider such actions peaceful if non -Muslims declared war against Muslims to spread their religion and offered Muslims the choice of converting, or to paying a humiliating tax,, or to be killed.
When our traditional Islamic books mention that Mohammad ordered his followers to torture other human beings, does the Muslim world expect other peoples to tell us that the prophet of Islam was sent as a mercy for mankind?
When we teach in Al-Buchary [mainstream Hadith book for Sunni Muslims] that the Prophet Mohammad married and had sex with a 9-year-old child, and that he used to bring dolls for her so she could play with them, or that he used to have sex with his nine wives in one night, do we expect the world to tell us that the prophet was a role model for mankind?
If mentioning these stories is considered an insult to Islam, then Al-Buchary — not the West — should take responsibility for insulting the religion.
When non-Muslims realize that Muslims who convert away from Islam must be killed under Redda law (killing the apostates) and that this law is approved by ALL schools of Islamic jurisprudence based on the words of the Prophet Mohammad, shall we expect them to sing praises for how Islam respects the value of religious freedom?
When non-Muslims read in our mainstream books that stoning of adulterous women is acceptable in our modern times, and that it is permissible for a man to beat his wife to discipline her, and that polygamy is permissible for men up to four wives, do we expect that the world will tell us that Islam is the religion that gave women their rights?
When non-Muslims hear fatwas from some of our leading scholars that drinking the urine of the prophet was a blessing for his disciples, should we expect words of admiration or criticism?
When we teach in our approved Islamic books that early Muslim armies invaded many countries to spread Islam and that the agreement between the second caliphate and non-Muslim minorities in these countries did not allow non-Muslims to sit while Muslims were standing and did not allow non-Muslims to raise their voices while crying when following their dead, do we expect that others to be speaking loudly about the “tolerance” of Islam?
It is important that the Muslim world realize that it needs to stop discrimination against its non-Muslim minorities and that Muslims themselves — and not Westerners — created the negative image of Islam.
Denying that the above teachings exist just makes things worse, as they are in our Islamic books.
The best way to stop criticism of Islam is to admit that violent teachings exist and that Islamic scholars must work on providing modern ways for interpreting and understanding their religion instead of accusing those who expose the problem and raise valid questions of being Islamophobes.
Source-
http://newsmax.com/TawfikHamid/Muslims-violence-Mohammad-Islam/2010/03/24/id/353737
MUMBAI - It's official: the world's largest-circulated English daily has been involved in some shady business. Exposing a long-known trade fact, a leading Mumbai English tabloid, Mid-Day, last week published the "rates" for purchasing editorial features in the Times of India. The Times has not issued a denial, and the rogue rate card seems to be the latest indicator of rotting media ethics and tolerance in India for corruption.
For sums ranging from US$45,000 to $66,000, the Mid-Day story alleged, one could buy a news feature plugging their business, get interviewed (the business owner supplies the questions and answers themselves) and have their picture published on the much-scorned Page 3 of the Bombay Times, the city supplement of the Times of India.
In the United States or the United Kingdom, uproar would have erupted after the expose. But the Times of India (TOI) was not even pressed to explain the allegation to its 4.5 million estimated readers, or to any regulatory body. Instead, some attempted to defend the indefensible. Shobhaa De, novelist and acidic columnist, incredibly called the TOI move "brave" and the "future of journalism", never mind the reader being taken for a ride, if not criminal fraud, with no distinct boundaries marked between news and advertisements.
In a brazen display of contempt for the basic tenets of journalism, the "service"' meant that the clear divide between advertisement and editorial was blurred for a negotiable price. The Times of India is already infamous for often plugging its own businesses, such as its search engine and web portal, in its news pages.
Full Article-
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FE18Df05.html
Riot- A public act of violence by an unruly mob.
Communal Riot- A public act of violence by an unruly mob with religion as the reason.
The "communal riots" have been the favourite topic of National and electronic media for quite sometime now. The "news" about Godhra episode was telecasted 24 x 7 on news channels. And even after 7-8 years of the episode, for media its just like a thing of yesterday and every other week there is a show to discuss its impact on India. Gujarat with re-election of Modi 2 times and with no.1 on development seems to have moved on but not the news channels. More recently Media reported "Kandhamal riots" with great zeal and words like "Hindu extremists", "Bajrang dal", "Right wing extremists" etc were frequently used.
To the common citizen it looks like only 2 riots happened ever! But the question for common man is-
"What happened in Bareilly?"
WHY THE RIOT HAPPENED?
Lucknow, March 2 (IANS) A minor communal clash followed by sporadic arson late Tuesday afternoon led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of Bareilly city, officials said. Timely action by District Magistrate Ashish Goel was stated to have saved the situation from taking an ugly turn.
What did the Government do?
BAREILLY: Parts of the western UP city of Bareilly witnessed rioting again after Mayawati government, in a late Thursday night decision, freed Muslim leader Tauqir Raza Khan, who had been arrested allegedly for inciting violence.
Khan was ordered to be released soon after all the charges, except a milder one under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code, were removed by the Uttar Pradesh administration and As reported by Times of India earlier in the evening, the UP government was under immense pressure from members of his community to release Tauqir Raza Khan. He was arrested on March 8 as he was he was allowed to walk free following immense pressure from the members of his community.accused of fomenting trouble, engineering riots and inciting people by police.
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Why the electronic media didnt report this?
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Read full post >>
Communal Riot- A public act of violence by an unruly mob with religion as the reason.
The "communal riots" have been the favourite topic of National and electronic media for quite sometime now. The "news" about Godhra episode was telecasted 24 x 7 on news channels. And even after 7-8 years of the episode, for media its just like a thing of yesterday and every other week there is a show to discuss its impact on India. Gujarat with re-election of Modi 2 times and with no.1 on development seems to have moved on but not the news channels. More recently Media reported "Kandhamal riots" with great zeal and words like "Hindu extremists", "Bajrang dal", "Right wing extremists" etc were frequently used.
To the common citizen it looks like only 2 riots happened ever! But the question for common man is-
"What happened in Bareilly?"
WHY THE RIOT HAPPENED?
Lucknow, March 2 (IANS) A minor communal clash followed by sporadic arson late Tuesday afternoon led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of Bareilly city, officials said. Timely action by District Magistrate Ashish Goel was stated to have saved the situation from taking an ugly turn.
Trouble sparked off over the passage of a Barawafat procession. What started with exchange of hot words between members of rival communities, almost instantly snowballed into a violent clash as members of a particular community went on an arson spree, burning down a few shops.
Who was responsible? What action did the police take?
Maulana Tauquir Raza Khan, president of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, was arrested late Monday from Bareilly, about 250 km from here. It was his “rabble rousing speech” that had led to communal tension in the district last week, officials said.
What did the Government do?
BAREILLY: Parts of the western UP city of Bareilly witnessed rioting again after Mayawati government, in a late Thursday night decision, freed Muslim leader Tauqir Raza Khan, who had been arrested allegedly for inciting violence.
Khan was ordered to be released soon after all the charges, except a milder one under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code, were removed by the Uttar Pradesh administration and As reported by Times of India earlier in the evening, the UP government was under immense pressure from members of his community to release Tauqir Raza Khan. He was arrested on March 8 as he was he was allowed to walk free following immense pressure from the members of his community.accused of fomenting trouble, engineering riots and inciting people by police.
LINK
Why the electronic media didnt report this?
Links-
1.)LINK
2.) LINK
3.) LINK
Today I was reading in newspaper an article about the potential hazards of Internet and social networking sites in particular for children. It mentioned that parents in India are increasingly becoming worried about what their child do on internet and how can he be kept safe from the risks of it.
The article talked about parents adopting various measures to keep a vigil on their children. Some have become a "friend" of their own children so that they can keep a watch on their activity. 1 Parent suggested that the schools should start "Internet Education classes" to educate children about the use of Internet and what precautions they should take just like "Sex education classes".
But its important to note that "Internet security" can be taught but not "common sense". An example of things that comes under these category would be-
Internet Security Tips-
1.) Do not run any script on your computer.
2.) Always sign out from your accounts.
Common Sense-
1.) Never tell your passwords to your "friends".
2.) Never send your pictures to unknown persons.
Internet security is easy to teach but not common sense. And it wouldnt be wrong to say that more damage is done because of user's own fault rather than the other person doing the damage.
So it is for the parents to teach children about the basic things they should do or not do on Internet and even in general life while the schools can maybe teach them about the technical part. Maybe its about time that parents take some responsibility to teach children about the basic "Do's and Dont's" rather than wanting school to teach them everything.
NEW DELHI: Congress-leaning lawyers have raised the pitch for assignments from the government. A Congress convention, which brought together lawyers from Congress legal cells in the states, was set abuzz when populist voices were raised, with one directly asking for party-affiliated lawyers to be accommodated in various panels, and even in the judiciary.
Union law minister Veerappa Moily urged the AICC’s legal department headed by Abhishek Singhvi to create a national database of lawyers affiliated with Congress. ‘‘... we can form domain expertise using their experience; we can train them in different fields and ultimately bond them into mainstream of judiciary,’’ he said.
The call, with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the dais, led to murmurs in the gathering as it was interpreted that there will be a preference for lawyers affiliated with the Congress in the selection for judiciary.
The organizing body headed by Abhishek Singhvi demanded that an Alternative Disputes Redressal system be formed and named after Rajiv Gandhi. Government sources said there is an International Centre for ADR lying dysfunctional and the Prime Minister is unhappy about it. Sources said it could be renamed and made active.
DPCC chief J P Aggarwal got a thunderous applause when he said Congress needed to bring its lawyers on official panels and appointments. Aggarwal, speaking at a working session on ‘‘Human rights, common man and contemporary exigencies’’ chaired by home minister P Chidambaram, said it was found that lawyers who were with the Congress were ignored at the time of selection for various panels. ‘‘Why will they carry your flag?’’ he asked, making a forceful plea.
At the end of the day, Singhvi assured the meeting that the law minister agreed with the demand made by Aggarwal and steps would be taken in this direction in future.
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Already almost all govt departments are allegedly filled with corruption ranging from Police to CBI. Now another attempt by congress to even fill the judiciary on the criteria of political leanings rather than the actualy capability?
And if you hadnt notice 1 more name scheme after the Gandhi family apart from 500 odd which are already named after them.
Who is an "Internet Hindu?"Kanchan Gupta
Hindus who are proud to assert their identity and fly the Tricolour high have now found a new platform to have their say, the way they want it, without fear of being shouted down. Tired of being derided by pseudo-secularists in media who see nothing wrong with Muslim communalism and Christian fundamentalism but are swift to pounce upon Hindus for being ‘intolerant’, their cultural ethos crudely denigrated by the Left-liberal intelligentsia as antediluvian, Hindus have begun to harness technology to strike back with deadly effect.
They are bright, they are well-educated, they are not burdened with regional and caste biases, they are amazingly well-informed on national issues and world affairs, they are rooted in Indian culture, and they are politically alert. They hate being told they are wrong when they know they are right. They have a mind of their own and refuse to be led like sheep. Not surprisingly, they hold the Congress, the Left and regional parties in contempt, as they do journalists who cravenly ingratiate themselves with the establishment. For them, India matters — and matters more than anything else. Meet the ‘Internet Hindus’.
In recent days there has been a spate of articles disparaging the ‘Internet Hindus’, variously describing them as “loonies”, “fanatics”, “irrational”, “Hindu Taliban” and, by an enraged news channel anchor, “gutter snipes”. Much of the criticism has come from left-of-centre journalists who believe they have unfettered monopoly over media as their inalienable birth right. Exalted members of Delhi’s commentariat, who are indistinguishable from the city’s la-di-dah socialites, tend to turn up their noses every time they hear the phrase ‘Internet Hindus’ as they would at the suggestion of travelling by public transport. Others are given to contemptuously brushing aside ‘Internet Hindus’ as being irrelevant and describing their views as inconsequential. All this and more has neither dampened the spirit of ‘Internet Hindus’ nor blunted their assertive attitude.
Here are some statistics, culled from an ongoing online survey, which would help create a generic profile of ‘Internet Hindus’. The survey is open to all Hindus who use the Internet; the response has been overwhelming. Of those who have responded, 88.9 per cent have identified themselves as ‘Internet Hindus’, indicating they attach no shame to the term though their critics would want them to feel ashamed. Of the respondents, four per cent are aged 20 years and below; 55 per cent are aged 30 and below; 31 per cent are 40 and below; and, only 10 per cent are aged above 40. In brief, 90 per cent of them are young Indians.
The educational profile of the respondents is awesome: 43 per cent are graduates (most of them from top-notch engineering, science and medical colleges); 46 per cent are post-graduates (a large number of them have MBA degrees from the best B-schools); and, 11 per cent have PhDs. It is understandable that none of them is unemployed. Those without jobs are still studying (17.3 per cent) and can be found in labs and classrooms of the best universities here and abroad. Of the 82.7 per cent who are employed, 3.1 per cent earn up to Rs 2 lakh a year; 18.4 per cent earn up to Rs 6 lakh a year; 34.7 per cent earn up to Rs 12 lakh a year; and, 26.5 per cent earn more than Rs 24 lakh a year. Nearly 60 per cent of them frequently travel abroad on work and holiday. Some 11 per cent have travelled abroad at least once.
Contrary to the impression that is being sought to be created by their critics, ‘Internet Hindus’ are open to ideas, believe in a plural, law-abiding society and swear by the Constitution. They are often appalled by the shenanigans of our politicians, including those of the BJP, and are ruthless in decrying politics of identity and cynical vote-bank policies. They have no gender prejudices and most of them think banning FTV is downright silly in this day and age. The ‘Internet Hindus’ will not countenance denigration of their faith or biased media coverage of events, but 91.9 per cent of them respect and accept other religions. Asked if India is meant only for Hindus, an overwhelming majority of them, responding to the survey, said, ‘Hell, no!’
So why do they infuriate pseudo-secularists in media and make Delhi’s commentariat see red? There are three possible explanations. First, the Net is beyond the control of those who control newspapers and news channels. While the print and audiovisual media have for long excluded contrarian opinion and denied space to those who disagree with absurd notions of ‘secularism’ or question the quality of reportage, the Net has provided space to the ‘other’ voice.
Real time blog posts now record the ‘other side’ of the day’s story (“The Prince was shouted down in Bihar, not feted by students!”), Twitter affords instant micro-blogging even as prime time news is being telecast (“That’s not true. I live in Bareilly. This is not how the riots began!”), and YouTube allows unedited amateur videos of events (the Meraj riots, the Islamist violence in Kashmir Valley) to be uploaded, giving the lie to edited and doctored versions shown by news channels.
Second, unlike carefully selected ‘Letters to the Editor’ in newspapers and ‘Feedback’ posted on news channel websites, the reactions of ‘Internet Hindus’, often savage and unflattering, cannot be thrown into the dustbin or deleted with a click of the mouse. English language media journalists, long used to fawning praise from readers and viewers, are horrified that someone can actually call them ‘dumb’ in public space and there’s nothing they can do about it. Third, the established elite, most of them middle-aged, are beginning to feel threatened. Here’s a new breed of Indians who have used merit and not ‘connections’ to make a mark in professional excellence, young men and women who are educated and articulate, and are willing to challenge conventional wisdom as preached by media ‘stars’ who have rarely, if ever, been questioned.
The elite who dominate newspapers and news channels are seen by ‘Internet Hindus’ as part of India’s past, not future. As one ‘Internet Hindu’ writes in his blog, “A large number of ex-elite can’t stomach fact that children of bankruptcy are better travelled, better read and dominate the Internet!” Harsh, but true.
We can describe the ‘Internet Hindus’ as the “lunatic fringe”, but that won’t change the fact that their tribe is growing by the day. Soon, those on the fringe will move to the centre and their critics will find themselves precariously perched on the fringe. The Right is gaining ground as is the access and reach of the Net; newspapers and news channels, the Left’s last refuge, no longer command absolute control over information flow. It would be unwise to ‘block’ the voice of ‘Internet Hindus’, as then their clamour to be heard will further increase and there is nothing we can do to silence them. The times they are a-changin’.
DAILY PIONEER LINK
Article on topic from the Daily Pioneer HERE.
Few days ago I came across an interesting term "Internet Hindus" while reading the newspaper. For better understanding of this post and the article later let me define broadly what "Internet Hindus" stands for.
Internet Hindus are people socially active on blogs, forums, social networking websites, microblogging websites etc that are quite vocal about their views on Hinduism, Media, Politics and nation as a whole.
Now the question arises- How are Internet Hindus different from Normal Hindus? And why this term was coined to differentiate between the two?
The fact lies behind the bitter truth of Media controlling the people. (Check my article on it HERE.)
Media can act like a slow poision by showing the same kind of news and promoting the same kind of views again and again and affect the viewer's subconscious mind so that he develops a certain outlook and view point. Why this is done is a different question and there are various factors responsible for it - TRP wars, Political funding, Kickbacks, Parental organisations who fund the channels etc.
Media for the past few years have been promoting a certain kind of mindset and ideology which will be evident once you become a "Internet Hindu" as some frustrated journalists like to call it.
For example- I was a "normal" Hindu about 1 year back. I used to watch news channels extensively and was pretty much aware about the country and politics. Then I joined the "Jaago Re" community on Orkut since I wanted to get my Voter card made. There someone asked me to post an article in the "NDTV" community since he was BANNED from there (talk about freedom of expression!) and couldnt do that. Subsequently I joined the community and got to know some more facts. Later I joined the "Indian politics" community and finally "India" community.
After many months of long reading of various articles I got to know the completely different side of the picture. How the news articles are twisted, How the "Breaking news" are completely different from what happened, How the headlines are made misleading to gain TRP's etc.
Thus the Internet Hindu is aware about the media and then it is evident then he is critical about it and also critical about the views which the media tries to force on the viewer. It is dangerous for the media since the ideology they are promoting would suffer a setback along with the setback to their own selfish interest. So in a very clever move they are trying to ridicule these people by terming them as "Internet Hindus" who according to them dont represent the real Indians so that other "normal" hindus continue believing the media blindly and thus dont become "Internet" hindus.
1 thing that is important to mention here is that there is also lots of FALSE content doing the rounds of internet which may brainwash some people and would infact go against Internet Hindus and would question their credibility. It is easy to get brainwashed and be fooled by words without any authenticity. That is how terrorists are made.
And sadly some people want to portray us in the same light by coining a different term for us and claiming that we are brainwashed and different from actual Hindus. But most people like me have always relied on VALID SOURCES before believing in any news and forming opinions and thus all news posts in my blog are supplemented with valid links from newspapers.
The final question then is "How can one say media is biased and then provide valid links and rely on the same Media for believing news at the same time"?
The statement isnt contradictory and the answer is hard work , patience and using the mind. One should have the patience to read/follow the whole news rather than just read the Headline/breaking news part. Some channels, newspapers etc can promote a certain ideology but in a vast country like India there is always a way of knowing the truth and atleast some credible source (News channel, newspaper) cover the other side of story too.
And then its for your mind to compare the 2 sides and chose the correct one. If you find 20 news links to 1 side of the story you would find 1 news link that tells the other story and thats where "Internet Hindus" come and make the other side popular so that more people know both the sides much to the dislike of certain section of People and Media. Sadly for them-
Internet Hindus are here to stay!
Communal violence rocked Shimoga which is Karnataka chief minister B S Yedyurappa's constituency after a newspaper published an article authored by Tasleema Nasreen regarding the purdah system.One person was killed at Shimoga after the police opened fire to quell a mob which was protesting against the Bangladeshi author. Rioters resorted to violence on Monday after by setting ablaze several vehicles. They also pelted stones thus forcing the shut down of the entire town. The violence even spread to neighboruing Hassan which is still gripped by communal tension. Hassan is former PM Deve Gowda's constituency.
When reports last came in the situation in the two places was still tense. Curfew has been imposed in Shimoga while prohibitory orders are in place in Hassan. Security has been beefed up in the entire state as a precautionary measure.
A verrnacular daily had translated a write up by Taslima Nasreen regarding the purdah system. Some persons had opposed the article and resorted to violence.
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So much cries for the freedom of expression of " M.F. Hussain" But media remains silent on the issue of Taslima!
A person not belonging to Hinduism mocks it and it is termed as freedom of expression whereas a person following Islam says something against the religion and Media choose to remain silent!
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