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Asghar Ali Engineer

Mohammad (PBUH) As Liberator

by Asghar Ali Engineer

Muslims also refer to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as Muhsin-e-Insaniyyat i.e. the benefactor of humanity but hardly care to know in what respect he became benefactor? We can call him a liberator of humanity if we follow his teachings not so much from tangled web of hadith but from Qur’an. Qur’an indeed was his real miracle.

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Muslim Women And Change

by Asghar Ali Engineer

Media, which is interested in sensationalizing issues, refuses to highlight Muslim women’s achievements and continues to portray them as submissive to traditional authorities and meekly accepting their situation. This image of Muslim women has to change and reality, which is much more complex, has to be understood.

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Communal Violence Bill – How Useful To Victims?

by Asghar Ali Engineer

The present Bill already cleared by the Cabinet, seeks to give more power to the police. In fact police has always been the part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Had police been fair and impartial, no communal riot can last for more than 24 hours.All those who have investigated communal riots know what role police plays in communal riots from remaining spectators to actively helping the rioters instead of controlling it.

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Religion As I View It

by Asghar Ali Engineer

It has happened in the history of all religions that the founders’ Herculean efforts to create a new world are reduced to naught by those who convert religion into an immutable formal theology to retain their control over power.

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Women Who Dared

by Asghar Ali Engineer

There are instances where women have dared where men chicken out or ‘weaker’ women have proved to be morally much stronger.These women are also all illiterate and grass root workers. Their humanism is very much alive and are free of communal prejudices.They proved to be more of human being than Hindu, Christian or Muslim.

Wearing Burqa Will Now Be A Crime?

by Asghar Ali Engineer

This is for the first time that women would be penalized for wearing burqa. Earlier France had banned Muslim girls wearing hijab in schools. It argued that these religious symbols interfere with its commitment to secularism and its secular culture.

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Can “Allah” Be Monopolised By Any Community?

by Asghar Ali Engineer

Those who object to use of word Allah by Christians are on weak grounds. As Allah is one and creator of all of us cannot be monopolized by any one religious, much less linguistic community. The word Allah in Arabic was in use before Islam appeared on the scene in Mecca.

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Islam-Capitalism or Socialism

by Asghar Ali Engineer

Islam has its central values like truth, justice and equality of all human beings. As per W.C. Smith, a noted Islamic scholar, Islam was the first systematic attempt in human history to create a socio-economically just society. The greatest contribution of Islam was the concept of welfare state and establishment of Bait al-maal.

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Religious Diversity And Tolerance In Islam

by Asghar Ali Engineer

Most of us believe in this myth that west stands for freedom of conscience, democracy and liberty. Did they ever consider non-whites, non-Europeans as equal and entitled to equality and liberty? Switzerland voting to ban minarets and France ban on Hijab are signs of growing intolerance in the Western world

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Communal Riots 2009

by Asghar Ali Engineer

The year 2009 also did not witness major riots and this pattern is continuing since Gujarat riots of 2002. However, no year so far has been riot-free year. If communal violence erupts it is more because of weakness of secular forces than the strength of communal forces. If secular parties show courage and strong political will there is no reason communalism will have long lease of life.

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