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Expatriate worker from Tiruchi finds fame as social media star in the Gulf

Woraiyur (Tiruchi) TAMIL NADU / Doha, QATAR :

Thanks to social media, former car driver Rasool Kareem has discovered a completely new calling in Qatar

Rasool Kareem (left) with Qatari cast members of Kareem Time channel. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

When 35-year-old Rasool Kareem set out to support his family by taking up a driver’s job in Doha, Qatar in 2007, little did he realise that his career as a social media star in the Gulf country would literally turn his life around in the most unexpected way.

With a YouTube channel called ‘Kareem Time Official’ that has 1.9 million subscribers and 537,894 followers on Facebook, besides 70,6000 more on his Instagram account, the native of Woraiyur, Tiruchi is a recognised public figure in the Arabian Gulf’s social media space.

Kareem’s work stands out because he makes videos on the life of South Asian (majorly Tamil) expatriate workers in the Gulf, with a cast that is made up of both Qatari and Indian amateur actors.

His content is available in Arabic and Tamil, and uses observational comedy to lampoon people’s foibles, while conveying an underlying serious message.

“It is not right to vilify people or countries blindly. There are good and bad persons in every community, and sometimes comedy becomes the best vehicle to spread tolerance, especially in places that rely on expatriate workers,” says Kareem over a WhatsApp interview call. “Most of my Arabic videos are uploaded on YouTube and Instagram, while the Tamil ones, which I produce with the help of a creative team in Tiruchi, are on Facebook. The comedy skits have slapstick and physical humour to appeal also to viewers who may not know either language,” says Kareem.  

A star is born

Like the millions of blue-collar workers who head out to the Arabian Gulf countries in search of work every year, Kareem had a family to support back in Tiruchi. “I haven’t studied much, and spent much of my youth working at odd jobs. Since I was the eldest in my family and needed to support my parents and siblings, my father made me learn driving and got me a visa to work as a chauffeur for a Qatari family. When I had enough in my kitty, I decided to return to Tiruchi for good in 2010,” he recalls.

Kareem’s interest in acting led him to spending a year in Chennai, struggling to get roles in Tamil cinema. “By the end of 2011, I realised that my acting career was a non-starter, so I decided to return to Qatar and become a driver again,” he says.

Migrant workers in Qatar function under the ‘kafala’ (sponsorship) system, where a resident Qatari national is made in charge of the foreign worker’s visa and legal status.

Kareem’s Qatari sponsor (and employer) Naif al-Malki got interested in the driver’s Kollywood audition clips and asked him create something for him. “I sang an Arabic song in my Tamil style, which he uploaded on his Instagram page. We did not expect it to become a viral hit all over the Gulf countries. My first real fans were Arab children, who loved my stuff,” says Kareem.

The song started off his career as a social media star in 2013, as he began to upload videos that were largely mono-acts filmed on his mobile phone, with the active encouragement of al-Malki, who is now his business manager.

Content is king

“I realised that to be taken seriously, one had to pay attention to the content, so I started looking for actors who could join me in my videos,” he says. He found them in Qatar’s amateur theatre circuit and assembled a typical Gulf ‘family’ with his actors. “Today, Khaled al-Rubya, Huda al-Malki, Zahara al- Ansari, Tamim al-Malki and Abu Vinish are all part of Kareem Time videos, along with me. Sometimes we get mistaken for a real family,” he laughs.

Kareem tends to play the driver in most of the skits, but in real life has stopped working as a chauffeur after his social media career took off. “During one vacation, I actually wanted to quit my driver’s job and stay on in India because it was getting difficult to manage content creation with my regular work. But Mr. Naif persuaded me to return to Qatar and develop my social media work, because he felt it had great potential,” says Kareem.

The team shoots three videos per week, and uploads them periodically. “None of us gets paid for the in-house productions. But we allow the actors to state their preferred salary for commercial promotions, which we have started getting from local companies. I use my savings to fund the video production costs,” says Kareem.

For the more sober Tamil content, Kareem tends to highlight the socio-economic dynamics of migrant labourers within their families and society.

The father of two has learned to take the brickbats in his stride. “Thanks to social media, strangers walk up to me and request me for a selfie with their children because they have seen my work online. It’s the best endorsement one could get,” he says.

Kareem and co-star in a scene from his YouTube channel’s skits. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metro Plus / by Nahla Nainar / September 22nd, 2022

Jamia Student Syed Adnan Mian Selected for Prestigious Khorana Program

NEW DELHI :

New Delhi:

Syed Adnan Mian, a third-year undergraduate student from Jamia Millia Islamia’s (JMI) Department of Biotechnology, has made the university proud by securing a place in the esteemed Khorana Program for Scholars 2025.

This highly competitive scholarship is jointly supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) – Government of India, the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF), and WINStep Forward, offering exceptional Indian students the opportunity to engage in advanced research at leading U.S. institutions, reported the Okhla Times.

As part of the program, Adnan has been placed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where he will contribute to cutting-edge biomedical research. The scholarship covers round-trip airfare, a stipend, and health insurance, providing an invaluable academic and professional experience.

This achievement highlights JMI’s commitment to excellence in scientific research and global academic collaboration. Adnan’s selection for this prestigious program serves as an inspiration for aspiring researchers at the university.

source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Focus> Markers of Excellence / by Radiance News Bureau / March 12th, 2025

Munawwar Nainar, a T.N. scholar, recalls how his command of Arabic put him in the corridors of power

Palani / Trichy, TAMIL NADU :

S.M. Munawwar Nainar learnt the language at Cairo University (1955-59) and did his M.A. and Ph.D at Delhi University and JNU respectively. His command of the language led him to serve as the Indian government’s official interpreter in the 1970s. He recalls the most memorable meetings of Indian and Arab leaders at which he was the interpreter.

S. M. Munawwar Nainar (second left, standing) with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 1975. The meeting helped to cement the bilateral ties. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

My journey with Arabic began in the 1950s, when my father, Syed Mohamed Husain Nainar, professor and head of the Arabic, Urdu and Persian Department at the University of Madras (1927-1954), wished at least one of his sons to study Arabic in depth. I was drafted to the cause, though my general academic performance was middling. Eventually, I did four years of immersive language training in Arabic at Cairo University (1955-59), where I got my B.A. ‘Licence’ (degree) with a ‘Jayyid’ (good) grade. I followed it up with M.A. Arabic at Delhi University, and a Ph.D (on Arabic loan words in Hindi, Urdu, and Tamil) at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Arabic has led me to many interesting destinations, from diplomatic service and teaching to radio broadcasting and literary translation. But, to me, the most memorable of these are the occasions when I served as the Indian government’s official interpreter in the 1970s. I had been appointed as one of the Arabic teachers at JNU’s School of Languages at the time. The interpreter’s assignment was an honorary posting, and I was recommended for the job by our Vice-Chancellor G. Parthasarathy, based on my previous experience as the press secretary at the Indian Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1969-72).

A visit to remember

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s state visit to Iraq from January 18 to 21, 1975, was a much-covered event, because of the charisma that the Indian and Iraqi leaders projected in public. It is also considered a visit that cemented friendly ties between the two countries.

Saddam Hussein was at the Baghdad airport to receive her and the Indian delegation. He invited Mrs. Gandhi to the waiting limousine and boarded it after her. I was seated behind them. As we were proceeding, he asked the driver to slow down near a mosque and said, “This is where we had a crucial meeting of our Ba’ath Party after which I took over the reins of power.”

Official parleys were held the next day, after which Mrs. Gandhi wanted to have a private discussion with the Iraqi leader. When she asked him whether he wanted his interpreter to be present too, he declined. Pointing to me, he said, “Your translator is enough”.

We were received by Saddam seated on a chair with a hard wooden backrest (to deal with a spinal problem, he explained). As the two leaders spoke for about an hour, the Iraqi strongman’s trademark stern demeanour relaxed. (Earlier, on March 25, 1974, Hussein was on an official visit to India, where he was received by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.)

Rousing reception at Baghdad University

The Indian Prime Minister received a rousing reception at Baghdad University on January 20, where around 5,000 students had assembled in the large auditorium. The programme began with a welcome address in Arabic by the Vice-Chancellor, which I translated simultaneously to the Prime Minister in a low voice as I was seated behind her.

Mrs. Gandhi spoke extempore for about 15 minutes, during which there was pin-drop silence. I scribbled down notes. My translated version drew a big cheer from the audience that lasted for five minutes, a testimony to her popularity. The function also included the conferring of an honorary law degree on Mrs. Gandhi. However, as the students swarmed around the leaders after the event, I got lost in the melee. The security officers quickly conducted Mrs. Gandhi to the official motorcade; but when she noticed I was missing, she sent them back to find me. “Kahaan reh gaye aap? [Where were you?],” she asked me as I joined her in her car. To me, Mrs. Gandhi’s concern for her team members, irrespective of their rank, was one of her most admirable traits.

The 1970s were an important period for West Asia, where countries of the Persian/Arabian Gulf were declaring their independence from British rule. In 1971, the former ‘Trucial States’ — Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain — decided to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Their neighbours — Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman — also became independent that year. As India was keen on evolving a rapport with these oil-rich countries, many official visits were made to and from the Gulf countries.

A dragging flight

I was part of the delegation accompanying former Minister for External Affairs Sardar Swaran Singh on a tour of Oman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Qatar in the mid 1972. We boarded a Fokker Friendship plane in Delhi and, after about four hours, landed at the Jamnagar Air Force Station for re-fuelling. Then we resumed our journey towards Muscat, our first port of call, which we reached after seven hours of flying. “It was like walking from Jamnagar to Muscat,” Sardar Sahib said jokingly.

In Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said had recently deposed his father Sultan Said bin Taimur. The luncheon banquet was sumptuous: stuffed lambs and rice, followed by Omani halwa, carried on large platters by six persons (three on each side).

In the Qatari capital Doha, Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani spread out a huge blueprint and explained his nation’s development plans. Years later, when I worked in Qatar’s Education Ministry from 1983 until the 2000s, I saw that most of them had been implemented. Early Gulf leaders, in keeping with their nomadic Bedouin culture, would avoid venturing into the harsh sunlight. Thus, it happened that we had to meet Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the first President of the UAE and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, at midnight. Dubai already had started its course towards developing the tourism and hospitality sectors. I was in my thirties during these official engagements; today I am 87.

In 1975, when I was part of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s visit to Egypt and Sudan, I had an opportunity to mention to Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat that I had graduated from Cairo University. He was pleasantly surprised and wished me well. Arabic brought a boy from Palani to the corridors of power for a while and left behind a cornucopia of memories.

(The author had also served as the official interpreter for the Indian government during other high-level meetings with leaders from Middle East and North Africa countries. He is based in Tiruchi.)

source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> News> India> Tamil Nadu / by S M Munawwar Nainar / December 08th, 2023

Syed Mohamed Husain Nainar: Scholar, polyglot, and my grandfather

Palani , TAMIL NADU :

S.M. Husain Nainar in his later years | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A termite-infested trove of papers unveils the extraordinary life and scholarly legacy of a Tamil Muslim academic who bridged civilisations.

This would perhaps be a good time to thank the termites: for their help in reconstructing the jigsaw puzzle that is my paternal grandfather Syed Mohamed Husain Nainar’s legacy. If they had not been so keen on chewing through the wooden cabinets of our house in Salem, Tamil Nadu, we may have never found it necessary to finally dig into the mountain of paper that had built up from the 1800s till date, hoarded for the rainy day that never came. As Nainar’s 125th birth anniversary approaches (May 25, 2024), this account of a search for a patriarch’s profile(s) would resonate with those trying to figure out how their ancestors lived.

Contemporary fact-seekers may often come across the name of S.M. Husain (also sometimes spelt Husayn) Nainar, (1899-1963), when they study Tamil country’s history before the British Raj, or look into the influence of Islam and Arab travellers in this region from the 7th to 13th centuries. As a senior reader and later head, of the Department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu at Madras University, from 1927-1954, Nainar wrote, edited and translated over 20 works about South Indian antiquity that are considered an important repository of knowledge gleaned from rare, archival documents in multiple languages.

He wrote in English and Tamil; he was proficient in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Malayalam; could read and understand Dutch and French, and also learned Malayan and Bahasa Indonesia in the later part of his career. Among Nainar’s publications are Arab Geographers’ Knowledge of South India, originally written as his PhD thesis for the School of Oriental Studies (now known as the School of Oriental and African Studies or SOAS), University of London, in the 1930s; the English translation of ‘Tuhfat-al-Mujahidin (A Gift to the Holy Fighters), a historical work in Arabic by Zainuddin Makhdoom II, about Portuguese colonialism in 16th century Kerala (1942), and five volumes of Sources of the History of the Nawabs of the Carnatic edited based on Persian manuscripts Tuzak-i-Walajahi by Burhan Ibn Hasan; Sawanihat-i-Mumtaz by Muhammad Karim Zamin; and Bahar-i-Azamjahi by Ghulam Abdul Qadir Nazir, about the princely state in the erstwhile Madras Presidency.

In 1948 he mobilised public support and published a daily newspaper in Tamil called Swatandira Nadu. It was printed and published by Nuri Press, established by my grandfather and his elder brother with funds raised by well-wishers in Malaysia, Singapore and Burma. However, the daily could not survive beyond two years.

Shortly before his retirement, he was deputed as a research scholar to Indonesia by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Ministry of Education in 1952, to study relations between India and Indonesia. After the ICCR’s contract ended, he stayed on to complete the research at his own expense, and worked as a professor at the Government Institute of Islamic Studies in Yogyakarta from 1957 to 1960.

When he returned to India, after a short stint at the Indonesian section of All India Radio’s External Services Division, he joined the Department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu at Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati in 1961. Nainar passed away due to liver failure in 1963, while still in service.

This is my grandfather’s story in a very crowded nutshell, gleaned from the papers and documentation that survived the termite infestation. A more detailed version can be found at www.smhnainar.com, a website I compiled with the help of some patient family members and web developers in Salem and Tiruchi.

An educational pioneer

Arabic, Persian and Urdu were, at different times, widely used in India, in the courts of kingdoms and revenue offices before the British Raj brought English into vogue. Tamil was influenced by Arabic from the 7th century, even before the birth of Islam in Arabia, and as Nainar’s research indicates, contains a significant number of loan words which are still in use. How did a boy from the temple town of Palni, Tamil Nadu, born into a family of ‘olai’ (palm fronds processed into writing material) merchants, farmers and ‘munsiffs’ (local magistrates), choose to study Arabic, and its sister languages of the South and West Asia, and then use his learning to decipher the history of South India?

S.M. Husain Nainar and his brother S. Kadir Mohamed Nainar with their children, circa 1940s.  | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Nainar grew up at a time when Tamil Muslims were resistant to the idea of any kind of non-religious education. His father, N. Syed Bawa Rowther, was convinced that Western education would reduce his sons’ marriage ‘market value’. His three daughters possibly never attended school.

But the winds of change had begun to blow in Nainar’s part of the world. Like his elder brother Syed Kadir Mohamed Nainar, former district judge and public prosecutor, Nainar excelled in his studies. He studied Arabic at the madrasa (Islamic school) in Podakkudi, Thiruvarur district, and later at the Madrasa Jamaliya in Perambur, Madras, according to family sources.

A detailed eight-page résumé prepared by him, possibly while he was in between jobs in the 1960s, traces his progress from senior school in Victoria Memorial High School, Bodinayakanur (1918-1921), and Intermediate at American Mission College, Madurai (1921-1923), to BA in Arabic at Government Mohammedan College, Madras (1923-1925) that would eventually lead him to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Here too, he was a bit of an over-achiever, as he simultaneously pursued Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Masters in arts in Arabic, from 1925 to 1927. Our discovery of his exam hall tickets confirms that.

At AMU, Nainar was a student of renowned scholar Abdul Aziz Maimani, who was known for his mastery over Arabic. Nainar also studied Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic under the tutelage of British Arabist A.S. Tritton, who served at the AMU from 1921 to 1931.

Linguistic bridges

In 1927, Nainar was appointed as senior lecturer of the Islamic section of the Institute of Oriental Studies and Research at the University of Madras, which was later re-constituted as the Department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu in 1930. Much of his work began with authorising ‘true copies’ to be made by professional scribes that did not deviate in any way from the original, down to the number of lines on a page. Among such true copies that have survived in his collection, is a version of Kerala Pazhama, in Malayalam, meant to be a companion volume to Tuhfat-ul-Mujahidin, for which Nainar collaborated with his colleague C. Achutha Menon.

Despite studying Arabic under notable tutors in India, and his fluency in it, Nainar still felt that his expertise was limited, and his sons could perhaps fill this lacuna by studying the language in an Arab country. When his elder son Anwar chose to study Economics, he sent my father, Munawwar, to pursue his BA in Arabic at Cairo University in Egypt. Rescued from a loft full of paper bundles, we found all the correspondence from this period.

A flyer issued in 1938 by N. Ghulam Hussain Munshi, secretary, Anjuman-e-Islamiya in Madurai, asking Muslims in the city to gather at the railway station to welcome Nainar after he completed his doctoral studies at SOAS, London. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

My father’s time in Cairo University was completely overseen through letters from 1955-1960, because Nainar was on deputation in Indonesia when he was sent off to Egypt at the age of 19. One personal favourite is a trilingual true copy made by Nainar, of three letters written by my father in Arabic, Tamil and English, informing him that he had passed his first year BA exams.

A man of letters

Family history can be a touchy subject, with each person having their own spin on events. In my case, having a stockpile of at least 10,000 documents from the 1800s kept me going, and helped to dispel the myths that had built up around my grandfather. There are flashes of humanity amid the academic studies: letters from his children (he had three daughters and two sons) written from India, when he was in the UK, reporting faithfully, the antics of my father, then just a three-month-old infant, and the periodic health checks by the doctor, besides requests for books, umbrellas and toys.

The letters grow more serious as the children walk into adulthood, and the subject of marriage proposals gets a few wires crossed between the senior Nainar brothers. One wonders how he navigated life as a student, scholar and family man across two World Wars and later, a complete change of government. At work, he seemed to be always in demand, seguing from professor to orator and in Indonesia, a representative of the Indian government, with ease.

In 1952, Dr. Nainar was chosen to head the Indian History Association’s 15th session in Gwalior, a rare honour for a language professor. In his presidential address, he spoke on early medieval Indian history, suggesting that the study of the Muslim period in India needed to be re-assessed, and indexed especially in the Deccan and the south with the help of inscriptions and letters in local languages.

It is sobering to know that my grandfather has no claim on public memory today; of the institutions he studied in only the SOAS archivist was able to provide a copy of his admission form and course details, within a day. Like many scholars, his work is valuable, but not, apparently, glamorous enough in a country where history is easily rewritten. Had he stayed with us longer, he may perhaps have written his autobiography, and guided his family through yet another idea of India.

source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> Society> Profile / by Nahla Nainar / May 24th, 2025

Book Review: Muzaffar Alam’s ‘The Mughals and the Sufis’ explores the Sufi influence in Mughal rule

NEW DELHI / U.S.A :

The author explores the significance of critical relationships between the powerful Mughal court culture and various strands of Islamic mysticism.

W ITH nearly 50 years of research and teaching experience in the best of universities in India and the United States, Muzaffar Alam has offered a work that has the quality of a swan song, the culmination of a life-long intellectual activity to produce a book on a theme that was long waiting to be written and one that only he could have done on a such a majestic scale. With a style marked by reticence, hedging and evasion, much needed to survive in the dirty waters of medieval Indian history, Alam taught for many years at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi before leaving two decades ago to serve as the George V. Bobrinskoy Professor in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.

Besides his lasting collaborative research of much value, the distinguished scholar’s previous books have broken new ground. Beginning with an important intervention in the form of The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India, 1707-48 (1986), Alam went on to write his equally famous book, The Languages of Political Islam in India, c.1200-1800 (2004). He has now come up with this substantial piece of work, The Mughals and the Sufis: Islam and Political Imagination in India, 1500-1750.

Moving away from what he calls the traditional paradigm that champions political and fiscal history over other equally important dimensions, Alam explores in the present book the significance of critical relationships between the powerful Mughal court culture and various strands of Islamic mysticism by deploying a wide range of source material, mainly in Persian but also in Urdu and Arabic. Some of the key texts used to write the book are still unpublished, but the author has the enviable expertise to read manuscripts—an ability gained from his early education in the Islamic seminary at Deoband in western Uttar Pradesh, which is often in the news for its regressive stand on social and cultural issues affecting Muslim communities.

The author takes a secular position on matters political much as he seems to keep critical distance from the dominant secular historiography. The central concerns of the book and the broad conclusions remain within the ambit of the consensus in academic history, dominated by secularists, on what the Mughal political idioms were like. Yet, the details the author has offered are awe-inspiring. As the saying goes, the devil lies in the details.

In keeping with his approach of avoiding a head-long conflict with the entrenched orthodoxies in related fields of Mughal history and yet attempting to offer something different, especially on religion and political culture, which are generally studied with the felt need to emphasise religious tolerance and communal harmony, Alam’s detailed introductory discussion (listed as Chapter One) does away with any systematic historiographical analysis of existing scholarship. In the process, the usual meaningful exercise of stock-taking of the field that would set the agenda for the author has been abandoned.

Long view of Sufism

Instead, the introduction offers what has been termed as a long view of Sufism and political culture in India, within Muslim intellectual traditions, from the time of the later Mughals down to the 19th and 20th centuries. The key figures include Shah Waliullah (died 1762) and Saiyid Ahmad Shahid (died 1831) at one end of the spectrum, and Shibli Nu‘mani (died 1914) and Muhammad Iqbal (died 1938) at the other. In Alam’s considered opinion, studying these later stalwarts’ understanding of Islam and political imagination in the heyday of Mughal power can offer a better and informed long-term perspective than anachronistic readings of texts and historical situations, which are often the case in politically charged histories of the public domain. Academic histories are not free from these blemishes either.

Alam has thus sought to steer clear of some of the hotly debated issues such as questions of conversion and Islamisation, grievances relating to cases of demolition of temples, cow slaughter and frequent rhetoric on collection of the discriminatory tax called jizya, etc. Instead, a focussed reading of some interesting sets of sources has been offered to show a complex picture of complicated relationships between the rulers and the Sufis—important for far-reaching consequences to Mughal politics and society. This is specially so when the author takes the reader deep into the underbelly of the 17th century Mughal empire, with a fascinating set of material known to experts but never properly used.

Starting with the shaky foundations in the early 16th century, under Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur and Nasiruddin Muhammad Humayun, who were no less formidable in their own distinct ways, the Mughal empire was firmly established by the end of the century by Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (Chapter Two).

With a long history of large-scale empire building in India, the Mughals were quick to grasp the norms of governance and indeed the political theory required to manage and control the vast subcontinental diversity. Given the fact that religion and politics get entangled in India with terrible consequences even in the 21st century, religious justification of political power in Indian history has been a fait accompli for long. Men of religion needed political patronage and protection, and rulers needed legitimacy from the former on account of their popular appeal. The intercession by holy men also meant divine blessings procured directly from God and His Prophets and other representatives on earth, in this case important figures and shrines of the popular saints such as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer.

Living legends from a variety of Sufi lineages such as the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Firdausi, Shattari and Qadiri were active in India with a long history behind them. They were known for being committed to what is professed as the Shariat, or Muslim law, and yet free from the bigotry or fanaticism that is generally associated with custodians of Islam, the theologians, or ulama. They were also free from communal biases in relation to non-Muslims, identifiable as Hindus, and sectarianism of the kind that sought to vilify communities of Muslims such as Shias. The Mughals realised the value of this approach quickly. They needed to maintain a critical distance from the Naqshbandis, the Central Asian strand of Sufism that came in the wake of the conquest. Naqshbandis combined their mysticism with aggressive accumulation of wealth and assertion of uncompromising commitment to Sunni Hanafi interpretation of Islamic principles.

Inclusive culture

The struggle between the two strands of Sufism—accommodation and compromises in the given situation of the Indian environment and extraordinary emphasis on Islamic piety bordering on Sunni fanaticism—marks the defining feature of Mughal-Sufi relations from the late 16th century. The inclusive Mughal imperial culture privileged Indian Rajputs and Iranian Shias, identified itself as part of a broad and liberal Islamic political and cultural tradition, and understood the value of devotional practices of the kind the Chishtis and the Qadiris upheld.

Shaikh Abdur Rahman Chishti (died 1683), the 17th century Sufi scholar belonging to the Chishti-Sabiri order and hailing from Awadh, articulated the latter position powerfully in his voluminous writings. A set of his compositions titled Mir’atul Asrar, which is a huge collection of Sufi biographies prefaced with a detailed exposition of some of the important features of Sufism, has been used by Alam in Chapter Three to show how it was possible to remain within the fold of Islam and yet be eclectic like Indian Sufism. Sufis were not bound by any narrow interpretation of Islam and so they could be free from the kind of biases betrayed by Sunni theologians and Naqshbandi Sufis.

The author has pitted the more acceptable Chishti position in Mughal India quoting Abdur Rahman as writing that Sufis have no mazhab, or commitment, to any juridical school of Sunni Islam, against a rhetorical statement of the leading Naqshbandi Sufi Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (died 1624), who is also styled and venerated in some strands of Islamic traditions as Mujaddid Alf-i Sani, or renovator of Islam, in the second millennium of the Hijri calendar. Sirhindi had remarked that if a prophet were sent among Muslims of his time, he would have practised the Hanafi interpretation of Islam.

There were few takers for this kind of assertion in the Mughal system, and yet the sons and grandsons of Sirhindi were able to make considerable inroads to the extent that they were much privileged by the time Aurangzeb took reins in the middle of the 17th century. It served both—Aurangzeb needed legitimacy for his horrible butchery inside the imperial household and the Naqshbandis coveted power and prestige, which the early ancestors of their spiritual lineage enjoyed in Central Asia.

This is to the extent that Shaikh Muhammad Ma‘sum (died 1669), son and leading successor of Sirhindi in his Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order, sought to own responsibility for the execution of the saintly prince and Shah Jahan’s heir-apparent, Dara Shikoh (died 1656), with his own hands, with reference to a dream in which he received a sword from God to do away with the latter. In the last chapter, Alam narrates the horrendous bloodshed and transformation of Mughal polity under Aurangzeb, with the Naqshbandis getting entrenched in the Mughal court and outside.

This was at the cost of a huge investment in what is identified as cultural synthesis relevant to sustain the empire. The result was a complete mayhem by the end of Aurangzeb’s reign. His immediate successors, who were nominated and backed by the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis, made a mess of it. The more eclectic approach of the kind Sufis of the Chishti and Qadiri orders proposed and important figures such as Dara Shikoh and his equally accomplished sister Jahanara (died 1681) adopted as social and political ideologies relevant for the time have been brought out in interesting detail. Besides the hagiography and defence of Indian Sufism in his Mira’tul Asrar, Abdur Rahman Chishti composed a few other powerful treatises aimed at transcending differences between religious beliefs and communities.

One of the texts, Mira’t-I Madariya (studied in Chapter Four), appropriated the popular mystic figure of the 15th century, Shah Badiuddin Madar, whose extraordinary career began as a prodigious Jewish child in Syria and whose shrine, dargah , is located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Tradition claimed that he was directly guided by God, the prophets (Moses, Jesus and Muhammad), celestial beings and the leading saint of India, Moinuddin Chishti. Thus, he was identified as part of the Chishti tradition even though many of his practices appeared heretical, or outside the pale of Islam, with his close disciples styling themselves as yogi s or dashnami sanyasi s, sunk in artificially created ecstasy with the help of intoxicants such as hashish and ganja, and puffing with chants of Dam Madar.

Translation of ‘Puranas’

Abdur Rahman also composed a brilliantly imagined text called Mira’tul Makhluqaat (analysed in chapter five), claiming it to be a translation of an ancient Indian Sanskrit textual genre known in Mughal intellectual circles as Puranas. The translations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were already known since the time of Akbar. Abdur Rahman had himself translated the Bhagavad Gita into Persian. These were done with the dual process of their interpretations, oral or written, in Awadhi and Braj versions of medieval Hindi, before they were put into writing in Persian.

Mira’tul Makhluqaat is extraordinary in the sense that it showcased how the Brahmanical Hindu mythical time of ancient Gods were very much part of the Islamic notion of time since the arrival of Adam on earth. Ancient Gods belonged to the people of jinn s, made of fire, and descendants of Adam, including Hindus, are human beings, made of soil.

The jinn s were ordered to withdraw to mountains, giving space to humans, but they could also be deployed to take care of injustices in the world, as in the case of the battle of Mahabharata. This being kaliyuga, it can also witness the horrendous violence on the family of the Prophet, especially the martyrdom of his grandson, Husain, by miscreants identified as apostates ( murtadd ) and barbarians ( malechh ).

These condemnations are attributed by Abdur Rahman Chishti to Mahadeva (Siva), who in turn is supposedly narrating these episodes to his wife Parvati, who is shown as being keen to know about Adam and Prophet Muhammad (Mahamat).

Alam’s details from this work are blended equally interestingly in the next chapter (six), in which Dara Shikoh works with a battery of pundits on a new translation in Persian of Yogavasistha . Whereas until the time of Akbar, the Hindu traditions were beginning to be known through translations in line with the policy of sulh-i kull , peace with all, by Dara Shikoh’s time in the middle of the 17th century it was possible to imagine that the powerful Mughal prince could style himself after the ideal Hindu king, Rama of Ayodhya. This was the aim behind Dara’s preparation of Yogavasistha , mentioned in the beginning of the text itself about the prince seeing a dream in which he was seeking blessings from the sage Vasistha, in front of Rama who is placed on a higher pedestal and styled as an elder brother.

On Vasistha’s advice Rama embraced him with great love, and passed on the sweetmeat given by the former. This was taken as the sign for getting a new translation of the text done, which was in line with translations and studies of other texts seeking common ground for Islam and Hindu traditions, symbolically referred to as the merging of the two oceans, in a text with the title Majma-ul-Bahrain.

Pretext to remove Dara Shikoh

None of these were found to be contradictory to Dara Shikoh’s commitment to Sufism and Sufi figures from the past, and attachment to Qadiri Sufi saints of his own time. That there was no difference between Hindus and Muslims was also supported by the doctrine of wahdatul wujud, unity of being, which was similar to Advaita Vedanta. But the no-holds-barred emphasis on these ideas for a common and harmonious public culture was used by Aurangzeb as a pretext to remove Dara in his bid to capture the Mughal throne.

Mughal princesses

This violent move created a huge difficulty within the Mughal household as well. Alam has discussed this in his penultimate and detailed 72-page chapter (seven), pointing to the contested loyalties of Mughal princesses, but focussing on their remarkable devotional and intellectual investments. This is especially with reference to three of them—Aurangzeb’s sisters Jahanara and Raushanara (died 1671), and his genius daughter Zebun Nisa (died 1701).

Jahanara was close to her father Shah Jahan and her elder brother Dara Shikoh and, following the latter, was heavily devoted to Sufism, with deep attachment to Moinuddin Chishti and his shrine. She also became a disciple of the leading Qadiri Sufi in Kashmir, Mulla Shah Badakhshi (died 1661), and had a couple of books on Sufism to her credit. In the war of succession, she had sided with Dara Shikoh and tried to reason with Aurangzeb for sanity without success.

Aurangzeb did not create any difficulties for her subsequently, but he did not follow her will to be fully implemented. As the richest Mughal princess of the time, she had left behind a sum of three crore rupees to be distributed among the attendants of the Chishti shrines, but Aurangzeb allowed only a third of it to be distributed as per some reading of the Shariat that he adhered to.

Jahanara’s less accomplished sister, Raushanara, had sided with Aurangzeb in the struggle for power. He pampered her with some independence and creature comforts with a mansion outside the fort. Her love life was a matter of gossip, and this was blamed for her untimely demise at the age of 53, with people even suspecting that Aurangzeb ordered her to be poisoned to death.

Alam has given details of her long correspondence with Shaikh Saifuddin, the young Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi operating from the Mughal court with access to ladies of the harem. The letters, the ones written by the Sufi, have survived. They refer to the princess cultivating mystical whispers of the heart, zikr-i dil. Saifuddin was convinced that Raushanara had reached the stage where she could be recognised as an accomplished Sufi in her own right. From there she could have only grown as a Sufi teacher, poet and writer, but that was not to be, whatever the truth relating to her death.

Aurangzeb doted on Zebun Nisa, exposing her to the best teachers of the time. But as it happens, involvement in politics proved to be her nemesis. She had the guts to support a brother who had rebelled against their father for whom ruthless power was beyond all bonds. She was promptly put under arrest, with some freedom to continue her scholarly pursuits, mainly reading works of poetry and composing some of her own, published under an apt pen name, Makhfi, the hidden one. Among the people she was allowed to correspond with was a Naqshbandi old man and grandson of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, Shaikh Abdul Ahad Wahdat (died 1713).

Wahdat is known in posterity as a fine poet who wrote under the pen name Gul (rose). One of his letters to Zebun Nisa, includes this couplet in Persian:

Bas kunam gar in sukhan afzun shawad

Khwud jigar chi bud ke khara khun shawad

I should stop, for if I speak further

Not just the liver, even a stone will bleed.

According to reports, mentioned by Alam, Aurangzeb cried on hearing the news of Zebun Nisa’s death and ordered a tomb to be built over her grave. Though privileging the puritanical Naqshbandis all his life, Aurangzeb himself was buried at the Chishti centre of Khuldabad in the Deccan (1707). By then, the Mughal state was in a terrible crisis, but its foundations were deeply embedded in the country’s composite culture. It took 150 years to decline and fall with a final and vengeful push from the British in 1857. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, died reciting some painful Sufi poetry in faraway Rangoon.

The author and publisher deserve to be commended for bringing out this magnificent piece of work.

Raziuddin Aquil is Professor of History, University of Delhi.

source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> Books> Book Review / by Raziuddin Aquil / January 23rd, 2022

SIPMA holds General Body Meeting, elects new leadership

Mysuru, KARNATAKA :

Bengaluru:

The Southern India Plywood Manufacturers’ Association (SIPMA) held its General Body Meeting on February 22, 2025, bringing together industry leaders and experts to discuss key issues affecting the plywood sector.

The meeting, held in Bangalore, focused on crucial matters such as the QCO order, sustainability initiatives, emission norms, and industry standards. Discussions also included labour welfare and modernization efforts aimed at improving productivity in the sector.

A major highlight of the meeting was the election of new office bearers. Dr. Prashant MA was elected as the President of SIPMA. He is currently the Director of AK Apple Ply, a company founded by the late M. Ahmed in 1984. Originally from Kochi, Dr. Prashant has been associated with AK Apple Ply for over three decades, having joined the company in the 1990s. He gained valuable experience under the mentorship of M. Ahmed and played a key role in expanding the company’s operations. Expressing his gratitude, Dr. Prashant acknowledged the vision of his late mentor and said he was honored to take on the responsibility of leading SIPMA to serve the plywood industry.

Alongside Dr. Prashant, Jitendra R Patel, Managing Director of Raaj Wood Products in Nelamangala, was elected as Vice President, and K. Hariraya Kamath from Karnataka Plywood in Sullia, Karnataka, was appointed as Secretary.

During the event, SIPMA also recognized the contributions of industry veteran Siraj Bhai of Veneer Mills by presenting him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of SIPMA since 1980, he has dedicated his career to the growth of the plywood sector and has been actively involved in its development.

source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> Karnataka / by Vartha Bharati / February 25th, 2025

Ilaf Abdul Qadir: 9-Year-Old Martial Arts Prodigy Sets Guinness World Record

Mangaluru, KARNATAKA :

Mangaluru:

At just nine, Ilaf Abdul Qadir made history by achieving a Guinness World Record for nonstop kata in karate. His remarkable feat took place at the WKMA Open Karate Championship 2025, in Chennai on February 8, where he performed a 30-minute uninterrupted kata, showcasing endurance, discipline, and skill.

A third-grade student at Presidency School, Mangaluru, Qadir proved age is no barrier to excellence. His relentless training earned him both a world record and a gold medal in Kumite. He is the youngest contestant from Dakshina Kannada to compete, setting a benchmark for young athletes.

Born to Mohammed Musthafa and Asiya Juveria, Qadir’s success stems from rigorous training and commitment. He hones his skills under trainers Nadeem and Zakiya Yasmeen from the SHORIN RYU KARATE ASSOCIATION, Moodbidri. Their mentorship and his determination shaped him into an exceptional athlete.

Expressing gratitude, Qadir credited his coaches, parents, and school. “It was tough, but I wanted to push myself and prove hard work makes anything possible,” he said. His record-setting performance demanded stamina, precision, and mental strength, which he displayed effortlessly.

Qadir’s success brings pride to his family and inspires young martial artists. His journey proves determination, discipline, and guidance turn dreams into reality. Aspiring to compete internationally, he aims to bring more laurels to India.

With his name in the Guinness World Records, Ilaf Abdul Qadir stands as an inspiration for young athletes, proving that hard work leads to greatness.

source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Pride of the Nation> Awards> Focus / by Radiance News Bureau / February 16th, 2025

Hakim Khan Suri| Pathan Who Sacrificed His Life For Maharana Pratap

Udaipur, RAJASTHAN :

Hakim Khan Suri Statue at Moti Magri Udaipur

There are many unsung heroes from the Mewar History who sacrificed their life  to  save Mewar from the invaders, Hakim Khan Suri is one of them, whole world knows about the fierce battle of Haldighati fought between Mahrana Pratap of Mewar (Now in Rajasthan,India) and Akbar’s army.

Hakim Khan Suri, an afghan Pathan was the commander (Senapati) of Maharana Pratap’s army, Ironically Akbar’s Mughal army was led by a hindu king Man Singh and Maharana Pratap’s army was led by a Muslim, so the war wasn’t between Hindu and Muslim but  between the invaders and Nationalists.

As per humayunnama he is from the family of a afghan chief Mohammad Khaleel, there was hatred in his heart for Mughals, he wanted Mughals to leave India. Some Historians consider him to be descendant of Sher shah suri. In the Haldighati battle he led the ‘Haraval Dasta’ of the Mughal army.

‘Haraval Dasta’ referred to the part of army which leads the army from the front, it consists of warriors who are ready to sacrifice their lives for mewar, this honor was traditionally given to only the chundawats as the ancestor and the chief of chundawats, Rawat Chunda vowed to remain loyal to mewar and none of his descendants would ever claim any stake to the mewar throne. In the battle of Haldighati Maharana Pratap gave the honor of leading his army to Hakim Khan Suri.

Hakim Khan Suri As Haraval Dasta in Pratap’s Army

Hakim Khan Suri knew about the Mughals war strategy, he was an expert in the use of gun powder, Cannons, and making of arms from moulding Iron. He was also an expert in afghani war tactic known as ‘baghera kala’.

In the first phase of Haldighati War the attack from Hakim Khan Suri’s squad terrified Mughal army, badayuni wrote “ hakim khan sur the commander of Paratap’s army suddenly came from the hills and attacked our army”.In the second phase of haldighati war which happened in the Rakt-talai Hakim khan was martyred, it is said that even after his death the sword from his hand could not be taken out and he was put into the grave with the sword intact.

Hakim Khan Suri Makbara at Haldighat

There is still a Makbara of Hakim Khan Suri in Haldighati which reminds everyone about the faithfulness of this afghan pathan.

source: http://www.udaipurbeats.com / Udaipur Beats / Home> City / by admin / September 28th, 2021

Noted journalist Iftikhar Gilani to get 12th “Shah Waliyullah Muhaddis Dehlvi” award

Sophore (Kashmir), JAMMU & KASHMIR / NEW DELHI :

New Delhi:

Noted Journalist and Strategic Affairs Editor of English daily DNA Iftikhar Gilani has chosen for this year’s Shah Waliullah Award by Delhi-based the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) for his outstanding contribution in journalism.

The prestigious award carries a memento and a cash of Rs One lakh and it was given to 11 illustrious persons so far since its inception in 1999 for their tremendous achievement in Social sciences, Islamic Studies, Law, and other subjects. It is notable that the Institute for the first time considered a journalist for its most coveted award instituted to keep alive the legacy of the great Islamic scholar Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlavi.

He was selected by a jury consisted of Dr. Manzoor Alam (Chairman, IOS), Prof Mohsin Usmani, Prof Ishtiyaque Danish, Prof Afzal Wani and Prof Zahoor  Ahmad Khan and headed by former Chief Justice of India  Justice A M Ahmedi.  The jury decided that Iftikhar was given the award for his contribution to ‘Media, Society and Indian Muslims’. And in the junior category, the jury selected Associate Prof (Dr) Nasheed Imtiyaz of Aligarh Muslim University for his work on psychology. This award carries a cash reward of Rs 25000.

Gilani hails from Sopore in North Kashmir and has been based in Delhi for last over 26 years who is one of most widely read journalists in South Asia. Currently, he is Editor (Strategic Affairs) and Chief of National Bureau of Daily News Analysis (DNA), published from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Indore, and Jaipur. DNA is amongst India’s top five widely circulated English language newspapers with a circulation of over one million. Before joining DNA, he headed the Political Bureau at Tehelka.com and its business daily “Financial World”. Earlier, he also headed the Delhi Bureau of multi-lingual Kashmir Times, the widely circulated newspaper of Jammu and Kashmir published from Jammu and Srinagar simultaneously.

Besides this, he was also the Special Correspondent (India) for Daily Times, (English newspaper, Pakistan).

Gilani also covered India for Urdu Service of Radio Deutsche Well (DW), German Radio. His columns appeared regularly in The Friday Times, an esteemed weekly from Pakistan and Urdu daily Inquilab (India), and in Weekly Kashmir Life, published from Srinagar (Kashmir). Currently, also a columnist in a popular Urdu daily of Pakistan Dunya.  These columns hare widely appreciated and reproduced. He had also worked for various national newspapers, news and feature agencies in India, notably in the Indian Express and the Pioneer. He has also headed a research project on “Insurgencies in South Asia”. Gilani has conferred the award for ‘Outstanding Contribution in Media’ by the government of Jammu and Kashmir in 2010, who began his career with Delhi-based multi-lingual feature syndicate “Feature And News Alliance”.

The author of 2005 Penguin book ‘My Days in Prison’.  Urdu translation of his book won him India’s prestigious Sahitya Akademi award, in 2008. A visiting fellow of Dart Centre, Australia, a project of the Columbia University of Journalism, Iftikhar Gilani has been deputy chairman of Indian Parliament’s Press Advisory Committee and also vice-president of the Press Association of India. Currently, he is also a Trustee of Delhi Centre for Media Research and Publication Trust Having several research papers to his credit, he is also an external discussant at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), a premier security think-tank in India and a research advisor at the Centre for Land ware Studies (CLAWS), a strategic think-tank.   He also widely traveled to many parts of the world including UK, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Pakistan, Iraq, Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Israel.

When this correspondent congratulated him for recieving  the award, Gilani told in his usual humility that he did not deserve this prestigious award.

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim> Media / by Abdul Bari Masoud / January 29th, 2017

Principal Saba Patel Awarded Maharashtra’s ‘State Best Teacher award 2015’ by Chief Minister Devandraji Fadnavis

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Prestgious Award honoured to Mrs Saba Patel Principal Anjuman Islam Dr MIJ Girls High School Bandra West

State Best Teacher award 2015 received by Principal Saba Patel on September 5th 2015 by the auspicious hands of Hon’ble Shiri Devandraji Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shiri Vinodji Tawde Hon’ble Education Minister

source: http://www.anjumanbandra.in / Anjuman Islam DrMIJ Girls High School, Bandra West / September 05th, 2015