THE ANJUMAN-E-HIMAYATH-E-ISLAM CELEBRATES "JASHN-E-EID"

T. RAFEEQUE AHMED

President, Anjumane Himayath-Islam, Chennai

&

Members of the Jashn-e-Eid Committee

cordially solicit your participation

with family and friends at the

“ JASHN-E-EID “

(a carnival of fun & fellowship)

with the children of Anjuman-e-Himayath-e-Islam

on Sunday, 9th January 2011

between 3.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m.

JUSTICE F.M. IBRAHIM KALIFULLA

Hon’ble Judge, Madras High Court

has kindly consented to participate and encourage

the Anjuman children between 4.30 and 5.00 p.m.

Your participation will bring joy & cheer to our young children

at the Anjuman

*FOOD COURT           ENTRACE TICKET

*GAMES ARCADE      ADULTS RS.100

*AMUSEMENTS          CHILD RS.50

ALAS HAZRAT MAULANA MARGHOOBUR RAHMAN SAHIB IS NO MORE

ALAS HAZRAT MAULANA MARGHOOBUR RAHMAN SAHIB IS NO MORE

“ MAUTUL AALIMI MAUTUL AALAMI “

The passing away of the renowned Islamic scholar and rector of the world famous Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, Deoband, Hazrat Maulana Marghoobur Rahman sahib in the morning on Wednesday, the Islamic new year day, 1st Muharram 1432 ( 8th December 2010) in his hometown Bijnoor in Uttar Pradesh at the age of 96 is a great and irreparable loss to the community and country.

Prominent political and religious leaders Maulana Arshad Madani, Maulana Mahmood Madani, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan, Maulana Mohammed Salim and Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi are among those innumerable people who have condoled the death of Hazrat Maulana Marghoobur Rahman sahib by expressing their shock and pointing out the great services rendered by him to the seminary, Muslim community and our country India.

It is reported by Kamran Akther in Qaumi Awaaz that Maulana Marghoobur Rahman sahib was born in 1914 in Bijnor. He went to Darul Uloom, Deoband in 1929 to get Islamic education and studied there under the guidance of Shaikhul Islam Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani and other great Ulama of that time. He graduated from Darul Uloom, Deoband in1932

He was appointed as Member Shura of Darul Uloom Deoband in1962. Later, after the Centenary Celebrations of Darul Uloom Deoband in 1982, he was assigned the post of Mohtamim (Rector/VC). He undertook the post in a critical time and served Darul Uloom in exemplary style with his God-gifted ability and insight.

He held the post of Mohtamim of Darul Uloom Deoband for about thirty years This period is bright era in the history of Darul Uloom Deoband.

Darul Uloom Deoband made extraordinary progress under his administration and it developed leaps and bounds. Numerous huge buildings constructed, the old ones were renovated, several educational departments were launched and many reforms were introduced in the education system.

V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

“ HAJJ – THE SYMBOL OF UNIVERSAL UNITY ” ORGANISED BY CHENNAI SHIA YOUTH


By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman, for twoCircles.net

The Chennai Shia Youth organized a seminar on “Hajj – The Symbol of Universal Unity” on Saturday, 4th December 2010 in Chennai to highlight the importance of unity among Muslims based on the holy Quranic verse , surah Al-hujurath 49-10, “Surely the believers are none but brothers unto one another, so set things right between your brothers and have fear of Allah that you may be shown mercy.” It was well attended and highly successful.

Maulana Mufti Salahuddin Mohammed Ayub sahib, Chief Sunni Qazi, Tamil Nadu, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Mehdi Khan sahib, Chief Shia Qazi, Tamil Nadu, Maulana Syed Niyaz Ahmed Jamali sahib, Principal, Jamalia Arabic College, Chennai, Maulana Mohammed Yousuf Rashaadi sahib, Imam-e-Jamaat, Masjid-e-Fidayan, Perambur, Chennai, and Maulana Ahmed Raza Khan sahib, Imam-e-Jamaat, Masjid-e-Hussainy, Perambur, Chennai were the prominent speakers who addressed the gathering stressing the need for unity among Muslims belonging to different schools of thought. The tone and tenor of the learned speakers was “the believers are but a single brotherhood”.

The speakers particularly the two Qazis said that during the Hajj pilgrimage we see the beautiful spectacle of Islamic brotherhood among the people belonging to different language, colour, culture, creed and community coming under one platform, happily and enthusiastically chanting “ Labbaika Allahumma labbaika laa shareeka laka labbaika – innal hamda wan na’mata laka wal mulka – la shareeka laka ( here I am O Allah, here I am, there is no partner for you, here I am, verily all praise for you and every bounty is from you and all domination is yours – you have no partner). There is no question of Sunni, Shia or any other sect there and all are considered just one ummah – community and this spirit should be there among all Muslims everywhere in the world. It is not proper to think that Shias and Sunnis are different people.

The Shia Qazi Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Mehdi Khan sahib made it clear that the revolution of Imam Ayatullah Khomeini (RA) is an important one which has saved not only the Muslims, but the world as a whole from some further disasters apart from the illegitimate occupation of Palestine by Israel, the U.S. invasion and brutalities perpetrated on the people of Iraq (for the non-existent so called weapons of mass destruction) and on the unfortunate people of Afghanistan (for Osama bin Laden).

He said that the history is replete with instances of the enemies of Muslims and Islam who wanted to weaken the Muslims by different tactics. He strongly emphasized that if the Muslim ummah is united as per the instructions of the holy Quran such as – waatasimoo bihablillahi jameeawn walaa tafarraqoo – hold tight to the rope of God and be not divided among yourselves – it can not only liberate their lost lands from the occupation of evil forces but also save themselves and the world from other state sponsored terrors. He wondered why a Sunni cannot pray in a Shia mosque and vice versa. The Shia Qazi also said that our maslaki differences have landed us in troubles in many countries particularly in Pakistan where even mosques are not safe from bomb attacks and actually they have become a normal phenomenon there. He was extremely sorry for all these unfortunate state of affairs and wanted all to realize their follies, settle the problems amicably and try in their own way to work for remedial measures among them for the sake of Allah and His deen –Islam. “We are all one” was the sum and substance of his power packed and highly informative speech.

The Chennai Shia Youth have shown the way for all to think that we are all Muslims first and only then Shias or Sunnis. There is an urgent need for more such meetings everywhere to inculcate the feeling of brotherhood among all sections of the Muslim community.

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SIO LAUNCHES AN ELECTRONIC LIBRARY

SIO, TAMIL NADU ZONE, LAUNCHES AN ELECTRONIC LIBRARY


By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

The Student Islamic Organisation (SIO) Tamil Nadu Zone, conducted a meeting 0n 4th December 2010 in Chennai and launched an e-library styled as ‘RANDOM COLLECTIONZ’. Mr. Sirajul Hasan, Executive editor, Samarasam, recited the Qirat – verses of the holy Quran and Mr. Umair Siddiqui, a SIO activist leader, introduced the library. While Mr. Adil Sait spoke on the importance of communicating creativity, Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Siraj delivered the lecture on the impact of media and our need to participate in it. A film covering some Muslim activities was also shown.

Mr. Umair said introducing the e-library that the access of an average man to information was limited in quantity and scope until a few years ago but today everyone could obtain any information and learn from and interact with any culture in the world which has shrunk and become more open. According to him such an abundance of information has two sides. On one hand, the majority still seem to be dumped with commercially produced movies and music with repetitive subjects. There is an overload of essentially worthless, boring, monotonous content and many have accepted and also celebrate it. On the other, more activists, writers and artistes are realizing their dreams of producing what comes from their hearts and are keen to express it.

He said that the SIO is focused on capturing useful, thoughtful and energizing content and intends to pool in all these expressive works from different parts of the world and make them available for all of us. He further said that ‘Random Collectionz’ was started with two intentions: 1) to gather, celebrate and spread the diversity of God’s beautiful creations 2) to use creative material to initiate discussion on social, political, religious themes.

He invited all to be a part of this just started electronic library and said that as the name implies, Random Collectionz is open to all kinds of information as long as it is beneficial and that loads of new collections would be added every month and frequent programmes be conducted through the library.

In the e-library at present there are over 100 audio and video lectures, over 50 documentaries, topical movies and TV shows, wide range of international authors, speakers and producers and their works, songs and music albums covering Islam, contemporary affairs, politics, social issues, spiritual and self help subjects and softwares of Quran, Tafseer, Hadees etc.

The Chief Guest senior journalist Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Siraj said that there is no alternative to “knowledge” on which there is great emphasis in the Quran and Ahadees. He regretted that we have given up the example set by the Prophet Mohammed (sal-am) and his associates and are in the darkness now when others like the Jews have made tremendous achievements in different fields of activity by attaining knowledge from different sources and using it properly. He said that the community has not made any scientific invention worth the name during the past 500 years with the result that our position is weak. One can understand the importance of divine beauties better through knowledge. He also felt and explained in detail that unless we participate effectively in the media, we cannot convince the people on our stand on various community, national and international issues which are so much dearer to us. He congratulated the SIO team for the launch of the e-library and hoped that they would go on improving it for the benefit of the people.

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GOOD DEMAND CONTINUES FOR VARIOUS LEATHERS UNABATED

GOOD DEMAND CONTINUES FOR VARIOUS LEATHERS UNABATED


V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

The general feeling in the leather market is that there is good demand for various descriptions of goat, sheep, kip and calf leathers from both domestic and overseas buyers but the prices payable by them are unworkable. Some of the merchant-exporters who have entered into contracts for bulk quantities are finding it difficult to cover their requirements of raw, wet blue or tanned skins/hides in the markets in Chennai and other places.

There are many customers in the Chennai leather market who are buying tanned goat skins R/V/IF at around Rs.45/- and All Suedes at around Rs.39/-, A/B/C Lining at around Rs.32/29/27 and Rejection at around Rs.24/- per sq.ft. but availability of goods is limited and the present arrivals contain monsoon defects and hence contract is not easy. There is also good demand for sheep nappa and other items in Vaniyambadi and wet blue cow hides in Erode.

Prices of raw hides and skins have also gone up considerably in almost all centres in the country and abroad. For example raw goat skins are sold at around Rs.130/- per piece in states like Andhra Pradesh and Kernataka and much higher in places like Miraj where quality is better. Many small tanners have given up doing tanned skins due to the prevailing increased prices of raw skins and unworkable level of prices available for tanned skins in the Chennai market.

OVERSEAS DEMAND

There is good demand for goat upper and lining leathers, sheep nappa and suede leather etc. in the overseas markets at different prices depending on the quality and selection. It is learnt that Hong Kong and Korean customers are interested in F/C goat upper and lining leathers at around US$1.80 and 1.10 per sq.ft. respectively whereas S/C goat garment suede leathers are salable at around US$2.00 per sq.ft. European customers are also buying goat lining leathers TR-1/2/3 at around US$1.10/1.00/0.90 per sq.ft. as usual.

Demand also continues for F/C sheep suede leathers – All Suedes, LDT and Rejection at around US$2.50, 1.90 and 1.40 per sq.ft. respectively. Sheep lining leathers are sold at around US$1.20 per sq.ft..

DOMESTIC DEMAND

Many domestic shoe manufacturers also buy sheep lining leathers at around Rs.50/- per sq.ft. from tanneries in Vaniyambadi. This town is well known for its bulk supplies of different varieties of sheep leathers. Garment and shoe manufacturers in different parts of our country cover their requirements of finished leathers such as nappa, suede, cabretta and lining leathers from this popular centre with quite a large number of tanneries. While Ambur enjoys the reputation for its sophisticated shoe factories producing world class footwears, Vaniyambadi is popular for its tanneries producing high class sheep nappa, suede and Cabretta leathers.

ROLE OF LEATHER INDUSTRY

The leather industry plays an important role in the Indian economy. It is one of the top foreign exchange earners for the country. India’s export of leather and leather products was to the tune of US $3400 million during the year 2009-10 and it is providing employment opportunities to lakhs of people. The governments at the Centre and in the States are interested in its growth and development and extend all support to it. There is every possibility of increase in this export figure in the coming year 2010-11.

The Leather Industry holds a prominent place in the Indian economy. This sector is known for its consistency in high export earnings and it is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country.

‘BAYWATCH’ STAR PAMELA’S LETTER

Nobody sacrifices any animal for its skin or hide. This being the case, the much publicized letter in the media written by the former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson (who participated in the reality show ‘Big Boss 4’ in India) to the hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh urging all to reject all leather products “in order to help put an end to animal suffering” holds no water to say the least. She has done this deliberately perhaps just for the sake of publicity knowing pretty well that her proposal is impracticable and no government will implement it as it is fraught with dangerous economic consequences. The fact is that the leather industry is making the best use of the already available raw hides and skins by proper procurement, tanning and finishing without allowing them to be wasted by putrefaction and earning the invaluable foreign exchange for the nation. Her proposal cannot be a solution to prevent cruelty to animals. However the interest she has shown for helpless animals for whatever reason it may be is, no doubt, appreciable.

The government should do the needful to see that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 is implemented properly. It should be clear to all that putting an animal to any cruelty is an offence and punishable under this Act and it is also a sin according to all faiths.

The leather associations in different parts of the country should also take a note of this and create awareness among the people to prevent cruelty to animals. (VMK in Indian Leather, December 2010)

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