The Aga Khani

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Prem

``You may be interested to know that Arya Samaj that did not take very kindly to Islam totally rejected caste system. They truly created a community of caste-less and amazingly progressive Hindus. They worked against all kind of social problems among Hindus - lack of education, superstitions, practice of dowry, inequality of women, internal divisions. But they exchanged one kind of man-to-man discrimination (Hindu against Hindu) with another kind (Hindu against Muslim). Inequality did not go away from their lives, it merely changed form. They offered their religious/social justifications, but those justifications don`t matter. Discrimination is discrimination - be it Hindu against Hindu, Hindu against Muslim, or Muslim against Hindu.

``

Some of us are Arya Samajis in practice :-). Caste system is an evil and it should be purged out of Hinduism. Ancient Hindu philosophy that we see in Vivekananda`s teachings, Upanishadas, Geeta, Ramayana and Shankara`s Advaitism should form the basis of neo_Hinduism. We need social reform movements once again to weaken the institutions of caste and provide a social system free of caste system.

Yes, Col. Shahnawaz was and remained an Indian. In fact, he became a federal minister of some sort, and most definitely led an investigation into Netaji`s death. He himself died somewhere in UP. I know because my own Mausa ji (my mom`s elder sister`s husband) was an INA soldier and spoke of these leaders with reverence. As children we would sit around him and he would astonish us with stories of his life in SE Asia as a soldier. One of the most exciting rituals during these story-telling sessions was for him to start, in his booming voice, -

``Lal Quile ki hai awaz,``



And we would respond in chorus -

``sehgal dhillon shahnawaz``

Inspired, he would continue -

``Lal quile ko tod dau``

and we will complete the naara -

``sehgal dhillon ko choddh dau``

Even as kids we knew that there was something wonderful and morally uplifting about a hindu (sehgal), a sikh (dhillon), and a Muslim (shahnawaz) fighting shoulder to shoulder against the british.

You need not ask who our favorite relative to visit us was. God has been good to Mausa ji`s family. Beginning with very poor roots like ours, they have done exceedingly well. There is some justice in this world.

Stuka,

Honestly I personally don`t really care much for a bunch of Nazi/Axis sympathizers such as the INA. However, I know that there was atleast one so called `colonel` of this `Army` who opted for Pakistan. If it wasn`t Shahnawaz, must have been someone else. Though I was pretty sure it was him. Fuzair knows a lot about this stuff.. Maybe he will shed some light on the issue.

I have no intention of deceiving anyone.. given that I am not an Indian.

Sincerely

YLH

YLH:

``I read a similar story about a jawan in my urdu text book... ``

As far as Abdul Hamid is concerned, there is documented proof of his existence, and he is listed as a recipient of the Param Vir Chakra. You can easily go through the Gallantry Award citations of the Pak Army to see if there was an incident involving similar circumstances on your side. I am sure if you read about a Jawan in your text book he must have been a recipient of some sort of gallantry award, not just an anonymous soldier. If you find something, go ahead and believe both. Courage is not limited one side.

Re: Ali1

``Gilgitis`` (assuming you mean the people who live in and around Gilgit and not all the residents of the Northern Areas) are NOT Aga Khanis but Shina speaking Sunni Muslims who, as a rule, hate and despise Ismailis (i.e, Aga Khanis). Ismailis live in (mainly) Hunza in the Northern Areas but also in districts north and west of Hunza. The NLI recruits almost evenly from Shina speaking Sunnis and Burushkashi speaking Ismailis with Balti speaking Shias from Skardu in a distinct minority. However, in any given battalion of the NLI (at last count there were

Farzana
Thanks for a well written and informative article. I agree with soysauce, for many of us Hinduism is like this in the matter of choice..
Absolutely no offense meant, but by your descriptions, in a positive way it seems you are half-Hindu, half-Parsi and half-Muslim, in the commonly accepted sense of these words. In other words the best of all worlds! Good for you.

`Commonly accepted sense of these words` alas sink these commonly accepted senses of these words: A family member was pointing out the other day that the UN charter of Human Rights speaks of the individual`s right to `a` religion or something. His point of view was that this is actually a Western imposition on a large part of humanity`s TRUE human rights, to restrict the right to only one religion. This, because in most of the East, people would subscribe to MORE than one religion. For example, the Japanese can be Shintoists and Christians both, or Christians and Buddhists both, (if you take a poll, say(just as example) 80% would describe themselves as Shintoists, 50% would call themselves Christians, etc). Similarly it used to be hard to tell whether some groups in India were Hindu or Muslim, or Hindu or Sikh, or a diverse tradition within Islam itself, the term Hinduism itself was hard to define etc, etc.
Revise the UN charter and banish the commonly accepted (finally bureacratic) terms Hindu, Muslim, Christian, etc!

Stuka..

I read a similar story about a jawan in my urdu text book...

So which one should one believe?

Pakistanis will always be indebted for 3 huge Aga Khani favors:

- Provided intellectual and political leadership to Pakistan movement in the form of Prince Aga Khan and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

- Migrated in large numbers with their wealth and enterpreneurial skills to Pakistan.

- Gilgitis (mostly Aga Khanis) launched the freedom movement in Kashmir and were able to liberate Gilgit and Baltistan.

I don`t know or care if they are ``full`` muslims and neither should other Pakistanis, because politically they are more muslim than any other ethnic group in Pakistan. They way they slavishly follow Aga Khan`s farmans is truely disgusting, but so do the followers of the Pirs of Barri Imam, Golra Sharif, Sarwari Jamaat and thousands of other gaddi-nashins in Pakistan.

PS. NLI is not composed of Aga Khanis but mostly Balti (Baltistani) Shias. Aga Khanis serve in large numbers with Gilgit Scouts. (Major Hasan Khan who led the rebellion in 47-48 against the Maharaja was an Aga Khani I think)

Aamir:

Great article man. Awesome. And Yes Shahnawaz was born an Indian, lived as an Indian and died an Indian. That is the truth, and YLH is either lying, or he does not know what he is talking about.

ylh

You are a bit to free with your insults. Do not accuse others of lying if you are not sure of your own facts. I have given below a short summary on Abdul Hamid. I first read about Abdul Hamid in class six, because there was a story in my Hindi text book called Abdul Hamid Kee Amar Kahani. BTW, THE Greandiers still have the highest number of Muslims and have served with distinction in Kargil, J&K etc. The Param Vir Chakra is India`s highest military award.

``Company Quarter Master Havildar Abdul Hamid was born on 1 July 1933, in Uttar Pradesh. He was enrolled in the 4 Grenadiers on 27 December 1954. During his Army service he earned the Sainya Seva Medal with Clasp J&K, the Samar Seva Medal and the Raksha Medal. During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, 4 Indian Division was entrusted with a two-fold responsibility - capture Pak territory east of Ichhogil Canal and contain possible enemy attack on Kasur-Khem Karan axis. The 4th Indian Division succeeded in reaching Ichhogil but the powerful Pakistani offensive forced it to fall back on Asal Uttar. The 4 Indian Division settled here to meet the enemy assault.

In the new defence plan of the Division, 4 Grenadiers occupied a vital area ahead of Chima village on the Khem Karan-Bhikhiwind road. A firm hold on this area was considered essential to sustain the divisional plan of defence. On Spetember 8th night, the enemy made repeated probing attacks on Grenadiers positions but was frustrated in all the attempts. The most serious threat, however, developed when the enemy attacked with a regiment of Patton tanks at 0800 hours on September 10th. The attack was preceded by intense artillery shelling so much so that every yard of ground occupied by the battalion was littered by a shell.

By 0900 hours, the enemy tanks had penetrated the forward company positions. At this critical juncture, Hamid was commanding a recoilless gun detachment. Seeing the gravity of the situation, he moved out to a flank with his gun mounted on a jeep. Intense enemy shelling and tank fire did not deter him. From his new position, he knocked out the leading enemy tank with accurate fire. Then he changed his position and knocked out another enemy tank. By this time the enemy who had spotted his position brought down concentrated machine gun and high explosive fire on him.

But he kept on firing. As he fired to hit yet another enemy tank, he was mortally wounded by a high explosive shell. Throughout this action, CQMH Hamid inspired his comrades to put up a gallant fight to beat off the enemy tank assault. His sustained act of bravery and disregard for personal safety, in the face of constant enemy fire, were a shining example, not only to his unit but to the whole division and were in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.

Company Quarter Master Havildar Abdul Hamid was honoured with the highest wartime gallantry medal, Param Vir Chakra, posthumously. Jai Hind!! Jai Jawan!

ras

``I saw two ``Half-Muslims`` sharing a beer yesterday. Makes me wonder what hamidm would

say if he encountered them?``

.....the agha khanis are perhaps the only muslim community that has stepped out of the seventh century - the rest of us are still eating dates and dating our camels .... the only other group that seems to be somewhat civilized are the ahmedis, who, as we all know, are non-muslims and wajib-ul-qatl .......i wonder how long it is going to be before suicidal shias and homicidal sunnis declare war on the agha khanis and run them out of pakistan ..... then, where will we get a decent hotel room or hospital bed ?

.... drinking beer is a very visible and powerful symbol for a muslim who has overcome his fear, superstition, and bigotary ..... somewhere along the way, islam has been reduced to four principles: prohibition, subjugation of women, interest free banking and hatred for the poor swine ........ a beer is a good first step on the road to recovery .......

P.S. ... no one is suggesting that drinking is a good thing and you should rush out to buy a six pack .... but one should stick around to give an inebriated friend a ride home ...... afterall, we do stick around for isha prayers and other godly activities ........

Death Penalty Sought in Nigeria

Thu Apr 25,11:16 AM ET

MADA, Nigeria (AP) - Muslim prosecutors sought the death penalty for two men accused of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime for which an Islamic court judge gave the accused men three days to reconvert.



Lawali Yakubu and Ali Jafaru, villagers in their 30s, were accused in the Islamic, or Shariah, court in the northern town of Mada of recently abandoning the Islamic faith and joining the Great Commission Movement, an international Evangelical church with a strong following in Nigeria.

Auwal Jabaka, the court judge, said Wednesday that although the Muslim holy book, or Quran, calls for the execution of Muslims who accept another religion, it was unclear whether the state`s two-year-old Shariah penal code also permitted such a punishment.

Jabaka adjourned the court for three days to allow the accused to ``change their minds`` and convert back to Islam.

In the meantime, he called on the Zamfara government to clarify its position on the matter.

``If the law empowers me to (execute the two for converting from Islam to Christianity), I will have no hesitation in doing that,`` the judge said.

Yakubu and Jafaru were not represented by lawyers but were instead accompanied by fellow church members.

The two argued they had never been Muslims, but were instead members of the Magazawa, a Hausa subgroup that has long practiced Christianity. The overwhelming majority of Hausas — one of Nigeria`s largest tribes — are Muslim.

The case was believed to be the first of its kind since a dozen predominantly Muslim northern states began implementing Shariah law in early 2000, despite virulent opposition from mainly Christian and animist southerners.

In the past two years, thousands of Muslims and Christians have been killed in periodic bursts of inter-religious bloodletting.

Fv,

You`re back to fine form. I`ve got a couple of writer questions, if you don`t mind. Let me know if your willing to entertain them.

Ref Anika Zaidi #: 23

[Skunk

You missread your own Ramayana into unread part of your putrid upbreaking.

LORD RAMA SAYS DO NOT TRUST WOMEN

Lord Rama is in harmonious agreement with Manusmrti 7:145-153. While lecturing his brother Bharata on how to govern the kingdom, Lord Rama says women are not trustworthy creatures:

``[Rama:] `Do you keep your womenfolk pacified? Are they duly protected by you? I hope you do not repose excessive faith in them and do not confide your secrets to them.` `` -- Ramayana 2:100.]

And Allah says trust a woman only half as much as you trust a man; require two female witnesses for every Muslim male witness. And in a case of rape, double that again.

And your point is?