Moghal descendant claims rights over the tombs of Emperor Shahjahan and Queen Mumtaj Mahal in Taj Mahal

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy, a city-based descendent of last  Moghal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar has knocked at the doors of  Supreme Court seeking temporary injunction order permitting him to preside  over the Urs celebrations of Shahjahan and Mumtaj Mahal at their tombs in  the Taj.
The Urs falls on January 25 and 26 next year and Habeebuddin Tucy claims  that only the family members of the Moghal emperors have the right to  preside over the religious ceremony. So far, the Archaeological Survey of  India has been celebrating the Urs.
Habeebuddin shot into national limelight a few months ago when he filed a  case in Allahabad High Court seeking direction to the Central government  that the Taj Mahal belonged to him by virtue of his lineage to the Moghal  emperors.
"The ASI has the jurisdiction over only the protection part of the Taj Mahal. It has no right to interfere in religious ceremonies. As legal descendants of  the Moghal emperors, only we have the right to supervise over the religious  ceremonies," Habeebuddin observed.
Habeebuddin's advocate M Irshad Hanif told this correspondent from Delhi  on telephone that the Supreme Court had registered their petition. It may  come up for hearing next week. "Our contention is that there should be a Taj  Act on the lines of the Rajghat Samadhi Act 1951, Dargah Khwaja Sahib Act 1955 and Rampur Raza Library Act 1975. In all these Acts, the descendants  have been given permission to supervise over the religious ceremonies  though the protection and maintenance part vests with ASI, Central  government and Wakf Board," he said.
Hanif said they had prayed for declaration of the Taj Mahal as a Wakf  property and permission to Yakub Tucy to be the incharge of the Urs. "We  are not asking for the mutavalliship. We are just seeking supervision over the  religious functions," he clarified.

Muslim body sets up blood bank in Hyderabad to meet shortage of blood

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  The Islamic Academy For Comparative Religion has 
launched a mission in the city to create awareness in the Muslim youth on the 
importance of blood donation and promotion of communal harmony.
The Academy has created a computerised database of blood donors to 
provide blood to needy patients in and around the city. It wants to enrol as 
many as 5000 volunteers to begin with and create a mega bank of blood 
donors in the long run.
"There is a general misconception in the Muslim community that one should 
not donate blood. This is wrong. Donation of blood to save the life a person 
is very much a part of Islamic practice as the Holy Quran says that saving one 
human life is like saving the whole of mankind," observes Academy 
president Mohammed Asifuddin.
A round-the-clock control room has been set up for enrolment of volunteers 
and appeals for blood. This will be a continuous and on-site help for all who 
need blood. This help will be free and available for all irrespective of caste, 
creed, age or gender, he said.
"Once a call is received the nearest volunteer with the matching blood details 
will drop in at the spot in minutes to donate blood. The donors will be 
carefully picked up after a comprehensive scrutiny of all personal health 
records. The volunteers will be in the age group of 18-35 years. Each 
volunteer will be permitted to donate blood only twice a year," he said.
The Academy will promote the concept of blood donation through sermons 
in mosques, madarasas and other Islamic institutions.

Muslim quota in Andhra Pradesh: Government engages expert lawyers to fight its legal case

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh State government has decided to engage the 
services of eminent legal experts FS Nariman and K Parasaran to argue on its 
behalf against the AP High Court's judgment on reservations for Muslims in 
government jobs and educational institutions.
The State BC Commission is holding a meeting in a couple of days to decide 
whether to implead separately in Supreme Court on the Muslim quota since 
the High Court has found fault with the way the commission prepared the 
report recommending five per cent reservations for the principal minority 
community.
The State government has sought clarification from the High Court on the 
four weeks time given by it for filing of special leave petition in Supreme 
Court. Officials want to know whether the four week period starts on the day 
of delivery of the judgment or from the day of handing over of the judgment 
copies to the government.
Officials of BC and minorities welfare department are now busy studying 
various judgements on reservations and reports submitted by earlier BC 
commissions including the Anantaramulu and Muralidhar commissions. They 
are also gathering vital data on the economic backwardness of Muslims in 
Andhra Pradesh so that the government could put up a strong fight in the 
apex court.
The High Court has struck down the State government's order on five per 
cent quota for Muslims holding the BC Commission's report as inadequate.

Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh (India) in search of young religious leaders

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  The Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh is now in  search of GenX religious leadership to guide it through the challenges being  thrown in by the fast changing world.
The Muslim religious leaders in the State have let down the community on  more than one occasion with their old ideas, most of them impracticable in  this modern day society. The average age of top Muslim religious scholars is 60 years and some of the Moulanas cannot walk without support. And they  have been at the helm of religious affairs for as long as two to three decades, literally blocking the growth of young leaders.
In the absence of second-rung leadership there are instances of madrasas and religious institutions suffering heavily following the death of the chief promoter. A few institutions have been closed down causing untold hardship to students.
"Some of the Ulema in the State had grown to such a stature that they had become institutions by themselves. And when they died the institutions they had nourished for decades also suffered slow death. This would have been avoided had there been a second-rung young leadership," observes Moulana Abdul Kareem who is in his early 20s.
With the old Ulema refusing to make way for the GenX, an attempt is being made by a group of Muslim social and religious activists to create what they call the "Third Muslim Force" in the State. They want to take on the old Muslim political leadership on one hand and the old religious leadership on the other, through the proposed TMF movement. A series of meetings have been planned and six of them have been completed. 
"Be it politics or religion, we have been seeing the same old faces at least for the past 20 years. It's high time they stepped down and encourage young leaders to occupy high positions in religious institutions and madrasas. We have made a beginning with like-minded Muslim leaders in the State to create an alternative force to old Muslim politicians and old Muslim Ulema," says State IUML general secretary Abdul Sattar Mujahed.
Social activist Mubhashiruddin Khurram squarely blames the Ulema for the lack of second-rung religious leadership in the State. "Most of these Ulema send their children and grand-children to English medium schools and consequently they do not find anyone in their family to don the mantle after them. Moreover, they do not trust outsiders. This makes things complicated for them. They continue to run the show as long as they live and the moment they die the institutions suffer. This bad," he observes.Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind State president Hafiz Peerzada Shabbir Ali advocates the system of "Majlis-e-Shura" (consultative committee) in all the religious institutions in the State to encourage a blend of old and young leadership in the community. He points out that eminent Muslim institutions in north India including the Nadwatul Ulema and Darul Uloom Deoband follow the tradition of Shura with 21 members. "Why not this practice be followed in Andhra Pradesh? We generally do not allow young leaders to occupy top positions because they easily become emotional. They do not think with heart. What we need is a blend of old and new leadership for a balanced 
direction to the community," Shabbir argues.
However, All-India Personal Law Board general secretary Abdul Rahim Qureshi does not agree that there's a generation gap in the Muslim religious leadership in the State. "You find many young Muslim scholars in madarasas. If some of them have turned old while serving the institutions, we cannot blame them," says he.
The notable Muslim organisations in Hyderabad with old guards at the helm of affairs include Tameer-e-Millat, Amarat-e-Millat-e-Islamia, Jamia Nizamia, Sunni Ulema Board and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. There had been no change in the top leadership for many years.
Eminent institutions like An-Noor (Moulana Taqiuddin), Idare Islami (Moulana Akbar Qasmi) and Sabeelus Salam (Moulana Rizwanul Qasmi) fell in deep trouble after the demise of their founders. The change in leadership has not been smooth in the case of Sabeelus Salam with different claimants to its vast property.
"Yes, the generation gap is being felt by young and educated people in the community. Many of the old Ulema do not know what's happening in this new world. One has to take pains to explain to them terminology like AIDS, condoms or new methods in family planning while obtaining fatwas," says educationist B Moinuddin, recalling his experience with one of the old scholars.