Tag: Muslim

  • Indian college bans hijab and Hindu saffron scarves over tension concerns

    Indian college bans hijab and Hindu saffron scarves over tension concerns

    A Karnataka state government college in India has banned the hijab and saffron scarves over rising tension fears.

    Last month, a section of the Hindu right-wing group appeared wearing saffron scarves and threatened their Muslim female class fellows not to wear the hijab during classes.

    The college principal said, “The officials were part of the meeting and it was decided that Hindu students will not sport saffron scarves and Muslim girl students will not wear hijabs but they can wear a shawl to cover their heads. If anyone violates the rule, they would be dismissed from the college.”

    Muslim students make a quarter of the total of 850 students enrolled in the degree college.

    The state secretary of Campus Front of India student group, Syed Sarfaraz Gangavathi appreciated the decision which took by the college authorities by saying, “The Constitution allows the wearing of hijab or saffron shawls but it should not be instigated by anyone or politically motivated.”

    According to the principal, the same issue rose up in 2018 as well when the authorities had barred Muslim female students from wearing hijab though for the past few days they started wearing the hijab again.

    In recent times, hatred has been fueling around in educational institutions over the religious freedom of the minorities under the current ruling government in India.

  • ‘Thook chaato, bolo Jai Shri Ram’: Muslim man assaulted by BJP workers

    ‘Thook chaato, bolo Jai Shri Ram’: Muslim man assaulted by BJP workers

    A 32-year-old Muslim, Zeeshan Khan, suffering from bipolar disorder was assaulted, made to lick his own spit, and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by suspected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Dhanbad on Friday, reports Indian Express.

    The incident took place at a protest by the BJP against the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Punjab. The party’s Dhanbad MLA Raj Sinha and Dhanbad MP P N Singh were among the leaders present at the protest.

    Zeeshan was passing by the spot when he allegedly used abusive words for one of the BJP leaders. He was immediately surrounded by a group of suspected BJP workers and supporters who started assaulting him. He was then made to squat, spit on the road and lick it and chant Jai Shri Ram.

    After a video of the incident went viral on social media, Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Singh said, “We are inquiring into the matter and Dhanbad police are investigating it and have registered an FIR. One person has been arrested.” He said it was not immediately clear whom Zeeshan abused.

    The FIR was filed on the complaint of Zeeshan’s younger brother Rehan Khan.

    Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Rehan said his brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 10 years ago. “What kind of society is this. Even if my brother said something, did he deserve to be treated like this – made to lick his spit and forced to say Jai Shri Ram. My brother has been suffering from mental illness since 2012,” Rehan, 28, said.

    In his complaint to the police, Rehan said, “…My elder brother Zeeshan Khan was passing by the city center between 1-2 pm where BJP members were protesting at the Gandhi statue area. My brother was chased and beaten by the mob… and was forced to lick spit and asked to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’… My brother is injured… I plead that legal action be taken and justice be done with my brother.”

  • India kills Muslims for eating meat, allows import of pork products from US

    India kills Muslims for eating meat, allows import of pork products from US

    India, a country known for killing Muslims for meat, especially cow meat. Following Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s rise to power, extremist Hindu groups have led attacks across the country that have targeted Muslim and Dalit communities. These attacks have been carried out with the stated intention of protecting cows.

    The United States (US) announced on Monday that India would allow imports of US pork and pork products for the first time, welcoming the removal of an old block on US farm trade, reports Dawn.

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai made the announcement in a statement.

    “This new opportunity marks the culmination of nearly two decades of work to gain market access for US pork to India — and it signals positive movement in US-India trade relations,” Vilsack said.

    “We will continue working with the Indian government to ensure that the US pork industry can begin shipping its high-quality products to consumers as soon as possible,” she said.

  • ‘Save me from arranged marriage’: Pakistani uses billboards to find wife

    ‘Save me from arranged marriage’: Pakistani uses billboards to find wife

    A United Kingdom (UK) bachelor Muhammad Malik has set up a website called ‘Findmalikawife.com’ and bought several advertising hoardings across Birmingham in order to find a wife.

    “Save me from an arranged marriage,” read the billboards, along with the link to his website.

    On the website, the Pakistani explains, “My ideal partner would be a Muslim woman in her 20s, who’s striving to better her deen (religion). I’m open to any ethnicity but I’ve got a loud Punjabi family so you would need to keep with the bants.”

    “I just haven’t found the right girl yet. It’s tough out there. I had to get a billboard to get seen!” he added.

    The 29-year-old told BBC, “I’m creative and love doing the most random and absurd things.” The billboards will stay up till January 14.

  • Former ‘party’ girl reveals how Islam ‘saved’ her, ‘men don’t bother me now’

    Former ‘party’ girl reveals how Islam ‘saved’ her, ‘men don’t bother me now’

    Persephone Rizvi, from England’s Huddersfield town has revealed to BBC how Islam “saved” her life. Rizvi started by explaining that she used to party a lot. “The party wouldn’t stop until four or five AM in the club.”

    She went on to add that she was struggling to see a purpose in her life and she wanted to do better for herself. “I was using alcohol as my coping mechanism and going through emotionally-draining experiences that I couldn’t really make sense of. I was struggling to see a purpose in my life and I wanted to do better for myself. I didn’t know what I was doing,” said Rizvi adding, “So I became a Muslim.”

    She then opened about her journey of becoming a Muslim. “One of my friends there, Haleemah, was Muslim. I did the Ramadan fast with her, and that was my first exposure to Islam. I wasn’t thinking about joining a religion at that point – it was more of a personal challenge. My ego was saying, ‘It’s 30 days of fasting, I can do that.’”

    “When I first fasted I was still partying and drinking, but my attitude started to change. I started having these moments of, ‘I am better than this, I’m worth more.’ That month of abstinence made me feel a sense of selflessness and gratitude, and gave me the self-care package I needed so desperately. That was my calling card to Islam.”

    “My dad is Black British and went to (a Christian) church, and my mum wanted us to have a knowledge of faith, but they didn’t force it on us. There aren’t any practicing Muslims in my family,” she said while talking about her family. “My parents are super supportive – they’ve actually fasted with me a few times,” she said.

    She continued by saying that when she became a Muslim, she did not tell anyone until one day she went into her house with her headscarf on and said, “I’m Muslim now!”

    Her parents were shocked to see her in a headscarf but they were not unhappy.

    Rizvi then continued by talking how wearing a headscarf changed her life. “I feel more comfortable. I can get from A to B without anyone stopping me – the way I used to dress, I used to get stopped loads. On a ten-minute walk to uni, I got stopped about five times. Men now don’t bother me at all.”

    “That’s why I say Islam saved me, because now I know the best way for me to handle those dark times. I wouldn’t have coped this way, by praying and taking care of my mental health as well as physical, if it wasn’t for Islam,” said Rizvi while talking about how Islam saved her.

  • VIDEO: Muslim woman in India forced to remove burqa in public

    VIDEO: Muslim woman in India forced to remove burqa in public

    A mob in India forced a Muslim woman to remove her burqa in public, India Today reported.

    The video of the incident went viral on social media. The video showed a burqa-clad woman sitting on a motorbike, accompanied by a man. 

    A mob could be seen harassing the girl for wearing the burqa, after which she was forced to take it off. 

    “Take the burqa off, you are giving a bad name to the nation,” one of the members from the group could be heard telling the woman.

    The man protested when the mob asked the woman to remove her niqab (veil).

    “You have to take the niqab off as well,” one member of the mob said. The entire incident was recorded by the mob.

    As per reports, no case has been registered against the people yet. Two men were reportedly let off by the police after receiving a warning.

  • ‘Adopt a black, white way of life with a man who was twice my age and born again Muslim’: Jemima Khan

    ‘Adopt a black, white way of life with a man who was twice my age and born again Muslim’: Jemima Khan

    In an interview with ‘Evening Standard‘, Jemima Goldsmith talks about her life in Pakistan, being married to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, her children, her work, and her friendship with Monica Lewinsky.

    Jemima says she saw parallels between her life and Lewinsky’s. “During the interviews, she [Monica Lewinsky] was describing the FBI sting, and I suddenly realised that the same year, in Pakistan, I’d had to leave the country because I’d also been threatened with jail on politically trumped-up charges. I’d been accused of smuggling antiques, one of the few non-bailable offences in Pakistan,” said Jemima, who had been targeted by the Nawaz Sharif government in 1998-99.

    “I realised there were parallels [with Lewinsky], marrying an older, politically powerful man and being used to undermine him. It is not a normal decision, aged 21, with all the freedoms and privileges that we grew up with, to essentially give those up, to go and live in extremely black and white culture,” said Jemima.

    “Adopt a black and white way of life and doctrine, with a man who was twice my age and a born again Muslim,” added Jemima.

    “At that point in my life, I found some reassurance in the prescriptiveness of that culture, that religion, that man. When my sister [India Jane Birley] was asked in an interview why I went there she said, very intelligently, moral certitude.”

    “It was seen as this great amorous adventure and I am not sure that was the whole story. I would say, in retrospect, that moral certainty might have been more of a driving factor,” said Goldsmith on her marriage with PM Khan.

    “I do feel like I have an ability to see things from both points of view in a way that possibly some of my contemporaries, both in Pakistan or here, don’t. I even feel like I am right in the middle of the Islamophobia and anti-Semitism debate because I’ve seen both at firsthand. I’ve got half-Pakistani Muslim children and I was a young girl who was politically targeted because of my Jewish ethnicity. It’s an interesting perspective.”

    Jemima says there are more exciting projects in the pipeline as far as her work is concerned — a political documentary series and a comedy. She nurtures a long-standing ambition to write a book as well.

  • India prioritise Hindus and Sikhs for ‘Afghan emergency visas’

    India prioritise Hindus and Sikhs for ‘Afghan emergency visas’

    India’s government said on Tuesday that it would prioritize taking in Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan — a move that drew comparisons to a controversial 2019 citizenship law, enacted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that differentiates against Muslims, reported New York Times.

    The country’s home ministry said it would introduce “emergency visas” to allow Afghans to stay in India for six months. 

    However, it did not say whether Muslims, who make up the majority of those seeking to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban take over, would also be considered.

    “We are in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul,” S. Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, said on Twitter. “Their welfare will get our priority attention.”

    For its part, Pakistan’s leadership has stopped short of hailing the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

    “When you adopt someone’s culture, you believe it to be superior and you end up becoming a slave to it,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday in a veiled reference to the United States and Western culture. “In Afghanistan, they have broken the shackles of slavery,” Mr. Khan said at an appearance in Islamabad, “but the slavery of the mind does not break away.”

  • Muslim football player Wesley Fofana opens Ramzan fast during game

    Muslim football player Wesley Fofana opens Ramzan fast during game

    Muslim football player Wesley Fofana was given permission to break his Ramzan fast during a match of the English Premier League (EPL) on Monday. Fofana later thanked the EPL management and the Crystal Palace FC team for allowing him to do so.

    Halfway through Leicester’s 2-1 win, the Crystal Palace FC goalkeeper waited to take a goal kick to allow Fofana to drink some liquids before returning to play.

    The short in-game delay was agreed upon in the captain’s meeting prior to the game. 

    Thanking the management, Fofana wrote: “Just wanted to thank the Premier League as well as CPFC, Vicente Guaita [and] all the Foxes for allowing me to break my fast tonight in the middle of the game.”

    “That’s what makes football wonderful,” added the French footballer.

    Fofana was able to play the entire game after previously playing 61 minutes in a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion — all while fasting. 

    “He’s a young player in the middle of Ramadan so he’s obviously not eating during the day,” Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers told reporters. “I think it’s absolutely remarkable.”

    Meanwhile, it is believed to be the first time in Premier League history that a game has been paused to allow Muslim players to eat and drink mid-game.

  • Ramzan to begin from April 14, announces MoST

    The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced that the holy month of Ramzan will commence on April 14 in Pakistan.

    “The moon of Ramzan, 1442 AH will be sighted on the evening of April 13, 2021,” said the ministry in a tweet. “The first of Ramzan will be on April 14, 2021. The moon will be clearly sighted in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi.”

    Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also shared the announcement on social media.

    Chaudhry has been a vocal critic of the old-fashioned and outdated moon-sighting procedure, arguing that Pakistan should opt for science and technology to follow the moon cycle. He often clashed with the Ruet-e-Hilal committee on this.

    In December, last year the government appointed Moulana Abdul Khabir Azad as the new head of the committee replacing Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman.