The death of Crown Prince Naif has been a great loss for the Muslim world. In a short span as the crown prince, he brought about many changes and improvements in all walks of life of the common man.
He proved to be a noble example as a follower of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and a noble leader of every Muslim irrespective of nationality, culture or race.
Please permit me to take this opportunity to share my heartfelt condolences with the leadership and the people of Saudi Arabia. It is great loss not only for Saudi Arabia but for the entire Muslim world. We pray to Allah Almighty for the departed soul. Crown Prince Naif will always be remembered for his charity services and achievements. (Abdul Sattar, Alkhobar)
Women's status in India
This has reference to the feature in Arab News about many women in India living with no choice, voice or rights. There seems to be a culture of violence against women in Indian society, which is never brought to the fore or even noticed. So strongly have these customs become rooted in the society that as women we don't even realize that we are being discriminated against. For example, the most glaring evidence is the alienating of a girl from her home at the time of her marriage. What strange logic is there in snatching a girl, many times a child of 15 or even less from the comfort and security of her familiar surroundings and force her into an existence where she will forever be fighting for her personal space? The boy gets to stay home and continue to cement his identity and relationships and finally even acquire ownership of the property. And the girl? She will probably have to struggle to get what rightfully belongs to her whether her parents are alive or dead.
Strangely, even the most educated and enlightened among us never questions this custom? The usual reason we are given is that we are brought into the boy's house for 'khidmat' (service) of his parents. Good, but what about our own parents? Don't they deserve to be taken care of in their old age? What if we don't have a brother who is able to bring his own wife to live with him and do 'khidmat' in her turn?
And then there are the usual complaints of women being troublemakers. Well, why not? The trend these days is for women to marry, live in the boy's house and gradually take over total control over both the lives and finances of the boy's family. Given enough time, the boy ceases to have any say in his household matters and the new 'woman' becomes the tyrant of the house. Now what if this 'tyrant' had been reassured by her parents that she need not worry about leaving but with financial and moral support get a dignified place to live with her husband if she chooses to? What if her husband could also pitch in (instead of waiting around for a handsome dowry) to afford a home for himself and his wife? If daughters could also stay at home if they wished to (in many homes they do!) there wouldn't be that power struggle between the bride, the mother-in-law and everybody else.
My point is that the moment we tell our daughters that they have to leave, we have begun exercising a silent torture which neither they nor we are aware of: What, for example is the point of telling daughters that they will have to 'face the music' in their susraals so they had better behave well now? Are we seducing ourselves into believing that by doing so we are enforcing some sort of positive conditioning that will enable them to make adjustments in a new environment? It would be more correct to say that we will have succeeded in generating all sorts of negative emotions for the potential in-laws, which will certainly endanger the peace in their homes! Obviously this sort of passive violence enjoys an acceptability in our society which is now posing a risk to women in a big way: Hence the infanticides, the female feticides, the bride burnings over dowry, the acid attacks, the honor killings and the emotional and verbal abuse by both genders among her in-laws. What's more, it is a vicious cycle and this is why we have arrived where we are. Our daughters are only reaping what we have sown in our time. (Ozma Siddqui, Jeddah)
Ghazal maestro
Mehdi Hassan, Pakistan’s most famous ghazal maestro ruled the country’s film industry as a playback singer for over 40 years. He started his career as a car mechanic in a small shop, then joined Radio Pakistan as a ghazal singer and very soon got popular across the country. In the long history of the Pakistani film industry, no one could compete with him and there could be no alternative to his unique style of singing. His renditions are famous among the new generations as well. Not only in Pakistan, Hassan was famous in India and other countries as well. On his passing away, several top singers in the Indian film industry paid tributes to him. The Pakistan prime minister and the Indian president also praised his efforts.(Khawaja Umer Farooq, Jeddah)
Letters — A great loss for Muslim world
