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uttar pradesh
Hindu Muslim Unity: Teen Muslim saves Hindu classmate from kidnappers
AGRA: 15-year-old Nazia was on Tuesday awarded the Rani Laxmibai bravery award by chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, for saving a 6-year-old Hindu girl from kidnappers.
It was the afternoon on August 7, when Nazia, a student of Saghir Fatima Mohammadia Girls Inter College, was returning home when she heard cries for help from a young girl, who was being forcibly pulled on a motorcycle by two youths. Unmindful of her own safety, Nazia rushed to the girl’s help and held her hand and managed to pull her away from the kidnappers, who then fled the spot.
It was only after she had rescued the girl, Dimpy, Nazia learnt that she was her junior from school. Today, when tension prevails between the two communities, Dimpy’s parents treat Nazia as their own daughter and are indebted to her for saving their child from the clutches of the kidnappers.
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Villagers pray together in adjacent temple and mosque
DEHRIYAWAN: A village in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad district has one temple and mosque located adjacent to each other. And, the villagers visit them together. Hindu and Muslim villagers participate in each other’s festivals and have never allowed communal strife elsewhere to affect them. The village mosque and temple enable both communities to mingle prior to or after their prayers. Brijesh Yadav, a student, said that most of the residents pray at both the temple and the mosque, and even celebrate each other’s festivals. “As you can see that the temple and the mosque have been constructed side by side. Nobody gets into an argument here. We celebrate their festivals, they celebrate ours. Whenever we want, we worship in our temple as well as mosque. We have been studying since childhood that there is only one God and we all are his children. So as this temple and mosque show that there is no distance between them, likewise there should be no distance between all of us. The biggest example is shown here in Dehriyawan,” said Yadav. “We do not differentiate between a Hindu and a Muslim. In all festivals, marriages we visit each other. Any conflict between some other temple and mosque does not affect the harmony here in Dehriyawan,” said Mohammad Haji Waseem, a local resident. The mosque was constructed in 1970 and the temple was built soon after. By Amit (ANI)
Read more at: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Muslim youth translates Hanuman Chalisa into Urdu
JAUNPUR: A Muslim youth in Uttar Pradesh has now translated Hindu prayer Hanuman Chalisa into Urdu after noted Urdu poet Anwar Jalalpuri came out with his rendition of Shrimad Bhagwad Gita.
“I have translated Hanuman Chalisa in ‘musaddas’ style which comprises six lines. Like a ‘chuapai’ has four lines, ‘musaddas’ has three ‘shers’ and six lines,” Abid Alvi, who carried out the translation, said.
The youth, who hails from Jaunpur, said he was planning more such works, including translation of Shiv Chalisa prayer, as he felt that it will help people from the two communities to understand each other’s culture and beliefs.
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Temple built next to Mosque by Muslim family flourishes for 200 years
Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh has been the house of communal harmony right from its existence. Here everyone believes in the age old ethos which has led to upsurge the traditional root of the country. One such instance is of Shah Alam Zaidi. Muslim by religion, Zaidi and his family donated a land for building a Hindu temple and a mosque adjacent to each other. Zaidi is famous among the people of the region, as he serves to the temple with utmost devotion and faith. During the occasion of Navratari he takes part in all the rituals performed in the temple. Built two hundred years ago this temple and mosque in its side clearly reflects the fact that the culture of communal harmony still prevails in the country.
Read more (video included): Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Interfaith marriages and families thrive in U.P.
AGRA: During the rule of Aurangzeb (1658-1707), villagers there were asked to either convert to Islam or leave their homes. Faced with such a threat, almost all of them had changed their religion at that time. After Independence, a group of local leaders exhorted the townsfolk to go back to Hinduism. Some did, others didn’t. But religion since then hasn’t mattered to the people here.
“Why should it?” asks Vikram Singh, a Thakur in the village of about 10,000 roughly 50 km away from Agra. “My mother Khushnuma is a Muslim, my father Kamlesh Singh a Thakur. My sister Sita is married to Inzamam and my wife Shabana is thinking of naming my newborn Santosh.” Today in Khera Sadhan, it is common to have a family of four brothers with two of them Hindu, two Muslim. Or have a husband who doesn’t care about the religion of his wife, or her children for that matter. Here, Muslims worship in temples and Hindus go to the dargah. Eid and Diwali are both sacrosanct.
Ask 55-year-old Shaukat Ali and he will tell you that he recently arranged for his youngest brother Raju Singh to marry Lajo, daughter of Sunil Thakur and Reshma. The wedding ceremony will be attended by Shaukat’s brothers Rizwan Ali and Kishan Singh. The nikah will be held at a temple. “We are amazed when we hear stories of people fighting about inter-faith unions,” says Salim Thakur, a Geeta and Quran by his bedside. “My neighbour and first cousin Love Kush Singh has been offering Eid prayers in the village mosque for as long as I can remember. Yet, like everyone else in this village, he also celebrates Holi and Diwali.”
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Hindus rozedaars help Ganga-Jamuni culture thrive
LUCKNOW: For the past 65 years, fingers that turn tulsi mala to complete the 108 gayatri mantra chants also count the beads of tasbeeh during the month of Ramzan. These blessed hands belong to Khairatan Devi, a Hindu in Chawalwali Gali of Nakkhas Bazaar who fasts during Ramzan along with thousands of Muslims in the city. She reminds one of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah who said if his left eye represented a Muslim, the right a Hindu, thus sowing the seeds of Lucknow’s fabled Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb.
Heritage researcher Sayed Rizwan said the roots of Hindu-Muslim solidarity in Avadh run deep. “When Abe-zam-zam (water from the masjid in Mecca) was no available, Muslims broke their fast with Gangajal (water from the Ganges River).”
Read more: Communal Harmony
What is Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb?
Hindu Muslim Unity: Hindus shelter Muslims during communal riots
MUZAFFARNAGAR: In August 2013 communal riots flared up in Muzaffarnagar, UP resulting in army deployments to restore peace. Calm in curfew-bound Shahpur was broken on Tuesday when a group of people spilled onto the main road. Policemen ran towards the crowd anticipating trouble. They were surprised when “Hindu-Muslim bhai bhai” slogans went up.
Shyampal Bhaiji, Mohammed Arif, Madan Kumar Jain, Zafar Qureshi held hands as they led more than 100 people marching down the street. Hindus and Muslims embraced each other and pledged to live together.
During the riots Vedpal Malik sheltered 50 in his house. “They stayed with me for two days after the September 8 riot,” Malik said. “Later, the rioters returned, burning homes, shops and cars. I understood their fear. I told them we won’t stop you if you want to go. If you stay, we’ll protect you,” the former pradhan said. Vedpal and his neighbours stayed up nights and guard homes and cattle of their Muslim neighbours. Around 1,000 Muslims have fled Fugana.
Kharar pradhan Bijender Singh Malik opened his doors to 150 Muslims. “On Sunday morning, my neighbours rushed to me for help. I sent their women and children to the top floor,” Bijender said. “With our licenced guns, my brother and I stood guard on the rooftop,” he said. Two days later, when Army escorted the Muslims to camps, Bijender and Bhupinder hugged their Muslim neighbours. The likes of Vedpal and Bijender want their “Muslim brothers” to return.
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Madrasa teaches class on Gita and Quran
VARANASI: Holding the Quran in one hand and the Bhagavad Gita in the other, Mukhtar Ahmad conducts “a class of communal harmony” at a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district to enable students to draw similarities between Islam and Hinduism. “Our main objective behind teaching Hindu scriptures along with the Quran is to undertake a comparative study of the holy books of the two religions to enable our students to draw similarity between Islam and Hinduism,” Ahmad, a teacher at the Islamic seminary, said. “By drawing similarity between the two religions, students will be able to correlate the teachings of Quran with those of the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu ancient text, which in turn would enable them to respect the two religions in the same manner,” he added.
Today, not only the Bhagavad Gita, the four Vedas – Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva – are taught to the students along with subjects like Hindi, English and Computer Science. “…the introduction of Hindu scriptures in the syllabi has been considerably appreciated by our Hindu brothers. We believe we would soon have Hindu students seeking admission in Bahrul-Uloom,” he added.
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Muslim artist designs for Krishna temples
JUHU: Abdul Rashid is a 58-year-old designer behind the beautiful clothes and decorations of Lord Krishna and Radha at the ISKCON temple at Juhu. The decoration of the deities at the temple is the result of the creativity of Rashid, who is a devout Muslim. Rashid began designing the clothes for the deities at the ISKCON temple back in 1966. “Initially, when I moved here, I took up various jobs such as painting, plumbing. Finally, in 1976, I joined a stitching class and that’s when I realised I had found my passion in life,” he said.
Rashid’s colourful and magnificent designs not only grace the deities in India but also in the ISKCON temples in America, UK and Australia. His designs have also been showered with praise from devotees all over the world.
Read more: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Muslims fund and organize Hindu festival
LUCKNOW: Many Muslims in Mumtaz Nagar village of Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad district have been keeping alive the village’s decades-old custom of organizing all arrangements for holding Ramlia, a play based on the Hindu epic the Ramayana.
“We take pride in following such a tradition that exhibits communal harmony in a true sense. Every year when we organise the play, we get a unique feeling of serving the almighty. After all, our Hindu brothers are the creation of the same supreme power that has made us,” shopkeeper Naseem Khan said.”Besides entertainment and enjoying other religious aspects, we derive a great satisfaction by organising Ramlila that, in a way, instills a sense of brotherhood among members of the two communities,” he added. Muslims organise the play under the banner of Ramlila Ramayana Samiti (RRS), a committee that was constituted by Muslims of Mumtaz Nagar village around 47 years ago for the promotion of communal harmony.
“Though the protagonists of Ramlila are Hindus, a few Muslim villagers also play small roles that also foster bonding between the two communities,” said RSS’ President Majid Ali.
Read more at: Communal Harmony
Hindu Muslim Unity: Many opposed to Ayodhya violence
In light of the recent verdict regarding the Ayodhya controversy Dharma Deen Alliance would like to emphasize that Ayodhya’s local communities are for stability and harmony. The articles listed below demonstrate that forces in the form of hardline, fanatic organizations outside of the city seek to inflame tensions and create conflict. Click on the headlines to read the full article.
Hindus, Muslims come together for peace
Mohammad Habib of Jaunpur is reciting the Ramayan stating “India is mother of both Hindus and Muslims”. Similarly, people of Duswakalan have set an example by agreeing to construct a masjid and temple on a small piece of land.
Uttar Pradesh votes for peace on Ayodhya
A group of young people, Muslim and Hindu, furiously discussed the setback to business as a result of heightened security.“Let the decision favour anyone, Hindu or Muslim. We are done with the issue. And please, let us not have any more agitations or mobilisations.When the Babri Masjid came down, did any leader get killed? Did even one of them suffer a scratch? We were the fools who suffered.”
Ayodhya’s common people pray for peace
The fear of violence and subsequent disruption of life that may take place following the verdict, ties the city’s common man – Hindu and Muslim — in the common entreaty.
Ayodhya verdict: Muslim, Hindu leaders appeal for peace
Religious leaders and scholars of both the communities have appealed for peace and communal harmony.They also ask that communal harmony be maintained and to be weary of political leaders who would try to take advantage of the situation to serve their ulterior motives.
