Religion: A Path to Unity or Division

In my recent Visit to India I happened to meet some of my old friends & we had a very lengthy discussion on Religion,there were Muslims,Christians & Hindus among us ,in the end we derived a common phenomenon that every religion leads to One & only one God & there is no difference as far as divine faith is concerned, the only difference we have among us is of ideologies and our way of beliefs. All religions regardless of any following accepts that we are descendants of Adam & Eve, every Religion says that there is one supreme power who has no shape, voice or presence in mortal format and HE is omnipresent i.e GOD.We all believe that God has sent messengers in this world from time to time to guide his creatures , we call them as Prophets( Muslims & Christians) & Hindus called them as Devtas.We all have created the homes of God to worship HIM, be it Temple, Mosque, Church or Gurudwara, but all these homes are infact directing us towards one GOD, although here there is a slight difference, when a Muslim go to a mosque he prays to Allah and ask for his forgiveness and ask for favors by giving the wasila of Prophets & infallible, when a Christian goes to a church he does the same in the name of Jesus and Hindu does the same in the name of Ram or Krishna.
Everyone has got a medium to reach to one Supreme God .
Its not a fault of a person to born in a Hindu or a Christian Family because its God’s will that a person is born under some religious umbrella , then why we are bifurcating him in the name of religion, who are we to give him a religious identity, why dont we just consider him a normal human being like us.
Today if a Hindu help us in some way or other then we start praising him and when some other Hindu do something wrong we immediately start cursing his religion rather than saying bad to him. why such a discrimination & this holds good for all the religions.
There are many terrorists activities happening across the globe where members of one community are killing the members of same community, like in India you may find the frequent attacks by Ranbir sena and Marxists against each other in Bihar, Naxalites in Andhra, parts of UP , Ulfa in Assam……… and many more, also you may find Terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda , Sipah Sahaba,Tehreeke Jaafariya,Sadr Militia and all they all are killing Muslims while being Muslims themselves, here in these cases we divide ourselves on sectarian lines rather than religious lines, so you can make out that this division is not only between Hindus and Muslims it is even between among different sects of Hindus and different sects of Muslims. Witness yourselves that how much we are divided.
Its hard to find a Hindu in India who doesn't have at least one Muslim friend and a Muslim who doesn't have one Hindu friend , but when it comes down to support we always support on religious lines rather than supporting right and criticizing the wrong, here I am talking about a general mood which is prevalent in our society, also we even go deep by supporting on regional grounds as well.
Here at least on this blog I have noticed one thing that almost every member comes out openly against wrong and if one support the wrong then upon giving logics he start reasoning, so I can at least say that all is not lost yet and we are moving in right direction.
I wish and hope that we will grow more mature with time and follow only one religion and that is the religion of Humanity which is the first basis of every religion.
It easily reflects that God never wanted any discrimination among his followers, its we those who have created differences on religious lines.
I personally belief that every human being born on this earth has got an intelligentsia quotient, to derive what is wrong and what is right & everyone has got a right to follow what he is following , we should not hate or love a person because of his religious background, rather we should love a person because of he being one among us, a creation of GOD.

Upbringing of Children in Today's competitive World!!!

Today’s world is a world of competition and there is cut throat competition in every sphere of life. The theory of “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST” applies to each and every walk of the society. A question that arises in our mind is how to bring up our children in order to face competitive world and emerge successful. Let us first analyze the mindset of parents. Normally parents start educating their children by the age of two or three, as it is a common thinking that by this age only a child is going to be in a position of understanding the things. But here lies the problem because we are underestimating the capabilities and skills of a child. There are certain skills which start developing in a child right from his birth but since those skills are not properly nourished, they start decaying and by the time a child attains the age of two, those skills are already on the verge of being vanished.
There are many skills which are very important to be taken care of right from the beginning. Let us discuss a few of them here:

• Listening and concentration skills.
• Manipulative skills.
• Skills of color, texture & time
• Social skills

Now, these skills play a very crucial role in a development of a child. Like most of you must have noticed that a child start operating a TV from a remote control without getting any guidance from any member of the family. This is an example of concentration skill because a child is very imitative by nature and he use to imitate almost each and every action of his closed ones, so just by watching others he also learns how to operate a TV through a remote control. Likewise you must have noticed that children who are brought up in an environment where luxuries of life are available right from the beginning, they use to adopt the environment and start behaving in that manner only, these are only few examples to put, but there are many. Now if in a home an educational environment persists then the child tend to have a positive attitude for education right from the beginning, because first two years of child are very important, the skills which you can develop in a child by that age are going to be his asset for his lifetime. It is very important to provide the essential educational materials to the kids in that age. Few educational programs are being developed by various companies to meet those requirement of early education of children. Strong foundation is very essential for anything to face all the obstacles, likewise early education is a strong foundation for a child to face all the hardships in life and prepare him to face this competitive world. Like we need food in order to be healthy and maintain our energy levels, likewise the food to the brain of a child in his early years, are books, which works as a proper nourishment to the brain.
Another problem which many parents face is the problem of answering each and every question of children, by nature children are very curious and they use to ask lots of questions in a day, sometimes parents use to answer them accurately, sometime they just pass on the information whatever they have without checking the accuracy and sometimes they totally ignore these questions. Now the end loser in all these circumstances is only the child because if he is not getting proper answer to his questions, his curiosity start decreasing and that leads to the total alienation of child towards studies. The best time to answer the questions asked by children is when they ask them and most important is to answer them accurately. If we will provide them the wrong information it will ruin their prospects of getting the best education. Now we are not super human beings that we know all the answers to the question put by the children so we have to have the books which contains all the information about everything like encyclopedias or other books which contains the questions which a child normally asks and their answers.
These are few steps if we take then believe me we will be able to lay a strong foundation for the best education for our children and it will help them in overcoming each and every problem in their life. These steps will build up their confidence and develop a feeling of staying ahead in each and every sphere of life.

Divisions and Differences

Yeh Firqon me bata Chaand,
Yeh tera Chaand, Yeh Mera Chaand.
Friends,
As Eid is approaching which is indeed a great festival for all of us to celebrate. A festival which symbolizes the feeling of Brotherhood and togetherness. But I am in a dilemma whether there is going to One EID this time or again we will be having two or three EIDS.
Unfortunately, today we are so divided that we have totally forgotten the real essence of Islam which preaches Brotherhood and Unity at all levels.
If we go by the times of our Prophet and His companions we witness that although there were difference in opinions among them on various issues but they were not divided on religious lines. Having “differences in opinion” is one thing and “division” is another thing. Unfortunately we distinguish ourselves into various sects and divided us by following different companions of Prophets who were undivided throughout their lives. If we can’t call it as an irony then what is it?
Going through the examples set aside by the Prophet himself and his companions we see that there was a bond between them which was so strong that they were one under one unified banner of Islam without any prejudice and malice towards each other, but their so called followers, hurled abuses and bad words to each other on the virtue of being right .
Today our all energies are involved in proving ourselves right and others wrong which is a misfortune for the whole Ummah of Prophet Mohammad (SWAS).
For me today one Shahadah, La Ilaha Ill AlLah , Muhammad ur Rasool Allah, is more strong than the division based on our own thoughts.
Let us pledge on the auspicious occasion of Eid that we will denounce such forces with strong hand who are trying hard to create a rift between us and give them a befitting reply by recognizing ourselves as “Muslims” rather than Shias, Sunnis, Ismailis, Wahhabis, Deobandis, Zaidis, Barelvis and others.
Let Allah Guide us to the right path and give us enough strength to fight the fitna which has divided us over the Years (Ameen)
Some thoughts Crossed my mind regarding the Moon sighting and I have penned down few couplets which purely reflects my thinking.
I am not a Shayar so this poetry of mine would not be technically correct but it is only a reflection of my thoughts.
Yeh Firqon me bata Chaand,
Yeh tera Chaand, Yeh Mera Chaand.
Kitne Hain aapas ke Ikhtelaaf,
Ek hone per bhi hain Bahatar Chaand.
Hain sab kehne ko Musalmaan,
Phir Kyon hai yeh Shia Chaand,Yeh Sunni Chaand.
Ahmed Mursal ko na tha Yaqeen,
Phir yoon batega tukroon me Chaand.
Kyon Bikhar gaye hum is Chaand ki Khatir,
Allah ka tha tou bas Ek hi Chaand.
Asli Eid hogi us Din Kamyaab,
Jab hoga sabka Ek hi Chaand.
Eid Mubarak to all of you!!!!

AMU Closed Sine Die- A Step in Haste!!!

Three days back a B.Sc. final year student Shahnawaz Alam was shot dead by a goon called Kallu khan , fighting erupted over a parking issue at a restaurant near Aligarh railway Station and it resulted it Shahnawaz's death...Police came into action and within 24 hours of the incident they have nabbed the culprit and put him behind the bar.

Now taking this killing as an issue few students and the adversaries of AMU Vice Chancellor Prof Abdul Aziz started demonstration and within no time more than 2000 students gathered outside Bab-e-Syed and starting shouting slogans against the VC and demanding his resignation on moral grounds...Two days went by and still no accord took place between the agitating students and the administration , in the meantime three students started hunger strike and the situation became worse....and instead of tackling this issue by taking the students into confidence, VC has decided to close the university Sine Die...now how many times we have witnessed such closures...it seems administration know only one way to tackle the students unrest and that is to close the university, flush out the students from the hostels, send them home, deploy the RAF & PAC in the campus and set up a high profile committee of professors and officials to find out the reason of unrest and suspend the culprits from the university rolls....I am really disgusted to see the administration working in such manner...by closing the university they are not only playing with future of the students but also jeopardizing the academic session....I am sure this matter would have resolved by talking to the agitated students and letting them realize the graveness of such situation and persuaded them to stand with the administration for the betterment of the institution...but they have acted otherwise and have given enough fuel to the miscreants and rogue elements to ignite such kind of instances again and again....though administration was not at fault for the killing but they have certainly taken an immature decision and washed away all the support it was getting from the students and other well wishers of the institution!!!!

I am sure the situation would have diffused if the administration would have shown a little maturity in handling the situation....students are mostly prone to agitations and demonstrations and they just need a flame to ignite the fire and this time also they did the same...VC should have appointed someone or should have lead from the front in talking to the students and infusing a sense of belonging and responsibility but unfortunately he did nothing !!!!

Its time that Institutions should take a different approach to solve the problem..afterall you dont close down a company if some of the employees start agitating...do you?

192nd Birth Anniversary fo Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

I was contemplating for last few days for a topic to start my blog , but never reached a decision and today all the confusion withered away as thousands of messages flocked all over the globe commemorating the 192nd birth anniversary of great Muslim reformer 'Sir Syed Ahmad Khan",and that moment only I decided to start my blog with an article on the great visionary and the founder of Aligarh Muslim University.The great Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

Much has been written over the years on Sir Syed's early life, education, professional life and his untiring drive towards imparting the western education among Indian mass, so I wont go into all those details,my purpose is to pay my tribute to this legendary icon of education .

Sir Syed thrived hard to change the mindset of common Indian towards western education,he went to UK to study the curriculum and the way of teaching and its importance and came back to India to get it implemented in Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College( MAO) college, which is recognized today as Aligarh Muslim University.

Today Aligs have their old boys association in more than 50 countries and they celebrate this day ( 17th october) every year with great zeal and remember the great reformer for his services to mankind. SS Day is a great platform which unites all the Aligs and the people those who are taking forward the Aligarh Mission .

Lets pledge on this day that we all who respects and follow the teaching of Sir Syed will keep on imparting the Vision of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan throughout our lives and contribute in improving the educational standard among the mass and also providing resources for those who are not in a position to acquire good education..starting scholarships in the name of Sir Syed....promoting a deserving alumni of our alma matter whenever a position is available within our contacts and helping the community by arranging micro funds for the widows and the marriage of poor girls...

Long Live Sir Syed and his Vision!!!!

Happy Sir Syed Day to All!!!!