[Reader-list] WALL MAGAZINES OF THE MADRASAS

[arshad amanullah]

WALL MAGAZINES OF THE MADRASAS:A STUDY OF THE FORTNIGHTLY ALMANAR,VARANASI.



'Nowadays there are two ways of rendering service to the religion:
oratory and pen.

The spoken word is ephemeral in nature while the written word has its long

lasting-impact. That's why the institution imparts us training in art
of writing

through making us bring out wall magazines'.
                                       (Imtiaz Ahmed, a student of Al Jamia Al

Ashrafia, Mobarakpur).


Madrasas of some repute are regular with bringing out wall-magazines.
Managed and

edited by talib-ilms, the madrasa students, who in this regard receive guidance

from the teacher-in-charge. An annual edition of the wall-magazine is
also printed

every year with great care, containing more than hundred pages. Here I
would like

to explore dynamics of these magazines through the analysis of the
fortnightly Al

Manar (Jamia Salafia, Varanasi.
Al Manar is a fortnightly wall magazine of the students of Jamia
Salafia, Varanasi.

They bring it out under the auspices of Nadwatut Talaba, their
literary club. The

latter was founded in 1966(1386 Hijri), the year education started in Jamia

Salafia. The Annual Al Manar, the annual printed organ of the Nadwa,
saw its first

publication in 1967(1387 Hijri). After a decade-long gap of 11 years, its next

edition came into print only in 1978(1398), followed by the uninterrupted

publications since then. The fortnightly wall magazine version of Al
Manar started

in 1987, almost 20 years after the establishment of the institution.
At the onset of every academic year, election for the key posts of the Nadwa's

working body takes place. The process culminates in the mosque of the
madrasa in

the presence of senior teachers, including the Principal. Students
propose names of

candidates for a certain post. Sometimes, teachers select one of them while on

other occasions students' votes decide who will decorate which chair.
It's seldom

that teachers arrive at the gathering with someone in their mind for a
certain post

and just make announcement of the name. It is in this gathering that
the editor of

the fortnightly wall magazine and one sub-editor is elected. The editor has the

right to structure his editorial board which generally has a
representation from

all classes. He is responsible for bringing out the fortnightly
magazine on time

and also the annual printed magazine before the completion of the
academic session.

"Students contribute to the magazine on their own. If I don't receive
a sufficient

number of articles or some of them are not upto mark, I wait for quality

contributions. If the due date is round the corner, I make special
request to those

who can make a quick contribution", says Shahnawaz Alam, editor of the

fortnightly.<1> The magazine is divided into columns like politics,
current issues,

history, personalities, Islamic studies etc. As a calligrapher writes
the magazine

on a full fledged chart paper, each issue can carry not more than 6-7 pieces.

Shahnawaz, student of Fazilat 2nd year, elaborates what goes in bringing out an

issue of the magazine: "First, I collect articles or students themselves bring

their writings to me; second, I go through them and make corrections
if required;

third, I present titles of the articles, including those of the
editorial featuring

in the coming issue before Maulana Obaidullah Tayyeb Makki, the advisor of the

magazine; fourth, I hand over all material to the calligrapher who
happens to be a

student and gets paid for his labour; fifth, when he finishes his job he gets

assistance from the editorial board in proof reading; and finally, putting the

calligraphed chart paper into the glass frame, the magazine is
published,ie.hung at

its place". <2>


Students write on a variety of issues ranging from Islamic studies to
politics to

literature. Sometimes the editor brings out special issues dealing
with different

aspects of a chosen theme. Before delving into details of the content
I would like

to reproduce here translation of a couple of verses from a poem
composed by Maqbool

Ahmed Maqbool. The poem tells what the fortnightly aims at.

'Al Manar has come to you with a determination in its heart

                 Al Manar has come to wake everybody up.
It's a lightning of monotheism in the dark house of kufr

                 The heart has ignited the lamp through its own flame.' <3>

BASIC TENETS AND SOCIAL PRACTICES

Jamia Salafia is the apex madrasa of the Ahle Hadis sect. As the
magazine is the

organ of one of the students' association of the madrasa, it holds a
mirror to the

issues exclusive to the sect and also to its differences with other
Muslim sects.

Tauhid (monotheism) is a buzzword in the circle of the Ahle Hadis. Though it

constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is the Ahle Hadis who lay
extraordinary

emphasis on it, almost unparallel to among other Muslim sects. Also,
in details and

niceties of the concept they heavily differ from others. In his piece entitled

"Reality of the Monotheism", Shafiqur Rehman, renders this definition of the

concept: "Tauhid is to believe in Oneness of Godship of Allah, Oneness
of Lordship

of Allah, Oneness of Names and Qualities of Allah".<4> .Then he quotes from the

holy Quran verses meaning that all prophets were sent to spread this version of

tauhid and people should worship only one God which is Allah, without regarding

others as its partners in prayer. In the concluding paragraph, he
writes: "Human

beings should worship Allah, believing it one in its personality,
qualities, rights

and capacities as well as they should not consider others its
partners. Whatever

these mushrikin do to us (sudden change from 3rd to 1st person), we
can not give up

the practice of tauhid".<5>


Webbed with it is the issue of the worship of tombs. According to the
Ahle Hadis,

it springs from the non-adherence of Muslims to the precept of the tauhid.

Regarding the nature of relationship of Muslims to the tombs and
shrines, the Ahle

Hadis significantly differ from other sects. Writes Shamsullah, in his essay

entitled "Beginning of the Grave Worship", "the most effective mechanism which

comes handy to Satan against the human beings is making them, out of
devotion and

reverence, worship prophets, saints, dignified men and martyrs, and,
thus, making

them guilty enough to be sent to the hell. Nobody acknowledges that
he/she worships

prophets or saints. Everybody says that he does so out of devotion and love for

these noble souls…It's this love which leads to the tomb-worship" .<6>
In another

article dealing with the same theme, Zulfiqaar Ali tries to put the
issue in the

perspective. Entitled as "Visiting Tombs and our Society", his piece opens with

this line: "Paying visits to tombs is legal as it evokes memories of
death and the

Hereafter within us". Then he goes on to quoting couple of Hadis in
support of his

arguments. Further, he laments that Muslims nowadays are not aware of the main

purpose behind visiting tombs and they don't observe the guidelines
prescribed in

the Hadis to do the same. "They think the dead are capable of helping them and

thus, try to invoke their help while the latter themselves need the
help of those

who are alive. They revolve around the tomb and lay prostate for it. All these

actions are shirk." <7>

Taqlid <8>  is another theme which has been at the centre of the
polemics between

the Ahle Hadis and non-Ahle Hadis ulema. Contrary to the latter, the
Ahle Hadis are

vehemently opposed to any sort of taqlid and they hold it responsible for the

malaise of the Muslims as it inherently begets the differences within
the ummah.

The fortnightly Al Manar, in microcosm, reflects this contestation.
Maqbool Ahmed

Maqbool has composed a poem entitled "Effects of Taqlid" in
condemnation of taqlid

.Let's see how he engages the issues in some of the verses of the poem:
Fear Allah, and give up taqlid

                                 You are making a mistake in reverence
of Imam .<9>
After Allah, it's only the Prophet who should be obeyed

                    So, it's useless to talk about Imam.
                                                      –––––––––––


He, who deviates from the path of the Prophet,

                     Will be charred in flames of the hell.
                                                       –––––––––––


Imams are just the preachers, not guides

                             As it's the Prophet who elucidates
Allah's commands.

<10>


It's interesting to note that what constitutes a quintessential part of the

religion for Non-Ahle Hadis is, according to the Ahle Hadis, a severe deviation

from the proper way of following the religion, and that's why those
who do so, will

be condemned to the Hell. The reason, according to the poet, is that
Imams are mere

interpreters of what Prophet said and it's the prophet who is the
elucidator of the

divine commandments. Inherent in this argument is the belief that the
personality

of the Prophet has been bestowed upon with the immunity to commit a
mistake, not

others. So, in spite of relying on the secondary source (which
contains the chances

of human error), one constantly needs to refer to the primary sources
i.e. texts of

the Quran and the Hadis.


An issue of Al Manar entitled "In Defense of the Shariah" is
completely devoted to

deal with the theme of taqlid. Titles of the pieces featured in it is
as follows:

An introduction to Salafism ,Let's March towards Deoband, A Glance at
the Deobandi

Moqallidin, Insult of Imams in the name of taqlid , Importance of the
Companionship

of the Prophet, etc. Explaining the reason behind bringing out this
special issue,

Tanvir Zaki writes in the editorial that this issue is in response to
the Jamiatul

Ulama-e-Hind's latest venture 'Tahaffuz-e-Sunnat Conference'. The
Muslim situation

in India, according to him, has nowadays sunk to the unprecedented depths and

that's why it's unwise to revive old contestations in these
circumstances".<11>  It

was late Maulana As'ad Madani who had conceived the conference. "This
conference

has released a book which is replete with the anti-Ahle Hadis content", writes

Abdullah Salahuddin in the same issue.<12>  Infuriated by the release
of the book,

the editor decided to come up with an issue in refutation of Deobandi Islam.

Enraged Abdul Haleem writes in his piece entitled 'Let's March Towards
Deoband':

"What is Deoband? It's neither a matchbox which can put the kafirs
aflame, nor is

the epicenter of Islam which can play a role in consolidation of
Islam. Yes, it is

the hideout of Satans". <13> Such is the language used to describe
'others' which

can help only in perpetuating the vicious intra-community rivalry.


In the same vein writes Maqbool Ahmed Maqbool about the Tabligh Movement in his

piece entitled "Tablighi Jama'at: Reality or Myth". He acknowledges
the fact that

the Movement is conquering the minds and hearts of the masses with amazing

rapidity. But what makes his Ahle Hadis conscience restless about the
Movement is

the influence it is wielding on its followers. "Blunting the rationality of the

people, it has made them crazy about wahdatul wajud and endeared the concept of

hulul and fana fillah to them. It is portraying the religion which is
anti-Sufism

in its nature, as the fountain of Sufism". <14> Further, he notes that the main

objective of the movement is to spread the Hanafi School of jurisprudence,

rationalize taqlid and popularize 'Tablighi Nisaab' which is an
anthology of false

events, innovations (bid'at),superstitions and details of miracles.<15>


To Ahle Hadis, Sufism is anti-thesis to Islam. The same outlook finds
resonance in

'General Influence of the Sufism on the Muslim Community', a piece by
Mohd Basheer.

The origin of Sufism, according to him, dates back to the 2nd century.
It proved

wonderfully all-pervasive and succeeded in penetrating in all branches
of knowledge

and also in beliefs, and that's within a period of only a hundred and
fifty years.

"It (Sufism) is in fact a conspiracy against Islam and its followers,
hatched on

the part of the foes of the religion".<16>  He terms it as a 'fatal
disease' and

holds it responsible for widening the intra-community divide among the ummah.

Further, he enumerates reasons why he is so much against Sufism:
1. Rendering misleading interpretations of the canons of Islam, the Sufis have

muddied the face of Islam,
2. Sufis have falsely divided the religion into Sharia and Tariqa,
3. They consider the existence of 'women' as punishment because they create

hindrance in concentrating on Allah and make one busy in the corporal ecstasy.
4. They spread wrong interpretations of the concept of tawakkul, i.e. to have

faith on Allah that he will look after the believers in all their crises etc.

The Ahle Hadis don't identify with the manifestations of popular Islam as they

regard them as distortions of the textual Islam. Indian Muslims time and again

religiously observe rituals which have no parallels in the age of the Prophet.

Celebrated in the month of Rajab, a month of the lunar calendar, 'Imam
Ja'far ke

Kunda' is one of such festivals. It is also known as 'Nazr-e-Sadiq'.
On the eve of

the 22nd of Rajab, explains Mohd Arshad, cookies are prepared and are
put in new

earthen pots. Before the sunrise, fatiha in name of Imam Ja'far Sadiq
is recited on

them. Then, it is shared with relatives and friends with great care.
This ritual

initiated in Rampur and Lucknow; where, in 1904, it was celebrated for
the first

time. To lend it authenticity, a 'concocted' tale of Imam Ja'far and a
woodcutter

is relegated and, also, is said that on the same date the Imam walked into the

eternal light. "The fact is that he passed away on Shawwal 15,148
Hijri while it is

Mo'aawiya, the 'writer of the revealed word', died on this date", contends he.

Further, in an effort to find out a reasonable explanation for this mistake, he

avers: "Shiites have been the enemy of Mo'aawiya.That's why they celebrate

Mo'aawiya's demise on 22nd of Rajab and they attribute it to Imam Ja'afar,

concealing the fact," .<17>In the concluding paragraph, the essayist
labels this

ritual as bid'at because it was neither observed by the Prophet nor by his

companions. Thus, these wall magazines help the madrasa boys in
nurturing a vision

regarding the social events and provide them space to comment on the latter.


Television and films are seen as the fountains of social evils in the madrasa

circle. That how they have their bearings on the character and psyche of the

people, often features in speeches and writings of Ulema. In his piece entitled

'Television: A Fatal Disease' Riyaz Ahmed, writes: "O Brothers! Give
it a thought

that if having been exposed to the television, a six year old kid
starts dancing,

what will happen to those girls who already are in their prime, full
of emotions.

The result, I am sure, will be that those girls will bring shame to
their family.

In fact it has spoilt the society and made the women crazy about the
latest trends

in the fashion".<18> . Interestingly, he concludes the piece with this
advice to

the fellow Muslims: "People should maintain distance from watching
television. Who

knows God will deprive them of vision, turning them blind!" .<19> With
reference to

the same issue, Abdul Moeed, is of the opinion that the invention of
the cinema is

a conspiracy on the part of the West, with an aim to spoil the character of the

young generation and to indoctrinate it with false values. All this
has been done

to harm Muslims. <20>

GLIMPSES OF THE CAMPUS LIFE


Vignettes from the campus life, students' behaviour and the condition
of the hostel

also feature in the pages of Al Manar, though not very often. The
title of one of

the editorials reads: Darul Iqamah ki Fariyad (An Appeal of the
hostel).Zulfiqar

Ahmed, the then editor, has personified the building of the hostel and made it

ventilate its grievances to the residents in a very interesting
fashion. It starts

as:
"It was a cold morning. Enveloping everything, fog has obscured the
premises of the

hostel from the sight. The morning pray was just called off. All students,

including me, were almost running on the corridors leading from the
mosque to the

rooms. Suddenly, I sensed someone is crying silently. 'Who can be this
at this odd

hour?' I thought in my conscience. I looked here and there a couple of
times, in an

attempt to figure out where the sound is coming from. Finally I solved
the riddle.

It was the building of the hostel itself which was howling. I turned
my ears closer

to it. When I inquired of the reason behind sudden breaking into tears, it

vouchsafed its feelings to me". <21>

Then, the building, traveling into lanes of the bygone times, narrated
the editor

the history of the establishment of Jamia Salafia, construction of the
hostel and

the efforts the late founders of the institution put in all this. It was a

delightful experience to be transmitted into the history with someone
who has been

witnessing all the process. As soon as the conversation entered into
the present

time, mood of the hostel swung into a gloomy one. It recounted with great pain:

"Look at these walls and the columns. How their milky whiteness has
been stained

with red-spots of beetles-spit. Turn your gaze towards the southern
staircase and

your nostrils will abhor the smell of the rotten loaves of bread and grains of

rice. It is these rotten stuffs which cause the spread of myriad of
diseases. Yes,

let your eyes scan these rooms where talib-ilms reside. The waste
lying under their

cots plays host to the mosquitoes. Apart from all these, what hurts me
the most is

the show of the expertise on the part of the students in drawing calligraphic

sketches which decorate the walls and the doors of the toilet". <22>

This tête-à-tête between the editor of the wall magazine and the
building of the

hostel ends at the note of anxiety on the part of the hostel:

"What impression all these will leave on a newcomer to the premises about those

who are growing up in my lap?" <23>


Urdu is the medium of instruction and education in almost all madrasas. Jamia

Salafia is no exception to it. Apart from Arabic, students are encouraged to

interact in refined and chaste Urdu. However, when students from Eastern UP and

Bengal get together, sometimes they communicate in their respective
vernaculars. In

his piece entitled "The Present Situation of the language of Urdu",
Rafique Alam

expresses his concerns over the increasing trends among the students
to converse in

their regional languages. He writes: "The pathetic situation of the
Urdu language

can be gauged from the fact that even the madrasa students have started showing

indifference towards the language and the students of our celebrated
Jamia are not

that well-versed in the language as is expected from them. One can
discern it from

the fact that most of the students are often heard communicating in their own

regional dialects. It makes me sad and even angry because one of the
reasons why we

have come here, away from our beloved family, is attaining a certain level of

mastery over the language of Urdu, devouring more and more Urdu literature and

interacting among ourselves in this very language." <24>


In a daring piece entitled "Problems before the Madrasas and their Solutions",

Ozair Ahmed has first identified some of the problems within the
madrasa system and

then suggested ways to solve them. According to him, there is a dearth
of teachers

who are expert in any discipline. The madrasa authorities do not show
much interest

in upgrading the academic standard of the institution. Lack of
adequate budget to

meet the necessary expenses also dogs the authorities. Students do not
attach much

importance to studies and to the learning of the moral values. Apart
from these,

other shortcomings of the system are: defective training system,
flawed curriculum,

absence of extra curricular activities, and non-availability of books
on current

affairs and lack of co-ordination between different madrasas. The
panacea for all

these ills of the madrasa system, according to the scribe, is to make
talent the

sole criteria for recruiting teachers and for granting admission to
the students

and strictly observe the same. <25>


'I am the Student' is the title of a poem by Ahmed Sayeed .<26> The
poem gives an

idea how the madrasa students perceive the modern education system and
those who

benefit from it. In the poem, the student, in first person, addresses
the reader

and describes different characteristics of the present situation of the student

community. According to the poem, the community is unruly and most of
its members

are unemployed. Students are free from all social obligations and they
do whatever

they want to do. They simply are not interested in their studies, society and

religion. All these have their bearings on their examination results
and their own

personalities. This has baffled the learned and responsible people of the

society.<27>

CRITIQUE OF DEMOCRACY

Shah Nawaz Alam, the current editor of the magazine, has devoted one
of its issues

for the discussion on the concept of democracy. This initiative has no
parallel in

the history of the Al Manar. The issue carries 8 pieces on different
aspects of the

concept and practice of democracy. Laeeq Shams Kanpuri, in his piece, provides

definition of democracy and discusses its pre-requisites. It starts
with a famous

verse of Sir Mohd Iqbal in which the poet had tried to define
democracy. The verse

reads:
Jamhuriyat ik tarz-e-hukumat hai ki jis meN
Logon ko gina karte haiN, taula nahiN karte
(Democracy is a way of governance in which there is a provision to
count heads, not

to weigh them).


Moreover, the columnist quotes the Abraham Lincoln's well-known definition of

democracy: "By the people, of the people and for the people". Further,
he goes on

to explain it: in a democratic state, the ultimate sovereignty lies
with the masses

and it bestows them with the right of adult suffrage. It's necessary for the

democracy to prosper that the public should use the democratic space
available to

control the behaviour of those who represent them in the
legislature.<28 > .Riaz

Ahmed, in his piece entitled "Islam and Democracy" embarks upon
another aspect of

the normative discourse regarding the concept of democracy. Though
Islam is not at

odds with the idea of democracy, writes Riaz, it has its own vision of how a

democratic state should function. Giving the gist of the Islamic injunctions in

this regard, he informs that everybody has the right to be the caliph and all

citizens can be equal partners in the caliphate. Talent and good
character can be

the only criteria for promotion and progress. The caliph should be
accountable to

the citizens because they have elected him to represent them,
investing their right

to be the caliph in him. However, Islam has reserved the right to be
the caliph for

those who believe in Allah and perform noble deeds.<29>

Ataullah Irshad talks about the functioning of the democratic polity
in India since

Independence. He writes that different democratic parties which were
voted to the

government, promised to bring economic prosperity to the country and
to implement

safeguards enshrined in the Constitution but they failed to keep their word. In

these 56 years, he further records, "we gained nothing except poverty and

unemployment. In the name of social equality and communal harmony, we
received the

souvenir of the state-sponsored communal violence in Meerut, Aligarh,
Bhagalpur and

Gujarat. Demolition of the Babari mosque is pretty enough to suggest
how safe the

religious monuments of the minorities are in the country. In short, when we

introspect what we got in these 56 years of the democratic rule, the loss

outnumbers the gain and even the future does not seem very bright under the

auspices of the democratic governance". <30>


Siddique Ahmed Nafis takes the debate to another plane. President Bush, in

compliance with his neo-conservative colleagues, has introduced a new brand of

democracy: Changezi democracy. According to it, explains Siddique, invade any

sovereign country and reduce its political and economic systems to shambles,

conduct election in the atmosphere of fear to introduce democracy and
install any

of your chaps as the head of the nation. It will easy to remote-control the

politics and economy of the country. It is this sort of democracy
which the Bush

administration has introduced in Afghanistan and Iraq through enthroning

respectively Hamid Karzai and Iladi.  Siddique argues that ultimate
sovereignty in

a democratic political system generally lies with the citizens and the army is

subservient to their elected representatives. Contrary to this, the Changezi

democracy bestows the army with the authority to override the public
will. "This

has landed the pro-democracy people into an awkward situation", concludes

Siddique.<31>

FREEDOM STRUGGLE AND THE INDEPENDENCE DAY

It seems that bringing out special issue of Al Manar on the occasion of the

Independence Day, is becoming a recurrent practice. Three such special
issues are

with me. The contributions made by the students to them, range from poems

originally composed for the issue, to recounting of the significant
events of the

freedom struggle, to assertion of the role of Muslims in general and
that of the

Ahle Hadis in the same and to the rebuttal of the other sects' claims regarding

their contributions to war against the British imperialism. A few
articles relating

to the emergence of the Indian nationalism, the Partition and the
bitterness which

entailed it, featured in these special issues on the Independence.


In the editorial column of one of these special issues, Tanvir Zaki ,
the editor,

complains that contribution of the Muslim community to the freedom struggle is

seldom acknowledged after the Partition though it played a pivotal
role in fighting

against the British colonialism. Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi was the first
to issue a

fatwa in favor of jihad against the Englishmen. Then the editor
enumerates names of

those Muslims who, in response to the fatwa, swarmed the Indian
National Congress

and other organizations active in the ongoing struggle, putting all
that they had

at stake. They are nowadays hardly remembered by their countrymen, feels the

editor. <32> Maqbool Ahmed, the editor of Al Manar in the academic
year of 2003,

thinks that nothing has changed for the minorities of the country even
though 56

years has passed since the country got independence from the British
imperialism.

They still are engulfed with the problems relating to their existence
and identity.

"How can they formulate their demands in terms of developmental issues in this

situation? Moreover, how can India, as a nation, make strides when its
minorities

are lagging far behind the majority community?"<33>  asks he in the editorial.


In an interesting write-up entitled "Independence and the Partition of India",

Abdul Khabir holds all the three parties equally responsible for the
Partition of

the country: the Englishmen, the Hindus and the Muslims. He is of the
opinion that

it did irreparable damage to the Muslims. That how Islamic is the polity of

Pakistan, a country which came into existence in the name of Islam and whose

foundation has been laid on the dead bodies of the innocent and poor, is

evident.<34> The state of affairs in India after the Independence has
not been very

encouraging for the minorities. Incessant communal violence against them which

marked the Independent India, dogged the growth and development of the
Muslims. In

this backdrop, Jamshed Alam in his piece entitled "Circumstances in the country

after the Independence" very aptly remarks: "Though our beloved
country has secured

its place in the club of the Nuclear powers, it has constantly failed
in protecting

its minorities from the communal riots. I'm at loss to understand how I should

react to this paradox of the situation: secured from the outside and threatened

from within". <35>


A common theme, one can discern, among all these three special issues
is: emphasis

on the contribution of the Ahle Hadis ulama in the freedom struggle
and vociferous

denial of any such claim by the Deobandi ulama. Manawwar Alam in his
piece entitled

"Role of the Ahle Hadis Ulama in the Freedom Struggle" writes that the British

Government used to be very apprehensive about the Ahle Hadis people.
To W.W.Hunter,

who wrote the book "Our Indian Musalmans: Are They Bound by the
Conscience to Rebel

against the Queen?"  , the term 'Wahhabi' is synonymous with the
rebel. The reason

is that Wahhabis i.e. the Ahle Hadis were considered to be the
followers of Shah

Mohammed Ismail Dehlavi who waged jihad against the British government
and attained

the martyrdom in 1831 at Balakot, fighting against the British army.
Later, Inayat

Ali and Vilayat Ali, two brothers from the Sadiqpuri (Sadiqpur used to
be a mohalla

of the British Patna) family reorganized Shah Mohammed Ismail
Dehlavi's army and

they used the gurilla warfare to continue the legacy of Shah Mohammed Isma'il

Dehlavi. Motivated by the intra-community rivalry, as Munawwar Alam puts it,

members from other Muslim sects used to inform the British government
regarding the

hide-outs and the strategies of the Ahle Hadis freedom fighters. This
enabled the

British to arrest a number of leading Ahle Hadis families like Ameer Khan and

Hashmat Khan, famous leather merchants from the city of Calcutta. The British

recovered huge amount of anti-Raj writings during raids at their places. Due to

theses reasons, the colonial regime did not miss any opportunity to
put behind bars

any one whom it doubted to be of distantly linked to the Ahle Hadis. <36>

Complementary to this theme is the denial by theAhle Hadis people of
the role of

the Deobandi ulema in the freedom struggle. To strip the 'other' of
all that can be

a matter of pride, is what seems to be at work at the root of the
move. A piece by

Nasim Akhter entitled "Role of the Hanafi Ulama in the Freedom
Struggle" attempts

to achieve the same. He is of the opinion that the Hanafi ulama
(read Deobandi)

has no share in the resistance against the British imperialism launched by Shah

Mohammed Ismail Dehlavi and, later, by the Sadiqpuri family. That is
why Deobandi

writers tend to glorify 'the battle of Shaamli' of 1857 and 'Reshami Rumal ki

Tahreek' (Movement of the Silky Handkerchiefs) of 1920s.In both of the
events, the

Deobandi ulama contributed significantly against the British. Nasim
writes that the

details of these two events provided by the Deobandi writers are not
supported by

the facts. Then he quotes Maulana Monazir Ahsan Gilani, a celebrated Deobandi

writer, who in his biography of Maulana Qasim Nanatovi, has written
that 'Maulana

Nanatovi and his followers did not participate in the freedom struggle of

1857'.Afterthat he jumps to the conclusion that 'this, in addition of other

evidences, prove that the Hanafi ulema simply did not participate in
the freedom

struggle'.<37>

NATIONAL POLITICS

The BJP-BSP coalition-government in UP has promulgated in 2000 a bill
to regulate

the construction of the religious institutions. This move on the part
of the state

government sent tremors among the minority communities. They saw this
bill as an

attempt to curtail their freedom enshrined in the Articles 25 and 26 of the

Constitution, to abide by their religion and to preserve it through
its propagation

and erecting building necessary for the purpose. With this concern as the major

theme, Abdus Sabur has penned down a piece entitled "Worship Place Bill: A

Condemnable Act of the UP Government". He writes that on the face of
it the Bill is

related to every religious community, minorities especially Muslims will be its

main target. In support of his claim, he furnishes a statement by a Cabinet

minister of UP saying: "All madrasas and mosques are turning into
hideouts of the

ISI". It is easily gauged from this statement who in reality are at
the receiving

end of the Bill, writes Abdus Sabur. Towards the end of his piece, he
informs that

the main objective of this Bill is: to obliterate the identity of
Muslims which are

secured due to the mosques and madrasas, to declare Muslims as
anti-nationals, to

provide with the opportunity to demolish mosques and madrasas, make
them suspicious

in the eyes of non-Muslim citizens and to push Muslims further into the lows of

backwardness and illiteracy.<38> Regarding the same Bill, Faiz,
another columnist,

asks why the Ahle Hadis leadership is silent while all political parties and

religious organizations are coming to the streets to lodge their
protest against

the promulgation of the Bill.<39>

The RSS Supremo KS Sudarshan had advised Indian Muslims on February
23, 2001 that

they should give up their insistence on maintaining their separate identity and

should "Indianize Islam". Writing in this context, Shakebur Rehman argues: if

patriotism is synonymous with the adoption of the values enshrined in the Hindu

scriptures, Mr. Sudarshan should consider those Hindus disloyal to the
country who

has molded themselves according to the western values…"And if patriotism is so

closely webbed to the adoption of the values of the majoritarian
community by the

minorities, Mr. Sudarshan should urge the Hindus of Indonesia to
adhere to Islam so

that they can be patriotic to their country in the sense Mr. Sudarshan
understand

the word". <40>


In 2002 when the NDA government proposed name of Abdul Kalam as its
Presidential

candidate and, finally, was elected to the Highest post of the
Republic, one of the

editorials of Al Manar echoes the concerns of the Madrasa community
and reflects

their understanding of the developments in the arena of the national politics.

Maqbool Ahmed, the then editor, writes: "Abdul Kalam is a political
pawn and the

chess player (read the NDA government) will use it as he wishes. Some may get

fascinated by his Muslim-like name… But I feel the responsibility to
warn my Muslim

brethren of his lies and theatrics." <41>


In the backdrop of the assembly elections in UP in 2002, Zaheer Ahmed, the then

editor of Al Manar, has written an editorial entitled "These
Elections…" According

to him, whenever elections are round the corner, it's also a testing
time for the

Muslim citizens because they have to decide which party and which
leader deserves

to be voted into the government. As there is no Muslim political
party, regional or

national, political parties try to take benefit of this vacuum. They provide

tickets to Muslim candidates so that the Muslim votes get divided and go

ineffective. This is a serious issue which needs to be ruminated over.
However, the

Indian Muslims have gained some experiences from the functioning of
the fifty years

of the electoral democracy in the country. Consequently, experienced Muslim

political ulama think this time Muslims should vote the Samajwadi
Party into power.

In the light of its past performance and its manifesto for the future,
Zaheer Ahmed

writes, this decision on the part of the Muslim leaders seems to be right.<42>

'Bomb Blasts and Indian Politics' is the title of a piece by Ataullah. Having

described details of the bomb blasts which recently rocked the city,
he analyses

the dynamics of the phenomena of bomb blasts. "These blasts not only
send waves of

terror among the masses, they add to the political mileage of the political

leaders. They tend to politicize these blasts to consolidate and polarize their

vote bank. In the process, sometimes they resort to rathyatras while
on the other

occasions they mastermind communal riots with help of their party cadres. Thus,

they try to destabilize the government. Allah should be thanked that
this time the

people of Varanasi foiled the dirty designs of the political leaders." <43>


INTERNATIONAL POLITICS


Events of the Gulf region, Palestine and the US often attract the
attention of the

contributors to Al Manar. In a write-up on Osama bin Laden, Arshad Hussein

describes him as 'mazloom' (the oppressed) and raises some questions
regarding this

man and the US hunt for him. Hussein writes: "Now the oppressed Osama is being

harassed in many ways: sometimes announcing prizes on his body, dead or alive,

while describing him as 'terrorist' on other occasions. The question I want to

raise here is: who is more dreaded terrorist than those who make false
allegations

against someone. Those who brand Osama as terrorist are doing so only
to mask their

own records of heinous crimes against the humanity. Will terrorism
cease to exist

if Osama is put to death?"<44> Arguing in the same vein, H.Zafar writes that we

were under the impression that after the terrorist attack on the US in
2001, the US

and the West would seriously make an attempt to understand the causes
and effects

of terrorism. Before not very long, we realized we were wrong as the
US President

without any substantial proof accused 'some persons' for this barbaric
act. In the

same piece, Zafar further elucidates: "The whole world is so blind in
its animosity

against Islam that they do not give a damn to the oppressions being heaped on

Muslims across the world. Palestine, Chechnya, Kosovo, Burma
(Myanmar), Philippine

and recently in Afghanistan, Muslims are the target of the state-sponsored

terrorism but nobody is ready to give it a thought. None want to understand the

fact that if some Muslims are indulged in the terrorist activities, it is not

because Islam preaches them to do so but only because they have been
subjected to

the oppression since long". <45>


The US aggression against Iraq is one of the frequently debated issues
in the pages

of Al Manar. Qamrul Haque in his piece entitled "The Iraq War Needs a Serious

Rethink from the Arabs" first provides detailed description of the
fall of Baghdad

and the arrest of Saddam Hussein by the US army. Then he holds Saddam
responsible

for the American presence in the gulf region, referring to the Iraqi
invasion on

Kuwait in 1990. In this regard, he writes: "It is Saddam Hussein whose imperial

aspirations and short-sighted decisions made the Arabs bow before the
US. However,

his tyranny is now a matter of history and hearts of the Arabs are
free from his

terror. But now only the future will tell whether the Arabs will manage to get

freedom from the US occupation".<46>  This is in complete agreement
with the Ahle

Hadis line of arguments regarding the Gulf imbroglio. To them, Saddam
Hussein is

the real culprit and responsible for all the problems of the Gulf
region and the

House of Sa'ud has nothing to do with it and has been a victim of the
dictatorial policies of Saddam.


The recent controversy regarding the publication of the cartoon of the
Prophet of

Islam has found its echo in the wall magazine. Shahnawaz Alam is of the opinion

that though a sizeable amount of literature about the life and teachings of the

Prophet is available in almost every language of the world, there are
few elements

everywhere who have dedicated themselves to propagate indecent things
regarding the

Prophet. Further, he writes that "In fact the cartoons of Muhammad
have nothing to

do with the freedom of expression as is being claimed by Denmark and some other

Christian countries. It was aimed at instigating the emotions of the Muslim

community over the world. The reactions of the Muslims will enable the West to

further stereotype them as barbaric and uncivilized people and to spread

misconceptions about the Prophet and his teachings. This is the only way left

before the West to prevent its people from embracing Islam which has scaled new

heights of popularity among the Westerners after the Second World War".<47>

Regarding the way Muslims have reacted to the Cartoon issue, Shahnawaz
advises the

community to avoid any sort of violence. "We should employ peaceful
ways of lodging

our protest. For example, a complete economic boycott of the western countries

responsible for this mischievous act and termination of diplomatic
relations with

them by all the Muslim countries will be enough to teach them how to
respect the

revered icons of other religions" writes he.

CONCLUDING REMARKS


To obtain wall magazines is very difficult because they are not
properly preserved.

Lack of interest on the part of the madrasa authority and the financial crunch

madrasa students' associations very often undergo are two main factors
responsible

for it. As these magazines are brought out on a full-length chart paper, their

gigantic size also makes their preservation challenging and expensive. In many

madrasas, articles of the current issue are pasted on those of the
previous issue

on a wooden board. This leaves no room for the preservation. If any editor has

fortunately secured some the pieces, it will be difficult to discern
which issue of

the magazine a particular essay appeared.


Apart from poems and ghazals, I did not come across any other literary
genre in the

wall magazines. On contrary, the situation is different in the wall
magazines of

the madrasas of Southern India. Writing short stories and publishing
them in the

wall magazines is not a taboo there. Narrating his experiences in Darul Huda

Academy, a madrasa in the district of Chennad in Kerala, Mohd Zubair
says: "As my

interest lies in the field of literature, I used to frequently contribute to

Sarvadigam, the literary wall magazine of the Academy. I basically
used to write

short stories for the magazine".  When I asked which kind of short
stories used to

be published in the wall magazine, he replied: "Any kind of story which is not

vulgar. It was not necessary to be religious. I think I've written a
lot about love

and all". <50>

I was taken aback when he shared with me a more interesting aspect of
the madrasa

journalism practiced in his madrasa. It is not only about madrasa
journalism, it

speak volumes about the campus life in a south Indian madrasa. Zubair
who now works

as a sub-editor with News Link Services, an electronic evening marine
newspaper,

said: "We had a culture of daily hand-written newspapers. What is
going on in the

kitchen, what is the attitude of teachers towards students, sarcastic
comments on

how the management wallahs behave to students—every thing which used
to happen in

the campus got mention in these newspapers. They are meant to be
circulated among

students only. It's a kind of unofficial publications but available to all

students. Sometimes they came out daily, sometimes weekly. It's a kind of pure

criticism of the madrasa life". <51>

REFERENCES


1. Personal interview with Shahnawaz Alam, editor of Al Manar, the
students' wall

magazine, Jamia Salafia, Varanasi. Date: May 1, 2006.
2. Ibid.
3. Al Manar, January 16-31,2002.p8
4. Rehman, Shafiqur, Tauheed ki Haqiqat, Al Manar, March 28, 2001.p3.
5. ibid
6. Shamsullah, Qabrparasti ka Aaghaz, Al Manar, February 20, 2000.p6.
7. Ali, Zulfiqar, Ziyarat-e-Qubur aur hamara Mo'aashra Al Manar, September 18,

2001.p4.
8. Taqlid, literally 'imitation', following one of the Sunni law schools in

preference to ijtihad. As Hanafis, most Sunni Muslims in nineteenth
century India

were muqallids, adherers of the Hanafi School of law.
9. Imam here refers to one of the founders of the four school of jurisprudence:

Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafai, and Imam Ahmed bin Hambel.
10. Maqbool, Ahmed Maqbool, Taqlid ke Barg-o-Baar, Al Manar, July
15-30, 2003.p8.
11. Zaki, Tanveer, Editorial, Al Manar, May 8-23, 2001 .p2.
  12.Al Manar, May 8-23,2001.p3
13. Haleem, Abdul, Chalo Deoband Chalen, Al Manar, May 8-23, 2001.p6.
14. Maqbool,Ahmed Maqbool, Tablighi Jama'at:Haqiqat Ya Afsana,Al
Manar, February

6,2001.p5
15. Ibid.
16. Basheer, Mohd, Ummat-e-Muslima par Tasawwuf ke Umumi Asarat, Al Manar,

February 26-March 10, 2005.p4.
17. Arshad, Mohd, Rajab Ke Kunde, Al Manar, 17-31 October, 1998.p4
18. Ahmed, Riyaz, Television Ik Muhlik Marz, Al Manar, July15-30, 2003.p4.
  19.Ibid.
20. Moeed, Abdul, Filmbini: Summ-e-Qatil, Al Manar, Jan 17-31, 2003.p3.
  21.Ahmed, Zulfiqar, Darul Iqaama ki Fariyad,(editorial),Al Manar, January

6-20,2004.p2.
22. ibid.
23. ibid.
24. Alam, Rafique, Urdu Ki Mojuda Surat-e-Haal, Al Manar March4-20.2006, p5.
25. Ahmed, Ozair, Dini Madaris ko Darpesh Masail aur unka Hal, Al
Manar, October

8, 2000, p5.
26. Ahmed, Sayeed, Main Student Hoon!, Al Manar, July27-August 10,2002.,p8.
27.The text of the poem is as follows:
Main student hun! ae ham-nashin is daur-e-hazir ka
I am the symbol of new civilization(tmaddun ke gharey me hun nai
tahzib ka sirka)
Mosallat hun main sar par qaum ke wo masla ban kar
Ki jis ne hosh ghaib kar diya hai har modabbier ka
Mujhe sauraj ne bakhsha hai Azadi ka parwana
Agar paband hun kuchh to faqat qaid-e-anaasir ka
Tabi'at meri har qaid –e-talluq se hai begaana
Na ghar ka hun,na college ka ,na Masjid ka,na mandir ka
Siwa parhne ke har us khel me rahta hun main aage
Ki jis me natiqa ho band shatir se bhi shatir ka
Main lecture room me bakwas sun-ne ka nahi aadi
Us par unghta hun desk jo hota hai aakhir ka
Sawalaat intihan ke hal kiya karta hun yun aksar
Kaleja munh ko aata hai mowarrikh ka,mobassir ka
Mujhe qanun ki hadbandiyon se sakht nafrat hai
Rahun paband agar ab bhi to Azadi pe lanat hai
Main filmi aur jasusi rasail ka hun dildada
Darsi kitabon ke tasawwur se bhi nafrat hai
Meri chandya pe gumrahi wa badbakhti ki topi hai
Nai tahzib ke chehre pe kalik main ne thopi hai

28.  Kanpuri, Laeeq Shams, Jamhuriyat: Ta'reef aur Lawazmaat, Al
Manar, February

7-20, 2006.p5.

29.  Ahmed, Riaz, Islam aur Jamhuriyat, Al Manar, February 7-20, 2006.p9.

30. Irshad, Ataullah,Jamhuriyat ke Saaye me 56 Saal, Al Manar, February 7-20,

2006.p4.
31. Nafis, Siddique Ahmed, Changeziyat banaam Jamhuriyat, Al Manar,
February 7-20,

2006.p2.
32. Zaki, Tanvir, Yaum-e-Azadi aur Ihsaas-e-Ziyan, Al Manar, August 11-26,

2001.p2.

33. Ahmed, Maqbool, Azadi-e-Hind ki 56win Salgirah, Al Manar August 13, 2003.p2.

34. Khabir, Abdul, Hindustan ki Azadi aur Taqseem, Al Manar August
16-31, 2005, p3.

35. Alam, Jamshed, Azadi ke baad Halaat-e-Watan, Al Manar, August, 13, 2003.p9.

36.  Alam, Manawwar, Jang-e-Azadi me Ulama-e-Ahle Hadis ka Kirdar, Al
Manar, August

13, 2003, p4.

37. Akhter, Nasim, Jang-e-Azadi me Ulama-e-Ahnaaf ka Role, Al Manar, August 13,

2003,p7.

38.  Sabur, Abdus, Ibadatgah Bill: Hukumat-e-UP ki ik Mazmum Harkat, Al Manar,

April 04-19, 2000, p6.
39. Faiz, Ye Khamoshi Kyon aur Kab Tak? Al Manar, April 04-19, 2000, p5.
40. Rehman, Shakebur, Islam ka Bhartiyakaran, Al Manar, March 28, 2001, p6.
41. Ahmed, Maqbool, Abdul Kalam Siyasi Shatranj ka Mohra, Al Manar, July 27,

2002-Augut 10, 2002,p2.
42. Ahmed, Zaheer, Ye Election…, Al Manar, February 15-March 1, 2002.p2.
43. Ataullah, Bomb ke Dhamake aur Hindustani Siyasat, Al Manar, April
1-25,2006p5.
44. Hussein, Arshad, Osama Bin Laden, Al Manar, October 10, 2000, p7.
45. Zafar,H,Dahshatgardi Ka Ilaaj Insafpasandi,Al Manar,February 15-March

1,2002,p6.

46. Haque, Qamrul, Jang-e-Iraq: Arabon ke Liye Lamha-e-Fikriya, Al
Manar, January

24-February 07, 2004, p5.

47. Alam, Shahnawaz, Ye ik Badtareen Sazish Hai, (editorial), Al Manar, March

04-20, 2006, p2.
48. Alam, Shahnawaz, Ye ik Badtareen Sazish Hai, (editorial), Al Manar, March

04-20,2006, p8.
49. Personal Interview with Mohd Zubair Hudawi, New Delhi, Date:June 12, 2006.
50.Ibid
51. Ibid


-- 
arshad amanullah
35,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.