‘Indian
Muslims: Economic Upliftment and Entrepreneurial Spirit’
.... By K M Furqan
<kmfurqan@hotmail.com>
In the modern struggling world no community can flourish until and
unless it improves and keeps improving its economic parameters and
there by acquires a respectable position among its fellow communities.
And the same applies to Indian Muslims community also.
Among the myriad problems pressing the Indian Muslim community, their
economic backwardness is most serious and requires urgent attention.
This economic backwardness is also the cause of many other problems.
But thinking and feeling Muslims who want to improve the condition of
their community almost always take educational backwardness of Muslims
as the only reason for the present painful economic condition of them.
And that is why on different Muslim forums on the net, the minuscule
healthy and constructive part of the discussions almost always consists
only of educational scenario and talks of establishing schools etc.
But, in my opinion, this notion is only partially correct. For the
overall improvement in the condition of Indian Muslims, not only
education, but many other fields require special attention of the
thinkers and feelers of the community.
In spite of
Muslims lagging behind others in educational field, there are a large
number of degree holders who are unemployed or underemployed. The
visible unemployment among educated youths, for some others creates a
sort of loathness, a sort of aversion towards education. This cycle
further worsen the situation.
Then there is a sizable number of those who graduate from different
Madarsas and Darul Ulooms across the country every year and find
themselves at the receiving end of the harsh realities of an intensely
competitive world where survival of the fittest is only the norm.
Though the very notion of education as a means of becoming employable
and there after keep looking for work (job) and then keep working for
others is not very healthy. But even this notion of education provides
almost no options for Madarsas and Darul Ulooms’ product. And very few
options for university graduates. Recruiting schemes and policies of
Indian Government even if applied impartially or chances in Gulf
countries cannot provide job to all of them always.
Here it is not out of context to mention that people in developed
countries do not remain stick to their jobs. They always keep trying
for something better and different.
According to Paul Reynolds, entrepreneurship scholar and creator of the
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, "by the time they reach their
retirement years, half of all working men in the United States probably
have a period of self-employment of one or more years. Participating in
a new business creation is a common activity among U.S. workers over
the course of their careers." (Wikipedia)
For Indian Muslim community, the situation can be improved by creating
as many opportunities as possible by the community itself to absorb the
unemployed, and by raising awareness among those Muslim commercial
establishments that are already in the field, to give preference to
deserving Muslims.
One, of the many things that are required, is establishing commercially
viable Small & Medium size industrial and marketing units with
the sole aim of absorbing in them as many as possible already educated
but unemployed or under-employed Muslim youths, and skilled,
semi-skilled or unskilled Muslim labourers of different level and
categories so that they gradually turn from being seekers of help to
becoming providers of help.
In fact this can be achieved only by systematic efforts to develop
entrepreneurial attitude in the community. This is imperative as job
market for Indian Muslim Community is shrinking day by day within the
country and prospects in the Gulf countries also don’t seem very
promising and everlasting. Developing entrepreneurial
attitude, ability and skills is indispensible for the proper mooring of
the Madarsas and Darul Ulooms’ product also in the struggling world.
Entrepreneurship is the act and art of being an entrepreneur which can
be taught and learn. An entrepreneur is a person who is willing and
able to find out a new idea or invention and convert it into a
successful business. In short, entrepreneurship aims at creation of new
businesses and encompasses all those activities which are possible,
legally permitted and morally not forbidden.
Entrepreneurial thinking among Muslims youths will bring a sort of
confidence in them and lead them away from the unhealthy, though not
totally unrealistic, feeling of victimization, partiality and
helplessness.
Not only solo, preferably there can be group-entrepreneurs also by
pooling together local recourses and opportunities. It may also bring a
sort of closeness and unity among Muslim youths and may lessen the ill
effects of growing sectarian differences as well.
To achieve this:
1. There should be organized efforts to
develop entrepreneurial thinking among Muslim youths, especially among
those who are educated but unemployed.
2. For this, material should be prepared
by collecting general as well as industry-specific information to
provide them a base to stand on.
3. Programs, work-shops etc. should be
organized by requesting the services of the expert of the field, to
turn educated but unemployed Muslim youths into successful
entrepreneurs.
4. They should be encouraged to develop
commercially viable innovative business projects, initially on
micro-level, locally on their own.
5. Out of well to do and caring elders of
the community, a group of venture capitalists should be raised who
invest in promising projects on mutually beneficial but strict and well
defined terms and conditions. (no donation, but investment, something
on the concept and pattern of American Shark-Tank reality show)
Shark Tank is an American reality TV series, started in August 2009
that brings aspiring entrepreneurs and potential investors together.
The show features a panel of potential investors, called "sharks", that
considers offers from contestants who are aspiring entrepreneurs
seeking investments for their business or product. And not only the
American Shark Tank, in many other countries also there are similar
programs and activities.
For the benefit
of Indian Muslims, as per the requirements, some micro models of this
can be developed and implemented at local levels.
Let me summarize my view of our own Shark Tank by going back to age-old
saying: ‘To a hungry man don’t give fish, but teach him fishing’
…………….. and I add………. ‘Provide him net or fishing-rod too but on
mutually beneficial terms and conditions.’ |
The Profound
Impact Of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on our lives
- By Arbaz Fahad
<arbazfahad@rediffmail.com>
Four years after the death of Justinian, a boy was born in the Bani
Hashim clan of Makkah. Ever since his birth, his face illuminated the
radiance of sun, divine grace and mercy acquiesced his magnanimous
personality. Orphaned even before his birth, he was brought up under
the care and affection of Bani Sa’d bin Bakr. At the age of six, his
mother escalated to her higher heavenly abode, leaving the infantile,
innocent child at the mercenaries of a harsh, callous and oligarchic
society. Even in the inconsiderate tribal Pan Arab society, the boy’s
character was endowed with heavenly virtues of honesty, piety,
munificence, forbearance and impeccable fortitude. He was awarded the
epithet Al Ameen (The Trustworthy) and Al Sadiq (The Truthful). People
used to seek his august company and used to ascertain his opinion in
trival affairs. He was conspicuous for his high moral character,
dignified personality and philanthropic values. He bought forth a
message of serene and soothing amplitude which would change the face of
human civilization and unified the boisterous and raucous Arabs under
the banner of Islam. Within a period of 80 years after his death the
Muslims established a vast and glorious empire beyond the oxus and the
pyrenes on the shores of the Caspian and in the valley of the Nile.
Fourteen centuries since his death, his name resonates vociferously
five times a day stretching forth from the Alaskan mountains to the
sandy barren dunes of Arabia. His saying, teachings, every aspect of
his persona vividly and profoundly affects the 1.8 billion adherents of
Islam all over the world. He is God’s final Messenger and the seal of
the Prophets- Muhammad (PBUH)
According to Islamic etymology, Allah himself is the legislator and his
prophet is the exponent of the law. Every act to the Prophet with
regards to religious implication and injunction is the perfect
manifestation of the applicability of the divine decree. Moreover, the
pleasure and gratification of Allah lies in adhering to the
commandments of his prophet.
“Say (O Muhammad) If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love
you and forgive you your faults” Quran 3:31
“He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah” Quran 4:80
Loving the prophet with unconditional demeanour and willing submission
to his commandments is a prerequisite of faith. The diseases of our age
are many and we have further aggravated our reprehensible situation by
weaving around ourselves the satanic cobwebs of impertinence,
abhorrence and shallow mentality. The forces of economic exploitation,
wanton greed, vengeance and unjustified wars have wrecked havoc,
instability and complete loss of peace and tranquillity from our lives.
It is rare to find examples when the virtues of love, generousity and
forgiveness are reflected in the lives of people. Fourteen centuries
ago, in the barren lands of Arabia an illiterate person promulgated
such serene injunctions which liberated the society of its anarchic and
despondent state of affairs. The Prophet said:-
A man asked the Messenger of Allāh (Peace be upon
him) which of the merits is superior in Islam. He [the Prophet (Peace
be upon him)] remarked:
• “That you provide food and extend greetings to one whom you know or
do not know.”
‘Abdullah bin Salām said: When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) arrived
in Madinah, I went to see him and I immediately recognized through his
features that he would never be a liar.
The first things he (the Prophet [Peace be upon him)] said was:
“Extend peace greetings amongst yourselves, provide food to the needy,
maintain uterine relations, observe prayer at night while people are
asleep, then you will peacefully enter the Garden (Paradise)
“He is not a perfect believer, who goes to bed full and knows
that his neighbour is hungry.”
“Show mercy to people on earth so that Allāh will have mercy
on you in heaven.”
Those were the attributes and qualities on whose basis the Prophet
(Peace be upon him) wanted to build a new society, the most wonderful
and the most honourable society ever known in history. On these
grounds, he strove to resolve the longstanding problems, and later gave
mankind the chance
to breathe a sigh of relief after a long wearying journey in dark and
gloomy avenues. Such lofty morale lay at the very basis of creating a
new society with integrated components immune to all fluctuations of
time, and powerful enough to change the whole course of humanity.
All his actions ranging from pertinent matters of religious
instructions to petty ordinances such as his posture of sleeping have
been meticulously recorded in the books of Ahadith. Exalted and
dignified is his stature and any reproaches on his personal dignity and
honour is opposed with vehemence and infatuation. Allah says
“The Prophet is closer to the believers than their themselves” Quran
33:6
He, more than any of his contemporary prophets or any other
religious personality has dynamically affected the repertoire and the
core schema of the Muslim community. There is hardly a faction of our
life which remains unheralded of the teachings and commandments of the
prophet. The laws and axioms of the Islamic Combat, social and fiscal
affairs are all derived from the authentic traditions of the Prophet.
Allah says
“Indeed you have, in the Messenger of Allah the best pattern (of
conduct)” Quran 33:21
|
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