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 A Masjid,
A Mandir and Me: Malegaon, a town in India with more than 70%
Muslim population has always been considered as a communally sensitive
place....Read
Full
 Dying Textile Industry:
Govt. refusing to lend a helping hand despite repeated pleas:
But their demand
to delink the subsidy from the bank
....Read
Full
 Tokenism ruling MMC as people cry for Action:
Hence it is not surprising to see the Civic Body resorting to
tokenism instead of addressing the real issues....Read
Full
 Pollution in Malegaon
Hazardous emissions no case for MPCB:
Blessings though these factories might be for their owners. But for
the people living in this part....Read
Full
 Decisions and Implementations
-
The GAP widening day by day:
Perform or perish. It was the warning given to the new Ministers who
took the....Read
Full
 SSA Funds in Malegaon
-
Whose purpose are they
actually
serving?:
Instead most of these funds are either lapsed and lay unused or if
at all they....Read
Full
 Such things happen only in Malegaon-Denied
the
wages,
teachers
are forced to work in
powerloom factories during the night:
The life has...Read
Full
 A Living Hell:
Established in 1863 Malegaon Municipal Council till a decade ago was regarded as one of the richest Council
in Maharashtra. It was so....Read
Full
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Tafawut ast
mun-I-shunidam-I-man-o-to, Tu bastan-dar, o, man fatahe-bab me
shunidam (What you and I hear are different: you hear the sound
of closing doors, but I of doors that open)
A Persian couplet that Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad choose to use while addressing a gathering of Muslim
Youth at the Aligarh Muslim University in 1949. For young Muslims
who want to break away from the siege mentality that plagues a bulk
of the community, these words spur you on to work for a better
tomorrow.
However reading about the
ex-communication of five Muslims by a group of Maulvis in Malegaon
made me think if the door that leads for a better tomorrow has been
shut on the faces of this community. Malegaon over the past four
years has become like a second home to me.
Inspite of its stereotyped image as a
backward minority dominated town the literacy rate of the city at
65.77 per cent is way better than the Muslim communities literacy
levels of 59.1 per cent.
I have met some of the best doctors,
thinkers and sensible clerics in this town. The move by the clerics
to ex communicates the five individuals for being “Murtads) however
came as a huge shock.
Can a town which has regularly churned out SSC, HSC toppers and the
largest number of doctors in North Maharashtra make such a mistake.
Interestingly I had met Sharief Cookerwala in 2006, a wiry man with
a wispy beard Cookerwala, who runs a road side stall repairing gas
cookers, is proficient in the verses of the Geeta as he is with the
Koran. He has been holding discourses on the Geeta for sometime.
Cookerwala in 2006 did complain about being hauled by the Maulvi’s
for his views on Islam but he also claimed that he was living a
fairly peaceful life without any trouble from the local community.
Cookerwala now claims that there is a
threat to his life. It is indeed deplorable if a man cant speak or
do what he feels is right in a free country like ours.
However It is also equally deplorable that a journalist should paint
the whole town as being Talibanised without taking the effort to go
on the ground and check the details.
Interestingly the same paper had in
2006 done a half-baked story alleging that people were afraid to get
their sons or daughters married to residents of Malegaon.
This kind of selective reporting strengthens stereotypes. Malegaon
with all its faults has the potential of leading the march of the
state’s Muslims towards progress. Some of the best thinkers and
academicians hail from this town, by deriding it without checking
the facts media is helping in firmly jamming shut the door which
leads to progress and a better tomorrow.
Ali Imran is a Mumbai
based journalist working with a big media house. This article is his
special contribution to ummid.com that he has written in response to
the reports coming in the section of media about the excommunication
of 5 Muslims in Malegaon
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