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| BaKhabar  Download pdf
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| Requiem ... By Muhammad Tariq Ghazi
This is a tribute, by a writer par excellence, to Obaidur Rahman Siddiqui, an Alig, the scientist par excellence, who passed away recently. Another untitled chapter of history has closed; forcibly closed, so to say. Title it Obaidur Rahman Siddiqi, if you will. The problem, however, is when a title is given to this chapter, it shows no body; and if text becomes readable, it loses the title. Obaidur Rahman Siddiqi was a scientist par excellence. Perhaps a rare species. But history does not have his legatic DNA and he cannot be cloned. A difficult task, if at all it is possible. Not that we do not have or cannot have another equally brilliant scientist like Obaid Siddiqi. There are many others, like him, similar to him, close to him, a little below or above him in stature and expertise and wisdom. But there was only one Obaid Siddiqi. An untitled chapter of history, or a chapter having no more than a title. Obaid Siddiqi was a product of Aligarh. But only of Aligarh. He was a scientist, but he was not complete scholar. To be complete his knowledge he needed an alim. Maulana Hamidul Ansari Ghazi who could tell him that what he was studying was in accord with a directive of the Qur’an. Ghazi was a product of Deoband. But only of Deoband. He was an alim who had part of history missing from his legacy exactly as Siddiqi found himself standing alone on the other shore of the Atlantic. Fortunately both these societal entities met for a few moment and Obaid Siddiqi got an inkling of what he was missing from his legacy. Title! What he did as a scientist is for the world and may Allah reward him immensely for his lifelong endeavor to break the code of creation: how did it is start! Now that he is in the Presence of the Creator, I hope he might be a witness of how the process of Creation is working split moment by split moment for trillions of millennia. I am sure Allah will reward him, but the issue is we, who do not even understand Siddiqi – that is kernel of his tireless study and how does it affect us societally, intellectually, culturally, civilizationally, humanly – as it did with leaders like Ibn Sina and Ibn Al-Haytham, Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Athir, Ustad Isa and Mimar Sinan, Ibn Hayyan and Ibn Qurrah, Hisham of Damascus and Hisham of Cordova, Ahmad the Ottoman and Shah Jahan the Mughal. Siddiqi had pioneered research in molecular biology, which I would never understand even if Obaid Siddiqi tried to inject some sense into my head. That was not because I am dumb, but because I am also one of those millions of chapters, having only a title, or only an untitled text. That is what we are: We, Muslims – all around the world: in America and Australia, Algeria and Albania, India and Indonesia, Pakistan and Panama, Belize and Bhutan. We have brains without the body, or healthy bodies carrying atop no brains. That is our situation for ... hmm ... for more than 150 years, at least 150 years. May be more. Since then we are only ‘Ibns’, without suffixes of accomplishment: Khaldun, Sina, Asir, Hayyan. Untitled Chapters. We are Ibns singing pidrum sultan bood – my father was the king. To say that we do not have brains is uncharitable. But the bodies that these brains look down upon from the top hardly match them. Incompatibility is our asset. Reality of brain is being wantonly invested in non-issues, non-persons, non-events: Malalas, Modis, Azam Khans and Zardaris, AMU VCs et al, self-created but proxied killing fields in Syria and Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, shadowboxing self-styled liberals and phony fundamentalists because someone wants these killing fields festering like incurable sores, these infantile libero-fundo fights eternally. So there is no time for an Obaid Siddiqi to give title to his enquiry and he dies as a good port without a good hinterland. Our fractured academia needed a visionary. It still needs one. But visionaries are not produced in debating workshops. They are not found on google. Once in a life time they appear in flesh and bones but more often they are lost in visionless crowds. Fractured academia? I won’t delve into who broke the bones when and why. That will be another exercise in futility. But let me share a secret. Just two days ago I was reminded of a book and a visionary’s philosophy of education. If you have time, read Sawaneh Qasmi by Manazir Ahsan Gilani, Volume 2 pages 275 to 286. The educationist was Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and he had spelled out his Philosophy of Combinity in his 1290 AH “dastar-bundi address” at Deoband. Atlanticos on either side did not care for it. So we had a Ghazi and a Siddiqi trying to shake hands across the small Atlantic Gulf. Both of them are gone. There’s no sign of boats on the beaches. Lastly a jumla e mu’tarizah: Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), an Imam in philosophy and a hobby-biologist, was Qazi of Qurtuba, that’s he was a mufti, that’s he was a Faqih, that’s he was a Muhaddith, that’s he was a Mufassir – in short he was a turbaned Maulwi. Now you know what Philosophy of Combinity stands for. Muhammad Tariq Ghazi < tariqghazi04@yahoo.ca> Ottawa, Canada Tuesday 30 July 2013 21 Ramadan 1434. 
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Being Elite is not a Privilege
From “Beyond Education” collection – Nissar Nadiadwala’s Editorial for Young Muslims  Two sections of the society are most promising if they are walk alright but equally dangerous if they get deviated and corrupted. One is the religious scholars and the other Elite class. Today we will study the corruption in Elite class. In Surah al Ar'af the stories of six prophets are mentioned in sequence. Each of them was confronted by their Elite class. 1. Take for example prophet Nuh (a.s.) Surah Al-Ar'af, verse 60: Wa qaaloo Mal'aoo, the leaders of his people said "Ah! We see you evidently wandering (in mind... 2. Wa qaaloo Mal'aoo, The leaders of the people of A'ad said: Ah! We see that you are an imbecile and we think you are a liar! 3. Wa qaaloo Mal'aoo, the leaders of the people of Thamud said: We reject what you believe in... The rest of the Surah goes ahead with different comments given by different elite class. The Arabic word is used Mala'oo which means elite class, the rich and the powerful. What happened to them is told in the next verses that follow. These are the people who existed during the times of every prophet. Barring a few of them, a large number of people were obstacles for the message of truth and they were arrogant and they lead their people to ruin. The Mala'oon of today means the choicest, the best, or most powerful of a group or a class. It can be elaborated as influential class of industrialists, politicians, sports stars, movie stars and rock stars. These people are the ones who initiate trends and the masses follow them. They are also rich class. The rich group called the “Power Elite” by American sociologist C. Wright Mills is a group of approximately 1% of the US population that controls over 40% of all assets in the United States. If we consider families, 68% of the wealth in the USA is controlled by only 10% of families. This elite class rules the political system, educational system, financial system and foreign policies of the US. Islamically, being elite is not a privilege but a responsibility. Look at the elite class of early Muslims. They were not above the law. An influential tribe came to intercede on the behalf of a woman who stole; they requested that the woman's hands be not cut off. The Prophet (pbuh) announced: By Allah if my daughter Fatima steals I will not hesitate to chop off her hands. All the Caliphs lived a simple life style and people loved them and prayed for them. The elite Muslims were all from poor class and middle class but Allah granted them the authority over the whole of Arabia and they captured the thrones of Persian and Roman Empire. Today a huge chunk of Muslims community follow the corrupt elite class from movies, rock stars, sports stars and look up at them to be their guide and role model. On the other hand today no section of the Muslim community is under pressure as much as the elite Muslim, be he in any field. Their leaders are hanged, their wealth is scrutinised. In spite of being a group of 53 nations yet no one is interested in hearing their views! The UN never consults them in International matters their places of worships are being watched as hub of terror. Today if the Muslim realise the power and the responsibility of being elite and choose their role model accordingly surely it will not take time for the ummah to regain its lost glory.  |
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