Governing Council Meet

The 17th annual meeting of the Governing Council of the IOS was held on 2.8.2003 in the IOS Headquarters.

The following were present:

1.     Dr. Mohd. Manzoor Alam   (in the Chair)

2.     Prof. T. Abdur Rahman    Vice-Chairman

3.     Prof. Z.M. Khan           Secretary General

4.     Prof. Sanghasen Singh   Finance Secretary

5.     Prof. A. R. Momin                   Member

6.     Mr. Mohammad Muqim          Member

7.     Dr. Ishtiyaque Danish              Member

8.     Ml. Khalid Saifullah Rahmani   Member

9.     Prof. Z.A. Nizami         Special Invitee

10.  Dr. A. Hasib                 -do-

11.  Mr. Mahmood Ali

12.  Mr. Manzoor Ahmad

13.  Dr. S. K. Bahmani

14.  Prof. P. Koya

The meeting started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an by Maulana Syed Khalid Saifullah Rahmani.

Before taking up the agenda items and starting the business, the Chairman welcomed the members and thanked them for attending the meeting.

The Governing Council, first of all, passed two condolence resolutions on the sad demise of Mrs. Kamla Singh (wife of Prof. Sanghasen Singh, Finance Secretary of the IOS) and Dr. Mahmood Mustafa Siddiqui (popularly known as Dr. Ibn Farid), who was a member of the General Assembly of the IOS. Prof. Z.A. Nizami was requested to forward the resolutions to the families of the departed souls.

Then the minutes of the Governing Council meeting held on 8.3.2003, were presented and confirmed.

The follow up or action taken report on the decisions/suggestions made in the last G.C. meeting was presented before the Council. The same was considered and approved.

The 17th Annual Report of the IOS (for the year 2002-2003) was also considered and approved.

Likewise the Audited Financial Report of the Institute for the year 2001-2002 (assessment year 2002-2003) was considered and was recommended to the General Assembly for approval.

The Annual Budget of the IOS for the year 2003-2004 was discussed at length and was recommended to the General Assembly for approval.

The appointment of an Auditor for the financial year 2003-2004 was considered and it was decided that M/s Chandna Associates be retained as  Auditor/Auditors of the IOS for the year 2003-2004.

The G.C., then, adopted the procedure for the election of the office bearers and the Executive members of the Institute for another five years. It decided to hold the election in two stages: (i) that all the eleven (11) members of the Governing Council shall first be elected by the General Assembly through secret ballot, (ii) that the election for the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary General and Finance Secretary shall be held by the newly elected members of the Governing Council so constituted.

Further, the entire process of the election shall be entrusted to the Returning Officer, to be nominated by the General Assembly.

On a proposal made by the Chairman it was decided that the membership of the following persons (with their consent) for the General Assembly of the Institute of Objective Studies, is accepted and approved:

1.        Mr. I. H. Khan

2.        Prof. Z. A. Nizami

3.        Dr. Javed A. Khan

4.        Dr. D. Prempati

5.        Mr. V.B. Rawat

6.        Prof. Tahir Hasan Khan

7.        Mr. A. U. Asif

8.        Mr. Shahabuddin Ansari

9.        Dr. Shaukat Ullah Khan

10.     Prof. Naushad Ali Azad

11.     Dr. Fakhruddin Mohammed

12.     Dr. S. Fazle Rab

13.     Mr. Sajjad Shahid

14.     Mr. M.E. Hussain

15.     Prof. P. Koya

16.     Dr. Abdul Rahman Kamaruddin

17.     Prof. M. Akhtar Siddiqui

18.     Prof. Shah Waseem

19.     Prof. Humayun Murad

20.     Dr. Faizan Mustafa

In the end, Prof. Z. M. Khan, Secretary General of IOS, acknowledged the full cooperation and active support of all the members of the Governing Council and extended his heart felt thanks to all of them.

General Assembly Meet

The 17th annual meeting of the General Assembly of the IOS was held on 3.8.2003 in the IOS Headquarters.

The following were present:

1.     Dr. M. Manzoor Alam (in the Chair)

2.     Prof. T. Abdur Rahman Vice-Chairman

3.     Prof. Z.M. Khan Secretary General

4.     Prof. Sanghasen Singh Finance Secretary

5.     Prof. A. R. Momin                     Member

6.     Mr. Mohammad Muqim            Member

7.     Dr. Ishtiyaque Danish                Member

8.     Ml. Khalid Saifullah Rahmani     Member

9.     Mr. Abdul Qayyum Akhtar       Member

10.  Mr. Manzoor Ahmad (IPS)        Member

11.  Mr. Abdur Rashid Agwan          Member                                                       

12.  Prof. Iqbal A. Ansari                  Member

13.  Prof. Mohsin Usmani                 Member

14.  Mr. Ghulam Jilani                       Member

15.  Prof. A.W.B. Qadri                     Member

16.  Prof. M. Ijteba Nadvi                 Member

17.  Dr. S. Abdul Bari                        Member

18.  Prof. Iqtidar H. Siddiqi               Member

19.  Prof. M. Ghalib Husain              Member

20.  Prof. Abdur Rahim                     Member

21.  Dr. A. Hasib                               Member

22.  Mr. Salar M. Khan                     Member

23.  Prof. Zahid Husain                     Member

24.  Prof. (Dr.) S.A. Rahim Mondal  Member

25.  Ml. Atiq Ahmad Bastavi           Member

26.  Dr. Aftab Kamal Pasha               Member

27.  Prof. Atiq Ahmad Siddiqui         Member

28.  Prof. (Dr.) Khalid Mirza            Member

29.  Mr. Mahmood Ali                      Member

30.  Dr. Arshi Khan                           Member

31.  Ml. Amin Usmani                       Member

32.  Dr. (Ms) Najma Amin                Member

33.  Prof. M. Ishtiaq                          Member

34.  Prof. Shamim A. Ansari              Member

35.  Dr. (Ms.) Haseena Hashia          Member

36.  Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad, Advocate                  Member

37.  Dr. S.Karamatullah Bahmani      Member

38.  Mr. I.H. Khan                             Member

39.  Prof. Z.A. Nizami                       Member

40.  Dr. D. Prempati                          Member

41.  Mr. V. B. Rawat                         Member

42.  Dr. Shaukat Ullah Khan              Member

43.  Prof. Naushad Ali Azad             Member

44.  Dr. S. Fazle Rab                          Member

45.  Mr. Sajjad Shahid                        Member

46.  Mr. M.E. Hussain                      Member

47.  Prof. P. Koya                              Member

48.  Prof. M. Shafiq                 (Special Invitee)

Dr. M. Manzoor Alam, Chairman, welcomed all the members.

The meeting started with recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an by Maulana Syed Khalid Saifullah Rahmani.

Then, Condolence resolutions on the sad demise of Prof. K. G. Munshi, Dr. Mohd. Hamidullah, Prof. Syed Ziaul Hasan Nadvi, Mufti Naseem Ahmad Qasmi, Mrs. Kamla Singh (wife of Prof. Sanghasen Singh, Finance Secretary of the IOS) and Dr. Mahmood Mustafa Siddiqui (popularly known as Dr. Ibn Farid) were passed.  Prof. Z.A. Nizami was requested to forward the resolutions to the families of the departed souls.

The G.A. confirmed the minutes of the last meeting held on September 1, 2002.

Then the follow up report on the decisions/suggestions made in the last G.A. meeting dated 1.9.2002 were presented before the General Assembly. Which it approved and confirmed.

Likewise the 17th Annual Report of IOS (for the year 2002-2003) was considered and approved.

The G.A. approved the procedure for elections of IOS office bearers and appointed Mr. Abdul Qayyum Akhtar as (Returning Officer). All the eleven (11) Members of the Governing Council were then elected through secret ballot. Then he proceeded with the election of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary-General and the Finance Secretary from amongst the newly elected members of the Governing Council.

The following persons were declared elected for the offices, mentioned against each of them, for a term of five years:

1.  Dr. Mohd. Manzoor Alam       Chairman

2.  Mr. Manzoor Ahmad       Vice-Chairman

3.  Prof. Z.M. Khan           Secretary General

4.  Dr. I. Danish                 Finance Secretary

5.  Prof. Sanghasen Singh                 Member

6.  Prof. A. R. Momin                     Member

7.  Ml. Khalid Saifullah Rahmani     Member

8.  Dr. M.K.A. Siddiqui                   Member

9.  Prof. M.A. Quddus                    Member  

10.   Prof. Z. A. Nizami                    Member

11.   Dr. S. Karamatullah Bahmani   Member

The following three books were also released on this occasion.

1.        Hazrat Maulana Mujahidul Islam Qasmi: Hayat wa Khidmat – Afkar wa Asarby Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani

2.        Press and Prejudice: An Insightful Analysis of Hindi Press by Mr. V. B. Rawat

3.        Immigration of East-Bengal Farm Settlers and Agriculture Development of Assam Valley : 1901-1947 by Dr. M. Sujaud Doullah

In the end, Prof. Z. M. Khan, Secretary General of IOS, acknowledging the full cooperation and active support by all the members of the General Assembly extended thanks to all of them.

Lecture on Violence in Islam

On the occasion of the meetings of the IOS Governing Council and General Assembly in Delhi, the Headquarters organised a lecture by Prof. M. Nejatullah Siddiqui. Dr. Siddiqui, noted economist, scholar and Shah Faisal Award winner, said that Islam is based on piety, love, tolerance, forgiveness; violence, subversion and hatred are alien to it. “Violence is an immoral act which cannot be permitted in social life by a religion based on moral principles”, he stressed, adding that the method of achieving any objective should be only through mutual understanding and discussions, not by resorting to violence.

Explaining the special circumstances or conditions under which recourse to arms is permitted, Dr. Siddiqui said that these include defensive wars and punishment for serious crimes like waging wars. Barring these conditions, violence in any form, especially the one which may lead to death, is not permissible.

He said that during the past two decades there have been many cases in different parts of the world when Muslims have taken recourse to violence either against their own governments or against foreign powers like USA, Russia, Britain, France and other countries because of their overt or covert anti-Muslim or anti-Islam policies. Their violent activities in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Africa etc, to harm Americans in which innocent human lives were lost, are forbidden in Islam.

Expressing his views regarding the attitude of Muslims in non-Muslim countries where Muslims are targeted directly or indirectly when governments ignore the cruelties meted out to them or when they themselves sponsor or encourage such atrocities, as happened in Gujarat after the Godhra train-burning incident, he propounded that Muslims have every right to defend themselves like other citizens.

“Civil  laws of the respective country permit its citizens to defend the honour, lives and properties of their family members even if the perpetrators of violence have to be killed. Preemptive violence or killings as preventive measures are, however, not permissible. Similarly, violence against innocent Hindus for revenge is against Islamic teachings as well as a violation of the laws of the country,” he said.

Dr. Siddiqui regretted that in America and Europe an atmosphere has been created in which Muslims and Islam are looked upon as dangerous. It will take quite some time to remove such misunderstandings.

For this purpose, firstly we have to bring about transparency in our words and deeds so that their misunderstandings could be removed. Role of mosques and madrasas should be clearly presented. Secondly, we should make our systems democratic because Muslim countries and institutions are generally lacking in democratic spirit. This is true to a great extent. If Muslims make their political, religious and cultural activities democratic and transparent, allow free expression of views and not only tolerate but also respect dissenting views, it will become easy for others to properly understand Muslims.

Muslims should develop contacts and friendly relations with other countrymen and try to solve their problems like other people. The list of the problems of Muslims is not exhaustive. Their problems too are generally the same as those of all others such as poverty, illiteracy, proper accommodation, health, insecurity etc, which most of the people of South Asia and Africa are facing.

“Muslims, of course, are biggest sufferers but they should try to solve their problems with the help and cooperation of their neighbours and compatriots. Instead of confining themselves to their own narrow world, they should broaden their outlook and treat the whole world as their native country and try to improve and develop it so that the feeling of suspicion and distrust by others could be removed,” he suggested.

Concluding his speech, Dr. Siddiqui said that the path of violence will not solve Muslim problems. By shunning violence and revenge, they will be able to take concrete steps in the fields of education and training, economic progress, health and other fields.

Sham-e-Muzakarah

A Sham-e-Muzakarah (lecture) on the recent Supreme Court observation regarding the Uniform Civil Code was organised by the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) at its Headquarters in New Delhi on August 9, 2003. Mr. Anoop G. Chaudhari, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India, delivered his lecture on the topic.

In his introductory remarks, Prof. Z.A. Nizami briefly mentioned the activities of IOS in various fields of research and study highlighting the social and economic problems relating to the minorities specially the Muslims of the country. He informed that the IOS has until now worked on some 128 different aspects and themes concerning Islam. The much-awaited book on ‘100 Great Muslims is almost complete and that will be out on stands by December 2003. It’s various chapters spread across the country have conducted a number of seminars and conferences highlighting various social and economic problems concerning the Muslims.

In his lecture Mr. Anoop G. Chaudhari regretted the recent observations made by the Hon’ble Judge on the uniform civil code. He observed that this remark was totally uncalled for even if it was pious and was made with some noble intentions. The problem it can create is that these words will be deliberately twisted, misinterpreted and will create far greater problems than the problem of the Common Civil Code. He advocated a moratorium i.e. status quo on this issue. Status quo is necessary. Change might disturb things so sometimes status quo is the best policy. He condemned the negative role of the fundamentalist organisations, which are bent upon spreading hatred and propagating vicious lies. The issue of polygamy, Shah Bano, maintenance of widows and this Common Civil Code is raked every now and then to garner votes, he said. Personal law is a religious directive and article 25 ensures religious rights of all citizens. The constitution allows you to propagate, follow and practice any religion of your choice, he reiterated. Regarding the marriage, Adv. Chaudhari informed that as per Shariah law, Muslim marriage is a contract as compared to the Hindu marriage, which is a sacrament. Breach of contract definitely invokes damages that must be adhered to. Similarly the question of Talaq has to be addressed by the Muslim community itself. It is an intra community problem and intra community bonds should be used to solve this delicate issue. He mentioned that even among the Hindus the tribals have different laws known as customary laws. Customary laws are also sometimes referred to as personal laws. Article 14 promises equality before the law. So the common Civil Code is an option and force should never be applied to enforce it. Adv. Chaudhari welcomed the recent Supreme Court judgement by which it severely reprimanded the state government of Gujarat regarding its handling of the riot-related cases and ordered it to provide security to the witnesses to prevent intimidation. He praised the decision of the court in which it decided to oversee the cases related to the riots directly.