Opinionpiece

of the Aligarh Activists Society

5.00 Only

September/October 2012 Volume 1, Issue 1

EDITORIAL
Freedom to Express ( Insult & Provoke? )
The recent controversy over the movie called Innocence of Muslims and the publica on of derogatory cartoons in a French magazine is representa ve of one of the most con nuous repe ve problems of our age. Those who say this is an issue of freedom of expression speak a lie. They are either heavily misinformed or else they deliberately intend to misinform others. This is not a ques on of freedom of expression because nowhere in the world does the freedom of expression include the freedom to insult. The laws against libel and slander prac ced in almost every country of the world are testament to this. The right to freedom of expression is merely a convenient shield to hide behind. In reality, this is an issue of deliberately and purposefully spreading hate, crea ng mischievous percep ons and provoking an en re sec on of humanity. What is necessary to be understood is that since the fall of the Soviet Union, the world of Western capitalism has been in need of a new enemy, a new Other that can be conveniently hated and warned against. In the last decade or so it has become clear that this enemy is Islam and the Muslim world. The en re propaganda machinery of this neo-imperialist capitalism has geared itself to promote and sell this chosen enemy of the Western way of life. Through movies, c on, art forms like cartoons, animated media, poli cal theories like The Clash of Civiliza ons and various other tools and media, this enemy has been successfully created in the minds of the people. In the reality of this crea on, Islam is portrayed to be the stark opposite of Western ideas and values. Former U.S President, George W. Bushs famous statement, They hate us for our freedoms was no accidental u erance. It represents precisely what they aim to achieve. Islam and its followers are projected as a people who hate the basic freedoms dear to all humans, a people who are inherently evil and detestable. In this process, the major symbols and beliefs of Islam have been repeatedly distorted and a acked. The banning of Minarets in Switzerland or the Hijab in France are examples of this.

Inside.
Tehzeeb v/s Progress; An Analysis of the

polariza on over issues rela ng to Abdullah Hall Higgs Mania ( What is all the fuss about? ); An essay on the Higgs-Boson par cle The Faculty of Desolation; an Outsider view of the Faculty of Arts Islam, Education and Muslims in the Contemporary World
The repeated maligning of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) of Islam is a part of the whole process. The Prophet (PBUH) is the most potent symbol of Islam, his life to this day an example and a carrier of the Islamic message. The a ack on his person is meant both to portray Islam as some sort of an archaic and inhuman religion and also to provoke and subsequently alienate Muslims from the mainstream. That protests will happen against these a acks in the Muslim world is natural. That enlightened individuals in all parts of the world will join in these protests is also natural. Though it must be noted here that the killings of innocents and destruc on of property during these protests, although manifesta on of a genuine anger, is regre able, and play directly into the hands of the provoca on. The aggressive emo onal response of the Muslims is portrayed to the world to represent them as a violent and dangerous community. That these emo onal responses have no eect on the issue itself is quite clear. The worldwide community watches the anger of the Muslims explode in the streets of their countries and think that the Muslim community and Islam is vola le by nature. This of course is completely opposite to the true message of peace which Islam encapsulates. The best way to counter these a acks of Islam phobia is to use them as an opportunity to spread the message of Islam and educate the people of the life of the Prophet (PBUH). There are many people dedicatedly engaged in this task, and this is a true response to the message of hate and aliena on that is emana ng from the established order of the West.

Issue Editor : Website : Email ID :

Fawaz Shaheen, B.A.LL.B 3rd Year Contact : +91- 7417325711 h ps://sites.google.com/site/aasaligarh/ aasaligarh@gmail.com

Page 1

Tehzeeb v/s Progress: An Analysis of the Great Divide over Abdullah Hall
Fawaz Shaheen (B.A.LL.B, 3rd year)
do not have access to the great collec on of books and materials available to the University at large. There was a sugges on to open up the library for students from Womens College and allow girls from Abdullah to visit the library during the day me. This raised such a hue and cry that there could be no other discussion on the campus for quite a few days. The posi ons taken and the arguments made o en diverted far from the real issue, and towards abstract, irra onal Grand Theories. The limit was when the Principal of Womens College went on to state on record to a na onal daily (The Hindu) that girls do not need books to study! The solu on which was then implemented was the very name of simplicity itself. It was decided that there would be a sharing of books between the Womens College and the main Library, and girls will be allowed to access the Maulana Azad Library from the Womens College itself. This placed the problem in its exact context: that of an administra ve issue. This is the reality of the general discourse over Womens College. The problems are real and very current. They relate mostly to the fact that the Womens College lags behind in facili es and services for students as well as teachers in almost every aspect when compared to the rest of the University. There is also a great underu lisa on of resources (and if most of the stories are to be believed, a lot of misappropria on as well), and other issues of exploita on and a real lack of any proper grooming whatsoever for the students residing in Abdullah Hall. These issues are mostly administra ve in nature, and it will not be any herculean task to sort them out. However, the status-quo-ist forces, especially within the Administra on, who prot from the exis ng mismanagement and systema c apathy, nd it much easier to play o compe ng ideologies instead of discussing genuine solu ons. The turning of every li le issue into an ideological war between good and evil, the constant mud-slinging and labelling of opponents as an -progressive, or conversely, an Islamic, distracts from the main problems and only results in fu le polarisa on. Unless these myopic and sorry to say bigoted a tudes are thrown o and genuine issues taken into considera on with some modicum of sincerity, the needs of Abdullah Hall and Womens College will remain unaddressed.

Abdullah Hall. Womens College. A mere reference

to these words is enough to set alight any dhaba discussion or hostel gup-shup in our University and immediately polarise the par cipants. Anyone taking a supposedly pro-women stance is immediately labelled an -Islamic, communist, deheria and the like. Anyone taking a pro-tehzeeb stand is immediately labelled an -women, conserva ve, daqiya-nusi and their ilk. The only agreement that seems to exist is over the fact that there is some problem in the Womens College, requiring some sort of a solu on. The disagreement exists over everything else, be it the problems or the solu ons to those contested problems. A recent example would be the controversy over the separa on of Womens College Union. The announcement was followed by an immediate polarisa on and the taking up of directly opposing stands (including a lot of needless, undignied mud-slinging and character assassina on). Without ge ng into the controversy, the whole incident provides an excellent case in which to discern the real bone of conten on between these two opposing views. The real dierence is between those who advocate greater integra on of the Womens College with the University and those who believe that segrega on is the only proper way. The integra onists brandish greater inter-mixing as a panacea of all evils, without regard to the fact that the structural problems with regard to females and acute chauvinism exist in campuses all over India, most of which denitely have no segrega on between boys and girls. The segrega onists place all their faith in culture and tradi ons, and view the problems as indica ve of a perceived fall in the prac ce of those tradi ons, without realising that changing mes have also brought new and evolved problems. From these two directly opposing posi ons ows a whole spectrum of opinions, conten ons and controversies in which simple administra ve issues become ideological war-points and humble opinions are exaggerated to look like undercurrents of some grand ideology. On every li le issue, it is always now or never for both sides, you are either with them OR against them. Take for example the issue of access to Maulana Azad Library which raked up a huge storm last year. The problem was truly glaring, that students of Womens College

Page 2

The Faculty of Desola on

Kashif Ilyas (B.A. English, Final Year)

Higgs Mania (What is all the fuss about?)

Ali Muzaar (B.Tech Electronics, 3rd year)

The Faculty of Arts looks quite picturesque from outside, I thought idly, as I leaned against my bike on the road opposite the gate. The green lawns leading to the spouting fountains and the somber walls have an aesthetic effect visible from afar. Yet when you slowly approach the faculty, sauntering past the guards at the gate, reality begins to encroach on the fantasy. At first you notice the patches of grass at the edges of the lawn which have gone desolately dry. Then you observe (with mild disgust) that the water in the fountain is of a greenish hue because of algae growing in it. When you actually enter the building you are relieved to find that at least the foyer is clean and the tiles are new. But the relief is short-lived. As soon as you walk past the Deans office, you are assailed by the horrific smell of the toilet which for some unaccountable reason is right at the start of the corridor. You duck your head, cover your nose and hurry forwards. The smell fades but now your vision is attacked by the disastrous condition of the walls. The wallpaper is dismally discoloured. Torn posters still cling desperately against the wall. Odious scribbling with pens and markers mar the surfaces. Now your spirit which had been raised by the external sight of the faculty has lowered considerably. Your expectations have been crushed and you think that surely nothing worse awaits you. With this brave thought in your mind, you peek in and inspect the classrooms of the faculty. Layers of dust cover the entire surface of the classroom. The cracked windows gape at you toothlessly (the iron grills outside the windows are broken). The benches look as if they were shipped from the warehouse of some museum (or have been sitting here since the British reformed our education). The walls which were once no doubt the colour of a clear sky symbolising the limitless abilities of the mind; now look fit for a mental asylum. You stand speechless; thinking that this classroom surely must be unused, abandoned. But you hear the clatter of approaching footsteps from behind and a throng of students enter the room chattering away and take their places on the benches. They sit contently waiting for the class to start as if they dont see the decay; as if they dont feel the dust; as if they dont smell the nauseating odour of the toilet wafting inside from the open door.

Human mind has always tried to penetrate every dimension in search of his so many whys and so many whats . Historical events recede in importance with every passing decade and this importance becomes an enigma when we talk about events which are 12.5 billion years old. Poli cs and elec ons can be seen and analysed . Even the horrors of war acquire a pa na of unreality. The laws of physics, though, are eternal and universal. Elucida ng them is one of the triumphs of mankind. July 4 2012, was another step of mankind towards nding answers to never ending ques ons. Physicists working in Geneva at CERN, the worlds biggest par cle-physics laboratory announced that they have found the Higgs boson. Wait What is Higgs ? What is Boson? Why do I read this stu all over my newspaper and then the same here? Phewww !! Feeling this Do you want answers? Well let it be simple. Physicists have two working models of reality. One is Einsteins theory of rela vity, which deals with space me and gravity. This is an elegant assembly of interlocking equa ons that poured out of a single mind a century ago. The other is Standard model, which deals with everything in a more complex manner. Now, the ques on is in which model our scien sts are working to nd the missing part and the answer is the Standard model. The Standard model, a product of many minds, incorporates the three fundamental forces that are not gravity (electromagne sm, and the strong and weak nuclear forces), and also a menagerie of apparently indivisible par cles: Quarks, of which protons and neutrons are a part, and thus atomic nuclei are made; electrons that orbit those nuclei ; and more rareed par cles such as muons and neutrinos, without the Higgs, the math which holds this edice together would disintegrate. Finding the Higgs, though made looking for needles in haystacks seem simple. The discovery eventually came about using the largest human machine ever made Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in which bunches of protons were send around a ring 27 km in circumference, in opposite direc ons , at close to the speed of light, so that they collide head on. The faster the protons are moving, the more energy they have. When they collide, this energy is converted into other par cles (famous equa on of Einstein, E=mc2) which then decay into yet more par cles. The sciensts were gh ng with this elusive mystery for decades in search of a pa ern in those decay par cles that shouted Higgs! It was indeed a Higgs mania all around whenever they felt they were close but then the light disappeared. Remember!! How suddenly the news ashing of a par cle travelling faster than light and your friends were talking about the old Physics books to be thrown out? Indeed it was a mania for the greatest minds in universe working in a close area together for knowing god more closely with his par cle GODS PARTICLE. It was a quest of dreams. Peter Higgs, a Bri sh Physicist and four other scien sts were actually the ones who, in 1964 , plucked what has come to be known (unfairly in some eyes) as Higgs boson or gods par cle from a formulae they were working on to x a niggle in quantum theory. Now the discovery puts the nishing ourish on the standard model, the best explana on to-date for how the universe works- except the domain of gravity which is governed by general theory of rela vity. Scien sts believe that world started with a big bang 12.5 billion years ago from a smallest and the most dense par cle which we cant imagine. But the story doesnt end here , it was just an answer among a number of ques ons such as:- how do galaxies form? How do we have mass? What is dark ma er? Lot many Higgs boson is supposed to be actually the mass provider to every par cle. The interac on with higgs determines how massive is the par cle. Anyway it is just the beginning of another dimension of nature whereby each passing day we feel that we were so ignorant. But ll now the hunt for Physics most elusive query is over and scien sts across the globe can crack open a bo le of champagne! But the reality lies within and again I believe this one answer is going to reveal millions of whys. For the science lovers like us it will help to keep pondering and working on the Creators most fascina ng inven on Our beau ful Universe.

Page 3

Islam, Education and Muslims in the Contemporary World

-Haroon Rashid Zargar (B.A. Islamic Studies, 2nd Year)

Read/ Recite in the name of the Lord who hath created man from Alaq (the blood clot); Recite thou, And thy Lord is most bounteous who hath taught mankind by the pen- hath taught man that which he knew not. (Al- Quran) Islam is the nal and complete way of life. Islam is based upon the principle of Tauheed (Oneness of Allah), Risalah (Prophethood), Aakhirah (Herea er) and basic human values. But, if we follow the process of revela on of the Holy Quran, we nd that the rst surah or chapter that was revealed to our beloved Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) by Allah (SWT) was Surah Al-Alaq. It is to be noted here that, Allah (SWT), the creator and sustainer of mankind and this universe did not reveal ini ally any verse rela ng to Tauheed, or Risalah or the Day of Judgement. The rst verse that was revealed by Allah (SWT) on the beloved Prophet (pbuh) was:- Read in the name of thy Lord. This surah consists of words like Ilm (knowledge), Qalam (Pen), and Khalaq (Lord, Insaan (Human being), etc, but the rst word of the rst verse is Iqra (Recite) which means to read or to obtain knowledge. This shows the signicance of obtaining knowledge in Islam. The last verse of this surah is We taught man what they knew not. Thus, through this verse we can understand that knowledge is not the monopoly of an individual, but a mercy and blessing of Allah (SWT). Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) said, The ink of a scholar is purer than the blood of a martyr. The people (Quraish) who were made prisoners by the Muslims in the Ba le of Badr, the Prophet asked the literate among the prisoners to teach ten Muslim boys each how to read and write, and this would be their ransom. (Ibn Hasham). Beyond this, Islam, through the Prophet (pbuh) taught human beings the way to eat, sleep, talk, walk and other basic manners, and Mohammad (pbuh) was declared the Role Model for the whole human kind. This is the impact of Holy Quran and the teachings of the beloved Prophet (pbuh) of Islam. Islam has also produced great scholars such as Hazrat Abu Bakr (Ra), the great mathema cian Hazrat Umar (Ra), the great jurist of his me Imam Ibn- Taymia, Ibn- Sina who wrote Al-Qanun generally known as Canon, Muhammad Ibn Musa al - Khuwarizmi who discovered Algebra, and many more. In India, Abdul Hamid Ghaznavi wrote trea ses on advance mathema cs en tled Dastur-ul-Albab--ilm-al-Hisab. Faizi, a prominent member of Akbars court translated many Sanskrit works on Mathema cs into Persian. Ibn-al-haytam (965-1040) was a scien st and an expert in op cs, Physics, Astronomy, Mathema cs, Ophthalmology, Philosophy, etc. He also wrote commentaries on

Philosophy, etc. He also wrote commentaries on works by Aristotle, Ptolemy and the Greek mathema cian Euclid. Chemists:Jabir-ibn-Hayyan, The father of Chemistry, was also an astronomer, engineer, geographer, philosopher, and a physicist. Abbas-bin-Fernas (810-887) AD was an inventor, engineer, Physician and Arabic poet. Ahmed Hassan Zewail born in 1946 is an Egyp an-American scien st who won the noble prize in 1999 in Chemistry for his work on FemtoChemistry. He is the Linus Pauling chair Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the California Ins tute of Technology. Conclusion:Unfortunately, the condi on of the Muslims in the contemporary world is much dierent from what it was earlier. The quality of educa on among the Muslims is not very good. In India, Muslims are the most educa onally weak community. The basic reason behind this is the lack of awareness amongst the Muslim mass in a aining educa on. This has resulted in the marginalisa on and aliena on of Muslims from the fruits of development of the country. The demarca on of religious educa on and formal educa on has only worsened the ma ers further. The situa on can be salvaged only if the Muslims come together, rising above the sectarian lines and make eorts in providing educa on. There is a dearth of educa onal ins tu ons which are run and administered by Muslims, this issue has to be resolved if any viable progress is to be made in the educa on sector. The religious scholars should also familiarise the common Muslim mass with the great Muslim scholars and scien sts of the past in order to inspire them with the glorious Islamic history. The stakeholders of the Muslim community have to put in their eorts, only then the prevailing educa onal and socio-economic backwardness of Muslims can be resolved.

Publish Your Voice!

The TEHREEZ would love to publish your views and opinions. Write to us on any topic of your interest, or post on our Facebook page Aligarh Ac vists Society. You can mail your entries to aasaligarh@gmail.com You can also give them to Fawaz Shaheen 33-A, Ambedkar Hall. Riad Azam 27-Macdonnel Hostel, A ab Hall. Ali Muzaar 113-Top Floor, Nadeem Tareen Hall.

Page 4