Muslim State in India Today

The invasions of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni and Amir Timur
seem to have happened yesterday. The Qutb Minar in Delhi reminds one
of Aibak and Iltutmish. One who visits the Taj Mahal of Agra,
remembers Shahjahan. Akbar andAurangzeb are still the talk of the
town. Truly has Bernard Croce said that all history is contemporary.
Our living presentis the extension of the past which in many ways is
still with us. No wonder then that Muslim state in India has not
ceased to exist. It is not known as Nizam-i-Mustafa, as, in the Indian
secular democracy, it cannot be known by that nomenclature. Butit has
been internalised in the Muslim psyche and is expressed in a number of
euphemistic phrases like Muslim Identity, Muslim Personal Law,
(Muslim) Minorities Commission, Muslim Waqf Board, Muslim (Madrasa)
Education, and so on. All in all, Muslims by their personal law and
separate identity represent aseparate system within the secular Indian
state, if not a separate state within the Indian state.
6.1. SEPARATE IDENTITY
The idea of Muslim exclusivenessand preservation of a separate
identity is nothing new. In Islam all human beings are not treated as
equals. It makes a distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. This
distinction has been repeated in passages after passages both in the
Quran and the Hadis and observed by Muslims the world over. A
non-Muslim is a Kafir, an inferior being. Non-Muslims do not enjoy any
human rights in this world; they cannot enter Paradise after. death.
Let us repeat some of the"revelations" about non-Muslims to drive home
the point. "The unbelievers among the people ofthe Book (Jews and
Christians) and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell.
They are the vilest of creatures.""When you meet the unbelievers in
the battlefield, strike off their heads." "Do not yield to the
unbelievers but fight them strenuously." "Muhammad is Allah's apostle.
Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to
one another.' "Make war on them (theidolaters)." "Allah will chastise
them through you and humble them." 'Allah has promised the hypocrites,
both men and women, and the unbelievers the fire of Hell. They shall
abide in it forever - the curse of Allah is upon them. Theirs shall be
a lasting torment." "With chains and shackles round their necks they
shall be dragged through boiling water and burnt in the fire of Hell."
"Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their
skins... They shall belashed with the rods of iron.""Whenever in their
anguish, they try to escape from Hell, the angels will drag them back,
saying: 'Taste the torment of Hell-fire'." 1 On the other hand,
Muslims will repose in Paradise asportrayed in the Quran. "They shall
recline on coaches lined with thick brocade... They shall dwell with
bashful virgins - virgins as fair as corals and rubies." "They shall
recline on jewelled coaches face to face, and there shall wait on them
immortal youths with bowls and ewers and cups of purest wine.""The
righteous (i.e. believers) shall dwell in bliss... their Lord
willshield them from the scourge of Hell. He will say: Eat and drink
in joy. This is the reward of your labours." 2
All this and much more has already been cited before. The need to
repeat it is to emphasise the Islamic injunction that Muslims and
non-Muslims are distinct entities and the two cannot meet on terms of
equality. This separate identity was crystallized in the twenty
conditions laid down by Caliph Umar for the governance of the Zimmis.
The Zimmis (originally Christians and Jews and later Hindus) were
those subjects whose life was spared and who were a protected people
(although no punishment was awarded to a Muslim who attacked a Zimmi).
The conditionsare like this. The Muslims are to be respected. The
Zimmis are not to dress like Muslims. They must wear a humble dress so
that theymay be distinguished from Muslims. They are not to give each
other Muslim names. They are not to ride on horses with saddle and
bridle. They are not topossess swords and arrows. They are not to wear
signet ringsand seals on their fingers. They are not to rebuild any
old buildings which have been destroyed. Muslim travellers are not to
be prevented from stayingin their temples. They are not to mourn their
dead loudly. They are not to buy Muslim slaves. They are not to
propagate the customs and usages of polytheists among Muslims. If any
of their people show any inclination towards Islam, they are not to be
prevented from doing so. 3
One of the important condition was that the Zimmis were not to build
their homes in the neighbourhood of those of Muslims. There are clear
injunctions in the Quran for Muslims not to befriend
infidels."Believers, do not choose the infidels... for your friends."
The danger in the living together with unbelievers is clearly
spelledout in the Quran.....

Early History of Islam in India

Trade relations have existed between Arabia and the Indian
subcontinent from ancient times. Even in the pre-Islamic era , Arab
traders used to visit the Malabar region , which linked them with the
ports of South East Asia . Newly Islamised Arabs were Islam's first
contact with India. According to Historians Elliot and Dowson in their
book The Historyof India as told by its own Historians , the first
ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on theIndian coast as early as
630 AD. H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of
India [ 36 ] claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast
in the last part of the 7th century AD. Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum's
"Tuhfat al-Mujahidin"is also a reliable work. [ 37 ] This fact is
corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts
Manuals , [ 38 ] and also by Haridas Bhattacharyain Cultural Heritage
of India Vol. IV . [ 39 ] It was with the advent of Islam that the
Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. The Arab
merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they
propagated it wherever they went. [ 40 ]
Muslim neighborhood in Delhi circa 1852.
The first Indian mosque is thought to have been built in 629 A.D,
purportedly at the behest of Rama Varma Kulashekhara , who is
consideredthe first Indian Muslim, during the lifetime of Muhammad (c.
571–632) in Kodungallur , Kerala by Malik Bin Deenar . [ 41 ] [ 42 ] [
43 ] [ 44 ]
In Malabar , the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert
to Islam as they were more closely connected with the Arabs than
others. Intensive missionary activities were carried out along the
coast and a number of natives also embraced Islam. These new converts
were now added to the Mappila community. Thus amongthe Mappilas, we
find, both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the
converts from among the local people. [ 40 ]
In the 8th century, the province of Sindh (in present day Pakistan)
was conquered by an Arab army led by Muhammad binQasim . Sindh became
the easternmost province of the Umayyad Caliphate .
In the first half of the 10th century, Mahmud of Ghazni added the
Punjab to the Ghaznavid Empire and conductedseveral raids deeper into
modernday India . In 11th century, Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud played
significant role. A more successful invasion came at the end of the
12th century by Muhammad of Ghor . This eventually led to the
formation of the Delhi Sultanate .
Arab-Indian interactions
There is much evidence in history to show that Arabs and Muslims
interacted with India and Indians from the very early days of Islam,
if not before the arrival of Islam in Arabia. Arab traders transmitted
the numeral system developed by Indians to the Middle East and Europe.
Many Sanskrit books were translated into Arabic as early as the Eighth
century. George Saliba writes in his book 'Islamic Science and the
Making of the European Renaissance' that"some major Sanskrit texts
began to be translated during the reign of the second Abbasid caliph
al-Mansur [754–775], if notbefore; some texts on logic even before
that, and it has been generally accepted that the Persian and Sanskrit
texts, few asthey were, were indeed the first to be translated."

Ruling on prayer if one omits some obligatory parts out of ignorance or forgetfulness

If a person makes a mistake in adhkaar that are obligatory in the prayer, such as the dhikr when sitting between thetwo prostrations and in the tashahhud – the first part of it – what is the ruling on his prayer if he forgot or was unaware (that it is obligatory)? What about previous prayers in which he made this mistake and does he have t o repeat them?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The dhikr that comes between the two prostrations is one of the Sunnahs of the prayer andis not obligatory. This has been discussed previouslyin the answer to question no. 130981
Based on that, if a person omits it deliberately or out of ignorance, that does not render his prayerinvalid and he does not have to do anything. If he forgot it although he usually does it, it is mustahabb for him to do the two prostrations of forgetfulness before the salaam.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy onhim) said: If a person omits one of the mustahabb words or actions out of forgetfulness and he usually does it, then it is prescribed for him to prostrate (the prostration of forgetfulness) to make up for this omission that affected the perfection of the prayer but was not anomission of something obligatory, because of thegeneral meaning of the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in the hadeeth, “For every mistake there are two prostrations”– narrated by Abu Dawood; it is a hasan hadeeth. In Saheeh Muslim it says: “If one of you forgets, let him prostrate twice.” As this is general in meaning, if he omits a Sunnah that he does not usually do, then it is not Sunnah for him toprostrate, because it never occurred to him to do it.
End quote from ash-Sharhal-Mumti‘ ‘ala Zaad al-Mustaqni‘, 3/333, 334
Secondly:
The first Tashahhud is oneof the obligatory parts of the prayer although it is not one of the pillars or essential parts, as was explained previously in the answer to question no. 34570
If someone omits this obligatory part deliberately, his prayer is rendered invalid, as you will see in the answer to question no. 9897 . If someone omits it becausehe forgot, then he has to do the prostration of forgetfulness before the salaam. If someone omits it because he is unaware of the ruling on it, he doesnot have to do anything, because the one who is unaware is excused.
The evidence for the obligatory parts of the prayer being waived in the case of forgetfulness, and that the prostration of forgetfulness is required in this case, is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (795) and Muslim (570) from ‘Abdullah ibn Buhaynah (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) led them in praying Zuhr, then he stood up after thefirst two rak‘ahs and did not sit, and the people got up with him. When hehad finished the prayer and the people were waiting for him to say thetasleem, he said takbeer whilst sitting and prostrated twice before saying the salaam, then he said the salaam.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allahhave mercy on him) said, concerning one who omitted the obligatory part deliberately: His prayer is rendered invalid.But if he omitted it by mistake, he should do the prostration of forgetfulness before he says the salaam, because of the report narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn Maalik ibn Buhaynah -- and he quoted the hadeeth. Thus this idea is proven, and byanalogy we apply the same principle to all the obligatory parts (of the prayer).

And Allah knows best./ - - - :-> Transtors: 1.http://free-translation.imtranslator.net/lowres.asp 2.http://translate.google.com/m?twu=1&hl=en&vi=m&sl=auto&tl=en

Story ← The Price of Imaan

Several years ago an Imaam moved to London. He often took the bus
fromhis home to the town area.Some weeks after he arrived, he had
occasion toride the same bus.
When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given
himtwenty pence too much change. As he considered what to do, he
thought to himself, you better give the twenty pence back. It would be
wrong to keep it. Then he thought, oh forget it, it's only twenty
pence. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus
company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept
it as a gift from Almighty Allah and keep quiet.
When his stop came, the Imaam paused momentarily at the door, then he
handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said "Here, you gave me
too much change."
The driver with a smile replied "Aren't you the new Imaam in this
area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your
mosque . I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much
change."
When the Imaam stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft. He
had to grab the nearest light pole and held for support, and looked up
to the heavens and cried "Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty
pence!"
Remember, we may never see the impact our actions have on people.
Sometimes we are the only knowledge of Quran someone will read, or the
only Islam a non- Muslim will see.
What we need to provide, Insha Allah is an example for others to see.
Be careful and be honest everyday, because you never know who is
watching your actions and judging you as a Muslim.