Dawoodi Bohra Forum

THE MIDDLE EAST HARVESTS BITTER IMPERIALIST FRUIT

The wall-to-wall coverage of the disintegration of Iraq ought to carry this credit: This bloodshed was made possible by the generosity of British and French imperialists.

The stomach-wrenching violence in Iraq — not to mention the horrendous civil war in Syria, the chronic unrest in Palestine/Israel, and problems elsewhere in the Middle East — are direct consequences of the imperialist acts of the British and French governments at the end of World War I, the history-altering catastrophe that began 100 years ago this August 4.

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http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/ ... ist-fruit/

https://swarajyamag.com/magazine/indias ... tas-bengal

India’s Own Baghdadi: How This Maulana Has Carved Out A Mini Islamic State In Mamata’s Bengal

This Salafi maulana eats with three fingers, has banned photography, music and TV, and all interaction with kafirs, in a small town in Malda, West Bengal. He is symptomatic of the larger and spreading malaise.

Nasser, attired in what liberal Muslims derisively say is “chhote bhai ka pyjama aur bade bhai ka kurta” (younger brother’s kurta since it ends well above the ankles and elder brother’s pyjama since it stretches much below the knees), has hennaed hair, an untrimmed beard, shaven moustache, kohl-lined eyes that dart around like a snake’s, a rosary in his hands, and reeks of cheap attar (perfume). Reverentially called “Maulana Sahab”, he adjudicates over matters of religion, marriage, divorce and other personal issues.

Nasser describes himself as a “pure” Muslim, which is why he will not be photographed. The only photograph he has in his three-roomed house inside the madrassa, where 72 young boys ranging from the age of eight to 18 learn the Quran and other scriptures by heart, is that of the Kaaba Stone (or the al-Hajar al-Aswad) at Mecca. He doesn’t even have photographs of his two daughters and four sons from three wives (he had four, but one died two years ago and he’s planning on getting another one soon) on his Samsung mobile.

“The Hadith prohibits any sort of imagery in Islam. Taking photos of people is haram,” he says animatedly. Even photos and paintings of landscapes are proscribed in Islam, he adds. Television is the “devil’s tool to corrupt” and cinema is a greater evil. Music, even whistling or humming a song, is a sign that Satan has entered a person’s body. He proudly proclaims that he had broken some teeth of his eldest child (daughter Sabera Khatun), when she was eight, when he heard her singing a popular Bollywood number. “I beat her badly, and she has learnt her lesson. I banned her from stepping out of the house because she picked up that song that was playing at some tea stall,” says Nasser, adding contentedly that nowadays, few, if anyone, in Kebala (an almost exclusively Muslim-populated town) listens to or plays music.


https://swarajyamag.com/magazine/indias ... tas-bengal