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Bowled Over



I’ve just finished reading Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka, a book about Sri Lanka via cricket.

Via cricket meaning that though the plot has an ageing, alcoholic sportswriter going on a quest to find out all he can about Pradeep Mathew, the greatest cricketer Sri Lanka (and the world) completely forgot about, the book is actually about Sri Lanka – the country.

Now, I don’t like cricket. It bores me silly. And it’s not as though I was never exposed to it. When I was a kid, my father was one of the many hundreds of men who’d head for the Fort William and Victoria Memorial maidans on Sunday mornings in winter, wearing cricket whites and clutching a bat. And I’d be right with him every time, less interested in the cricket than in the wandering chaatwallas and the opportunities to play with other children sent off with their dads by their harried mothers.

I also watched test matches at Eden Gardens with my father, though once again it was less about the cricket than about bunking school and the excitement of being in the Eden Gardens stands. I wasn’t keen on the game, but I knew how important hanging out at Eden Gardens was. I could talk about it at school for weeks. (I could also get bad sunstrokes, which I frequently did.)

Growing up, I watched at least one of my sisters go through a mighty crush on Imran Khan and I remember being too excited to sleep that glorious night in 1983 when India won the World Cup – the Prudential Cup – and Calcutta went crazy. But I wasn’t excited about the cricket. I was just excited that India had won. Even though I was in my early teens, I could sense that something in the world had changed.

And in fact 1983 was the last time I ever got excited about any cricket-related thing. So though I’d heard nothing but nice things about Chinaman when the book released last year, I decided not to buy it because it was about cricket.

But because I just never STOPPED hearing nice things about Chinaman, I eventually bought it.

And now I’m adding my voice – and vociferously at that – to all the others: It’s a GREAT book. I loved it. Buy it.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Posted by Kushal Rani Gulab on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 6:44 pm 
Filed under books · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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  • Anonymous

    An apologist for Rahul gandhi..Had varun done the same thing Sujata would be giving totally different logic.

    Rahul Gandhi intentionally CHIDED people calling them beggars and incting hatrred for maharashtrians and punjabis.

    He did same in Bihar and was booed away by student when he brought up Gujarat..Listen to what a student said to him-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEodElHamrM

    [Reply]

  • http://twitter.com/SelfMadeScholar The Scholar

    nice

    [Reply]

  • Ramesh Talwani

    RAHUL SPEAKS FROM HIS UNDERSTANDING OF MASSES,,WHO ARE NO BETTER THAN BEGGARS. RAJ THAKREY SURVIVED BECAUSE OF CONGRESS ONLY.
    AS PER HIM ALL PERSONS WORKING IN OTHER STATES ARE BEGGARS.SEE THE TRAGEDY ,A PERSON WHO IS BEGGING SUPPORT CALLS ,GIVERS -BEGGARS.
    THE WHOLE CONGRESS JUSTIFIES THE STAND OF RAUL WINCI.

    [Reply]

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JRL42KKUAFYBZSO37F3KEBLEDM Shajan

    What Rahul Gandhi said is factually correct but politically incorrect.

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    November 19th, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    So you mean to say that all migrants are Beggars..Truly a congressmen..devoid of any brain.

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    November 20th, 2011 at 6:36 am

    You mean Amitabh Bachchan is a beggar.

    [Reply]

  • http://digitalblogindia.in/ Kunal

    Sunita…fyi the other “bhaiyaa” or whatever you want to call him was probably breaking the rules as well. First of all he lives in a slum is illegal, secondly he is being given a free house by he government on public property and in that also he is breaking the rules and renting out or selling those properties.

    Is it any surprise that these people are disliked ?

    And the first one was right…it’s because of the “bhaiyas” that there is no traffic sense in Mumbai today. Raj thackeray is not opposed to migrants coming and living legally but we do not want them coming and living in slums, breaking the rules and taking the jobs meant for other poor people.

    You are nothing but supporting a criminal there…you should be reporting him if he is doing deals on the slum redevelopment properties. Instead of that you are encouraging him saying that look how hardworking these people are….yes hardworking in breaking all the rules. Most journalists have now started demeaning the local population by subtly stating that look the migrants are hard working and you guys are lazy…if they are so hard working…ask them to break the rules in their own state and grow instead of flooding the other states.

    [Reply]

  • Jay Effkay

    LOL

    China is a despicable society

    To think theyre taking the high road and mocking is RIDICULOUS LOL

    [Reply]

  • Parmanu

    You love cricket. You just don’t know it. Go back and read all the reasons why you went to watch the game.

    [Reply]

    Kushal Reply:
    April 23rd, 2012 at 4:39 am

    I am bored by cricket, Parmanu. I did go back and read all the reasons I went to watch the game and they had nothing to do with cricket.

    [Reply]

  • http://twitter.com/amishra77 Akhilesh Mishra

    Sorry if I sound presumptuous in the next few lines, but still :

    Then :

    When you did watch cricket it was because you were “less interested in the cricket than in the wandering chaatwallas and the opportunities to play with other children”
    Or
    You watched in Eden Gardens because it was less about “cricket than about bunking school and the excitement of being in the Eden Gardens stands….I could talk about it at school for weeks”
    Or
    You “..remember being too excited to sleep that glorious night in 1983 when India won the World Cup – the Prudential Cup – and Calcutta went crazy. But I wasn’t excited about the cricket. I was just excited that India had won. Even though I was in my early teens, I could sense that something in the world had changed.”

    Now :

    Now when you do not watch cricket, you are by your own admission, an introvert – who hardly likes parties, rarely interacts with friends, etc etc.

    Difference :

    See what difference a game of cricket makes. It is not just a sport. It is a lifestyle. A way of life. At least in the subcontinent. Cricket is about camaraderie, freinds, joy, happiness – and excitement of a teenage even when you are middle age !

    And I have not read Chinaman, but I am sure in some way the book captures this way-of-life thing.

    Sorry again, if I sounded too presumptuous :)

    [Reply]

    Kushal Reply:
    April 23rd, 2012 at 4:38 am

    I really don’t get you, Akhilesh. What have you got against introverts and why are you taking it out on me? If I don’t want to tweet or post status messages or go to parties, how does it upset YOU? Do you not have a life yourself?

    [Reply]

    Akhilesh Mishra Reply:
    April 23rd, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    Fair.

    [Reply]

  • Kushal

    Mostly, it’s about the game, Kanika and that is sooooooooo BORING!

    [Reply]

  • Kushal

    Yaay Parvana, you kindred spirit.

    [Reply]

  • Kushal

    Good heavens! Alec Ishmart! What a blast from the past. Where have you been???

    [Reply]

  • ian

    You se I like Thor the god of lightning,Captain America the super soldier,Black Widow the highly trained assanin,Hawk a close friend of Black Widow who is a master archer,Iron man the genius A.K.A Tony Stark and lastly Bruce Banner the Incredible Hulk.

    [Reply]

  • Abhi Dawar

    Well put Vir! Didn’t take you to be a DC guy, figured you’d be more of a Marvel hombre! I do think, however, the last encarnation of the Hulk movie, with Ed Nortan, was a decent homage to the character. Marvel managed to do what DC cannot! And now if DC follows along on the same line, they will never be the first (remember the ‘first man on the moon’ days?). I wish HT had a section that follows comics, ahem, sorry, Graphic Novels, and main stream animation, etc.

    [Reply]

  • Mogan94

    Sorry, I can not read your reviews through the end. When you talked about Batman and said that iron man is good only because of Robert Dooney… Batman begins make me laught with is “super villain”, the dark knight was ok (but hyped because of the tragic story of the joker) and all other DC movies production was very bad (specialy superman with the super baby…) The avengers succeed in doing something that DC will not be able to do, build a super hero team with strong and unique character. JLA is only about Superman and his friend. I have always think that Marvel heroes is much deepier than DC one (Superman and Batman are too perfect, Batman don’t have any power only gadgets).

    [Reply]

  • http://www.ianswer4u.com/ I Answer 4 u

    Sorry for taking a political view of the blockbuster, but i feel India also needs its Avengers to revive its fast diminishing “glory” and “shine”….

    [Reply]

  • Kushal

    Hey, you were always fun to chat and argue with in the comments boxes, Alec. You keep in touch!

    [Reply]

  • Guest

    Looking at Kingfisher, one wonders whether even the private sector knows how to run an airline profitably.

    [Reply]

  • Ishmart Alec

    BTW i do agree. Although i got tired of cricket long ago partly because of overkill, partly because of its new WWE-esque avatar… the only good that comes out of this circus is maybe regonition of more players than before and blurring of regional and linguistic lines amongst us.

    [Reply]

  • Bob Star

    “Western countries, on the other hand, must shift from just condemning
    religious bigotry to criminalizing it, building on the UNHRC’s
    Resolution 16/18. That’s the way forward.”

    I disagree. Freedom of speech is valued far higher in the West. While I will admit, deliberate provocation of Islam is completely stupid – causing innocent people to die means free speech has to be used wisely – but pandering to Muslim sensitivity is not the way to go.

    Every time I hear ‘Islam is a religion of piece’ it makes me want to laugh and scream at the same time. Islam is by far the most violent and barbaric religion around today. Christianity was there around 200 – 300 years ago. It will just take time for Islam to become more civil. It’s going to be hard to find that patience though. Hopefully with technology and the internet that process can be sped along. I hope Muslims will be able to make jokes about their own religion without people having to die in the future – much as we make jokes about red haired people, the Welsh and Christianity in the West.

    Strangely (and thankfully), in the West, people are moving onto the next step: atheism. It seems to have gone from violent Christianity, to more peaceful Christianity, and now we are reaching a tipping point where a lot of the younger generation are becoming atheists.

    I pray that everyone will be an atheist soon and we can get rid of these idiotic and dangerous religions.

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    cmon zia brother

    U know that all mussalas are tagutht to hate all other religionsas beign inferior. it is a gr8 game. The propehet is gr8 (PBUH) I love him.

    Let others make a porno about him. Why should it bother me. It is a free market out there. We muslims make fun of SHias, Ahemadiyas and Ismailesa.. We butcher the Sikhs and HIndus.

    All so rotten.

    Bamiyan Buddhas fell to 200 cannon shots. So we are a joke. Be liberal brother. Most of Islamic tezxt is against women and otehr religions. It is outdated.

    Katrina kaif would be buitceherdd today f our neighbourhood mullah had tthe choice. Madhubala the sexiset gal born would have been in jannat afeter a beheading. be agood muslim and forget iislamic books for a change.

    I got a cut. But it does not mean I cannot date hindu gals without conversion. Yeh sab drama hai. Islam is as good or as bad as any other religoan. Allah is not the final word. Einstein and Darwin k now more than Koran, half of it is wrong. So why spread myths?

    [Reply]

    Davar Hussain Reply:
    September 24th, 2012 at 1:46 am

    *******, if you talk like that in front of me , you will surely wish you were never born

    [Reply]

    Foulitics Reply:
    September 24th, 2012 at 2:06 am

    Here is one “true” Muslim. :-) . Thuggery comes naturally.

    [Reply]

    Abhishek Reply:
    September 24th, 2012 at 8:04 am

    Thank you Mr. Hussain. I am sure you represent the voice of “silent and moderate” majority :)

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 24th, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    so when are you joining the Taliban?

    [Reply]

    Shahriar Reply:
    September 25th, 2012 at 9:00 am

    Alas, if you had ever read Quran a wee bit, you would have realized that Einstein knows exactly what Quran says. And Darwin? OMG, even his followers rejected his cheap, illogical hypothesis (Darwin himself said his views as hypothesis, please note). Please brother, read and read to find out what a stupid illogical unscientific person this Darwin was, ha ha. Anyway, though I am a stern believer as a Muslim, I do never support arrogance and violence; to me, patience, tolerance and rationality MUST be the weapons against anti-Islam aggression by the Free Masonic agents worldwide. :)

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 25th, 2012 at 9:22 am

    So where did the bones of the dinosaurs come from? Surely not from a CHinese toy factory?

    Anyway i appreciate your gentle way of engaging and not the crass accusations someone else made.

    [Reply]

    Sumit Bose Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 5:58 am

    @ Shahriar If you had comprehended the same book you are sanctimoniously advising another to read; you would be certain that the ‘earth is laid out as a carpet and the mountains are placed to hold it (in place). Darwin had the self-respect and intellectual honesty not to claim divine promptings for his postulate ( which has only now been confirmed by the technological progresses in DNA sciences). So brother, before advising others and debunking Einstein and Darwin please get in order your basic knowledge-base. The Church sponsored scientists have spectacularly failed and those scientists who had decided to throw away their scientific credentials for the sake of their belief are non-existent today either in their reputations or their numbers.
    Instead of focusing your intellectual curiosity only to puncture holes in the mathematically and chemically proven facts, you would do a lot of good to yourself if you began to seriously question the antecedents and credentials of a caravan-raider, pedophile, slave-merchant who opined that the sun settles each night to rest under the throne of the almigthy.

    [Reply]

    ssraja Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    U don’t know islam nor ur mullas who teach hatred .first know about islam then express u r views . nor Einstein nor darwin reach the sky
    till date know one knows how life came into existence .whatever developments u r seeing today r marely just 150 year old this is the initial stage there is a lot to explore and know about so don’t come to conclusions and say that darwin and einstein r gods .

    [Reply]

  • Foulitics

    “Western countries, on the other hand, must shift from just condemning religious bigotry to criminalizing it, building on the UNHRC’s Resolution 16/18. That’s the way forward.”

    Where will that leave the ummah who practice bigotry in an industrial scale? This is crude way to protect the “sensitivities” of bigoted societies. Bigoted societies need to follow the civilized world and not the other way around. So for starters, any state calling itself “Islamic republic” should drop that term since it implies that nonmuslims in those societies are inferior. I am sure Zia wouldn’t support India being named as “The Hindu republic of India” but I am not so sure that he will support countries dropping the Islamic tag in their names. That’s the sign of a true hypocritical bigot.

    [Reply]

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/4L2EPTWZ43IVCYG6KTY7ICOSU4 Jess

    Islam may preach peace but most muslims are violent. Muslims use the rules of islam as per their own convenience, then try preach you the stories from the koran.
    China handles pakistan and its muslims well. Muslims know china does not buy their islamphobic stories. if they did this drama in front of a Chinese embassy, China will hunt and kill them all like pigs, maybe a few more just to set an example. Like India’s modesty in kargil, china will not stop at the border. It will show the real face of muslims.
    it is just a movie and there should be freedom of speech. The movie is funny. I hope there is a sequel. All this killing,violence, drama has shown that muslims are weak & violent people. The movie could have some truth to it.

    [Reply]

  • Sumit Bose

    Mr Muslim, as your other articles, this too is long on rhetoric and terribly poor on facts. you consider “Incendiary films, literature and cartoons that poke Islam are not an
    expression of free speech. I consider them to be hate speech”. In short your position is in no way divergent from those thugs all around the world who choose to get into rampage mode, whenever it is convenient to whip up a mob.
    This trailer was posted on 1st July and it is an absoloutely shoddily made movie, for certain, but the facts are clearly, without much alteration, straight out of Bukhari’s collection!
    It amazes me no end, when pious Muslims spend hours and hours reading the scriptures, but have not been offended in what is in the most authoritative of the H@diths. I wonder if they have any comprehension of the hours and hours of reading they have indulged in. If they have understood the facts that were dutifully compiled by Bukhari, then it is very clear that they don’t want anyone else to know what is between the covers of this most authoritative source of Islamic history.
    You conclusion that Muslims should look back at the life of the Prophet; and my point is they are doing exactly that! He NEVER forgave anyone who questioned his actions/claims.
    He got a nearly 100 year old man (Abu Talib, I think) assassinated because he opposed his religious claims. He requested volunteers from among his followers to kill Asma, who wrote satirical poems about his caravan looting and slaughters. One who did the bidding of the “most exalted human ever” returned with remorse and guilt, only to be assured by him, that “even two goats will not butt their heads for her”.
    The list is long and this is no forum for giving out the vast expanse of bigotry and brutality that was the defining characteristic of “most exalted human ever”. Is it any wonder that this group have to drum up a show of force to silence facts that are now freely available on the internet.
    Mr Muslim, what value is the merit of your “secular” education if you too choose to be a “gathiya taqqiya” and opine to criminalize any recounting of recorded facts, where even truth is no longer a defense against a group who feel “outraged” . Your teachers must be hanging their heads down in shame at your residue of all the long years of educations resources that have been squandered for you.

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    My comments have created a reaction which I would like to clarify.

    Frankly as a Muslim I am disturbed that my right to question my religion is taken over by a orthodox Maulvi. How can one’s brain be dictated by a guy who claims who knows everything all because he read or misread a book.

    Islam has to be tolerant and give the right to convert. If some Muslim wants to become a scientist– does he have to get stuck at the quranic stories?

    My right to reject what is clearly wrong cannot be taken away by an idioit who says he knows all because his beard is longer.

    This way Islam will keep fighting with the rest of the world. Sunnis will fight Shias will fight ahemadiyas will fight Ismailis will fight—– etc etc

    Human rights supersede the ideas superimposed by violent clergy.

    This way no human rights and women’s rights program will take place in a Muslim country. We will first wait for Christians and Hindus to progress and then copy all because we cannot fly as the “maulvi and book knows it all.”

    A bad film insulting the prophet should not disturb is but instead make Muslims feel morally superior.

    Need i get in all the propaganda material in Muslim countries against other religions?

    Furtheron we have too much of the victim card. Are we victims always?

    Some weeks back the students from NE were being chased out of South India… all because some idiots blamed them for a Muslim killing in Burma.
    Did we come out on the roads then?

    Stop this victim hood falsehood and free our women– even if it violates the religious text. That is the only way a Muslim mind will be as free as some other minds.

    [Reply]

    Bob Star Reply:
    September 24th, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    Parvez you are an angel. You give me hope in this irrational world.

    Good luck to you.

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 6:47 am

    Well I am a rational person… so I think!

    Hope peace prevails and hatred for others’s religion is not taught anywhere, and most of all not thru the interpretations of the koran.

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    I don’t have to prove my credentials as a Muslim to you. In fact you need to prove your credentials as a human being to me. My mission in life is to puncture the humbug we Muslims practice all our lives. Yes, I am a management student and from a family of respected Muslim doctors which knows the hadiths backwards. It is my right to reject what I see is factually incorrect and against human rights.

    You will never understand because you believe in violence against anybody who speaks the truth. Unless paras and practices in Islam are categorically rejected, Muslims all over the world will find themselves in confrontation with the world. Dont let your rhetoric sway you into a false belief of victimhood.

    [Reply]

    Shahriar Reply:
    September 25th, 2012 at 9:02 am

    Aah, if you would have known the definition of TRUTH brother……:)

    [Reply]

  • Bob Star

    Saj darling, it will never happen (me converting). How can an atheist be a sheep?? We are the only ones who think for ourselves and don’t follow any “holy” book. We are ruled by proof and evidence – that is all.

    If what you say is true about 2025 – then the world is well and truly screwed. How many violent animals can this planet take?
    Just to be clear, I don’t mean all Muslims of course. Just those who like to fight, kill and maim because it makes them feel good, or think that a books tells them it’s ok. Those are the animals. If all Muslims were like Parvez – we wouldn’t even be having this discussion – because people like him make this world a better place.

    [Reply]

  • Bob Star

    Some people will refuse to believe you even though we both know it’s true. It seems to be what happens to the religious mind. It’s the same with Jesus. If he was around today he wouldn’t be seen as a good person. He’d be closer to an Afghan warlord of today.

    The truth is morality changes and evolves (for the better) and that has nothing to do with religion. It comes from culture and inspired people. Religion is fixed and unchanging. If we still lived as they did in the Christian West a few hundred years ago, then people would still be being burned for being witches, or fathers would be offering their daughters as a sacrifice or to be raped. All that stuff was normal in the Bible.

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    I am here as a human being and not a bigoted supporter of any religion.

    Let me be frank. Most religions can be torn apart in context of today’s knowledge. While all of us have a right to believe what we desire, you cannot take my right away to reject what I perceive as wrong.

    Why is Islam in confrontation with the rest of the world?

    A few Muslims have tried to blame it on all, but never on themselves. Even in this blog :)

    let me give a respectable translation of the Quran from Dar us Salam publications which is used to poison us against others. NO bad intentions on my side. Just factual plain speaking.

    Here is the first Surah. Please note that the interpretation talks about the low life of Jews and Christians.

    ——–

    1. Surah Al-Fatihah1.

    In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

    2. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

    3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

    4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection)

    5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).

    6. Guide us to the Straight Way

    7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).

    ——————————————-

    This interpretation straight away goes hammer and tongs at jews and Christians. SO are we training new minds for a peacefull world?

    [Reply]

  • Munir

    Dear Zia – let me quote you from above: “Incendiary films, literature and cartoons that poke Islam are not an
    expression of free speech. I consider them to be hate speech. Therefore,
    anybody who hates hate speech must protest.” Does the same logic apply to Hinduism? If so, those who hate Mr. M. F. Hussain’s hate speech have a right to protest. Do they not? I condemn the violence against him; however, Hindus do have a right to protest and lodge cases against him in India against his bigotry? Do they not? Hate to bring him up when he is no more – but using this analogy to figure out if there are double standards out there..

    [Reply]

    Foulitics Reply:
    September 29th, 2012 at 2:09 am

    I remember Zia writing that MF Hussein went into exile because he was “persecuted” or some such word. He is a fanatic. Fanatics can only be hypocrites since they stand on top of a sand castle which can crumble anytime.

    [Reply]

  • Dr Mishra

    PARVEZ AHMED

    ==============
    Can I say that I have followed Parvez for the last 1 year on these blogs. Yes, he is genuinely a muslim whose father and sister is a doctor. He is modern and thinks rationally.
    He does slam ppl like Ravi and engrich-tajender who are militant Islamists or OBC- he does not take prisoners !! His heart is Indian, his religion is mild. Like mine.
    Most militant muslims have an issue with him, but they should realise that if they want to integrate and do well socially and financially, then they would do well not to attack him but read what he says.
    Regards Dr M, Harrowgate, UK

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 6:39 am

    Thx Doc. I always try to be rational. And let me also state that in the context of the 7th century, The Koran came up with many many new scientific concepts and even recognised the rights of women on property.

    But alas, people who only think about the exact word and not the intention are creating a fight all over the world. If the Koran says two women should only get as much property as one man, then they are two ways to see this

    a) The Koran was far reaching in the 7th century to recognize this and give women the right to family property. The good way. let us improve this now and give women an equal share.

    b) The bad way which unfortunately idiots are stuck up with.– women should only be worth half of what a man is– all becasue the Koran says so.

    [Reply]

  • ssraja

    First thing i want to say is islam is not a religion.as most of the world thinks.
    islam is not myth it is fact of life it is a way of living it shows how to be a human being.in islam there is nothing like god nor any idol worship it is a system every
    human being has to follow.

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Let me be blunt here. I am from a Muslim family and many people dot consider me a Muslim since I dont believe in Maulvis imposing their rot.

    Blind worship of koran and imposing it word by word by force on Muslims, non Muslims and athiests is worse than idol worship. That is what is happening now

    [Reply]

    ssraja Reply:
    September 26th, 2012 at 10:49 pm

    Mr parvez then u must know islam is not a religion it is just a system which makes u a human being. we muslim’s follow sunnah (living style of prophet mohammed(pubh)) did prophet(pubh) spread hatred.is there place for hatred in islam.r taliban real muslims do they represent muslims in the world.to be frank u don’t find a real muslim it is very hard to find a real muslim who practice islam .sahabah have donated their wealth to adopt islam show me a single muslim who is not greedy selfish .u should know allah will not accept u r prayer if u commit a single gunah in between the prayers.in todays world commiting henious crimes in the name of islam and the western world is provoking the muslim’s for their greedy intentions they have captured phalastine and now iraq afgasnistan libya lebnon for oil they r defaming the muslims their intentions r purly economical they just want to loot the natural resources of the muslim country’s.as an individual u write any thing u want u have the right to express not in the name of islam r muslim.

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 27th, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Why should it be difficult to find real Muslims?

    Everyone claims I am the real Muslim and then seeks to chop the head of the other. Why should Shias be fignthing with Sunnis? or vice versa?

    I am a sceptical Muslim. I will now reveal above why Islam is in confrontation with other religions and with itself.

    ssraja Reply:
    September 28th, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    mr parvez it is for domination(for khilafat) its politics not islam and they shia’s put islam in a different prospective as a religion which is not there is no place for worshiping objects of any kind in islam .even u can’t worship prophet(pubh) as god it is sin in islam .how can a human being r a star be god when the universe is so vast where just a galaxy has billions of stars .it takes100 light years to reach the nearest star.
    so don’t go into these kinds of arguments .if u want be a muslim(follower of islam) then just u choose the path of prophet(pubh) just follow sunnah nothing else.

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 29th, 2012 at 8:25 am

    But you are saying that Shias, Ismailis and Ahemediyas are not good Muslims. While Osama and Hafeez Saeed are good Muslims because they are in your perception doing what you believe is right.

    I think you need to open the arteries of your mind.

    ssraja Reply:
    September 29th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    mr parvezi did’nt say that, i think u should cosnsult a good islamic scholar, islam is just following sunnah that’s all .while osama and hafeez i don’t know about them what they have to do with islam ,r they messangers of god. shias, ismaiilias ahmadias i don’t know what they preach and practice,but for certain they don’t follow sunnah.and i don’t have right to criticise followers of other religion r believes .one thing u should know islam says allah is the creater of the universe .
    now u may say who is allah ,allah is nothing he has no physical appearence ,and no one has ever seen him.and the holy quran says mohemmad(pubh) is his massenger.living style of prophet(pubh) is sunnah,if u believe other than this then u r not the follower of the islam that’s it.and the main aim of islam is to be human not more that. and u r quoting some sooras, u must is each line of quran in context . and quran is in arabic litreture and there r many scholars have their own view versions because of that there r as many as 76 firkhas.

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 30th, 2012 at 7:43 am

    That is the trouble . Consult a good islamic scholor. Now who is this good Islamic scholar? Even Zakir naik considers himself a good Islamic scholar. The scholar i like may seem to be a complete idiot to you.

    In the end these so called scholars will drive Muslims to fight all– Non Muslims and Muslims with variationas i belief.

    I think this so called rigideness to follow texts to the word is the problem in current day Islam. You should rather work with peopl like me to revise texts which are against women and other religions.

    ssraja Reply:
    September 30th, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    yes zakir naik in present days he is a good scholar who has knowledge of other scriptures also .u r miss guided about islam .what i have said earlier that don’t look what others have done in the name of islam just do follow sunnah nothing else.
    there is propaganda about is islam is cruel to women in islam women r not treated as equal it is wrong. it respects women no other religion does.because the creator knows what product he has created so u n me don’t know. so don’t believe in false propaganda.Geert Wilders thinks polygamy is all part of 2009 Europe, thanks to Islam, without ever knowing whether polygamy is a man or a horse. polygamy — as one of Islam’s widely misread concepts has just been examined with a fine-toothed comb and put in perspective by India’s law commission, a government panel for legal reforms.
    To put the record straight, the law commission in its 227th report has said the popular view that Muslims could simply have two wives at a time was flawed. One of the authors of the report was Tahir Mahmood, a front-ranking legal expert on Muslim law, aside from the commission’s chairman AR Lakhsmanan.
    “It is generally believed that under Muslim law, a husband has an unfettered right to marry again even when his earlier (read present) marriage is continuing. On a closer examination of the relevant provisions of the Quran and other sources of Islamic law, this does not seem to be true,” the commission’s report states.
    These comments however were incidental to the main theme: “Preventing Bigamy via Conversion to Islam”. The legal experts were seized with cases of Hindu men using Islam as a licence to marry a second time without dissolving their existing marriage.
    Since Islam itself did not permit a licentious use of bigamy provisions, the commission suggested amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act to put a stop to Hindus misusing Islam’s highly conditional permission to have a second wife concomitantly with the first one.
    Islam is not what it is often made out to be and the real surprise is that realities are often ignored. You can pick several issues, like polygamy. There are more serious ones: if you kill enough non-Muslims you might even get to romp in a heavenly bedroom with 72 virgins. (I really doubt if God meant group sex! And even if He did, Islamophobes cringe at the very thought when Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion has far more bedrooms with far sexier bunnies.)
    If I were to tell my wife that I care for second one now, I am not sure whether she will file for divorce. Eat me alive, she will for sure. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
    Muslim countries themselves have clear laws that do not view polygamy approvingly; Tunisia and Turkey having banned it completely. In Egypt, if a woman can prove that her husband is married to another, he can be prosecuted for bigamy.
    Turkish family law and marriage legislation and regulations uphold monogamy. A second marriage cannot be executed unless the first is dissolved.
    In Syria, polygamy is highly regulated. A judge “may refuse permission for polygamous marriage unless husband establishes lawful cause and financial capacity”. Inability to conceive is one widely held ground for Islamic bigamous marriages. Click here.
    In Morocco too, polygamous marriages are discouraged. Polygamy may not be permitted if a woman fears unequal treatment, according to Moroccan family laws. Click here.
    In India, polygamous Muslim marriages are indeed few and far between. Old wives’ tales to the contrary, the National Survey Commission on the Status of Women in India (1975), one of the few surveys on polygamy in India, found that incidence of bigamy and polygamy was higher among Hindu tribals than Muslims.
    In the two decades between 1931 and 1951, the incidence of polygamy among Hindus and Muslims were comparable: 6.79% for Hindus and 7.29% for Muslims in 1931-41; and 7.15% for Hindus and 7.06% for Muslims in 1941-51. With access to education and its concomitant modern values, polygamy declined on the whole for all Indians, Hindus and Muslims. During 1951-61, 5.06% Hindus engaged in polygamy in contrast to 4.31% figure for Muslims.
    It is universally acknowledged that the Quran does permit polygamy. My stand is that the conditions it puts are designed to actually discourage polygamy.
    Four wives, that tempting luxury, are dealt with in Chapter 4 or Surah An-Nisa (Women) of the Quran, verse 3.
    Here’s Pickthal’s translation: “And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess. Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice.”
    It is common for theologians to explain it to madrassah students this way. God says ‘marry one, two or four’, you have to the freedom. But remember, you have to do equal justice to not just all of them, but also all your children, especially if they are orphaned. The verse then enjoins Muslims to restrict themselves to just one (wife) if they fear doing injustice.
    How long can we go on propagating the myth that Islam permits reckless freedom to marry four wives at a time?
    However, with those having pre-conceived notions, statistics don’t work. Prejudices do not melt away easily. Man finds it difficult to stomach anything that goes against his instincts.
    If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, said Bertrand Russell, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. “If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.”
    Islam appears radical only when you “essentialize” it. Examples: polygamy it’s there in the Quran; beating women, it’s there in the Quran. So, Islam endorses both. But then the Prophet never ever beat a woman in his life.
    There are problems with the way Muslims have interpreted the Quran. There is a difference between religion and religious knowledge. Religion is divine, according to Muslim faith, but knowledge of Quran and how it is applied is not. Religious knowledge is human-developed. There is a need for non-Muslims and Muslims to shift from a literalist reading of the Quran to a liberatory one.
    I am saying there can be more than one way of reading the Quran and we need to re-read it. I am against treating the Quran as an absolute text. That betrays its very meaning. True, the texts don’t change. But the Contexts do.
    If you want an answer on whether I would criticize something I don’t like about Quran, then you have to understand the goalposts. There cannot be clinical answers to crises.
    Are we dealing with a crisis in Islam? Yes. Am I looking to please an audience? No. If I say I disagree with a certain line in the Quran, this may please a big section of the audience. This is not the purpose. People who believe in a faith don’t question God. Atheists do. The solution in my considered opinion is to re-read the Quran and privilege a liberatory reading over literalist reading.
    More and more Muslim countries have realized that what is applicable to religion may not be applicable to the state. Marriage is just one of them.

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 30th, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    @ SS Raja

    Thank you for your reply. I appreciate that you have put in the effort to give your viewpoint on all this. I would give my reply over two days as right now I am sitting with my University friends and enjoying India prevail over Pakistan in the first half of the match.

    In my opinion, Zakir Naik is a very very very poor scholar. He is in fact a manipulator who has occupied centrestage of manipulating Muslim thought.

    In my second opinion, I think the Quran has nothing to offer to women as equals to men for the 21st century unless it is take int he spirit. When my sister was 18, my grandfather asked her to read the Quran,

    her first question was of disappointment.
    “the entire text is addressed to males… ” was her reaction. “It has paras like you can have one, two three four wives… women are your cultivation… ”

    In no way is it adressed to a woman. When you say, “woman are yours…”

    The whole dialogue is to a male.

    Raja sir, I will love e to have your opinion as I sincerely feel that Muslims need to break the hegemony fakes like Zakir naik have imposed on us.

  • ssraja

    sorry real muslim don’t be agitated sir by just having a muslim name is not a muslim u should know what is islam and islam it teaches to have patience.and don’t get provoked if some one don’t know about u r religion explain him in a polite way this is not the way.

    [Reply]

  • Plumbline

    1 Peter 2:23-24……….
    23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

    [Reply]

  • ssraja

    Here all r angry about islam.today there r more than 1 billion muslims in the world they r all not arabs .all these muslims did’t get converted to islam by force they have adopted islam because they liked the living style of prophet mohammed(pubh)all atrocities done in the name of islam r not the preachings of prophet(pubh) islam is just following the sunnah(living style of prophet(pubh)
    nothing more than that and if u don’t follow that u r not a muslim.islam is was adopted by many cults,culture,religion and region so there r many kinds of people and it is natural to show their behavior then where is the fault of islam.
    there is no place in islam for a person who is greedy,selfish,cruel and inhuman to others.it is human to react if some one provokes u that dose’nt mean that islam is bad .

    [Reply]

    Anonymous Reply:
    September 27th, 2012 at 8:39 am

    SS Raja

    That is the trouble. Everyone claims I am the true Muslim and you are not, so I will kill you.

    [Reply]

  • ssraja

    we human beings r animal in nature(greedy and selfish) what islam preaches is to be a human that’s all . if u r not greedy and selfish helpful to fellow being then u r the most respected person in the soceity that is a muslim.

    [Reply]

    amerigramma Reply:
    October 30th, 2012 at 4:10 am

    Actually, Muslims are the least respected persons in societies that are not run by Islamic laws. Muhammad was greedy and selfish and hateful, one of the worst monsters in history. He is right up there with Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Kim Sung Il, Vlad the Impaler, Nero and the rest of the creepy twisted mass murderers. Anyone twisted enough to truly know the Quran and Haddiths and follow what is written in those books are equally guilty. Many “peaceful” Muslims are that way because they don’t know their books or what their religion is really about. They try to inject their niceness into the very hateful religion of Islam but it doesn’t work that way. The rate of Islamic followers is declining because more people are now actually taking the time to read their books.

    [Reply]

    ssraja Reply:
    November 1st, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    @amerigramma no religious book preaches hatred r un equality except brahmanism which has divided a human into castes .its seems u r from that community.

    [Reply]

  • ssraja

    mr sharma u divided a human into 100 pieces in name of caste u created untouchability because of that today india has more muslims u still practice untouchability .

    [Reply]

    Sumit Bose Reply:
    September 27th, 2012 at 1:36 am

    @ssraja, please get it clear, there is a very brutal episode involving your direct ancestor,who had to kiss the feet of maurading foriegners and to save his body being seperated from his head and having his wife and children from being sold into slavery, This “untouchability” myth is foisted upon us by the Congressi Marxist Historians, who have been drumming into us all that the “Muslims started COMING to India”. It lead V.S. Naipaul question: As if they were coming into India in tourist caravans!
    This brutal episode in not just what your hapless ancestor had to ingest with humiliation; it was something that millions of Indians had to endure. This is a terrible episode in india’s past that has been adroitly covered up by our Congressi marxists, and it was not something that the Mughals brought into India, it started way before with the scoundrels of the Slave dynasties. Emperor Akbar was the only one who brought in a genuine composite entity, when he took Raja Man Singh’s help to defeat Ahmad Shah Abdali ( who was a star in forced conversions). besides Akbar had rejected Islam. I would suggest you read M.A.Khan’s well researched book name “Islamic Jihad” to put to rest once and for all this red herring that “untouchability” is the prime motivator of so many muslims in India.

    [Reply]

    ssraja Reply:
    September 27th, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    mr sumit ji y r u peeking into history now too u practice untouchability u live in a seperate colonies u don’t entertain other communities U (brahmins) r just 4% of the population
    of the country and u enjoy 95% of the wealth of this country
    i have seen the atrocities of brahmins on dalits and sc’s
    now too they r commiting atrocities in north india.because of u r untouchbility most of the dalits and sc’s have adopted islam there r more than 50 crore muslims in (pak,bangladeshand india)these people not came from arab in carvans.these people r indian habitats ,in islam all r equal
    and don’t refer me to read any khan’s book nor the khan nor u know about islam .if some one commits crime in the name of islam that is not the fault of islam .who ever commits crime he is a criminal there is no place for any kind of crime in islam .islam has said there is nothing physical like god 1400 years now scientific community and people r realizing that universe is vast there cannot a be any human r an idol be a god

    [Reply]

    Sumit Bose Reply:
    September 27th, 2012 at 10:40 pm

    @ssraja, ignorance is bliss and you would continue to be ignorant even about the religion you are born into. There are 624 suras that specifically advocate violence. there is no purpose servered showing an ornament or book to a monkey, it will just rip them apart. Another correction, I am not from a Brahmin family, hehe.

    ssraja Reply:
    September 28th, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    sumit ji really u don’t know about islam ,u may know some bad people having muslim name’s authoring some books to defame islam if u really serious meet some good scholars and clear u r doubts but don’t defame islam it is the islam which has shown the mankind 1400 years ago when there were no satalites nor any communication devices that universe is vast and the sun is just a star in a galaxy which has billions of stars like that u can’t worship these stars nor any man r any manmade things.but most of the religions still practice stoneage retuals like hindus do worship stones trees.first u come out of islamphobia . even our indian scientist kept project papers in front of a stone for blessings , that there is no god like thing in universe today what the scientists r saying.in sura’s they may be advocating see them in a context ,don’t single out .

  • Anonymous

    I think a lot of people want to demolish my being a Muslim and then be satisfied!

    Well I find it funny. Why can’t there be a frank debate on the very nature of how Islam is finding itself in confrontation with the world and with itself? If I start this I surely will be called a fake Muslim, especially by people who claim to be the only Muslims. And then claim Victim hood ! Wow !

    let me start with the first Alphabet of this REAL debate. The right of being born a Muslim and yet appreciating what Maulvis don’t like. Music, churches, hymns, Beer, Aishwariya rai… Darwin, Einstien,

    I am sure the hackles of many a pure blood would already be raised. After all Muslims are only supposed to like this and only supposed to hate this. What rotten shit !!

    Who the F*** has the right to rule my brain?

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    Babu

    Thank you for your kind words. I think we Muslims are deliberatly foisted a feeling of victim hood and end up confronting many gentle people. My aim is to shake up the innocent Muslim human and make him see that he is being made a fool.

    I have added a few more points to your query, “upstairs.’

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    To all the Muslims on the blog

    Let me clarify I am just trying to bring sanity in the debate. It is very easy to keep crying that the world is ganged up against us. It serves no purpose. We need to train our minds in order to interpret Islam as per today’s world.

    let me quote again from a version of Quran I have during a time when my parents were in Saudia. The world should evolve now. Of course Islam originated in the area where Christianity and Jews existed. But do we need to now have the same intrepretation? The Surah Ale Imran itself in the Dar Us Salam publication has at least 45 barbs at Chirstians and Jews. We need to have a interpretation which does not pitch the young mind AGAINST the other religions.

    Now there are more vicious versions of Koran deliberately created to poison minds in say Pakistan. In the end the war of civilizations triggers of.

    Here is a part of the Sorah as in the intrepretation. Please not the stress on how we Muslims are superior to Jews and Christians. Okay all religons say that to some extent, but for the new world we need an amendment– otherwise the world will blow up.

    —————————————
    98. Say: “O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Why do you reject the Ayat of Allah (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) while Allah is Witness to what you do?”

    99. Say: “O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Why do you stop those who have believed, from the Path of Allah, seeking to make it seem crooked, while you (yourselves) are witnesses [to Muhammad as a Messenger of Allah and Islam (Allah's Religion, i.e. to worship none but Him Alone)]? And Allah is not unaware of what you do.”

    100. O you who believe! If you obey a group of those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians), they would (indeed) render you disbelievers after you have believed!

    [Reply]

    Shubhra Aurita Roy Reply:
    November 21st, 2012 at 11:55 am

    hello, you completely rock! power to you… I am really really impressed but stay safe. This is what I have been saying for years now. every single religion has grisly tales in its past because hello, they evolved in the BC period and in a different context. Every single religion… however the people following them evolved and took what made sense and discarded what did not and there was nothing that said that they cannot question or ignore. Don’t get me wrong – there are a few elements that i completely love about Islam (complete egalitarianism, rights to women in that era etc.) but lots that is questionable just as I question the Manusmriti or even that holy cow Rig Ved or the Old Testament. But its crazy that one cannot question anything that is written in the Muslim holy books… how will thepeople evolve? I also notice that in recent times, as the world has become more stressed those who seek an extremely prescriptive religion seem to gravitate towards Islam because it pretty much tells you how to think and behave for every thing

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    @ Rashid

    I live in Delhi. I find it impossible to believe that 90 women are burnt alive everyday. The figure could just be 1 or 2.

    Rape capital? Well the treatment of women ACROSS ALL RELIGIONS in India (except possibly barring Syrian Keralite Christians) is bad. In Muslims, the bad, gender un-equal, personal law makes it abhorrent.

    Rape Capital is a word which the sensation driven press has evolved.

    yes, we need to eb rich as Europe. But then we need fast economic growth and not this vote bank politics of confrontation and riots.

    [Reply]

  • pankaj#1

    Zia;
    You reiterated some reports or studies. these are US based people but you are India based journo, you tell us, what is lacking amongst muslim communities, which is making them going down and down. please eloborate on those factors. let us hear from you specifics and not some foreign reports. Come on, ready to listento you.

    [Reply]

  • ssraja

    Lack of muslim leadership in india most of the todays leaders r corrupt and selfish these leaders r distroying the lives of the muslims in india.

    [Reply]

    Abid Reply:
    October 4th, 2012 at 11:35 am

    mr.Raja, polygamy is allowed in Islam but subject to the condition that u will be justifide with them o/w better to have one wife. whether it is in practise or not it is nun of yr bsns. pls be careful next time when u reply to others follow the authenticity. tks. Abit.

    [Reply]

  • Sumit Bose

    Show me one place in the world where muslims statistically stand out as model citizens. In pre-independence India, there were the labourers and watch-men. In UK, where so many Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have settled, there are, as a group, worse off than the immigrants from the Caribbean.All across Europe North America and even in Australia and New Zealand, it is the same leit-motiff repeating over and over. There are certainly individual exceptions, but how can you ignore such large numbers all across the globe? The mullahs brainwash the muslims to view this as a conspiracy against muslims, not their own short coming.
    Muslims demand respect, but will give no respect to minorities within their own lands. They are constant source of terror and criminality even in places as Thailand and Philippines, were the normal citizens are so calm and peace-loving. Malaysia is the only country in the world where muslims are doing somewhat better, but it also is the only country in the world to “reserve” jobs for the majority community, and they they are doing it without any guilt or shame.
    Thanks to the minority appeasement policies of the ruling party in India, muslims have developed a sense of entitlement to the wealth being generated in India. But, they dont want to educate themselves, they dont want to live crime-free, Muslims from all over the country supported the Muslim League in breaking up the country, being 24.6% of the country’s population then, they were able to wrangle 30% of India’s land mass, and then over 70% of the Muslims did not leave for Pakistan, their promised land of choice. And now this Muslim wants the hard working Indians to fund the community that stabbed India, with freebies that equates them with all the others who have struggled to educate themselves and work hard day in and out for that.

    [Reply]

  • Anonymous

    let us not try to dodge the issue. Can you quote the exact verse literally rather than an intrepretation.

    [Reply]

  • Sumit Bose

    @ssraja, I am so bemused at reading this pathethic inversion of simple facts. It is so abundantly clear that you wear that skull-cap forced upon your ancestor by some maurading foreigner, not over your skull, but over the past centuries the skull-cap is now covering your brain. It is pointless engaging in any worth-while debate with you as you feel every successful person in india owes it all to the glorious world of Islam. Every wrong and every ill of this country is to be stuck only on RSS’s face. Please stop fooling yourself you are making a total fool of yourself.

    [Reply]

  • SAAD

    THE apparently sudden rise and the dramatic expansion of Mohammedanism constitutes a most fascinating chapter in the history of mankind. A dispassionate study of this chapter is of great importance in the present fateful period of the history of India. The scientific value of the study by itself is great, and the meritorious quest for knowledge is sure to be handsomely rewarded. But with us, to-day in India, particularly with the Hindu, a proper understanding of the historical role of Islam and the contribution it has made to human culture has acquired a supreme political importance.
    This country has become the home of a very considerable number of the followers of the Arabian Prophet. One seldom realizes that many more Mohammedans live in India than in any single purely Islamic country. Still, after the lapse of many centuries, this numerous section of the Indian population is generally considered to be an extraneous element. This curious but extremely regrettable cleft in the loose national structure of India has its historical cause. The Mohammedans originally came to India as invaders. They conquered the country and became its rulers for several hundred years. That relation of the conqueror and the subjugated has left its mark on the history of our nation which to-day embraces the both. But the unpleasant memory of the past relation has been progressively eclipsed by the present companionship in slavery. The effect of British Imperialism is no less painful and ruinous for the bulk of the Muslim population than for the masses professing Hinduism. So completely have the Mohammedans become an integral part of the Indian nation that the annals of the Muslim rule are justly recorded as chapters of the history of India. Indeed, Nationalism has gone farther in effacing the painful memory of the past.
    The practice of seeking consolation for the shame of the present in the real or legendary glory of the past has dressed the Muslim rulers of India in brilliant national colors.
    Yet, a Hindu, who prides in the prosperity of the reign of an Akbar, or boasts of the architectural accomplishments of a Shahjehan, is even to-day separated most curiously by an unbridgeable gulf from his next door neighbor belonging to the race, or professing the faith, of those illustrious monarchs who are believed to have glorified the history of India. For the orthodox Hindus who constitute the great majority of the Indian population, the Mussulman, even of a noble birth or high education or admirable cultural attainments, is a ‘mlechha’-impure barbarian-who does not deserve a social treatment any better than accorded to the lowest of the Hindus.
    The cause of this singular situation is to be traced in the prejudice born, in the past, of the hatred a conquered and oppressed people naturally entertained for the foreign invader. The political relation out of which it sprang is a thing of the past. But the prejudice still persists not only as an effective obstacle to national cohesion, but also as a hindrance for a dispassionate view of history. Indeed, there is no other example of two communities living together in the same country for so many hundred years, and yet having 50 little appreciation of each other’s culture. No civilized people in the world is so ignorant of Islamic history and contemptuous of the Mohammedan religion as the Hindus. Spiritual imperialism is the outstanding feature of our nationalist ideology. But this nasty spirit is the most pronounced in relation to Mohammedanism. The current notion of the teachings of the Arabian Prophet is extremely ill-informed. The average educated Hindu has little knowledge of, and no appreciation for, the immense revolutionary significance of Islam, and the great cultural consequences of that revolution. The prevailing n0tions could be laughed at as ridiculous, were they not so pregnant with harmful consequences. These notions should be combated for the sake of the national cohesion of the Indian people as well as in the interest of science and historical truth. A proper appreciation of the cultural significance of Islam is of supreme importance in this crucial period of the history of India.
    The great historian Gibbon describes the rise and expansion of Islam as “one of the most memorable revolutions which has impressed a new and lasting character on the nations of the globe.” One is simply amazed to contemplate the incredible rapidity with which the two mightiest empires of the ancient time were subverted by the comparatively small bands of nomads issuing from the Arabian Desert, fired with the zeal of a new faith. Hardly fifty years had passed since Mohammad assumed the role of the singular Prophet spreading his Message of Peace at the point of the sword, his followers victoriously planted the banner of Islam on the confines of India, on the one side, and on the shore of the Atlantic, on the other. The first Khalifs of Damascus reigned over an Empire which could not be crossed in less than five months on the fleetest camel. At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the “‘Commanders of the Faithful” were the most powerful rulers of the world.
    Every prophet establishes his pretension by the performance of miracles. On that token, Mohammad must be recognized as by far the greatest of all prophets, before or after him. The expansion of Islam is the most miraculous of all miracles. The Roman Empire of Augustus, as later enlarged by the valiant Trajan, was the result of great and glorious victories, won over a period of seven hundred years. Still, it had not attained the proportions of the Arabian Empire established in less than a century. The Empire of Alexander represented but a fraction of the vast domain of the Khalifs. For nearly a thousand years, the Persian Empire resisted the arms of Rome, only to be subdued by the “Sword of God” in less than a decade. Let a modern historian describe the miracle of the rise of Islam.
    �Nowhere was there a vestige of an Arabian state, of a regular army, or of a common political ambition. The Arabs were poets, dreamers, fighters, traders; they were not politicians. Nor had they found in religion a stabilizing or unifying power. They practiced a low form of polytheism. A hundred years later, these obscure savages had achieved for themselves a great world power. They had conquered Syria and Egypt, they had overwhelmed and converted Persia, mastered Western Turkestan and part of the Punjab. They had wrested Africa from the Byzantines and the Berbers, Spain from the Visigoths. In the West they threatened France, in the East Constantinople. Their fleets, built in Alexandria or the Syrian ports, rode the waters of the Mediterranean, pillaged the Greek islands and challenged the naval power of the Byzantine Empire. Their success had been won so easily, the Persians and Berbers of the Atlas Mountains alone offering a serious resistance, that at the beginning of the eighth century it must have seemed an open question whether any final obstacle could be opposed to their victorious course. The Mediterranean had ceased to be a Roman lake. From one end of Europe to the other, the Christian states found themselves confronted with the challenge of a new Oriental civilization founded on a new Oriental faith.” (H. A. L. Fisher, “A History of Europe”, pp. 137/8.)
    How did that stupendous miracle happen? That has been one of the baffling questions for historians. To-day the educated world has rejected the vulgar theory that the rise of Islam was a triumph of fanaticism over sober and tolerant peoples. The phenomenal success of Islam was primarily due to its revolutionary significance and its ability to lead the masses out of the hopeless situation created by the decay of antique civilizations not only of Greece and Rome but of Persia and China-and of India

    [Reply]

    Sumit Bose Reply:
    October 10th, 2012 at 9:04 am

    @Saad, this reply of yours is a copy paste from 3 separate sources. I also am amazed how the Arabs were able to conquer the Persians; of course the Abbassids turned the tables on the Arabs, but without rejecting that pedophile, necrophile, caravan-bandit, mass-murderer, torturer, slave-merchant (among a few of his qualities).You have not answered a single point that I have responded to, but are gloating about the rise of the Caliphate; what does that do for you, as an Indian? As a pseudo-arab, you cannot even reflect on it as your own. Saad, go and spend a few years in Arabia and you will know how terribly the common Arabs treat Indian muslims, and there are millions as you ever so willing to lick Arab feet.
    Please read M.A. Khan’s book Islamic Jihad, he has painstakingly translated documents yet preserved in the London museum right from Mohammad of Ghori onwards till Tipu Sultan.I bet, if you have any sense of fairness you will be astonished with gory details recorded by the gloating chroniclers , on how they brought more power to Islam and enjoyed bringing suffering and pain upon us Indians, who happened to be on the loosing side at that time. You are a typical product of those terrible times, education has not brought you to a frame of mind to understand your roots. The law of nature is very clear, if you do not understand your roots and are not comfortable with it, you will never be able to spread your branches.

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  • Anonymous

    I think you will call anybody who tries to get us Muslims out of this evil personal law, our backward mindset, our intention to fight all as stupid.

    You, must be a moron.

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  • Anonymous

    @ Saad

    life is all about today.

    If you talk about past glories and apply the rules of yesterday… I am afraid you will be like Geoffery Boycott playing 20-20

    No group of people are let down by a few leaders. Its is a collective mindset which needs to change. If yo cling on to a fallacy that everything as per the book and new knowledge be damned, well the state of the Muslims would be as it is today world over. Just lagging behind the world except in places where oil is found.

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  • Anonymous

    I know everyone in the world is wrong, while the Taliban, the LeT , the IM the harkat are lollipop chewing infants.

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  • Deep Bhaduri

    a few more ar#*-lickers of the Arabs would certainly be tolerated.

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    saad Reply:
    October 15th, 2012 at 7:05 am

    hindus are licking the ase of arabs more than muslims.hindu according to their religion has to i lick the ases of money and power.arab or non arab same for them.

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  • Anonymous

    Pervez,

    A great post . FYI, Rao/Saad is our old friend Engrich/ Tajender/ Ramavtar.

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  • dronacharya

    recently prince charles has said that ..islamic civilization of europe is the base of rennaince and present european civilization

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  • Anonymous

    @ Zia

    What do you have to say about Salman Khurshid stealing of tricycles and crutches of the handicapped?

    His threats to Kejriwal?

    It has made me ashamed as a Muslim

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  • Ravi

    Parvez

    No one can control someone else, but everyone can control themselves.

    What communal twaddle Salman does speaks about him, not his religion. Islam did not teach him to be a thief or a liar.

    However, how we react to his deeds, and what language we use is all within our own control.

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  • aneutralvoice

    Vijay, How many muslim you know who have more than one wife? This is well know fact that currently hindus like Dharmender and Hemamalini, Ramvilas Paswan, Mohan chand and Fiza and many more more well know names are exploiting Muslim personal law for their benefit. Please stop Muslim Hate Machine, yes they have different belief and faith but still have very similar human need and feeling like you. Go beyond your comfort zone to make friends from different community, cast or even linguistically different group.

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  • Roy Stone

    India has a million social problems it keeps dodging and not confronting, do they actually think anyone gives a ****??? Idk about you, Ive been to both countries and Indian isnt even 1/10 of china when it comes to a functional society(yes women’s status and living standards part of it)

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