Articles

Recalling Jamshedpur riots of 1979 By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net This month in the year 1979, the Hindu-Muslim violence in Jamshedpur took the lives of 108 people. The number of dead could have easily been 114, but as it turned out, my family and I survived the mayhem, to write about it thirty years later.

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, Full Series: Buddhist-Muslim Relations in Ladakh

“We have Spade as our symbol…Spade is another sign of humility and our carrying it on our shoulders shows that we are out...

By TCN News Desk,

By Shafee Ahmed Ko, TwoCircles.net, The Town of Ambur (Vellore Dist) has a devout young man whose duty, as he feels, is only to honour the great scholars in Islam and serve them to his best. He has constructed a mosque, runs schools and he feels only to hallow the name of Allah. Himself being Hafiz-e-Quran, he wishes that youngsters become Hafiz along with the modern education.

By Mohammad Sajjad,

By Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net TCN Malabar series: Part 5 Not unlike Muslims of north India, Mappilas also lagged behind when it came to modern education. While there were some attempts made, some as early as a hundred years ago, it was not until a generation ago that major effort was made to link the community to modern education without losing the religious and cultural identity.

By Irfan Engineer The recent Judgment given by Justice S. N. Srivastava of Allahabad High Court to the effect that, Muslims in UP are not a minority within the state, came as a surprise to many. The media – both electronic and print media gave prominent coverage to the judgment. The Judgment has now been stayed by the Division Bench of the same Court. The legal and Constitutional merits and demerits of the proposition will be gone into by the Appeal Courts upholding or overruling the judgment of the single judge of the Allahabad High Court in the coming days.

By Mohammed Ayub Ali Khan

By Shafeeq Rahman,

By Dr. Rafat Seema,

Tawhid Laskar, 16, is believed to be the youngest writer in Assam and undoubtedly the youngest Muslim debut writer of the region By Maruf Alom, Hojai (Assam): Simple, soft spoken, shy in nature but confident in outlook, thin in shape; this is all about a teenager of Hojai – a tiny town of Assam. During my last visit home in March 2015, I met him for the first time.

By Dr. Omar Khalidi for TwoCircles.net

By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net,

By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net Udalguri, Assam: Harisinga is a sleepy town in Assam’s Udalguri district along the India-Bhutan international border. Handicapped by insurgency till...

By Amjad Suri and Mohammed Imteyaz Ahmed for Twocircles.net The Sarvasiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was introduced in 2000 to bridge the gap between the social...

By Mahmood Asim, TwoCircles.net Dr. Baig in his clinic Jaffarabad, Delhi: “I expressed my agitation in front of Prime Minister and I was let go without...

Over 120 Muslims have been elected as MLAs in the recent Assembly elections. The five states that went to polls included Assam, West Bengal, Kerala,...

By Omar Khalidi

By Abdul Basith, TwoCircles.net,

By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net Kozhikode: Malayalam Daily Mathrubhumi’s reproduction of a comment which insulted Prophet Mohammed sparked wide protests of Muslim organisations in Kerala. Accusing...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net TCN Malabar series: Part 8 In various towns of Malabar, it is not uncommon to see Muslim women on the streets, bazaars, and schools. They can be easily identified with their traditional mode of clothing. Young girls wear long colorful skirts, long sleeved blouses and heads covered in dupatta or a hijab. Older girls, it seems, prefer shalwar qameez. Married women wear saris or abayas.

जावेद अनीस उर्दू के शीर्ष उपन्यासकार अब्दुल्ला हुसैन का 7 जून 2015 को 84 वर्ष की उम्र में देहांत हो गया, वे लम्बे समय से...

By M. Zajam, TwoCircles.net

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net To find the first Muslims of India, you must visit the first mosque of India, Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur. A simple mosque, Cheraman Juma Masjid was named after a famous king, King Cheraman Perumal. King Perumal’s capital was in Kodungallur which is now in the Thrissur district of Kerala.

Deoban series- first part Deoband is on the world map thanks to a famous institution that was established here in 1866. Manzar Bilal of TwoCircles.net, a Darul Uloom’s graduate visited Deoband recently to give us a glimpse of life in this city and its famous madrasa. First part of the seven part series. By Manzar Bilal TwoCircles.net,

By Mohammad Sajjad for TwoCircles.net In this era when modesty is no longer a virtue, and everybody shares his/her accomplishments via social networking sites,...

By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,

Special series on Jharkhand’s Muslims- Part—2 By Mahtab Alam and Mary Abraham,

Jamia Millia Islamia – A case study By M. Tarique Siddiqui

An analysis of randomly selected Deoband fatwas By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

By S. Nihal Singh, IANS, One of the most difficult jobs in the world is to be the interface between the media and the powerful. Several attempt it and come to grief. But a master practitioner of this demanding role was H.Y. Sharada Prasad, who died in New Delhi on Tuesday. A man who was synonymous with Indira Gandhi over scores of years, he chose to stay in the shadows as a matter of policy. Yet like a magician who knew when he was needed, he would spring to life to throw morsels of news to oil the wheel of national politics or to serve broader interests.

By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,

By Imteyaz Rahmani,

Elimination of British rule from India and independence of the country are great events of human history which not only abolished British kingdom but also left indelible mark on constitutional and political history of Arab world. The British were ruling in their own way on Arab countries due to their rule in India and almost the whole world was under their control as a super power.

By Nivedita Khandekar, TwoCircles.net, Nagpur: Incredible! That is how Rubina Patel’s life story is. She came from a well to do, educated, business family, married to a teacher, blessed with two children. She wanted to study and help the community through her social work. But her life went on an unexpected trajectory.

Report of the National Seminar in Delhi on 13-14th May, 2014 By Anchal Jain, India stood at the brink of a very important historic moment with the culmination of 16thLokSabha elections. One of the most important issues flagged by the numerous debates on the issue of elections was what these elections meant for the state of Indian secularism. This issue was highlighted even more as the fear of Hindu-right wing political forces coming to power grew in the minds of the secular ranks of society.

By Wasiullah Shaikh, TwoCircles.net, Wherever the word ‘Mother’ is mentioned in Urdu poetry events, there the name ‘Munawwar Rana’- a famous urdu poet of our time, will also be mentioned. Through his beautiful poetry (Shayeri), Munawwar Rana has brought whole universe into a single word ‘Mother’.

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net

By Asghar Ali Engineer, Salafism or Wahabism, also referred to as cult of Ahl-e-Hadith is supposed to be directly opposed to the sufi strain of Islam. In India too the two sects are opposed to each other though here, due to democratic secular polity, nature of conflict is not very aggravated or violent. The partisans of both the ideologies apart, it confuses many Muslims as to what are their differences about and why they condemn each other?

By Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net,

The main objective of the Islamic Finance is to create a society of investors, unlike the conventional banking system, which has made and created the society of borrowers and lenders from the past 800 years. By Tameemuddin Humble, Islamic finance activism in India should not be limited to the conferences and meetings, asking government to allow and operate interest-free banking for those whose faith prohibits interest-based transactions; it should also be to challenge the stereotype that the Shariah investment can’t yield the profit, even if professionally managed. We can’t sail the boat of Islamic Finance with the people having such perceptions. We can’t reach to its logical end without building an environment of Sharia compliant investment in the country, availing the limited opportunities in the given regulations.

The horrific episode from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur is quite different from what happened in UP’s Muzaffarnagar in 2013. The Azizpur-Bahilwara violence may not be said to be a religious violence in a way we have been understanding it conventionally, as non-Mallah Hindus not only remained away from the violence, they are also extending all possible help in protecting the people and in relief measures. By Dr Mohammad Sajjad, Violence broke out in Azizpur-Bahilwara village near Saraiya in Muzaffarpur district in north Bihar on January 18. It killed at least five people and almost all the 56 Muslim (Pasmanda) households were looted and burnt. The immediate provocation allegedly was an inter-faith love affair: to the Hindutva zealots, was it a case of ‘Love-Jihad’ in reverse, or a case of ‘Honour Killing’?

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

Tata Motors plant in Singur, West Bengal was supposed to “revolutionise the automobile industry in India” and “mark a watershed in the global automobile...

Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

By Shafee Ahmed Ko,

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net

By Mohammed Ayub Khan Maulana Maududi's estranged disciple and Tanzeem-e-Islami chief Dr.Israr Ahmed appearing on the Jawabdeh program of GEO television in 2005 made some startling remarks about Indian Muslims. According to a published report of the program in the liberal Daily Times he reportedly said the following:

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,

By Aziz A. Mubaraki,

By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: The representation of Muslims in higher judiciary does not even come close to community’s share in the population...

By Danish Reyaz, Mumbai: Do you have any idea about how Dawoodi Bohras celebrate the holy month of Ramadan? Perhaps, many of us would say, No, because we are not much aware about this community.

By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,

Dr. Lubna Sarwath for Twocircles.net Jyoti Punwani’s Nov 27, 2016 interview with a woman activist who had recently resigned from the All India Muslim...

By Manzar Imam for TwoCircles.net, Despite belief in the inevitability of death, sometimes one struggles in shock and awe to believe in its eventuality. The...

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, This 6-part series of articles provides a detailed account of the historical origins and development of the Tablighi Jamaat in Mewat, focusing in particular on the social multiple roles that the movement has played in the region, which accounts, in large measure, for its deep-rooted popularity among the Meos. A sociological study of the development of Tablighi Jamaat in Mewat can provide interesting insights and parallels to understand the success and appeal of the movement in other contexts as well—Editor

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net UP close UP series: Part 6

By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman,

By H Abdur Raqeeb, Modern, secular and industrialized countries like Britain, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan have become hub of Islamic finance and banking. If London, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong can become hub and house of Interest free Islamic finance and banking, why not Mumbai and Cochin? asks the author while analyzing problems and prospects of Islamic banking in India. The paper was presented at an Islamic banking conference in New Delhi recently— Editor Banking

From Khanqahs to the auditorium; from shrines to international pop charts, from spirituality and devotion to entertainment – the qawwali has travelled far and wide in its 700 year journey.

By Shafeeq Hudawi, Twocircles.net What would you call a district where female literacy is more than 90%? Where the sex ratio is much better than...

By Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, Plato has once again been proved right: politics is the art of gaining power and the craft of retaining it. Media has reported the current central government saying that opening up the list of Scheduled Castes beyond Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism - would encourage religious conversions. He said this in the context of the demand of Muslims & Christians that the definition of 'scheduled caste' should be made religion-neutral by deleting para 3 from the presidential order of 1950. That's what has been stated a couple of days ago by the union Social Justice Minister Thavar Chand Gehlot, "Allowing SC status (to converts to Christianity & Islam) would provide a fillip to religious conversions. The demand is not constitutional and we want to work within the parameters of the statute for the welfare of 'these communities' (read Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists)."

Coming from a privileged background to working for underprivileged, Samina Bano has ensured hundreds of poor children get admission under RTE in Uttar...

[हमारे युवाओं के दिमाग को भावनात्मक तौर पर बरगलाने और हमारे धार्मिक संवादों के लैंगिक मिजाज़ पर बहस] By अस्मा अंजुम खान, [अरे लड़कों, मुझे मत समझाओ. लेकिन क्या हम इस ‘कोसने’ के खेल को अपना संयुक्त और सार्वजनिक खेल नहीं बना सकते? चलो...कोसो, कोसो और ख़ूब कोसो. रुको मत. और आखिर में थोड़ा और कोसो. शुक्रिया.] यह कुछ साल पहले की घटना है.

By Aaliya Rushdi, TwoCircles.net,

By Rakhshanda Jalil,

By Navaid Hamid for TwoCircles.net,

By Irfan Engineer,

I was in Tenkasi town for a few hours as a part of field visit, a part of 7 days workshop on "Peace and Conflict Resolution" organized jointly by Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, Mumbai and Society for Community Organisations Trust (SOCO Trust), Madurai. Madurai was amongst the three areas that were selected for field visit. The participants of the Workshop were divided in three groups and they went to three different areas.

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net

Azimul Hoque, TwoCircles.net,

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

By Zohra Javed for TwoCircles.net 26th January. This day in 1950 India chose to become a Republic adopting a secular constitution that had been painstakingly written taking into consideration modifications and alterations, and giving thought to the aspects of equality and justice, making a set of fundamental rights such that every component of the Republic would be taken care of. Our elders thus proudly chose the path of democracy which brought the hope of a better tomorrow for every section of the society and a promise to empower the weakest among the weak.

By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net, A recent announcement on a Facebook timeline goes like this: "A wonderful opportunity for sisters to work in an Islamic environment, we are hiring for the academic year 2014 - 2015." And then emphasizing the eligibility criteria, it ends with this fervorous clause, "NOTE: Sisters with a zeal for working for Islam will be given preference."

By M Naushad Ansari,

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,

By Dr Mohammad Iqtedar Husain Farooq, Biological diversity, or the shorter term ‘biodiversity’, means the variety of life forms like human beings, animals of all sorts and plants of different categories in a region or on the globe. Any harm to biodiversity may increase diseases on Earth or in other words less of biodiversity means more of infections.