“Although food was being distributed through mosques in various localities, it’s an all-religion initiative”
New Delhi :
Cooked food was being delivered to agitating farmers on Thursday through various mosques of Delhi. The information was given by social activist Nadeem Khan through a tweet.
“Arrangement of food has been made in several mosques of Delhi. Farmers, kindly call on the following numbers: 9990431468,” reads the tweet in Hindi.
Some two lakh farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab are reaching Delhi as part of their two-day Delhi chalo protest march on Thursday and Friday.
Clarion India called on the given number. The person who picked up the phone promptly asked for the address where food needed to be delivered. Asked if the food was being prepared at a centralised place, he said kitchens had been set up at several places. “You give the address, food will be sent from the nearest point of distribution.”
He said agitating farmers were stuck at various places in and around the capital. “We are trying to reach them with food as far as possible,” the person on the phone told Clarion India.
The organisers plan to continue this free delivery of food as long as the situation demands, he said.
He also said that although food was being distributed through mosques in various localities, the contribution for this was coming from all sides. “It’s an all-religion initiative,” he added.
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Editor’s Pick / November 26th, 2020
Barwad Village, Chikodi Taluk (Belgaum District), KARNATAKA :
Shamshuddin Mulla is known in the villages of Belgaum and Kolhapur district as a master mechanic with over 70 years of experience. Not many after him, he says, will have his passion for this grimy work.
“I will die with a paana [spanner] in each hand,” says Shamshuddin Mulla. “Death will be my retirement!”
That may sound dramatic, but Shamshuddin has indeed spent a large portion of more than 70 years wielding a spanner and other tools. Using them to repair all kinds of engines – water pumps, borewell pumps, mini excavators, diesel engines and many others.
His expertise in bringing all this faltering or silent farmland machinery to life is in high demand in the villages of Karnataka’s Belgaum district and Kolhapur district in Maharashtra. “People call me only,” he says, with a hint of pride.
Farmers and other clients come to Shamshuddin seeking his signature technique to diagnose a mechanical problem. “I just ask the operator to rotate the handle and from that I can identify what’s wrong with the engine,” he explains.
Then the real work starts. It takes him eight hours to repair a troubled engine. “This includes the time from opening to reassembling,” Shamshuddin says. “Today, the [engine] kits come with readymade materials, so it’s become easier to repair them”.
But countless hours of practice have gone into achieving his eight-hour average. Now 83, Shamshuddin estimates he has repaired more than 5,000 engines in 73 years – engines used for drawing water from the river, for extracting oil from groundnuts and oilseeds, moving stones from construction sites and wells, and for various other purposes.
Shamshuddin Mulla, 83, is known in the villages of Belgaum and Kolhapur district for his signature techniques. While working unperturbed in the heat when we meet, he gets several calls from hardware dealers in Kolhapur city, and says, ‘The dealer just has to tell me the name of the client who visited me, and ask for the parts required’
It is difficult, he says, for many farmers to find skilled mechanics because the company-appointed technicians don’t usually go to their villages. “It’s expensive too to invite the company’s mechanic,” he adds. “And it takes them time to reach remote villages.” But Shamshuddin can reach the ailing engine much faster. The farmers also consult him when younger technicians are unable to diagnose or repair the machines.
No wonder then that in his village, Barwad in Chikodi taluka of Belgaum district, Shamshuddin is known as Shama mistri, an expert mechanic. It’s to this village that people carry their small silent engines to be brought to life, or from where Shamshuddin travels out to the fields and workshops where broken engines await his expert touch.
The engine-manufacturing companies value Shamshuddin’s skills too. He can repair the machines manufactured by big companies like Kirloskar, Yanmar and Skoda, as well as several local companies. “They consult me on making improvements to the engines, and I always tell give them feedback,” he says.
For example, engine handles were not sturdy and compact earlier. “People had to rotate the handle [crankshaft] several times, and this would hurt them and cause injuries. I advised some companies to improve the handles. Now many of them provide three gears instead of two,” he says. This improves the balance, timing and movement of the handle. Some of the companies with branches in Kolhapur district, he adds, invite him to their celebrations on occasions like Independence Day, Republic Day and the company’s anniversary.
The months of March, April and May are the busiest for Shamshuddin, when he repairs around 10 engines every month – for a fee ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2,000 for each repair job, depending on the complexity of the breakdown. “Before it rains, many farmers get wells drilled on their land, and that’s when a lot of engines need repair,” he explains. During the rest of the year, his repair work continues but the calls are less frequent.
Top row: Shamshuddin says not many in the younger generation are willing to dip their hands in sticky black engines. ‘I’ve never used any gloves, what will I do by using them now?’ he asks. Bottom row: A dismantled engine’s innards (left) and some of the tools (right) which Shamshuddin has bought over seven decades. He is very particular about the right kind of equipment, and prefers carrying his own set of tools for any repair work
When he isn’t away repairing engines, Shamshuddin looks after his two-acre farm and cultivates sugarcane. He was only about 7 or 8 years old when his father Appalal and mother Jannat, who were farmers, shifted to Barwad from Pattan Kodoli in Kolhapur’s Hatkanangle taluka. To help with the family’s earnings, at the age of around 10, in 1946, Shamshuddin started assisting a mechanic in Barwad. Ten hours of work fetched him Re. 1 every day. The family’s poverty prevented him from studying beyond Class 1. “Had I completed my education, I would have been flying an airplane today,” he says with a laugh.
Shamshuddin recalls going by bullock cart every fortnight to Hatkanangale village, where freight trains halted – around 30 kilometres from his village – to purchase diesel for engines in the mid-1950s. “Back then, diesel cost one rupee per litre, and I used to buy three barrels [a total of 600 litres] each time.” Shamshuddin was known as ‘Shama driver’ in those days, whose job was to maintain the machines.
In 1958, a few mechanics from Kolhapur city came to Barwad to install an 18-horsepower engine for drawing water from the nearby Dudhganga river to the fields. Then 22, Shamshuddin carefully observed them at work to try and understand how an engine worked. “It required crude oil worth two rupees every day,” he recalls. The engine malfunctioned the following year after getting submerged in the rising river water. The technicians were called back and Shamshuddin used the opportunity to polish his own skills. When the machine went under water again in 1960 (it was eventually replaced by a newer version), he repaired the engine on his own. “From that day onward, my name was changed from ‘Shama driver’ to ‘Shama mistri’,” he says, proudly.
An incident in 1962 convinced Shamshuddin that it was the right time to further explore the world of engines. A farmer from Barwad had commissioned him to buy an engine for his field. “I went all the way to Ghunaki village [around 50 kilometres away] in Hatkanangle taluka to the company warehouse and brought the engine for Rs. 5, 000,” he says. It took him 20 hours over three days to assemble it. “A mechanic from the company inspected it afterwards and said it was done perfectly,” he recalls.
At their home in Barwad village: Shamshuddin and his wife Gulshan, who says, ‘For me, agriculture is better than repairing machines’
Over time, Shamshuddin’s reputation as a skilled mechanic kept growing. He had by then worked as an apprentice to another mechanic for five years, earning Rs. 2 a day. When he started repairing engines on his own, his income went up to around Rs. 5 a day. He would travel on his bicycle to the nearby villages of Chikodi taluka in Belgaum (now Belagavi). Today, his customers contact him by phone and ferry him in their vehicles.
But the craft of repairing engines also has its risks. “Once [in the 1950s] I got hurt while working. You can still see the wounds on my back. They will never heal,” Shamshuddin says. A few months ago, he went through an angioplasty procedure in a Kolhapur hospital. “The doctors asked him to rest for six months, but there is no one who can repair engines,” says his wife, Gulshan. “Within two months, people started bothering him to come and repair their engines.”
Gulshan, who is her mid-70s, helps with cultivating sugarcane on the family’s two acres, and they sell the cane in the market. “He asks me to learn how to repair and even teaches it sometimes, but I am not interested in it much. For me, agriculture is better than repairing machines,” she says, laughing.
Their sons have not taken to Shamshuddin’s craft either. (He and Gulshan don’t have any daughters). The eldest, Maula, 58, has an electric motor shop in Barwad. Isaq, in his mid-50s, helps look after the farm. Their youngest son, Sikandar, died about a decade ago.
“I went out, observed people and learned this art,” Shamshuddin says with a touch of sadness. “We have the knowledge and resources in our home today, but no one even wants to touch an engine.”
For big and heavy engines, Shamshuddin travels directly to the site. Here, he is at Gajabarwadi village of Belgaum district, repairing a diesel engine used to lift stones during well-digging
The situation is similar outside their house too. “No one wants to get their hands dirty with the kalakutt [black, grimy] engine oil. The younger generation calls it ‘dirty work’. How will you repair an engine if you don’t want to touch the oil?” he asks with a laugh. “Besides, people now have a lot of money, and if an engine doesn’t work, they usually buy a new one.”
Still, over the years, Shamshuddin has trained about 10 to 12 other mechanics from nearby villages. He is proud that they too can now easily repair engines, though none of them are as skilled as he is and occasionally seek his diagnosis of the problem.
When asked for advice for the younger generation, Shamshuddin smiles and says, “You should be passionate about something. You have to love what you do. I love engines, and that’s what I spent my entire life on. From my childhood, I wanted to examine and repair engines, and I think I have achieved that dream.”
This is when he declares – “I will die with a paana (spanner) in each hand” – but then clarifies that those words are borrowed from a mentor mechanic he met when he was a teenager, whose passion for repairing engines Shamshuddin still recalls. “He would travel hundreds of kilometers for this work,” he says.” The mentor [whose name Shamshuddin can’t fully recall] had told him once about dying with a spanner in his hands. “It inspired me, and that’s why I work even at the age of 83. Death will be my retirement!” reiterates Shama mistri.
source: http://www.ruralindiaonline.org / Pari – People’s Archive of Rural India / by Sanket Jain / August 07th, 2019
According to Dr Khurshid Imam, understanding Judaism is essential to fully comprehend the Quran.
Navras Jaat Aafreedi/jnu.ac.in
The only Hebrew language teacher who holds a position in Indian academia is Dr Khurshid Imam, Assistant Professor at the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. In this conversation with Dr Navras Jaat Aafreedi, he reveals the secret of a Ben Gurion “mosque” and tells us about a hadīth in which Prophet Muhammad encouraged Muslims to learn Hebrew.
Please correct me if I am wrong in understanding that you are the only person teaching Hebrew at any Indian university?
Not only am I the only person teaching Hebrew at any Indian university, but I was also instrumental in getting Hebrew introduced at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Although officially speaking it was introduced at the university only as a result of a bilateral agreement between India and Israel, yet had I not made efforts for it, I doubt if this would have happened when it happened. (This interview was conducted in 2011. Since then, Dr Imam has been joined by Achia Anzi in teaching Hebrew at JNU, but Anzi teaches on a contractual basis. Hence, Imam still remains the only Hebrew teacher to hold a tenure track position in Indian academia.)
There are two divisions in any religious community, one of the observant followers and the other of the non-observant ones. You clearly belong to the observant section of Muslims. Considering this and given the tensions between Jews and Muslims today, it is surprising to come across you, an observant Muslim, as the only Hebrew teacher in India. Although Islam does not forbid learning any language, it is hard to find somebody like you.
It is only because of the stereotyping of Muslims that people are surprised when they find me teaching Hebrew. Stereotyping can have very dangerous ramifications as witnessed in the post-9/11 fatal attacks on Sikhs in the US when they were mistaken for Muslims because of their beards and turbans. Also, generally Muslims know their religion not as a result of self-study but as a consequence of how it is interpreted to them by the clerics, which shapes their understanding of how a Muslim should conduct himself. Hence, they are often suspicious of those among them who study the Torah or have Jewish friends.
Similarly, instead of appreciating a Muslim studying the Hebrew language in which one of the most important sacred texts, the Torah, was received, it is seen with suspicion and even condemned. There was a time when the Indian Muslims had a similar attitude towards English, then seen by them as a language of the imperialists and enemies of Islam which would distance the Muslims from their religion, Islam. But today not only is English taught even in the Islamic seminaries, its importance is realised by one and all across the Indian Muslim community.
My family, friends and wider community were all surprised when I decided to learn Hebrew. Even in Israel, everybody seemed to be surprised to find a visibly observant Muslim like me with a beard and Islamic skull cap desirous of learning Hebrew. For the Israelis, it was their first ever interaction with a non-Arab Muslim, and that too an observant one and on top of that interested in learning their language, which took them by surprise. So, among both, Muslims as well as Jews, there were people who felt I had gone crazy. And I was met with this response only because of the stereotype of a Muslim that these people had. As for me, my interest in Hebrew was driven by my desire to learn about the Jewish version of the Middle East conflict, as my Jewish brethren expressed it in their language Hebrew. I could already access the Arab version in their language because of my knowledge of Arabic. I did not want to know about the conflict between the Jew and the Muslim through a third person.
During the time you spent in Israel for your studies, the consciousness that the people there would form their perception of Indian Muslims on the basis of their impression of you must have put some pressure on you?
It was after my MPhil at the Jawaharlal Nehru University that I went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for some time for specialising in the Modern Middle East. Initially I went to Israel on a Government of Israel Scholarship, but after that I was supported by Golda Meir scholarship to continue my studies there. The various courses that I took under these two scholarships were cumulatively considered at par with MA.
Although lessons in Hebrew language are not a part of MA in Middle Eastern Studies, yet knowledge of Hebrew is considered mandatory for it. Hence, I learnt Hebrew along with my MA and attained knowledge equivalent to seven levels. I was in Israel from 1998 to 2000. I registered for PhD in 2002 and was awarded the degree of PhD in 2009. I was the first non-Arab Muslim that the Israelis had any interaction with. And they started trusting me so much that some of my Jewish friends even visited the Palestinian Authority-administered Bethlehem with me for the first time in spite of all apprehensions. I got invited to their homes on Jewish festivals just as I was invited by my Palestinian friends on Muslim festivals. My having relations with both parties sometimes made people suspicious of me. Palestinians would think of me as a Yemenite Jew while the Ashkenazim would consider me an Arab. Hence, I was under threat from both sides. In this respect, mere glares would say a lot to me even if the people did not utter a word.
When I tread on areas beyond the university neighbourhood, people would look at me with suspicion. Muslims would look at me in the same manner if I visited a mosque not accompanied by any local Arab Muslim friend. The very atmosphere is such that people get easily suspicious of strangers and fear them to be suicide bombers or fanatic attackers. Later, I started empathising with them. I used to offer namāz (Islamic prayers) in the balcony of my flat in Israel. The door to the balcony had a picture of [Israel’s first prime minister] Davd Ben Gurion. I never thought of removing the picture, and as a result my flatmates started calling it Ben Gurion mosque.
Without exaggeration, at least 20-25 Jews wept when I left Israel. Relations are still such that whenever anybody from this university goes to Israel, he is asked about my well-being. I see it as an achievement that I left behind weeping Jewish friends when I returned to India, given the fact that I had gone to Israel all alone, despite discouragement from family and friends and their warnings that according to them, I, a devout Muslim, was risking my safety by heading to an enemy country. Later, Israeli TV channel, Channel 8 Avutz Shimoni, invited me to Israel for two weeks for an interview for a six or seven episode documentary series on identity.
How and when did you develop an interest in the Hebrew language?
Conscious as I was that there was more to the animosity and the tensions between Jews and Muslims than just the Arab-Israel conflict, I decided to interact with Jews in their own language to get to the very root of the problem. It was an attempt on my part to understand their outlook, their point of view, right from the horse’s mouth, instead of being informed through the press, predominantly by the third party, which is neither Jewish nor Muslim.
Secondly,there is a hadith according to which Prophet Muhammad asked his followers to learn Hebrew. It is said that two of the sahābā attained command of Hebrew, one in thirteen days and the other in fifteen days. Hebrew of those times was very close to Arabic. By learning Hebrew, I also followed a sunnat, according to which one should learn as much as possible. My knowledge of Hebrew has also enabled me to bridge the communication gap between me as a Muslim and Jews. I also felt that with the increasing strengthening of relations between India and Israel, knowledge of Hebrew would brighten my career prospects. The first organisation to employ me upon my return to India was the Indian Defence School where I taught Hebrew. Even today, when I do not teach there any more I am still requested to come from time to time whenever there is anything involving the Indo-Israel defence deals. Hence, I have served my religion as well as my country by learning the Hebrew language.
What did you propose to study when you applied for the Government of Israel Scholarship?
I proposed to research the Role of Extremist Writers in the Peace Process.
After your return from Israel on the completion of your studies, did you face any opposition or resistance to your academic endeavours in India?
I am often called a Mossad agent who has been planted among Indian Muslims. Jawaharlal Nehru University is politically a very sensitive place given the dominance of the Left at the campus. It is the Left which is considered secular and it is anti-Israel. Hence, I could not expect any support from them. And as far as the Right is considered, even if they were sympathetic towards the cause of Hebrew, they were suspicious of me because of my religious Islamic demeanour. Therefore, of the two main political factions active at the university campus, I could not get support from either.
In this situation, it was not easy to introduce and promote Hebrew in the university and all I could do was to keep a low profile. Conscious of the fact that Muslims and Jews are seen as political adversaries, I urged the people to see my attempt to introduce Hebrew as a purely academic act, rather than driven by any political agenda. JNU is particularly known for the study of modern foreign languages. I tried to draw attention to the need for the introduction of classical languages and projected Hebrew as one. Introducing Hebrew in the garb of a classical language was the only strategy I could think of for countering the forces resisting it.
What I teach today is actually Modern Hebrew. I neither find myself qualified to teach the classical form nor is there any demand for it as the students are largely market-oriented and not research oriented. It is the knowledge of Modern Hebrew which would serve them better.
Could you, please, narrate a few interesting anecdotes or experiences of Israel.
When I got off the taxi at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem after my arrival in Israel, a heavy suitcase of mine, which did not even have wheels, was lifted for me for a long distance, until I reached my destination, by a stranger. It is interesting to note here that I had been cautioned against going to Israel by friends and family, and now my very first experience there was so pleasant.
Once a bomb explosion took place in the university library and the old librarian got injured. I also happened to be there. The librarian was so impressed with my gesture of immediately getting him water to drink and also with my washing his wounds, that after that incident he always introduced me to the people as the gentleman who came to his rescue immediately after the explosion. As a result of this and many other incidents, I got the happy feeling that I was positively contributing to Jewish-Muslim relations by leaving behind a positive image of Muslims, unlike the one the Jews had before. There were even articles on me in the Israeli press after this incident.
Before I went to Israel, I did not use to allow anyone to take pictures of me, but in Israel I was photographed so much that I stopped resisting.
One day, I was on my way to see a filmmaker who had interviewed me for a documentary he was making on Jihad. I had with me a book for him, titled Killing in the Name of God. Just when the bus arrived at the stop a police car stopped right in front of it after overtaking it and the policemen signalled to the driver not to open the door. With the pistols pointed at me, I was asked to raise my hands. After which I was asked to lift my shirt and then to open the bag. Upon my opening the bag came out that book, which made them all the more suspicious. However, I was let off when I showed them my University Identity Card. They explained that they did so because they had some input about a suicide bomber.
I would admit that I did have the same perception of Jews as common among the common Muslims, that they are a people guilty of the falsification of religious texts. It was after going there that I realised that the Jews were not any different and were regular, ordinary people like us, with good as well as bad among them. The Indian Muslims do not seem to be prepared as yet for greater interaction with Jews, for many among them have cancelled their visits to Israel out of fear of being ostracised by their community or instead of going there directly have gone there secretly via some other country.
The Urdu press does play a negative role in shaping the Muslim perceptions of Jews and Israel. I do not know where this misconception came from that the Muslims are not free to pray in the Al Aqsa mosque, but it is very widespread among them. It is silly of the Muslim countries to not grant visas to those who have been to Israel. Just as we Muslims resent being stereotyped, the same way, we Muslims too, should not stereotype the other communities.The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has a Department devoted to Islamic Studies. When the Jews can study about Islam and its history why cannot the Muslims study about Jewish theology and history and culture. It is necessary to understand the Jews in order to understand the Quran, which is full of references to Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon.
Dr Navras Jaat Aafreedi is an Indo-Judaic studies scholar and a Muslim-Jewish relations activist, employed as Assistant Professor in the Department of History & Civilization, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida.
The World’s First Halal Angels Network was launched to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and startups to tap $5 trillion, Halal consumer market, and would grow to USD 9.71 trillion by 2025. It was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to help investors, businesses, entrepreneurs & startups overcome these challenging times.
It is founded by Indian American Dr. Tausif Malik , who is a serial entrepreneur based out of Pune, India, and Chicago, USA. India is the biggest manufacturer of Halal consumer goods and has huge market opportunities in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Halal Angels Network would be the 1st Angels Network backed by Blockchain technology. The areas of interest for investments would be future technologies (Blockchain, Fintech AI, etc), Modest Fashion & Cosmetics, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Food Cafe & Restaurants, Processed Food & Tourism.
According to Dr. Malik to it is an extension of his earlier initiative of All India Muslim Business Startup Network (AIMBSN), India’s only (AIMBSN) is a very unique business ecosystem and the objective of the All India Muslim Business Startup Network (AIMBSN) is to create an entrepreneurial spirit and participation amongst the Indian Muslim community, so they can participate and contribute back to the economic activity of their motherland INDIA.
Halal Angels Network would be based on the traditional format of Angels Network where membership would be offered to Angel investors, Investment corporations, organizations, and, startup and they could network with each other for investments and business.
Halal Angels Network is also setting up offices in GCC, Europe, and South East Asia. Halal Angels Network would be hosting Halal Angels & Venture Capital Two Day Summit 2021, for Networking, Startup Showcase & Strategic Partnership.
Dr.Malik concluded by saying that ” When discussed this idea with the investment and startup community; they all got excited about the Halal Angels Network platform and the consensus was this would be win-win situation for everyone to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic”.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob / Home> Business / by Maktoob Staff / May 11th, 2020
Deora Village (Dharbanga District) , BIHAR / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :
Sadiya Shaikh is an undergraduate student getting her bachelor’s in Sociology-Literature in English from Rizvi College in Bandra.
It was the startling lack of discernment of the privileged and the problem of illiteracy in India, especially in Bihar, that prompted her to come to the aid of the community in any which way she could.
Eighteen-year-old Sadiya Shaikh was born in Darbhanga district of Bihar. Sadiya’s parents had decided to move their family to Mumbai, Maharashtra when she was only a toddler, to ensure that the children got the life and education they deserved.
She was visiting her hometown during the lockdown when she managed to establish the accessible, well-stocked, and only library her village has.
The Maulana Azad Library in Deora village of Darbhanga District is an initiative taken up by young Sadiya with help from her family and friends to sow the seeds for inclusive education for all the students in the community who cannot afford the luxury of getting appropriate and established means of instruction.
Deora stands at a total population of 3,446 persons and 631 houses. While the village literacy rate stands at 40.9%, the female literacy rate is a staggering 18.6%.
The close linked relationship between illiteracy and poverty has challenged the development of the people of Deora for a long time therefore, the library is of service to the students of all grades along with school textbooks, there is accessible material for aspirants of competitive examinations, along with a couple of trained professionals who help to tutor the children, who, even though, are enrolled in schools, cannot afford to go and own the required textbooks and other study materials.
“Few sections of our society have benefitted the most from the library, the youth who used to wander during the evening, now sit in the library and study, along with them, the elderly also use the library as a space to sit and read the daily newspaper,” Nawaz, a resident of Deora and a daily visitor of the library said to Maktoob.
The library has books pertaining to the school boards in the state and NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books from standard one to 12.
Nawaz said his village doesn’t even have a well-established government school.
“Even though there is a private school just out of the village, most families cannot afford to send their children there, and even when they somehow arrange to pay the high-end fee they still cannot afford to buy the books and other school material, so the public library has ensured the well-being of such children by providing them these books at zero-cost along with the facility of issuing the required textbooks and taking them home to read,” he added.
The library has books pertaining to the school boards in the state and NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books from standard one to 12.
Akbar Ali, a second year BCom student told Maktoob that with the establishment of Maulana Azad Library, an atmosphere to study has been created in his village.
Sadiya Shaikh is an undergraduate student getting her bachelor’s in Sociology-Literature in English from Rizvi College in Bandra. She aspires to get her Postgraduate Degree from the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi.
She considers her education to be the informant that made her acquainted with the social and political predicament that threatens the minorities and women in India. Sadiya was an active participant in the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests and has been applauded for the various speeches she delivered disputing the law at various public-speaking events, one of which was in company with activists Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar.
Sadiya was an active participant in the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests and has been applauded for the various speeches she delivered disputing the law at various public-speaking events, one of which was in company with activists Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar.
Moving forward, Sadiya has her sights set on helping the women in her community and creating employment for the ones who are bound to the four walls of their household.
Sadiya believes that for any social change to be brought about, it’s the privileged and the educated members of the community who need to step up and stand in allyship with the marginalised, and only through education, can they stand a fair shot with the favoured class.
“Development of one person in a society consisting of under-privileged is no development at all. It is when the fortunate ones uplift the disadvantaged and curb inequality, does real development take place,” Sadiya told Maktoob.
“During the lockdown, many children didn’t have access to any regular means of instruction so the books from the library proved to be very beneficial, they also provided newspapers for older students and adults at Maulana Azad Library”- Rahela who lives near the library says.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob / Home> Features / by Sania Javed / December 04th, 2020
Mohammed Salman Ahmed has been elected as the national president of SIO.
A native of Maharashtra, Mohammed Salman Ahmed holds a masters degree in Engineering.
New Delhi :
The Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) of India has elected Mohammed Salman Ahmed as national president. A native of Maharashtra, he holds a masters degree in Engineering. His election was held recently at a meeting in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh in which other office-bearers of SIO were also elected.
Elected delegates from all the state units gather every two years to elect the president, general secretary and members of the Central Council. This year the elections were held with special precautions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with some parts of the election being conducted online.
SIO is a national students’ organisation – and the largest organisation of Indian Muslim students – spread across the length and breadth of the country, and visible in prominent campuses of India like JNU, HCU, Jamia, AMU and other state universities. SIO is primarily active on students’ welfare and education centric issues and challenges. In recent years it has consistently worked on issues related to access and quality of education, including raising questions regarding discrimination and prejudice in educational institutions.
Syed Ahmed Muzakkir, who was previously Director of SIO’s Centre for Educational Research & Training, was elected general secretary. Muzakkir holds a masters degree in Economics from the University of Malaysia.
The national secretaries who form part of the central leadership are Nihal Kidiyoor, Dr. Naseem Ahmed, Tahoor Anwar, Rameas EK, Musab Qazi, Fawaz Shaheen and Abdul Hafeez.
Members of the Central Advisory Council, the apex decision-making body of the organisation, were also elected. They are: Amjad Ali (Kerala), Dr. Talha Faiyazzuddin (Telangana), Abdullah Azzam (Bihar), Usama Hameed (AMU), Zulqarnain Haider (Delhi), Salman Khan (South Maharashtra), Musaddiq Mubeen (Rajasthan), Dr. Luqman Ahmed (Telangana), Osama Akram (Telangana), Shujauddin Fahad (North Maharshtra), Abdul Quddus Suhaib (Karnataka), Ehtesamul Abrar (Jharkhand) and Muhammad Saeed TK (Kerala).
All the office-bearers, including the president, will hold their posts for two years.
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> India> Indian Muslims / by Clarion India / December 02nd, 2020
Thoufeek Zakariyah, Sarah Cohen and Isaac Ashkenazi inspecting a Torah that Thoufeek designed.
Down in the heart of “God’s Own Country,” as the Indian state of Kerala is affectionately known, an Indian Muslim calligrapher is using his skills in the art of the ink flourishes to bridge Jewish and Muslim communities.
Thoufeek Zakriya is an Indian Muslim from the city of Cochin who does calligraphy in a number of languages, including Arabic, Samaritan, Syriac and Sanskrit. More interestingly, he is a Muslim who does masterful Hebrew calligraphy.
While studying in madrasa, he learned that the Jewish people were considered by Islam to be ahl al-kitab (“People of the Book”), which sparked a curiosity in him to learn more about this religious community. His curiosity led him to find a copy of the Gideon’s Bible, which had a page with prayers in 23 different languages. He decided to find what encompassed the Hebrew word for God, so using the page as his “Rosetta Stone” he was able to decipher what letters entailed the Hebrew name for the Lord.
Jewtown – home of the tiny yet historic community of Jews in Cochin
Thoufeek became more interested in Judaism and Hebrew calligraphy, and reached out to the tiny yet historic Jewish community in Cochin . Thoufeek purchased some Hebrew texts he found at a streetside book shop and he went about learning the Hebrew alphabet. His studies in Hebrew led him to begin crafting calligraphy of Jewish prayers such as the Birkat haBayit (prayer for the home) in golden resplendent brilliance.
Birkat HaBayit, the blessing for the home.
Thofeek even began creating calligraphic replicas of the Torah.
More importantly, Thoufeek does something very unique: he has crafted Hebrew calligraphy in the ancient Kufic Arabic script. Such work is a rarity in the calligraphic world, and his innovations in the Kufic/Hebrew calligraphy has brought Thoufeek accolades from admirers from all over the world. Zakriya has been commissioned as far away as Ukraine and the United States to create works that combine Arabic calligraphy with Jewish prayers.
Birkat Kufic in Jerusalem Stone. The Hebrew letters here are turned into the Kufic Arabic script.
Thoufeek’s work and his dedication to study Jewish history and culture led to a close friendship between him and Cochin’s Jewish community, including his warm friendship with the community’s matriarch Sarah Cohen. Cohen has hosted Thoufeek for Passover seders and other Jewish holiday celebrations.
Thoufeek with Sarah Cohen
I met Thoufeek at Sarah Cohen’s embroidery shop, where she stitches yarmulkes and other Jewish-Indian embroideries. As we sat sipping tea and eating watermelon squares and black helwa (sweets), she remarked that she considers him to be like a grandson and a real mensch.
Birkat Kufic in stone. The Hebrew letters here are turned into the Kufic Arabic script
Thoufeek Zakriya is a wonderful symbol of India’s legendary tolerance for religious communities. “At a time when Jews and Muslims are sadly seen as natural adversaries, Thoufeek’s Hebrew calligraphy emerges as yet another example of Muslim-Jewish amity from India,” says Dr. Navras Aafreedi, an Assistant Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Gautam Buddha University. Professor Aafreedi studies Jewish communities of India, and noted that Zakriya is the only known Muslim Hebrew calligrapher in India
Card for Rosh Hashanah reading, “Good New Year.”
“Thoufeek’s work shows us that the way to peace is through the exploration of each other’s culture and the commonalities between them,” says Dr. Aafreedi, “His work is a reminder of the shared cultural and religious heritage of Jews and Muslims, which definitely needs to be brought into sharper focus in such a manner that it overshadows the disputes, conflicts and differences.”
Photographs courtesy: Paul Rockower & Thoufeek Zakariya
This article first appeared in Huffington Post, and has been republished here in arrangement with the author. Follow Paul Rockower on Twitter: https://twitter.com/levantine18
source: http://www.thebetterindia.com / The Better India / Home> The Better Home / by Paul Rockower / January 02nd, 2013
This time, the local body polls will witness a number of candidates from the Muslim community contesting on a BJP ticket, and to them, the decision was born out of their own reasons.
Palakkad :
This time, the local body polls will witness a number of candidates from the Muslim community contesting on a BJP ticket, and to them, the decision was born out of their own reasons. Contesting from ward 13 of Kollengode panchayat, Pyarejaan affiliated herself with BJP after the Centre made triple talaq a criminal offence.
“Ten years ago, my husband abandoned me and our two children. I had no source of income and suffered a lot,” said Pyarejaan, a daily wage-worker. A man should not be allowed to discard his partner and leave her to fend for herself. It is indeed a punishable offence, she said. As for K Jamshad and wife Laila Veeramangalam, who will represent BJP from ward 17 (Kunnathully) and ward 7 (Chungam), respectively, it was the Left front’s threats and lackadaisical approach to an issue they raised that forced them to jump ship.
“I had been with CPI for years and earned my living tapping rubber. Recently, I tested Covid positive and was admitted to the MCH in Mangode. The place was unhygienic. When I asked the staff for a toilet cleaner and a brush, they refused and argued with me. Even the drinking water wasn’t clean. I then took some photos and went on FB Live to highlight the state of affairs in the hospital. However, I was completely taken aback by the comments and threats made against me and my wife by my comrades.
The CPM local unit even filed a case against me. As for joining BJP, I had begun liking PM Narendra Modi after the China standoff. The toilet incident and the case that followed expedited my decision,” he said.While Jamshad’s ward is an IUML stronghold, Laila’s is a CPI citadel. “The sitting councillor of ward 17, Jamsheela (IUML), did nothing for the people and now has switched to the adjacent Karapadam ward. Hence, we hope to win this time to bring real change,” said Jamshad.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / December 01st, 2020
At age 24, this college dropout helps companies like Airtel, Truecaller and Justdial protect their users’ personal data. Incredibly, however, he learnt all the necessary skills not through formal courses, but research on Google!
Meet Ehraz Ahmed, a 24-year-old, independent data security researcher from Mysuru, Karnataka, who since last year has protected the data of 700 million users by helping companies like Airtel, Justdial and Truecaller detect major flaws in their data security architecture. Simultaneously, he runs a fintech and a web security company.
What’s particularly remarkable about this first-year engineering college dropout is that he learnt all the necessary skills not through formal courses, but research on Google. A real online prodigy, Ehraz is looking to protect the data of 1 billion users by the end of this year. So, how did this ethical hacker and serial entrepreneur get to where he is today?
Early Days
“I began using computers when I was just 10. I remember accompanying my brother to the local cyber cafe paying Rs 30 an hour and playing games like Counter Strike or browsing the internet. Besides playing games, I was exploring different facets of the online world from social media sites like Orkut to finding ways of building a website because my elder brother was a web developer. I would peek into the source code of the websites he built and try to learn things independently through Google. Whatever I have learnt about computers, web security and the online world is through Google,” Ehraz tells The Better India.
It was while playing Counter Strike with his friends when Ehraz found his first opportunity at entrepreneurship. Understanding the craze for the game amongst his friends, at age 14 Ehraz started a game server hosting venture. However, besides providing online gaming servers for players to connect and play the game for just Rs 200 per player, his venture also began offering web hosting services to different websites.
The reason he ventured into the world of entrepreneurship this early was because of a few tragedies in his life. As an 8th grader, he recalls witnessing his brother meet with a serious road accident. Two years later, his father suffered a heart attack.
“My interest in my venture had dimmed after my father’s heart attack. I lost interest in my studies as well. That’s when I put everything on hold to make a fresh start. I wanted to stand on my own feet by doing something better and more significant than what I was doing. These incidents made me realise the value of time and money. Life is short and there is so much left to do not just for yourself but others as well. Nonetheless, by this time, I had grown into a competent web developer, picked up real-life entrepreneurial skills and began understanding some of the basic nuances of data security,” he recalls.
Meanwhile, by the early 2010s, discussions surrounding data security in the online world had begun to take off in India. One day during high school, he read a post on Facebook by a security researcher who was listed in Google’s Hall of Fame for finding a flaw. This researcher was even paid for it. This inspired him to learn how he could do the same.
That’s when he began targeting companies that offered bug bounties to hackers who would help them find flaws in their data security architecture. By the age of 16, Ehraz got listed in 50 Security Researcher’s Hall of Fame for finding security breaches in companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Blackberry, Soundcloud, and EBay. These Halls of Fame are listings compiled by major tech companies of online security researchers who helped find these flaws.
Besides recognition and a certificate, there was monetary compensation involved which depended on the magnitude of the flaw found. In India, however, he observes that the concept of bug bounties are still very new and not many companies operating here have that facility for freelance security researchers.
His first hall of fame listing was on Facebook, where he discovered a cross-site scripting vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to steal a user’s browser cookies. With this, any hacker could log in to a user’s account without a password and users are vulnerable to extortion and blackmail.
Ehraz Ahmed: The ethical hacker who has helped companies like Airtel address their user data vulnerabilities.
Serial Entrepreneur
“Although I was good at finding security flaws, I was not making enough money from it. Not all companies offer bug bounty programs, while only a few provide monetary rewards. But most of them do acknowledge your efforts in finding that flaw,” he says.
Looking for ways to make money, one day he found someone trading in the financial markets talking about making money in a Facebook post. It piqued his interest and he began exploring this field. Ehraz admits that it took him a while to figure out how it all works because he was sifting through hundreds of blogs.
“It wasn’t the most efficient way of learning, but I wasn’t interested in studying courses. My interest lay in obtaining that raw information about how to navigate this world. In the initial years, I lost a lot of money trading from my brother’s account. Since I was still under 18 during my PUC days, I couldn’t really open my own trading account,” he recalls.
By the time he enrolled into an engineering college at the age of 20, in Mandya, to pursue a course in computer science engineering, he started a fintech company called Voxy Wealth Management that engaged in offering financial advice and analytic services to traders and other consumers who wanted to manage their stock portfolios.
But travelling 80 km up and down from Mysuru to Mandya everyday, attending classes and running a fintech company was becoming very stressful. Although he finished his first semester with good marks, when the time came to enroll for the second semester, he began questioning why he was studying these heavy theoretical courses.
“What am I learning all this for? Completing these courses felt like climbing a mountain, reaching the top and then seeing nothing. I had already begun earning money through my company. Meanwhile, I was already getting job offers because of the work I had done detecting security flaws across different websites. I eventually figured out engineering college wasn’t meant for me and before the second semester in 2017, I decided to drop out to start a web security company as well,” says Ehraz.
After launching Voxy Wealth Management, he started Aspirehive—a web security company that offers solutions for small and medium-sized companies—in December 2017.
Unfortunately, as he was making his way simultaneously in the world of financial markets and web security, another tragedy struck home.
In April 2018, his elder brother met with another road accident. He suffered an injury and upon recovery, his brother expressed a desire to start a company together. Following this conversation, he began work on launching a new company called StackNexo.
The premise for StackNexo is to offer all web services and solutions on a single platform. He describes it like an Amazon for users wanting to start their own website.
“We seek to provide all necessary services for starting your own website on one platform instead of compelling you to visit different websites for domain services, hosting services, etc. This is for entrepreneurs or users looking to start their own website without the necessary IT expertise. I have partnered with 20 companies like Stackpath, Cloudflare and Google to integrate their services on our web platform. I have spent over a year developing this platform and our plan is to launch the company in two months,” he says.
Protecting people’s data
While working on all these companies, Ehraz also began reading news of major data breaches in Indian companies last year. Using his expertise, he decided to help.
His work commenced in August 2019, and by December he had safeguarded user data of over 700 million users. In Airtel, for example, which is India’s second-largest telecom network, Ehraz had found a security flaw that could have allowed hackers to steal sensitive data of 320 million users. By December, he had discovered and reported data breaches to 10 companies, including Truecaller, Justdial and Nykaa.
By the end of this year, his objective is to protect the data security of 1 billion users. His work in this regard hasn’t stopped. Most recently, he detected and reported a major security flaw in a company called Thrillophilia that risked sensitive data of 2 million users.
“We don’t fix data breaches, but find them, report and notify the said company via email. With Airtel, for example, I began scanning their My Airtel app. I found a very simple flaw in the their application programming interface (API), which hackers could exploit to gain access into users’ personal data (address, location, IMEI, sex) through their mobile number. It took me just 15 minutes to find this flaw and access all this confidential data. Honestly, I was shocked to find such a basic flaw. Moreover, I am an Airtel user and it scared me how vulnerable their data was to this breach. With a user’s IMEI number, hackers can organise spear phishing attacks into your system using just a simple SMS,” he says.
With Truecaller, he had found a vulnerability on the app’s backend attached to the user’s profile picture. With this breach, if a user is trying to find out about who’s calling from an unknown number, a hacker could mine their location, figure out their IP address and their identity. As a result of this breach, nearly 150 million users were at risk here. Another major Indian company he assisted was Justdial, which has over 165 million users.
Through the breach he detected, hackers could log into a user’s Justdial account, access their JD pay (their payment gateway) and divert payments away from a particular merchant into another account. He approached the company and got this major flaw fixed.
Most small companies/startups, he believes, don’t focus on data security, and instead look towards getting the venture off the ground and earning all the money back that was invested. But these breaches are not restricted to small startups.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Big Basket suffered a major data breach.
“Government must make data security auditing mandatory. Secondly, we don’t have the legal architecture in place for independent security researchers like me to disclose to companies about major flaws in their data security. Indian companies, particularly the major ones, don’t have a responsible disclosure policy in place. Without such a policy, companies get intimidated when we find flaws and begin questioning us even though our intentions are good. There are no laws to govern and protect security researchers like us. International companies, meanwhile, are a lot more accessible and we can easily help them find flaws without any threat of a blowback. Indian companies have to start promoting bug bounty programs so that independent researchers can help them find flaws,” he says.
After all, there isn’t a bigger commodity out there than user data.
(Edited by Yoshita Rao)
source: http://www.thebetterindia.com / The Better India / Home> The Better Home / by Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk / November 30th, 2020
Telangana University awarded PhD to three research scholars on Tuesday, among them two are from Telugu department and one is from Botany
Nizamabad:
Both research scholars are Muslims, their mother tongue is Urdu but they choose Telugu language as their career and obtain PhD from Telugu department of Telangana University.
Telangana University awarded PhD to three research scholars on Tuesday, among them two are from Telugu department and one is from Botany. These two research scholars’ are Syed Afreen and Shaik Akbar Pasha. Afreen researched on ‘Observation on Telangana female novelists’, and Akbar Pasha researched on ‘Development of Warangal district literature’.
Telugu department senior professor and Arts department Dean Prof Kanakaiah guided these scholars.
Syed Afreen, research scholar said that being Muslim and by having their mother tongue Urdu, they grown in Hindu people locality and speak Telugu language very well, also having interest in Telugu literature and had done Ph D in Telugu language.
source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home> Telangana> Nizamabad / by Telangana Today / November 24th, 2020
