Various Muslim socio-religious and political organisations came together on a common platform here on Friday night to demand the central government to withdraw the ordinance on triple talaq as it is unconstitutional.

Muslim groups representing various sects urged the government to ensure that the religious and cultural rights and freedom guaranteed to Muslims by the Constitution are implemented in letter and spirit and not tampered in any manner.

A resolution passed at the public meeting organised by the United Muslim Forum (MUF), an umbrella group of different Muslim organisations, condemned the ordinance issued last week, criminalizing triple talaq. It said the piece of legislation was enacted through backdoor.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Jamaat-e-Islami’s president of Telangana and Odisha unit Hamid Mohammed Khan, MUF president Raheemuddin Ansari and leaders of various organisations addressed the public meeting at MIM headquarters Darussalam.

“The present government seems to be conspiring to take away the religious identity of Muslims. When it failed to get the triple talaq Bill passed in the Parliament, the government has chosen to get an ordinance promulgated in an undemocratic manner,” the resolution said.A It hoped that better sense would prevail and the government would reconsider its decision.

Asauddin Owaisi, in his speech, demanded that Muslims should be allowed to practice their religion as the Constitution of India has given them this right. Referring to Supreme Court judgements on Articles 377 and 497, the MP said Muslims also want to live with freedom to practice their religion. “When homosexuals have been given choice and married men and women also given freedom to indulge in adultery without the fear of being punished by law, why are Muslims being denied freedom to practice their religion,a he asked.

Owaisi described the ordinance as anti-women and said this would lead to high rate of desertion of women by their husbands. He also voiced the apprehension that many Muslim youths would be jailed.

The MP said the Supreme Court in its judgment set aside triple talaq but did not term it unconstitutional. “When the Supreme Court made it clear that if a husband gives triple talaq, marriage will not dissolve then for what crime you are sending him to jail for three years under this ordinance,” he asked.

He reiterated that the ordinance is an attempt by the Modi government to divert people’s attention from Rafale scam, rising prices of petrol and diesel and failure to provide jobs.

Owaisi said if the government was really concerned about the welfare of women, it should make a legislation for 24 lakh women including 22 lakh non-Muslims who were married but abandoned by their husbands.

(IANS)

Kabul,  Taliban militants on Monday kidnapped 170 passengers after they launched an ambush on three buses on the highway connecting Kunduz province to Takhar, police said.

The Security Director of Kunduz Security Commandment, Safiullah Mahzon confirmed the incident and said the passengers were abducted from Khanabad district, reports Khaama News.

Mahzon said the passengers were on their way to Kabul.

No further details were immediately available.

The incident comes after a day President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban a conditional ceasefire.

[IANS]

A large white-and-blue truck pulls up outside a stadium in central Japan and slowly expands into a place of worship.

Welcome to the Mobile Mosque.

This July 23, 2018, photo provided by Mobile Mosque Executive Committee, shows Mobile Mosque, a mosque on wheels with the capacity for up to 50 people at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, western Japan. As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the Summer Olympics in 2020, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home. (Mobile Mosque Executive Committee via AP)

As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the 2020 Summer Olympics, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home.

Yasuharu Inoue, CEO of Yasu Project, said the possibility there might not be enough mosques for Muslim visitors in 2020 was alarming for a country that considers itself part of the international community. His Mobile Mosques could travel to different Olympic venues as needed.

“As an open and hospitable country, we want to share the idea of ‘omotenashi’ [Japanese hospitality] with Muslim people,” he said in a recent interview.

The first Mobile Mosque was unveiled earlier this week outside Toyota Stadium, a J-League football venue in Toyota city, which is also the headquarters of the car company with the same name.

The back of the modified 25-tonne truck flipped up to reveal an entrance and then the side slid out, doubling the width of the truck. The 48-square meter room can accommodate 50 people.

The mosque on wheels has the capacity for up to 50 people [Mobile Mosque Executive Committee via AP]
Muslim guests prayed inside the mosque, which includes outdoor taps and a washing area for pre-worship cleansing.

Indonesian students who were victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami also participated in the debut ceremony.

“The Mobile Mosque is very important to Muslim people such as Japanese people or tourists, Muslim tourists who visit Japan,” said 14-year-old Nur Azizah. “I want to show my friends.”

An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Muslims live in Japan.

Tatsuya Sakaguchi, a Japanese guest, expressed hope the Mobile Mosque would help open people’s minds worldwide.

“Looking in from the outside at the people in the mosque, they looked very happy,” said Sakaguchi, the representative director of an Osaka retail company.

Inoue said the inspiration for the project came to him on a trip to Qatar four years ago.

Initially, the project organizers plan to target international sporting events both in Japan and overseas. Inoue said he hopes the project will do more than fill a gap in religious infrastructure.

“Going forward, I would be so happy if people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, the Middle East and, for example, refugees who are coming from Syria are able to use the mosque as a tool to promote world peace,” he said.

The first batch of 820 pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir will be leaving for Saudi Arabia on Saturday to perform this year’s Haj pilgrimage.

Special buses from the Srinagar Haj House in Bemina area took the pilgrims to the Srinagar International airport early on Saturday.

Authorities said four Air India flights will be carrying them to the West Asian nation.

The last flight of Haj pilgrims will leave on July 25.

After an additional quota of 250 seats was allowed to the state by the All India Haj Committee, over 10,000 pilgrims from the state were able to perform this year’s pilgrimage.

The first flight carrying the pilgrims will return here on August 25 and the last on September 7.

By : Seedhi Baat

With the arrival of the Holy Ramadan, considering it to be an opportunity to make good business, many traders and business companies create variety of marketing strategies to attract the customers and persuade them to visit their business houses. The strategy includes printing of booklets of prayer time tables, handy cards of Sehri and Iftaar timings, calendars etc. and distribute them in various Masjids/Mosques. But, a Dress Material company from Chennai namely POTHYS, which is engaged in online business, has published a booklet containing Kannada Translation of Sura-e-Yaseen along with Arabic Text and has distributed in the Mosques in thousands of quantity.

Some people have approached the Editor of “Seedhi Baat” and accused the company of blasphemy making fun of the Holy Qur’an and Sura-e-Yaseen, in the name of the so-called marketing strategy. It has many errors. Without proof reading they have published the Qur’anic booklet. Moreover, it is distributing the booklet in the mosques in Bangalore, Chennai and in areas wherever they have branches. The complainants have appealed to the editor to seek explanation from the company as to whether this has been done with mischievous intention or with any other purpose.

POTHYS OFFICIALS NOT RESPONDING

Seedhi Baat Editor communicated to the Call Center of “Pothys” and has explained the issue in detail to one named Vijay, the media Manager of the said company and asked him to provide apology from the company. In response he said, this was not their mistake but it is the the fault of the printer. When asked, has the booklet been shown to any Scholar before and after its print? For this, there was no clear and convincing reply. When the editor of Seedhi Baat insisted and demanded that explanation letter or apology letter has to be released, Vijay responded by saying that after discussing with the top officials of the company we will revert to you by evening by 8 pm (i.e. yesterday as on 10 June 2018). But so far there has been no reply of any kind received nor any explanation. Vijay, who is the media Manager of the company, is not receiving our calls nor is he providing the contact numbers of the concerned officials of the Management, so as to have a direct talk with them. The errors have been found on page numbers 2, 5, 16, 22, 24, and last page number 30, the images of which are being shared for reference. The complainants have appealed that, in which ever mosque this booklet is being distributed they should be stopped forthwith and lodge a Police Complaints in the Police Station of their area, about the issue of manipulation in the words of Qur’an in the above booklet.

LEGAL COURSE OF ACTION

The complainants along with the Seedhi Baat Bureau is contemplating on taking on the Pothys and sue the dress store in to the court of law for its act of blasphemy and desecration of the Holy Quran.

A man from Afghanistan and an Argentian lady ended their cross border love in Kalaburagi, five months after they got hitched.

Ahmad Zarif Chisty, 30, a Sufi preacher and Daniela Soledad, 33 of Argentina met on Facebook. After love bloomed between them, they decided to get married in India. Daniela allegedly too took after Sufism. In like manner, they reached New Delhi on November 22, 2017, and they got married the next day. Subsequent to making a trip to Ajmer in Rajasthan and Vijayapura in Karnataka, the coupled settled in Kalaburagi.

According to the police Chisty, who was preaching Sufism and teaching Quran in the city, had leased a small house in Makkah Colony on Hagarga Road, where the couple settled. Differences arose between the two when another senior Sufi preachers started visiting their home and Chisty requested that Daniela serve them by pressing their hands and legs however he himself declined from doing so saying that he too was a Sufi preacher. Daniela was disturbed as well as declined to do so as it was against her way of life.

The differences aggravated over some stretch of time and Daniela contacted her parents back in Argentina looking for their assistance to return. Her parents at that point reached the Argentina consulate in Mumbai and looked for their assistance. The office informed the Kalaburagi police. The police effectively traced the couple as well as inquired about alleged torture and harassment meted out to Daniela.

Police sources said that Daniela was vexed and felt insulted by Chisty’s conduct. She additionally felt lost of privacy in the little house and needed to return to Argentina. She denied any physical or sexual harassment and didn’t wish to lodge any complaint.

The consulate general from Argentina department in Mumbai landed in Kalaburagi alongside another female associate on April 10 and took Daniela with them. Daniela is presently said to be in Argentina. Chisty was let off as no case was filed against him.

Seven months after declaring instant triple talaq unconstitutional, the Supreme Court (SC) today agreed to examine the constitutional validity of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’ in the Muslim community.

The SC noted that the five-judge bench which examined instant triple talaq – and pronounced their order in August last year – had kept open the issues of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’.
The SC today issued notices to the Centre and the Law Commission asking them to make their stand clear on a batch of petitions asking the two practices be abolished. Polygamy is the practice of being married to more than one woman. Nikah-halala is a practice intended to curb divorce. Under it, a man cannot remarry his former wife without her having her go through the process of marrying someone else, consummating that marriage, getting divorced and observing a separation period called Iddat.
One petitioner, a Hyderabad-based lawyer, has contended that while Muslim law allows a man to have multiple wives by way of the temporary marriages or polygamy, the same permission is not extended to women and therefore the law violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women.
Another petition, filed by a Delhi-based woman, has said that by virtue of the Muslim Personal Law, section 494 of IPC (marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife) was rendered inapplicable to Muslims and no married woman from the community has the avenue to file a complaint against her husband for the offence of bigamy.
In a historic decision last August, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court by 3:2 majority struck down triple talaq, or instant divorce, as unconstitutional. While then Chief Justice J S Khehar and justice S Abdul Nazeer held triple talaq to be part of fundamental right to religion of Muslims and said it was not unconstitutional, Justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman and U U Lalit said triple talaq violated the fundamental right of Muslim women as they are subjected to arbitrary irrevocable divorce through this practice.

The government is ready to discuss the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha and was open to suggestions from the opposition — but referring it to a Select Committee made no sense, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill — commonly called the triple talaq bill as it criminalises “instant” divorce among Muslims — is scheduled to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha in the coming week as part of the government’s business.

“Let’s discuss the bill in the House and the members can move amendments. Nobody can stop a member from moving any amendment,” Naqvi added

“But where is the sense in insisting on refering the bill to a select committee of the House? What will the Select Committee do? Even the House can scrutinise legislation,” he added.

The Select Committee may also invite suggestions from stakeholders such as various Muslim organisations and women’s bodies, which the government has apparently not done.

The opposition, Muslim bodies and women’s rights groups have accused the government of “unilaterally” drafting the legislation without seeking any opinion from the stakeholders or those who would be directly affected by the proposed law.

However, Naqvi said: “We have said it earlier too and reiterate that the government is open to suggestions on the bill from the opposition and others.”

But on the question of negotiating the penal provision — which is the main bone of contention — the minister said the bill would make no sense without this as the practice of triple talaq continues even after the Supreme Court banned it.

Under Section 4 of the bill, “Whoever pronounces talaq upon his wife by words, either spoken or written or in electronic form or in any other manner whatsoever, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine.”

It also provides for a subsistence allowance for a divorced woman and her children as determined by a magistrate and provides custody of the minor children to the woman in case of divorce.

The government had introduced the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha on January 3 this year during the winter session of Parliament. The Lok Sabha had earlier passed the bill.

Almost all the opposition parties have objected to the penal provision in the bill and had insisted it be sent to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha for closer scrutiny. Congress leader Anand Sharma and Trinamool Congress member Sukhendu Shekhar Roy had moved amendments to this effect.

Sharma even suggested the names of the 17 members of the select panel from the opposition’s side, leaving it to the government to give its names.

The government, however, vociferously objected to the proposal, citing various technical reasons. The opposition even demanded voting on the issue on the day the bill was introduced as well as the next day, January 4.

However, on the first day, the treasury benches members created a ruckus, forcing the chair to adjourn the House for the day, saying voting could not be done unless the House was in order.

The next day, the government listed the bill at the bottom of the day’s business, prompting loud protests from the opposition, which wanted it to be taken up early and a vote taken. The chair said he could not help as it was the government’s prerogative at which position to list a bill. Amid pandemonium, the House was adjourned for the day.

The winter session concluded the next day on January 5, and the triple talaq bill is still pending in the upper House.

On March 16, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel, while announcing the coming week’s business, also listed the triple talaq bill for considering and passing.

(IANS)