By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman, for TwoCircles.net,
Chennai: I visited today the 34th Chennai Book Fair being held from 4th to 17th January 2011 near the Pachchappa College in Chennai. About 375 book sellers and publishers are participating in this mega event attracting large crowds of people including school and college students.
There are also some Islamic book shops belonging to Islamic Foundation Trust, Rahmath Publishers, Basharath Publishers, Moon Publications and some others. They have a wide range of Islamic books on different subjects and also the holy Quran and Ahaadees in Tamil, Urdu and English languages.
Image of Kavikko Abdul Rahman in the advt. by the Universal Publishers
The Universal Publishers have a large collection of books in Tamil written by the noted Tamil poet and writer Kavikko Abdul Rahman who is the present Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board. He has won the hearts of the people particularly Muslims for his best efforts for the establishment of a medical college in Tamil Nadu.
In many shops the holy Quran with its Tamil translation is available at a much reduced price of Rs.100/- I saw many non-Muslims showing great interest for Islamic books mostly in Tamil. A person on seeing some books was enquiring about Jihad…… Another person who was next to me in the shop asked me if one can kill another person for saying something against Islam as …………… I said that “Islam does not allow it and one cannot and should not take the law into his or her own hands. But sometimes some unexpected things happen for which emotional and angry individuals are responsible. For example, the killers of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and recently the killer of Governor Salman Taseer in Pakistan. However, from the way he smiled and made gestures I don’t think he was convinced by my reply. We Muslims are also confused on this issue as contradictory statements are coming from different sources.
One feels that there is an urgent need for our ulema to think about such issues, if possible jointly, and come forward with a consensus to explain on all burning issues so that we as well as our non Muslim brethren may understand Islam properly. The institutions like the Darul Uloom, Deoband and Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow can do the needful in this regard. It is the right time to open the door for ijtihad. Let our ulema decide it and show the way for the community which has almost lost its direction.