According to the population census there are just nine (of the total of 33 districts) where the Muslims are in a majority. A state rich in tea estates (fields) and the folk culture of Bodo, Mishing, Phake, Dimasa, Kachari, Khamti, Khamyang, Khelma, Rahba, Tai Aiton, Goriya and other tea-tribes owns up unique local cultures, where people weave the threads of a syncretic canopy.

• Shivsagar

In the Bodwa Chowk locality of Shivsagar two Muslim men planned the Hajj pilgrimage, which is regarded as one of the mandatory religious duties. There is a tradition of greeting the Hajjis before their departure and then after arrival with token gifts and warm wishes. Friends and relatives meet and wish them to express joy and request for special prayers.

Remarkably, the Hindu well-wishers of the Bodwa Chowk invited Hqajjis on an auspicious feast and presented the traditional ‘Gamchha’ to compliment them for this devout accomplishment. As reported here, the Hindu community of the Bodwa Chowk also organised a pooja on the feast day. This gesture of humanity and affection to respect and accept different faiths is poignant. Iliyas Ahmad, a leader from the social organisation ‘Khudai Khidmatgar’ said ‘It’s a slap on the face of people who spread hate.’

• Hailakandi

According to a report of The Asian Age, an Auto-rickshaw driver in Hailakandi, Assam has often crossed the curfew-restrictions to save two lives. While the breaking of an imposed curfew is not a lawful activity but what if it can become a saviour of humanity? Maqbool, a real-life hero of love and harmony, reached and picked the pregnant lady Nandita and her husband Ruben Das when she was going through pain and Ruben was not able to manage a vehicle. At such a critical time, Maqbool arrived with his auto-rickshaw and took them to the nearest hospital. Everyone has greeted and appreciated his step. Later Nandita gave birth to a beautiful daughter and named her ‘Shanti’. She told ‘We need more such examples of Hindu-Muslim unity.’

Curfew is usually declared at times where police authorities consider it necessary as there is a breakdown of social harmony or ‘law and order.’ The hope generated by down to earth Maqbool itself serves as an example to restore the peace.

• Dhubri

Have Muslims constructed temples? Visit Dhubri district in Assam where is located the ancient Durga temple, refurbished by Amrit Badshah in 2022. An absence of regular maintenance meant that this temple needed an urgent renovation. Hence the young social activist Amrit took this task on. He stated – ‘I had publicly announced that whatever repair, construction left for this particular Durga Temple, I will do diligently.’

He works as a secretary at the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. While hate and venom are spewed by some, such examples are the best deterrant. Temples and mosques are more than mere religious edifices. These centres of social and religious gatherings, represent local and religious cultures, dear to different sections of the population.

• Barpeta

Again here, people come forward for each other. Vashishta Sharma from the district Barpeta has donated 5 Bigha land to the Jama Masjid of Mandiya for a Qabristan. Local Muslims and Hindus have whole-heartedly hailed his decision. In the 21^st century when people contest every patch of land, this generous act stands out as a shining exception.

The egalitarian celebrations of Rongali Bihu and Azan Fakir-

Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu is a widely celebrated festival of Assam which welcomes the season of spring, The Assamese New Year! It also lends a festive frame to relish the religious and folk diversity. Muslims actively participate. Bihu celebrations are divided over separate days, with a distinct ritual for each day.

On ‘Goru Bihu’ people take their cows to the nearby ponds or rivers while Mela Bihu, Sera Bihu, Kutum Bihu, Raati Bihu, Sot Bihu and Manuh Bihu are celebrated with folk music, dance and songs followed by particular formalities. The Sera Bihu is celebrated on the last day of the festival when people accumulate for further resolutions and end-day rites. The Bihu not just preserves the spirit of Assamese tribes but Muslims are also a part of the inclusive ethos.

The Azan Fakir, a Sufi saint and poet of Assam who initiated the lyrical tradition of the famous ‘Zikr’ and ‘Zari’ songs is broadly sung during the Bihu carnival. These devotional songs have been alluring the masses through its magnetic sense of spirituality. Till now the Bihu organising committees manage distinct sessions to cherish this evergreen tradition. Fakir was a Muslim who invigorated the dismantling situation of the Assamese Muslims but he also understood the worth of a pluralistic society. The shards of multiplicity still gleam between his melodious words of sagacity.

These local traditions continue to draw in different communities.

The Jama Masjid of Jayantipur, Nagaon, built in early 1570 is considered among the very first Islamic edifices of India. Assam holds a long history of Muslims spread over almost seven decades. The marring of the social landscape by the discourse of “illegal migrants” has considerably exacerbated the ongoing citizenship crisis.

This has been made worse by hate being spewed by those in power. CJP (Citizens for Justice and Peace) has also taken note of a programme of ‘Times Now’ and registered a complaint on April 12, 2023, where the presenter manipulated the audience to strengthen the ‘Mazar Jihad’ propaganda.

The fact that real life fraternity and harmony continues to thrive among citizens is what offers hope, in Assam and all over India. 

Related:

India celebrates Durga-Pooja with zest, air of religious unity rules the country

Everyday Harmony: Muslim Man Risks Life to Save a Hindu Girl from Drowning In Madhya Pradesh

Love & Harmony over Hate: Int’l Day to Counter Hate speech, CJP’s unique efforts

An oasis of Sufi harmony, Hazrat Nizamuddin’s tomb stands out

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This was during Ramzan in 2010. My maternal grandmother had to undergo knee replacement surgeries after losing her mobility due to a combination of severe arthritis, varicose veins and bad reaction to lifelong and daily use of steroids due to debilitating asthma (which took her eventually). Her surgery for each knee was around 3 months apart, so I used this opportunity to make a career shift and the break to be with her for her surgeries and after care. This was also the point of reckoning for my grandfather’s health which took a bad turn around the same time.

During one of her knee replacement surgeries in a hospital in Baroda, Gujarat, there was an urgent requirement for three units of blood. It was sometime in the middle of the night, I was alone there in the hospital. Her blood type being B negative, was rare and difficult to arrange, and the hospital washed off their hands saying they did not have the required backup and that they were trying with the blood banks but they did not have the blood group. I started making calls and sending messages to everyone I knew in baroda – friends, family, activists I knew and to contacts sent by my parents who have better networks there, also exploring again with the blood banks, but nothing was coming up. 

I was panicking by the time I got a call back from an activist friend a few hours later who told me that something was being arranged and that the blood donors would come in. In an hour, three men showed up at the hospital and enquired for me. They had come from Muslim dominated area of Tandalja. They were all observing roza and had woken up early for sehri. While we got speaking, one of them told me that he was enlisted as a blood donor but doesn’t get calls often because people won’t take Muslim blood in Baroda, he had asked if we would but was told it was not a problem so he came. I was too exhausted and couldn’t help but tear up out of gratitude and pain. 

We started exchanging stories of a different Baroda before 2002, before disturbed areas and segregation. The city of their memories and imagination, the one my parents romanticise from their student and movement days, what I reminisce of childhood summers and safety in my second home. At some point I was told it was good I lived in Bombay being HM – Hindu-Muslim, because here that can only mean riots. We imagined a different future, of peace and friendship and love (if only we knew better then) and laughed on some common gujju jokes. My granny met one of them later when he returned, blessed them all and cracked some more hilarious jokes on her surgery and leg in her unique style. We went to the canteen and broke fast together with fruits and hospital chai and biscuits too.

I have never felt the value of blood more than then. The pain of that which is shed out of hate and Gratitude for that which is given out of love. When my granny died quite suddenly after a bad spell of asthma on the new years eve of 1st January 2015, for her condolence meeting in Baroda a few days later, we had a blood donation camp along with body and eye donation (following her lead) with songs of love playing in the background. Each time I donate blood I feel happy remembering my friends from Tandalja and that hopeful day. But today I remembered this story while forwarding a few appeals for blood donation and also reading some hate speech calling for the blood of Muslims that has been doing the rounds. 

We are living in a world oscillating between warped priorities and stark realities. And in between a world blissfully and conveniently oblivious to both these worlds. I just hope more people actively choose love over hate. Love is the epidemic this world desperately needs. And one we don’t is Covid which really really needs to go now, it has weakened and destroyed just enough, even the strength to fight hate. It’s time for us to rebuild and heal, all of us who reject hate need to say it out loud in unison. 

#DonateBlood #RejectHate #loveistheanswer #ramzanmubarak

Rohit Prajapati-Trupti Shah-Amar Jesani-Vibhuti Patel from that time

(The author is a rights advocate, feminist and secretary of the Maharashtra Unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties-PUCL; the post is from her Facebook post dated April 13, 2023 and is being published with her permission with minor edits)

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When the deadly monsoon wreaked havoc in Kerala, it didn’t spare even the schools where little kids come to take their first steps in formal education. The Government Lower Primary (GLP) School at Kurichyarmala in Vythiri in Wayanad district was one such school to suffer heavily during the floods. But the school rose from the calamity like a phoenix, setting a new example of community feeling and social responsibility.

Wayanad had to face the wrath of nature even before the rest of Kerala began to face them. In the landslide of August 13, mud, rocks and other wastes covered nearly half the GLP school at Kurichyarmala. Roads and bridges leading to the school were washed away, and a big crack was formed in the ground making it impossible to access the area. Such circumstances made it nearly impossible to run the school.

The first helping hand for the school came from the Muslim Mahall Committee of the area. When the school authorities approached them, the committee offered to give the hall above its madrasa building for the school.  The committee met officially and handed over a document to the school authorities allowing to run the school in its building; only 10 minutes were reportedly needed for the committee to take the decision. The document was submitted to the district education authorities and permission received. The school was temporarily shifted to the madrassa.  Soon after, schools were given holidays all over the state due to the incessant rains with landslides and floods.

But the people of Kurichyarmala were not ready to give up. If they lost this school, there was no government school nearby for the nearly 100 young kids studying in pre-school to class 4.  The school authorities went to the Collectorate to discuss the matter, from where they met a group of young men willing to help, who were focusing on the rebuilding of schools destroyed in the natural calamity.  They visited the area, saw the destroyed school and the madrassa building arranged to resume the classes temporarily.

When the local people and teachers were determined to bring back the school, others also came in. The young men from the voluntary organisations like the Green Palliative, the Human Beings Collective and the Malabar Flood Rehabilitation Forum decided to stand with the initiative of the teachers and the local people.  Schools were to reopen on August 29 after the Onam vacations.  And it was already August 25.  They announced in all the media possible about the condition of the school and the mission to rebuild, inviting volunteers and contributions.  Around 50 volunteers from Kasargode to Ernakulam turned up to rebuild the school.
 

 

Students from the Aligarh Muslim University donated learning equipment.  Toys came from the students of the Pondicherry University.  Those from the Jawaharlal Nehru University helped financially. A sum of Rs 3.5 lakh was spent on the school.  The library was sponsored by the Kerala School Teachers Association.

The new school was built on top of the madrassa building in 72 hours.  The volunteers served day and night to carry bricks and cement, to paint and decorate, to set everything right. There was no wall on one part of the building. They built the wall of more than 70-feet length in one and half hours. The walls were decorated with paintings and colourful pictures. They also set up the play area for the little kids with toy horses, see-saw, ball pool etc.  While the men were busy with the work of the school, food for the volunteers was cooked and served by the women in nearby houses.

“We offered our support, and they took up the project. However, the most important thing is that the youth of this place joined them, including the parents and local people.  The reason for the success goes to the formation of a good collective here.  Actually, the main works were carried out in three days, ie a building was decorated and transformed into a school within a mere 72 hours,” Sashi PK, the headmaster of the GLP School, Kurichayarmala, told TwoCircles.net on phone.
 

 

The school needed everything from chalks and blackboards to benches and desks, tables and chairs, shelves, toilets, kitchen to cook food, projector, other equipment etc.  The school now has a pre-primary classroom, four classrooms for the students of classes 1 to 4, a staff room and a room for the headmaster.  The new school reopened along with all other schools on August 29, but with a difference – a grand function was held to mark the reopening.

CK Saseendran, MLA, inaugurated the re-opening function and promised to give Rs 1.5 crore to the school from his MLA fund.  District Collector Keshavendra Kumar, sub-Collector Umesh, DDE K Prabhakaran, parents, Mahall authorities and local people were present at the function.
 

 

There were motivational sessions and entertainment programmes for the students who had witnessed the fury of nature, many of who had been in relief camps for days and had suffered losses.  In fact, there were only motivational classes for three days.

“This is an initiative of the local people”, said Anees Nadodi, art director in the film industry and volunteer of the Green Palliative, to TwoCircles.net on phone.  “We only helped them. The parents of the students carried out the electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry and welding works, under the leadership of the headmaster and the president of the Parent Teacher Association. Our involvement was only providing creative support to the community initiative of the people of Kurichyarmala. We had interior designers, artists, architects etc in the team, and thus we could finish the works in time.”  The bank account of the Green Palliative was used to raise funds for the initiative.

Another school at Makkimala, around 55 km from Kurichyarmala near Mananthavady, also faced similar situations of having lost the school building to a landslide. The school didn’t get a fitness certificate as there were cracks in the building itself, and so it couldn’t be opened on August 29. Inspired by the act of the madrassa and Mahall Committee at Kurichyarmala, the Mahall Committee at Makkimala also offered their building for the school there. The mosque was on the ground floor and the school could function on the first floor. On September 1, when the volunteering team at Kurichyarmala was about to return after the rebuilding and three days of motivational classes, the imam of the mosque urged the local people in his Friday sermon to move to Makkimala and rebuild the school there. Accordingly, the experienced local people went to Makkkimala and rebuilt the school there in two days, and the school was reopened on September 4. And this time the local people of Kurichyarmala did it all with the support of the people at Makkimala, without any help from the volunteering team from outside. “We rebuilt the school at Makkimala in cooperation with the local people there, and now we are ready to undertake such works anywhere,” said Aslam, president of the PTA at Kurichyarmala school.
 

 

Setting a new example of community service and social responsibility, the Kurichyarmala GLP school has entered its special name in the records related to the rebuilding of Kerala after the calamity of 2018. The old building of the school cannot be used, and the area also is inaccessible.  So the school needs a new building which, the headmaster informed that the TATA group has promised. It needs a suitable piece of land now, which also will be acquired with the joint efforts of the school and local people, as is evident from the unmatched activities that have been accomplished now.

 
Courtesy: Two Circles

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Malppuram district Collector Amit Meena recieving contributions for the flood relief. The elderly people gave their old age pensions and the woman gave the money she had set aside for Umra pilgrimage.

The state rose from the initial confusion of the hard-beating floods with a courage and determination unprecedented in history. The rescue of Kerala became the mission of all strata of people, from the fishermen on the coasts to the IT professionals in the cities.

The young generation, which the elders used to laugh at saying they are always on phones and the internet, suddenly rose to the occasion. They utilised the internet on their fingertips to coordinate the rescue mission. Unofficial control rooms opened up on social media such as Whatsapp and Facebook for the rescue mission. Emergency numbers were announced on the social media for the aid of those caught up in the floods. The people stranded on rooftops and isolated buildings in the heavily flooded areas sent audio and video messages on the social media which were widely shared, and thus reached the rescue teams. ‘The Compassionate Kerala’, a group formed by former Kozhikode Collector Prashant Nair (commonly known as Collector Bro among the youths) was at the forefront to coordinate things, by collecting data on the rescue needs, sending information to the rescue teams and updating on the happenings.

The tech-savvy young generation created new apps to aid the rescue mission. The NRIs in the Gulf, Europe and elsewhere coordinated from their respective countries too. The Kerala government also rose to the occasion by creating a new website solely for the rescue and relief activities connected with the deadly floods – www.keralarescue.in.  Now, Google could not wait on the sidelines.  The internet giant began a move to mark the safety of people.  People were asked to mark if they were safe in the Kerala floods or not. Websites like www.microid.in came up with maps to mark the flooded areas, which was useful for both rescue workers as well as those travelling with relief materials.

The leaders of the state-led from the front.  They did not give orders and sit back in their comfortable homes.  Instead, the ministers, MLAs and other political party leaders were in the front of the mission to save Kerala working from their own respective constituencies.  Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac and Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar were seen in the forefront of rescue and relief activities. Collector and sub-Collector of Wayanad carried sacks of rice on their backs when trucks came to the relief collection point at night when other volunteers in the camp were taking rest after a tough day.  Several district Collectors and IAS officers were in the forefront to lead the rescue and relief mission. Notable are TV Anupama of Thrissur, K Vasuki of Thiruvananthapuram, and Amit Meena of Malappuram, as well as other IAS officers Rajamanickam, UV Sumesh, and Prashant Nair. “You are making history. You are showing the world what Malayalis can do. In my opinion, you are working like soldiers who fought for freedom.” Though these words were said by K Vasuki to a cheering crowd at a relief camp in Thiruvananthapuram, whole Kerala took her words as an inspiration to move forward in the difficult times.

The Chief Minister, who was known to have a difficult relationship with the media, managed the grave situation wisely, with not a single negative tinge in his press meets.  He convened press meets regularly and informed the media of what was happening. Even when the whole state was rallying against the centre for not providing an adequate number of army and navy personnel and helicopters for airlifting, the CM maintained that the Centre was helpful and that it had offered more help.  He always carried a positive note in his press meets. And his office worked 24×7 in those days.

The bureaucracy worked along with the political leadership, and the local population also joined them.  Nobody waited for directions to come from the top as to what to do. The local self-government bodies and its representatives acted as guides of their respective areas to identify and rescue each and every one, and they also supervised the relief camps.  Local youth clubs and small groups also played their part in the mission to save the state. They are still active in the field with relief activities in remote areas where the government officials and aid may not reach.
Similarly, the role of the opposition parties also is commendable.  The highly-political state of Kerala saw its ruling party and opposition going together in the mission to rescue the people.  The opposition stood firmly with the ruling government and kept away from making accusations sensing the gravity of the situation.

The Kerala Police and Fire Force were responsible for the warning and evacuation of people from the affected areas before the waters rose, and they actively involved themselves in the rescue operations once floods came in. They also assisted the central forces and fishermen towards the end. The role of the NDRF, the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force cannot be sidelined; they were in the forefront for rescue by water and air, as well as airdropping food to those stranded in the flooded parts.

Perhaps, the most important part in the rescue mission was carried out by the fishermen. The centre had provided helicopters to airlift those stranded on rooftops in the areas where water had submerged even two-storey houses.  Several dams were opened and water was flowing heavily into the 44 rivers all over the state. The rains were incessantly falling too. When Saji Cherian, MLA of Chengannur, broke down on an interview with a news channel, it was clear that things were falling apart.  It was then that the new saviours came to the forefront – the fishermen. Fishermen from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and even Malappuram went all the way to the flooded parts with their boats and initiated the new phase of the rescue mission. In fact, they chose on their own volition to risk their lives and row their boats through the heavily-flowing water to save people.

Though the Navy and the NDRF followed in, the death count would have probably gone up substantially, had the fishermen folk not turned up. And the state did recognize the efforts of the sidelined section of the society. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed the fishermen as the ‘Army of Kerala’, which in a way serves as a befitting reply to the centre which refused to send in more army men for the rescue.

Even as the rescue mission was going on, contributions were flowing in from different parts. The government requested people to contribute to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. Other states in the country offered great help, financially and materially, which amounts to a total of around Rs 150 crore. When the state announced the primary estimate of loss as Rs 20,000 crore and requested for Rs 2,000 crore as immediate relief, the centre gave Rs 600 crore. Countries like UAE, Qatar and Thailand offered help, but the central government has taken a position not to accept foreign aid.

Tales of love in the time of floods
A fisherman from Tanur in Malappuram district has become the symbol of love and sacrifice in the deadly floods. A group of fishermen saved some women from the floods and boats were ready to transport them to a safer place. But a woman was not well and sensing that she might find it difficult to climb onto the boat from the water in which they were standing, Jaisal did the unexpected. He knelt on the ground covered by water so that the women could step onto his back and get down into the boat. The video of the same went viral on the social media and even the international media took notice of it.

While celebrities and big businessmen are contributing considerable amounts to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund and relief works of other small groups, there are also tales of love and sacrifice from those who cannot pay much. Malappuram district witnessed one such expression of sacrifice last day when a bunch of old people approached the district Collector and offered their old-age pension amount to the relief fund. Another woman handed over to the Collector the money she had kept for the Umrah pilgrimage. Over 350 inmates from the prisons across the state have been cooking and packing food for the flood victims, to be airdropped or sent to relief camps and stranded houses. They fed the flood-hit people with chapatis, upma, idlis, bread and jam etc.

The volunteers of the Ideal Relief Wing, the disaster management wing of the Jamat-e-Islami Hind were active in the rescue mission in all parts of the state. And now that the rescue has been completed, the IRW is active in running relief camps and in the cleaning of houses, other buildings and public places. There have been reports of the members of the IRW cleaning up a church first and then offering prayers inside the church itself as there were no mosques nearby. Different teams of the IRW have moved to different parts of the states with relief kits comprising of cleaning items, food and essentials etc for the relief activities. The state coordination office of the organization in Kozhikode is managing the activities.

Muslims offering jumuah prayers in a church after cleaning up the church and premises

In another example of love and harmony, a temple in Thrissur district opened its doors to the Muslims of the area to offer their Eid prayers since all mosques in their area were covered with water. Another report says of a group of people including women in a village who were shifted to a mosque nearby as the residential area was under the threat of a landslide. Mosques that allow women inside have specific places allotted for them normally. Hindu temples do not normally allow non-Hindus to enter. But all those restrictions flew away as they saw people suffering.

Mosques and churches turned into relief camps, temples opened their doors for Eid namaz.

Eid Namaz being conducted in the hall of a Hindu temple in Thrissur district

A group of 200 people from Malappuram are at the forefront of cleaning activities in Aluva in Ernakulam district on Saturday.  The team under the banner of ‘Mission Flood 2018’ went to Aluva with cleaning equipment, medical facilities, clothes, food and drinking water etc. They cleaned up houses, public places and temples alike. The team also had plumbers and electricians, snake-catchers and doctors for the mission.

There have also been reports of little kids contributing to the flood relief. A little girl who had been saving money to buy a bicycle broke her piggy bank and gave all her money to the CMDRF. On knowing the incident, the famous cycle company Hero Cycles has got ready to gift her a bicycle. In another incident, a brother and sister decided to donate the land they inherited from their father to the CMDRF.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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As he poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them, several of the migrants were moved to tears.

The gesture is particularly significant in view of the growing anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant sentiment across the West and which has been fuelled further by the terror attack in Brussels.

The Holy Thursday ritual commemorating Jesus washing the feet of his apostles before being crucified symbolises the spirit of service towards humanity.  The Pope performed his service during the Easter Week Mass with asylum-seekers provided shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, near Rome city.

The Pope contrasted his own gesture with the “gesture of war” and “gesture of destruction” perpetrated by the blood-thirsty terrorists. He added that the terror acts were aimed at destroying the brotherhood of all humanity which the plight of the migrants invokes.

“We have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and we want to live in peace,” said the pontiff.

The Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio who became Pope Francis in March 2013, is the first non-European to be elevated to the high office in over 1,300 years. And in his short stint as head of the Roman Catholic Church, he has repeatedly shown that he is a Pope with a difference.

Before him, the feet-washing ritual was performed on 12 men, all Catholic. But within weeks of his 2013 election, he shocked many followers by performing the ritual on women and Muslims at a juvenile detention centre.

Four women and eight men took part in the event on Thursday. The women included an Italian Catholic who works at the centre and three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants. The men included four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan and a Hindu man from India.

Pope Francis’ definition of the “people of God” clearly includes everyone.

“All of us, together: Muslims, Hindi, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals, but brothers, children of the same God,” he said. “We want to live in peace, integrated.”

In June 2013, the Pope stunned his followers and the world at large with his remark, “If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” We shouldn't marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society, he said. Just months before then his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI had suggested that gay marriage was a threat to global peace.

The Pope believes that economic inequality is the world’s “No. 1 problem” and that capitalism is at the center of all problems of inequality.

He is no less outspoken on the issue of war and peace. “Jesus is weeping today, too, because we have preferred the path of war, the path of hatred, the path of enmity,” the “commander-in-chief” of 1.2 billion Catholics across the globe said in November 2015 during the Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae where he lives.

Choosing war, he said, is like saying, “‘Let’s make weapons, that way we can balance the budget a bit and move our own interests forward.’ The Lord has strong words for those people: ‘Be cursed!’ He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Those who decide for war, who make wars, are cursed; they are criminals.”

While arms sellers around the world are getting rich, the Pope said, peacemakers are humbly helping people one at a time.

In September 2015, the pontiff issued an appeal to people of “all religions” to come forward and offer shelter to the refugees from war-ravaged Syria and elsewhere. “May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe, take in one family,” he said and announced that the Vatican would do its bit by extending help to two families at its parishes.

In February this year, Pope Francis suggested that the Republican aspirant in the American presidential race, Donald Trump was “not a Christian”. The New York Times reported him as stating: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” The statement was in response to a reporter who asked him about Mr. Trump on the papal airliner as he returned to Rome after his six-day visit to Mexico.

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Written by Garima Mishra | Pune | Updated: March 10, 2016 6:03 am
 
Among the pamphlets and bills stuck on the building of Harun Mukati Islamic Centre (HMIC) in Aurangabad, some say: ‘ISIS se bachchon ko bachaiye, Lashkar-e-Toiba se bachhon ko bachaiye’ (save your children from ISIS, save your children from Lashkar-e-Toiba).

Others declare ‘jihaad against terrorism’.

Among the several initiatives this social organisation has taken up, one of them is to raise awareness among Muslim youths and their families to guard against extremist groups.

Yusuf Mukati, who founded the organisation in the name of his father over a year ago, said, “The issue of terrorism has been haunting the nation. These days, every incident is given a Hindu-Muslim twist. Muslim youngsters are being misguided by extremist organisations. Many a times, they get carried away and join such groups. In a recent case nearly two months ago in Aurangabad, a youngster was caught by the police for being involved with the Islamic State. That’s why we felt the need to raise awareness about the issue, especially in the Muslim community.”

Around two weeks ago, HMIC organised a lecture on the topic ‘Fight against Terrorism’, which saw participation from six maulanas – three from sunni community and three from tablighi community, and an ATS official. Nearly 1,500 people attended the event, where the maulanas interacted with youngsters.

“They briefed them on how Islam does not preach bloodshed and terrorism; the prophet propagates the message of peace and love. They stressed that enemy countries, especially Pakistan, are spreading falsehoods about the Muslim community, such as their diminishing population and how we are unsafe in India. The maulanas told the youngsters that they should not believe such things and go astray. Besides, they should also stay alert on social media, which is widely being used to trap Muslim youngsters with vulnerable minds. The youth were advised against posting hurtful comments related to sensitive issues on social media,” said Mukati. He added that through posters, the organisation is also asking people to be careful while renting out their houses and to keep the police in the loop.

HMIC runs various skill development programmes for girls, where they learn stitching, computer operations, yoga, mehendi, aerobics, calligraphy etc free of cost. “The teachers at the Centre ask the girls to keep a watch on the men in their house, especially young brothers, and see that they do not fall prey to any terrorist group,” said Mukati.

Chai Pe Shaadi

In a spin-off of the PM’s ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ strategy, HMIC has begun ‘Chai Pe Shaadi’, an initiative seeking to render a social service. It reaches out to financially weak Muslims and helps them organise weddings by offering free-of-cost venues, services of a kaazi (priest) and tea for the guests. The initiative was started nearly two months ago and so far, seven weddings have take place. “Often, the financially weak have to approach money lenders and borrow money on a high interest to organise a wedding. We want to help them. Apart from arranging the venue and a kaazi for them, we also provide tea for nearly 800 people, free-of-cost,” said Mukati.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/muslim-organisation-takes-up-cudgels-against-extremism/#sthash.J7NGpdRP.dpuf
 

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In a decision that is sure to rattle the Israeli government, the pension board of the United Methodist Church which has seven million members in the US has blacklisted five Israeli banks for human rights violations. According to a statement issued by the Board on Tuesday, the banks knocked off its investment portfolio are guilty of financing settlement construction in Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel.

Pro-Palestine voices within and outside the Church have hailed the boycott decision as a major step forward in the Boycott, Divest and Sanction campaign (BDS), an international effort to pressureise economically over the Palestinian issue. Meanwhile, a section among the church members are opposed to the divestment campaign and also claim that in any case the church remains invested in other Israeli companies. M. Colette Nies, a spokeswoman for the pension board stated that pension fund remains invested in “approximately 18 Israeli companies that meet our investment criteria.”
The excluded banks are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank. Also blacklisted is an Israeli construction concern, Shikun & Binui, which is heavily involved in settlement construction.

The Israeli banks on the United Methodist Church’s black list are among 39 companies from several countries that have been excluded from the pension board’s portfolio for not meeting its Human Rights Investment Policy guideline adopted in 2014.

The pension board’s decision is in sync with other American church groups among whom divestment is gaining momentum. Liberal Protestants see the divestment movement as a tool to pressure Israel over its policies toward Palestinians. In July 2015, the United Church of Christ voted to divest from companies with business in the Israeli-occupied territories. The Presbyterian Church (USA) had voted similarly in 2014.

While there was no immediate comment from Israeli officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel sees the divestment movement as a campaign to destroy Israel. The Israeli government invests a lot of time and resources in combating the decision of academic institutions, businesses and church organizations to divest from Israeli companies over the issue of Israeli settlements and the occupation of Palestinian lands.

Among the first to welcome the pension board’s decision was Tikkun magazine, the largest circulation voice of liberal and progressive Jews (and the winner of the Best Magazine of the Year Award from the Religion Newswriters Association in both 2014 and 2015)  

The magazine issued a statement stating, “Although we at Tikkun do NOT support a general boycott of Israel, and wish to see Israel remain strong and its security intact, we welcome the action of the United Methodist Church Pension Fund. The action of the UMC Pension Fund is narrowly focused on boycotting and divesting from Israeli and other firms that help perpetuate Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the construction of “Jewish-only” settlements. The Occupation of the West Bank with its attendant oppression of the Palestinian people is not only a violation of the highest values of the Jewish people, it is also the Israeli activity that most threatens to turn Israel into a pariah state and thereby weaken its ability to protect its citizens from the real threats it may face from surrounding hostile powers and forces. For that reason, we support all efforts to boycott the products produced on the West Bank in Israeli “Jewish only” settlements and to disinvest from Israeli and global corporations and institutions that help make the Occupation possible. The Jewish people in centuries to come will thank those friends of Israel, like the United Methodists, Presbyterians USA, and the United Church of Christ, who are doing all they can to reverse Israel’s self-destructive policies in the West Bank while distancing from the BDS movement that aims not only at the Occupation of the West Bank but at the totality of Israel and the Israeli people.”

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