Articles

Report released on June 20th, 2014 This fact finding exercise was coordinated by National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO). Human right activists from different regions of India participated in this inquiry. They are,

By Yoginder Sikand The Great Rann of Kutch, stretching over much of the northern part of Gujarat’s remote Kutch district and spilling over across the border in Pakistan’s Sindh province, is a fragile desert ecological zone. It consists of flat sandy and stony plains that stretch as far as the horizon, interspersed with small rocky hillocks, dotted, in some parts, with thorny, ankle-length bushes. Large parts of the area do not boast of any vegetation at all, being covered with massive sheets of salt.

By Dr. Md. Abdus Salam

By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net Hailakandi: The first thing that strikes you about Hailakandi, Assam, is that given the condition of the roads in its neighbouring...

By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,

By S. Aziz Haider, December 6 has arrived once again! 22 years have passed since the disputed Babri Masjid was razed to the ground. There is no doubt that the issue will be discussed once again in various forums and on social media. The young India of whom we are proud of and who dominates the usage on social media was either not born or was too young when politics changed the land of Ram Lalla in ’92. For them, it is an event in history of Independent India and nothing more.

Series on Mewat – Part V By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

अफ़रोज़ आलम साहिल, TwoCircles.net नोखा (राजस्थान)- इस शहर का एक गुमनाम लड़का जब यह बोलता है कि ‘मुझ जैसे गरीब के पास खोने के लिए...

By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net, An advertisement calling for a sanitation worker from the people belonging to unreserved general category - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Bania, Patel, Jain,...

By Shafeeq Hudawi Kozhikode: While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its associate organisations have been vociferously protesting against the crackdown in JNU and...

TCN Special Series on Women of Inspiration By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

By Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, A fact finding team of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee comprising Lateef Mohammed Khan, Kaneez Fathima, A. Srinivas, Shefali Jha, Adv. Gulam Rabbani, Adv. M.Mandakini, and Mohammed Ismail Khan visited the Arsh Mahal area of Kishan Bagh in Hyderabad city. Fact finding team met the people of both the communities and visited houses of victims, met their family members, members of the deceased, the spot of Nishan sahib (religious symbol of Sikh on flag), firing spot, grave yard and Gurudwara. Actually the Arsh Mahal of Kishan Bagh is located on the hill, from where we can see the whole city. This locality is attached to the famous Nehru Zoological Park and a lake named Mir Alam. It has come to our notice that the whole area of Kishan Bagh as well as the Zoo area is in fact Waqf property. Indeed it is a very beautiful place and the people who live in this area belong to Muslim community whose living standard is of below poverty line. It can be named as a slum area. Most of the people work as Auto drivers, fruit vendors and daily wage laborers. Adjacent to this area, there is a locality of Sikh community which is called Sikh Chawni. The Sikh population is around 1500. But the economic status of Sikh community is strong and most of them are businessmen. There are two 2 Gurudwaras and many Nishan Sahib in that small area.

By Anju Azad for TwoCircles.net,

By जावेद अनीस, भारत एक धर्मान्ध देश है, यहाँ धार्मिक जीवन को बहुत गंभीरता से स्वीकार किया जाता है लेकिन भारतीय समाज की सबसे बड़ी खासियत विविधतापूर्ण एकता है. यह ज़मीन अलग-अलग सामाजिक समूहों, संस्कृतियों और सभ्यताओं की संगम-स्थली रही है और यही इस देश की ताकत भी रही है. आज़ादी और बंटवारे के ज़ख्म के बाद इन विविधताओं को साधने के लिए सेकुलरिज्म को एक ऐसे जीवन शैली के रूप में स्वीकार किया गया जहाँ विभिन्न पंथों के लोग समानता, स्वतंत्रता, सहिष्णुता और सहअस्तित्व जैसे मूल्यों के आधार पर एक साथ रह सकें.

By Indscribe, The decision of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to remove Arabic, Persian and Pali from the list of optional subjects in the civil...

By Abdul Hameed, TwoCircles.net, The Caliphate or Khilafat is long gone, but the All India Khilafat Committee formed in India to protest its abolition continues to exist. In its heydays it organized several meetings against the British government and birthed the Indian independence movement. These days Khilafat Committee’s main public programme is organization of a procession on Prophet Mohammed’s birth day.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

TCN series on Muslim women empowerment On International Women's Day, TCN is bringing great stories of Muslim women empowerment from different states of India -- Editor

Compiled by Dr.Ajmal About the Conference A four-day international “Sufi” conference was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 17 March....

By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer,

By Sabrina Iqbal Sircar for TwoCircles.net Hmm. Let me see now. I am a little tired actually trying to tell the world that Feminism...

सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net रूह अफ़ज़ा, ये कोई पेय या महज़ शरबत नहीं है. एक सभ्यता का नाम है. एक पूरे त्यौहार का नाम, एक पूरी...

By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net, The epitome of love, the dear writer of Kerala Dr. Kamala Suraiya has bid farewell to this world. Malayalis’ own Madhavikkutty who secured an unforgettable place in the world of literature will now live in the hearts of millions through the works that eternalize her. The great writer who had been ailing for some months passed away at 1.55 am on 31st May in the Jahangir Hospital in Pune. She will be interred at the Palayam Juma Masjid in Thiruvananthapuram with State honours tomorrow. She was 75 and is survived by three sons.

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, Chandra Muzaffar is Malaysia’s leading public intellectual. Author of numerous books, mainly on religion, hegemony and resistance, he is the President of the International Movement for a Just World. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about various aspects related to Islam and Islamic assertion in Malaysia. Q: Could you tell us something about yourself and your academic and activist background? How did you get interested in Islam?

By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net, After sixty-year-long judicial process, the hearing on Babri Masjid title suite came to conclusion on July 26, 2010 at the three-member Special Bench of Allahabad High Court comprising Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma but the verdict was reserved which may be delivered on any day before 1st October because Justice D V Sharma is going to retire on that day.

On April 7 2015, five people accused in the murder of two policemen were killed in an encounter in Aler, Nalgonda after the police...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Rise of BJP almost always leads to shrinking political space for Muslims. BJP rules Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh- states that has...

By Asghar Ali Engineer,

By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,

By Rupa Abdi, TwoCircles.net

To the uninitiated, no two religions could be as far apart as Jainism and Islam. The former, carries the principals of non-violence to the extreme, wherein even the lowest life forms such as insects are not to be harmed; while in the latter consumption of certain birds and animals for food is a part of everyday life.

This is first part of a two-part Travelogue. Read here Part Two Sultanpur Lodhi: the site where Guru Nanak attained enlightenment By Jaspal Singh, It has been an amazing day. For years I have been planning to go to Sultanpur Lodhi, where Guru Nanak lived for 15 years and where, as the legend goes, he achieved enlightenment and felt the need to travel and inform himself, learn and teach.

By Masood Siddiqui for Twocircles.net The 21st century voter should have the capability to...

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

By AnIndianMuslim.com

By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net, Part 6 of the seven part TwoCircles.net series on Darul Uloom Deoband Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) came into existence in November 1919 by the initiative of some famous Ulema such as Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah, Maulana Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi, Maulana Sanaullah Amritseri, Maulana Abdul Bari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Abdul Majid Badayuni, Maulana Daud Ghaznavi, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, and Maulana Hifzur Rahman among others.

By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,

Read First Part here: Communal agenda and Hindi press in a globalizing India</a Read Second Part here: Religious Diversity and Hinduisation of press</a Dr Arvind Das, Global...

By Amit Kumar, Twocircles.net Hailakandi: The district of Hailakandi, Assam, has been a hotspot of political activity in the past few weeks, and...

Dr Arvind Das, Hindi press started its journey in May 1826 with the publication of a weekly called ‘Oodunta Martand’. In June 1854, the first...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Former president Dr APJ Kalam’s death has brought back into discussion on his work, career and mission as the middle...

By Danish Khan for TwoCircles.net,

By Manzar Imam, If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music, famous scientist Albert Einstein said. Einstein, the physicist had such a high musical vision. His musical dream did materialize, but there was something else in store for him.

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Ali Anwar Ansari, son of a labourer, has come a long way since his bidi-rolling days. He has been a Member of Parliament of Rajya Sabha since 2006. In between, he has been a Grade IV government employee, activist, journalist, author and fathered a movement for Dalit or Pasmanda Muslims.

SI of Khienwsar police station, along with three policemen and a patwari, have been suspended. Eight people, including five prime suspects have been rounded...

By Maulana Waris Mazhari (Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand)

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter, 1. सरकारी आंकड़ों के हिसाब से भागलपुर दंगों में मृतकों की संख्या लगभग एक हजार दर्शायी गयी है, जबकि नागरिक अधिकार...

By Yoginder Sikand

Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a leading Shia Muslim scholar, is the Vice-President of the All-India Muslim Personal law Board (AIMPLB). He has a Ph.D. in Arabic from Lucknow University and runs a chain of schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand, he talks about his vision for the Muslims of India and reflects on crucial international developments.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

By Umair Azmi for Twocircles.net An opinion piece in the Indian Expresspublished on April 22 asks Indian Muslims to flout the fatwa of...

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net, They are not aware of their rights and are much backward compared to South India Muslims. However, things have begun changing of late, says Darbhanga-born, Dubai-based businessman Omar Hejazeen about Muslims in Bihar in an exclusive interview with Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net. How do you see Muslims in Bihar, your home state, from the eye of a Muslim NRI?

By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar,

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: Advocate Mehmood Pracha, who is defending German bakery bomb blast case convict Mirza Himayat Beg for his innocence, has been receiving threat calls from international telephone numbers. Although he was not a full time criminal lawyer Advocate Pracha attracted admiration in successfully securing bail for Syed Muhammad Ahmad Kazmi in the Israeli Embassy attack case and since then he has become one of the sort after lawyers not only individuals family members of youth arrested on dubious terror charges, but also by organisations like Jamiat e Ulema Hind. Many see him as heir to legacy of Advocate Shahid Azmi, who was martyred for defending the innocent youth arrested on terror charges. Besides Himayat Baig, Advocate Pracha has been trying to secure bail for another high profile terror accused Mansoor Peerbhoy and has been frontally attacking current Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria for his conduct as ATS Chief.

Series on Mewat – Part 1 By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net