Searching for Qurratulain Hyder in a Delhi Kabristan Quratul Ain Haider lived in India where urdu has been neglected over a period of sixty years. All across India, you will find regional languages or Hindi on bill boards, road markers, street names, newspapers, radio and TV.

Even though urdu is still the most popular language of Indian Cinema, people always call it Hindi. Hearing both languages, it seems like Hindi and urdu are like two sisters but have different clothing.

If we take out the Arabic and Dev Nagri scripts, we find both languages very similar .

I believe Quratul Ain will gradually emerge from oblivion after maybe another hundred years and at that time Indians will construct a small tomb to identify the location.

Indian muslims are generally poor and do not read her works. So she has still not reached down to the level of common people. When that happens then she will be fondly remembered as a queen of urdu literature.

Fair Game Re: # 8
Zeemax:
I do not know the situation in Swat or Jamia Hafsa episode. Since you knowledgeable about opposing view point can you please educate us about the following:

1. How can peace be restored in Waziristan and Swat?

2. If another government building is taken over say the supreme court by pious muslims what should the authorities do?

3. If Sharia is to be implemented, what steps should be taken by the people who implement it?

People like us read the newspapers, see the stories such us Maulana coming on a black horse and then beating barbers first and then closing their shops. Secondly closing the video stores and lastly public beheading of six people.

Maybe all of these stories are wrong. All of us would like to be educated from the perspective of Maulana Fazalullah.

Thanks.

Farewell to Shimla Re: # 1
Dehliwala:

I can assure you that this was not to point out any community for particular violence. Mob has all kinds of people and do not care about any religion.

I have a large number of Sikh friends and respect Guru Nanak for his love and empathy for common people. I have also know Sikhs who faced similar kind of atrocities in Western Punjab by the socalled Muslims.

A good friend Sardul Singh Minhas narrated his experience when his father was killed while migrating from Pakistan to India.

We have to move on while learning from the past.

Farewell to Shimla Re: # 89

Mishra:

I believe it is our collective responsibility to bring out honest and true history of partition from the standpoint of common people.

I have read a number of books written by people who were in high places. We have to look at our common humanity first and keep everything else at second place.

I believe it would be worthwhile effort to create an online repository.

The key to communal harmony is to place ourselves in other people shoes and understand their point of view. In these messages, I have read very strong opinions from both sides.

My reading of true history tells me that both Hindus and Muslims suffered. The research shows that Hindus lost a great amount of property, money and businesses but muslims lost more lives.

This also makes a logical sense. The muslims at the time of partition were lagging behind in education, businesses and money.

Ultimately poor people suffered more regardless of their religion.

Nasim Hassan

A Letter To President Musharraf Dear D-I-D:

Your posts are full of great emotional energy. Smart people channel this emotional energy to do something constructive.

I recommend you use this energy to create something within your viccinity. I cannot suggest you anything because I do not know your environment and circumstances. You should be the judge.

If you deeply look at great people in history you will find that every injustice gave them inner strength to fight and uproot injustices.

A Letter To President Musharraf Khadija:

Your letter is well written. I do not believe Mush has any answers. Maybe you can answer the following questions:

Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid had armed people and in fighting they were able to kill 13 soldiers including a Colonel. Is this normal thing in Pakistani Madrassahs and other Schools and colleges?

Certainly there must be supplies of Alcohol and call girls available in Islamabad. It is very bad indeed. But should the common people take the law in their own hands and abduct people to put them on the right path??

Is it Islamic to raid the privacy of any home or business? The ladies with sticks were shown everywhere in the World smashing video stores. In the West even police cannot raid a home without proper warrant obtained from authorities???

I can assure you that in Europe and North America, all vices of alcohol, drugs, teenage pregnancies, prostitution exist ten fold as compared to Pakistan.

Then why majority of Pakistanis want want migrate to the West which maybe the land of Sinners.

I do not know about others but let me give my reasons.

1. In the West most of the people have food, clothing and shelter.

2. Health care is provided to majority of the citizens.

3. People are given the freedom of religion and the state tries its best to safeguard the right of worship.

For me these are enough reasons.

Lastly, I also believe that peaceful resolution is always better than fighting.

Globalization and Human Relationship Re: # 22

I looked at the thread mentioned and found no reason to use such abusive language. I have located the Movie but still have not seen it. After I watch the movie then I will comment on Leopold.

It is very difficult to judge a person from his writing. Once I wrote an article in the Islamic magazine called The Message. The people who read it started calling me Maulana.

Before year 1997, I never wrote anything non technical. Being a technical person, I always wrote technical articles for Hydrocarbon Processing and it was always time consuming.

Globalization and Human Relationship Re: # 17

Frankly I do not understand the level of abusive language. On the internet we can always have difference of opinion but we cannot trample over the rights of other people.

So the people who use such language must be under lot of stress. The stress can be unemployment, crowded home, cities, poverty, abusive parents etc. Such things are prevalent in all third world countries.

Once or twice I also encountered such people on the Internet. I simply appologized and stopped the conversation.

So with all negatives going around in this World, I am optimistic. Nasim

Globalization and Human Relationship Re: # 9

Thanks for kind comments. I have also lived upto six months in various countries of Africa, Middle East and Europe. I have seen first hand how the South Asian live in Middle East.

I have also observed families where the husband lives in the Middle East and family is in Pakistan. It is not few years, it is decades. Kids education, home and living expenses force these people to live far away from their families.

I have also observed my own relatives who came to the USA and it took more than ten years to get their families here.

Although my opionions are biased and subjective but I never write about anything that does not have factual foundations. Nasim

Globalization and Human Relationship Re: # 6 ZahraJ

I will try to look up Kate and Leopold in the local video store or perhaps in the library. It does not surprise me at all. Quartul Ain Haider has written a novel, `` Aag Ka Darya``. In this novel she starts with certain characters in prehistoric India.

The same characters appear in different times over centuries in changed circumstances. Their thinking, feeling, emotions are exactly the same and they end up doing the same things over and over again.

So the similarities will always be there between people.

I will certainly let you know my thoughts about the movie if I can find it.

Jaane kahan gaye voh din! DM:

The era of Naushad Ali and OP Nayyar has gone for ever. However if the music, poetry, art or literature is rooted in the soil then it emerges time after time and never dies.

To give you an example of Junoon group of Pakistan. Their most popular numbers hark back to folk characters like Sanwal, Sohni and Mahiwal. Another example is Buleh Shah who died five hundred years ago. But his poetry still becomes a hit with

Buleha Kee Janaan Mein Kaun.

Naushad, Nayyar and many others have used folk and classical in their songs. That is the reason why people still continue to enjoy their music.

Folk and classical music emerges from the soil over thousands of years. It reflects the hopes, fear, aspirations of common people of certain area.

Since the human beings continue to have these human emotions these songs will never die.

Regarding modern music, I believe it is the influence of dominant western culture. The film songs of current era last for a few weeks and then fade away.

So I am very optimistic about the music of these stalwarts.

Hassan N

Minorities in the Western Societies ZahraJ:

I thought this article will generate a great deal of discussion. Particularly when I see hispanic migrants to USA, muslims in all western countries in the spotlight, it should have generated more response.

I very sincerely believe that common humanity should make progress and live in peace and harmony.

Muslims have a very particular mind set. They want to keep their Islamic or eastern values while enjoying the welfare benefits of the western society.

This is possible only when muslims follow the model of Sufi understanding of Islam. The model propagated by Sufi saints in South Asia was based on simple human equality, respect for human beings, toerance, love and service to all people regardless of their religion.


Maybe, I have not been able touch a chord. I hope someone else can articulate this issue better than me.

Minorities in the Western Societies Aslam:

All immigrants in Europe have to think and adopt the local culture. Most of the European culture and values are not against Islam or any other religion for that matter. Europe has developed a system where people are treated fairly, public transport is cheap and available everywhere, basic healthcare is accessible to common people and there is a social safety net for poor people.

I agree with you about the USA. Europe has to develop an educated middle class in minorities. The will build bridges and promote understanding.

I strongly believe that humanity has a common destiny. So all of us need to strive for universal human values and minimize the differences.

Rise of Rogue Radio Best solution of illegal FM radio stations is to reduce the price of radio license so that people who want to start and maintain radio stations can easily do it. After that, it is simply a civilized fight for the hearts and mind of listening people.

Another reason of illegal FM radios may be the lack of safety. People do not want to be killed by intolerant bigots who may be offended. So they try keep their location secret.

To me it is a very good sign that people are finding a medium to express their opinion through radio. After the intial burst of enthusiam, gradually the dust will settle down.
People will certainly benefit from listening to wide variety of ideas. Slowly they will be able to to sift truth from lies.

The surviving stations would be the one that are better managed and provide a good service to the people

In my opinion, if it is a battle of ideas then the truth always prevails. However if it is a battle for the power by hook and crook then ruthless people always win.


.

Was Jesus Christ Married? Gill saheb:

It has happened in all religions. Gradually, the myth develops and normal human beings approach the status of Almighty.

I see it happening in case of Sahaba Karam in Islam. Reading history written by muslim scholars we learn about all the great things they did and never see anything humane about them.

Maulana Maududi wrote a book, ``Khilafat Aur Malokiat``. In this book, he tried to humanize Hazrat Usman. He clearly established that due to his kind heart, hazrat Usman gave a number of important positions to his relatives and thus started the process of Khilafat getting converted to Malokiat.

There was a big resentment among Brelvi muslims who would never listen to any criticism.

Christ was a prophet of Almighty and great man. If he married Mary, then he did not commit any sin. My respect for him and his teaching did not diminish at all. All human being have certain needs like food, clothing and shelter. Since he preached people and a large number of people listened and believed in him as a spiritual leader, I am sure many women would have loved to serve as his wives.

However if one believe that Jesus was Almighty himself then he should not have any earthly human needs including food, water and oxygen.

A Perfect Nation? Re: # 26

Naqshbandi Saheb:

If the criteria of a civilized country is the treatment of its poorest and most vulnerable people then the western Europe is indeed the best place to live. Again I would add a qualification of being the native European. Europe spends great amount on public transportation, health and social welfare. This reduces the pollution and enhances the quality of life. Perhaps that is prime reason for low crime rate as compared to the USA.

My criteria is human equality and basic freedoms. No country in this World provides the equality of opportunity to all of citizens at the level of America.


This opinion is based on personal knowledge of Sweden, Germany, Spain, France and UK. In Sweden the native people are given preference over immigrants from Norway, Denmark and Poland. The South Asian, Middle Eastern, Turkish and African people are not treated fairly in western Europe.

These people do get welfare and health care but not good jobs. I had an opportunity to work for a few months in Europe for ICI. In all Europe ICI had very little representation of immigrant minority. I could hardly find any Indian or Pakistani in ICI. Other countries in Europe have similar conditions. The condition of African immigrants to France is very well known. Even the second and third generation has not assimilated in French society.

When I look around the American companies, universities, colleges and businesses, I find a large number of immigrants in good positions.

America accepts all immigrants with open arms. The Arabs, Turks and South Asians can easily assimilate in the main stream if they like to do so. Generally immigrants from these countries try to preserve their own culture. Some even feel superior to common American people. The second generation gets assimilated very quickly.

I like to be corrected on all of my opinions. Thanks.

Nasim