Articles by Dr. Parvez

Muslim preachers - be they writers, orators, teachers, graphic designers, poets, artists or other such pious souls who spread the message of Islam using their knowledge and skills - are often faced with a tremendous internal conflict and dilemma. They are confronted with the following questions: a) Should they promote their work? Would promoting their own work violate the premises of ikhlas? Would it be counted as an ostentatious act? Would it be seen as an act of arrogance and pride? Would it amount to narcissism? b) What moral right do they have to preach Islam when they are themselves not perfect Muslims? c) If they are preaching something that they do not themselves practice, would that not amount to hypocrisy? Let us take up these dilemmas one by one and see how we can overcome them. a) Neeyah: Islam lays great importance on ikhlas, i.e. to perform an act with the sole intention of pleasing Allah. The parameters of ikhlas are so exacting that even a slight deviation fr...

People often ask why Muslims/Islam are hated so much around the world. Why is Islamophobia so endemic to human society?  Well, #Islamophobia is cultivated, and here's why 👇🏽 CULTIVATED ISLAMOPHOBIA History always tends to repeat itself. Events that have already taken place some centuries ago recast themselves in a new environment, playing in the hands of a new generation. And that is precisely why we do read history in the first place – to learn from man’s past mistakes and to adopt the steps taken to rectify the same. The topic under discussion, Islamophobia can also be traced as far as history takes us back. We know from the Qur’ān that all nations revolted against their prophets who essentially preached nothing but Islam. Be it Aad or Thamud, Madyan or Pharaoh, Nimrod or Sodom, the underlying narrative has always been Islamophobia. Of these, some saw Islam as a threat to their kingship, some to their businesses, some to their lewd lifestyles and some to their pries...

Does Palestine rightfully belong to the Jews? Let us have a look at History. As far back as I know, Palestine was ruled by Canaan. Musaؑ  led the Bani Israel out of Egypt in 1400 BC and asked them to enter Palestine, but they lacked the courage to do so [Surah alMaidah, ayaat 21-26] The next generation conquered Palestine. 300 years later, Talut and Dawudؑ  reclaimed Palestine from invaders. [Surah alBaqarah, ayaat 246-251] Temple of Solomon constructed in 1000 BC In 700 BC, the Asyrrians raided Palestine. In 586 BC, the Jews were expelled from Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and 6,00,000 Jews were taken into captivity. Temple of Solomon razed to the ground. [Surah Bani Israel, ayat 5] In 539 BC, they were released from exile by Cyrus of Persia when he conquered Babylon. [Surah Bani Israel, ayat 6]  Second Temple constructed in 515 BC Greek Alexander and Romans conquered Palestine. The Jews were then expelled from Palestine by Titus of Rome in 70 CE. 1,...

Sunnate Nabavi aur Hamara Tareeqa e Fikr o Amal Author: Dr. Yusuf alQarzawi, pages 272. This book seeks to explore the corruption and manipulation of Hadith literature in its various forms and then goes on to suggest ways and means to interpret aHadith to suit contemporary needs; and as expected of the author, it adopts an approach that borders on liberalism. He says that there are three things which have been done to corrupt aHadith: 1. Exaggerations (gulu) 2. False attributions to invent bidaat 3. Incorrect derivations by naïve people And that three things need to be checked while studying any Hadith: 1. Authenticity 2. Context 3. Concurrence with nass He explains that meticulous care should be taken about the authenticity of the Hadith if it involves deriving legal issues from it, and the same care need not be taken with fazail/raqaiq/azkar… but there’s a limit to this.  The learned scholar proceeds to debunk almost all aHadith that deal with fazail and raqaiq. We do know that m...

Some people ask- and they ask this every year- why we Indians celebrate Eid or mark Arafah/Ramazan a day after the Arabs and the West and pretty much the entire world. This question arises because we are used to seeing the world with Japan to the extreme right and the USA to the extreme west of the atlas. But what we need to understand is that this perspective of the globe, and the International Date Line that runs between Alaska and Russia, are both arbitrary. The world is round; so technically, any longitude on the globe can be taken as the International Date Line. When it is 1st Jan in Japan, it is still 31st Dec in Alaska, and it remains so for almost 24 hours. This, despite the fact that they share the same night. The International Date Line of Islam, however, is not arbitrary. It begins at the place where the moon is first sighted. And that place is towards Western Pakistan/Iran. So naturally, the date also begins there. The 1st of Ramazan, for example, begins at Isla...

Democracy, as we know it today, or as it has been marketed to be, is the ultimate form of political emancipation. The ideas and values of liberty, equality and fraternity which have mesmerised human societies since the French Revolution have, however, turned out to be more utopian than practical. Democracy is a farce, an eyewash. The world still turns along the same fulcrums of absolute power and xenophobia that it always has. And Kashmir is no different. The entire argument against the abrogation of Article 370 rests on the belief that Kashmiris have been denied the right to self-determination. But let us understand very clearly that this ‘right to self-determination’ has never actually existed. Almost a ll throughout history, the mighty have subdued the weak, countries have been won by conquering them with military force, and in every war you can recollect from your books of history the opinion of the conquered countrymen was among the least of anyone's concerns. People simply s...

An Exotic Trip to the Andamans Background: I had distributed copies of my book, Chiseled Perceptions, at the Khuldabad ijtema of November 2018. Mrs. Sajida, who was in Mumbai some time later, read that book at Zameer sahab's house. She liked the book, contacted me, and invited me over to her house... in the Andamans. I leapt at the idea, and booked the tickets and tour package with Andaman Fiesta in June, the moment the schedule of my daughter's Diwali vacations got announced. 21-27th October 2019: October end is the beginning of the tourist season. It is not advisable to go there in the monsoons; the choppy waters come in the way of inter-island ferries and water sports like jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, parasailing etc. Day 1: Monday, 21st October Bidding adieu to the hustle bustle of Mumbai, we took a 4am flight to Port Blair. But it was raining! We were worried that these unexpected rains would spoil our trip, but they, on the contrary, enh...