A TRUE ISLAMIC FATWA

Every religion is basically meant to bring peace and happiness in the individual as well as the societies. However, the matter leads to complications when religion is mixed with law though both are separate subjects. Religion has spiritual fundamentals to improve internal goodness of the man. On the other hand law has an explicit charter of maintaining peace and harmony in the community. Such tenets in English are called lawbooks while in Sanskrit we name it as ‘dharmshastra’. They are both two lines of a railway track. So long they are parallel, running of trains is normal. When they meet, accident is the outcome. Likewise, whenever faith and law get mixed up, chaos becomes an obvious outcome. The wave of terrorism, all over the world today is just an approach of proving that only your faith is true and you take law in your hand to wipe out others as if they have no right to live on earth. It has stooped to such low that even such criminal activities are supported by their co-religionists believing that after all it is intended to protect the faith from non-believers (kafirs).
In this backdrop, there  has been a healthy development in one sect of Islam. Immediately after the Eid Namaz on July 18, 2015 Mufti Saleem Noori of Barelvi sect of Sunni Islam issued a fatwa telling its followers to  keep off terrorism.   The fatwa requires  not to offer the ‘namaz-e-janaza’ or the last prayer before burial for terrorists and those helping terror-accused. According to him, any terrorist who claims to be a Muslim is acting against the tenets of Islam. The religion does not propagate violence and shedding of blood of innocents. Thus, such people cannot be treated as Muslims as they are violating Islamic principles.
According to the fatwa, in no way Islam allows terrorism and killing of people. Therefore, no Imam or any other person  should offer their ‘namaz-e-janaza’ after their death. It called upon the Muslims to stand up and raise their voice against such terror activities as they give a bad tinge to Islam. When “namaz-e-janaza will not be offered, their bodies cannot be buried in the approved graveyards. In other words, it amounts to clearly disowning terrorists from the religion. It is bound to work as an effective deterrent for the misguided youth.
In the light of the fatwa above, everybody in our beyond Islam should tune themselves to maintain a safe distance from terrorists/militants, mercilessly shedding the blood of innocent. Yakub Memon, who was involved in the Mumbai Blast claiming 257 lives, is destined to be hanged. Over the years, he has explored all avenues either to avoid the gallow or minimize the sentence without success. Despite that I heard a Muslim NCP leader telling the press that Yakub was awarded death sentence because of being a Muslim. Should not he pay heed to the above fatwa? 

PANCHDEVATA

               If you are a Hindu, staging different types of poojas for different occasions, you must have come across the word ‘panchdevata’. Do you remember who are these five deities ? They are Ganesh, Surya (sun), Bhagvati, Vishnu and Mahadev. Your priest must have directed you to recite ‘pancgdevatabhyo namah’. If the Pooja is held in daytime, it is ‘suryadipanchdevata’ but if it is in the evening, it is recited as ‘ganpatyadidevata’. It is remarkable that the subsequently more popular gods like Ram and Krishna have no place in that arrangement which appears to be more pristine.
It is said that previously, the devotees of Mahadev or Vishnu would claim superiority of their deity and clash among themselves. They constructed separate temples of their deity. In 14th century, the leaders persuaded the people to forget such petty differences and adopt religious harmony. So the society of that period in Mithila favouring this spiritual inclusiveness started founding ‘panchayatan temple’ in which under a single roof all the five were installed and the devotees worshipped all of them. Though it became the acceptable trend in 14th century and around, by now such temples are not being founded. The remains of such a panchayatan temple can be seen at Dekuli (Devkuli) village near Darbhanga town. Except the Vishnu statue, the damaged statues of other four deities are extant. These ruins are in the historical Vardhmaneshwar temple in the east of Dekuli. Shri Parmeshwar Jha, in his book Mithila Tattva Vimarsh has thrown adequate light on this aspect.
This system of panchayatan temple appears to have been forgotten by the modern society. Temples are intended to appease all sections even if it militated against the classically approved regulations.  You can find the images of Vaishno Devi, Daddev, Sai Baba and the heads of different other cults in Hindu temples which is not approved by our authentic scriptures. Our ‘dharmshastras (Lawbooks) have clearly laid down the qualities of a god deserving to be installed in a Sanatani temple. Any cult is free to have its own temple with the image of its deity but to encroach upon the Sanatan hierarchy is not acceptable. What the Shankaracharya (Swaroopanandji) says is exactly the same thing. He is disrespectful to no cult, no deity but opposed to adjusting them in a Sanatan system temple. Nobody has quoted any scriptural authority to justify installing a Sai Baba statue or photo in a Ram temple. If one is so liberal and cohesive, he should accommodate others in his family residence and set an example. It is also our duty to deny entry to any unauthorized deity in our places of worship besides the panchdevata.
       

INDIA IN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

There was a time when in international sports, the country was known for only cricket and hockey.In Olympics, the country waited only for hockey matches and if we missed any medal therein, our score remained zero. In this backdrop the country unwittingly tilted towards cricket. I remember when in early 1960s, as a college student I learnt a few jargons like pitch, wicket, LBW, gully. silly, fineleg etc which mesmerised me to the extent that in search of friendly families/cricket with a radio to listen the running commentary of Jasdev Singh, I often ignored my studies. Particularly when the Indo-Pak series were in progress, one could see hundreds of fans clustered in front of pan stalls.
Whenever the Olympics started, the country eagerly waited for hockey matches involving India. Particularly Indo-Pak match of any level crowded the pan shops and dhabas. The families with a radio were swarmed by the hockey/cricket lovers. If we lost any medal in that event, our score remained ZERO. The fans on the street wept bitterly as if some near and dear has taken his last breath. The victorious team on return was received in a colourful procession and quite contrarily, when returned as a loser, their houses were pelted. If there was any loss of a match in cricket or hockey at the hands of India, Pakistan wailed as if hit by a national calamity with similar reaction when India lost. Even today, in these two events, these two country can digest defeat from any other team not each other..
The economic revival in India since late 80s has turned the table. Obviously when you can afford to give good food, good training and good paraphernalia to your sports persons, they are bound to give a better account of themselves. Previously on international plane, only Japan was seen ahead of any Asian country. Today China, India, Japan, South Korea etc are honourably competing with developed countries. India's performance in cricket, hockey, lawn tennis, badminton, shooting, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling and kabaddi is taken as a matter of pride by all Indians. Not only that, within last one fortnight, 7'2" inches Satnam Singh in basketball and Vijender Singh in boxing have joined famous professional groups. It appears that India has shaped itself as a fertile land for sports materials and the world is looking at us for such talents.