Mehtab Singh

Veeray how many Arabs/Iranians have you met in your life?

http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=423993 The war against popular Islam Praveen Swami Islamist groups have made no secret of their loathing for the Ajmer Sharif shrine NEW DELHI: The highest form of worship, wrote saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, is "to redress the misery of those in distress, to fulfil the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry." Thursday's bombing of the saint's shrine at Ajmer — the third in a series of attacks on Muslim religious institutions after the 2006 bombing of a Sufi shrine in Malegaon and this summer's strike at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad — have been characterised as attempts to provoke a pan-India communal war. But the bombings also reflect another less-understood project: the war of Islamist neoconservatives against the syncretic traditions and beliefs that characterise popular Islam in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is, almost without dispute, the most venerated Sufi saint of South Asia. Born in 1141 C.E., Chishti is believed to have studied at the great seminaries of Samarkand and Bukhara before travelling to India. Ajmer emerged as an important centre of pilgrimage during the sixteenth century, after Emperor Akbar undertook a pilgrimage on foot to the saint's grave. Chishti's order laid stress on seven principles, notably the renunciation of material goods, financial reliance on farming or alms, independence from economic patronage from the established political order, the sharing of wealth, and respect for religious differences. Chishti's doctrine on the "highest form of worship" led to the saint often being described as the Garib Nawaz, or emperor of the poor. Several of the most famous Sufi shrines in South Asia – notably that of Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar at Pakpattan in Pakistan, and that of Nizamuddin Awliya in New Delhi – were born of Chisti's teachings. Over the centuries, they have come to command a massive multi-faith following, attracting Muslims, Hindus and Christians alike. For that precise reason, they have long been under attack from religious neoconservatives. Islamist critics of Sufism have made no secret of their loathing for shrines like that at Ajmer, which they claim propagate the heresy of 'shirk' – an Arabic term commonly translated to mean polytheism, but which is also used to refer to the veneration of saints and even atheism. South Asian terror groups associated with recent attacks on Muslim shrines — notably the Lashkar-e-Taiba — draw theological inspiration from the Salafi sect, a neoconservative tradition also sometimes referred to as Wahabbism. Salafi theologians are intensely hostile to Sufi orders like that founded by Chishti, characterising them as apostasy. In The General Precepts of the Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaah, a pamphlet which propounds the Salafi doctrine, theologian Shaykh Naasir al'Aql, sharply criticises religious practices "where the dead are taken as intermediaries between a person and Allah, supplicating them and seeking the fulfilment of one's needs through them, seeking their assistance and other similar acts." Al'Aql, whose work is often drawn on by Lashkar ideologues, argues that "every avenue that leads to shirk in the worship of Allah, or innovations in religion – it is obligatory to forbid it." Another pamphlet available on the website of the Lashkar's parent organisation, the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, rails against shrines, demanding that "Muslim leaders combat and uproot this phenomenon." Just how this is to be done, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa does not say – but Lashkar cadre have left little to the imagination. Terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir have frequently targeted regional religious institutions that draw on the same syncretic traditions as that at Ajmer. In June, 2005, for example, the Lashkar-e-Taiba was held responsible for the attempted assassination of north Kashmir mystic Ahad B'ab Sopore. Eyewitnesses said the assassination attempt, in which one person was killed and nine were injured, was carried out by Qayoom Nassar, a well-known Sopore-based Lashkar operative. Lashkar cadre are also thought to be responsible for a May 2005 arson attack that led to the destruction of the 14th century shrine of the saint Zainuddin Wali at Ashmuqam in south Kashmir. Ashmuqam was earlier subjected to several grenade attacks, leading to disruption of festive days there for several years. A month later, Lashkar operative Bilal Magray was arrested on charges of having thrown a hand grenade at a Sufi congregation in Bijbehara, injuring 15 people. Dozens of similar attacks have taken place over the years. In 2000, Lashkar terrorists destroyed sacramental tapestries Bafliaz residents had offered at the shrine of Sayyed Noor, one of the most venerated Sufi saints in the region. As early as June 1994, Lashkar terrorists stormed the historic Baba Reshi shrine at Tangmarg and fired on pilgrims. Perhaps, the most prominent incident in the campaign was the October 1995 siege of the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, which houses a relic claimed to be a hair of Prophet Mohammad. The terrorists threatened to blow up the shrine unless troops, who had surrounded them, were withdrawn. A similar siege at Chrar-e-Sharif in May 1996 led to the destruction of the town's famous 700-year-old shrine. Despite these attacks, popular Islam in Jammu and Kashmir has held its own – as it is likely to do elsewhere in India, too.

http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=423855 JAIPUR: A bomb blast ripped through the historic dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Thursday evening, killing two persons and injuring 17 others, three of them critically. The blast took place at Ahata-e-Noor, 20 metres from the mausoleum inside the shrine, shortly after the fast-breaking custom of Iftar. Ahata-e-Noor, the courtyard outside the burial place of the 13th century Sufi saint, was packed to the capacity — because of the ongoing month of Ramzan — when the blast, stated to be of low intensity, occurred at 6.12 p.m. Nearly 5,000 devotees were present in different parts of the shrine to break the fast and offer ‘Maghrib’ (evening) prayers. Panic gripped the dargah and neighbourhood when the deafening sound of the explosion was heard. Devotees scampered to vacate the dargah and rushed to the narrow alleyways. The shops in the market in front of the shrine were hurriedly closed. Police, who reached the site immediately, cordoned off the entire area. One person died on the spot, and the other succumbed to injuries on way to the hospital. The injured were admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital where emergency arrangements were made for their treatment. Amid the commotion to get out and take the injured to the hospital, a crowd of angry devotees attacked policemen at the permanent police post in the Dargah Bazaar. The situation was immediately brought under control and the district administration appealed to the people to maintain calm. Ajmer Divisional Commissioner Deepak Upreti said an extra force had been rushed to the pilgrim city even though law and order had been restored with the Dargah Bazaar shut down. He said normality would be restored to let the people return to the shrine by Friday, when special prayers are to be offered to mark ‘Alvida Jumaa’ (last Friday of Ramzan). The main gate of the dargah, which was closed for some time, was opened late evening and top officials visited the blast site. According to the initial reports, the blast material was stuffed inside a tiffin box with a timing device to explode just when the devotees would be breaking the fast. While a team of forensic experts was on way to the blast site, police believed that the perpetrators of the blast wanted to cause maximum casualty by planning its time and spot. It was probably because of the crude bomb’s low intensity that the damage was not extensive. Even as a high-level meeting of police officers was convened at the State police headquarters here to review the law and order situation and an alert was sounded across the State, a delegation of Congress, led by AICC Secretary Harendra Mirdha, left for Ajmer to meet the injured and visit the dargah. The 13th century dargah is one of India’s most revered religious places and attracts people belonging to all religions from all over the country, especially during the week-long Urs ceremony observing the death anniversary of the Sufi saint – who is also known as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz (patron of the poor). Devotees refer to the pilgrim city as ‘Ajmer Sharif’ as a mark of respect for the Khwaja. Muslim social groups here condemned the attack inside the dargah, saying it was clearly aimed at disturbing communal harmony in the State. Jamat-e-Islami Hind State president Mohammed Salim said the elements choosing soft targets like the dargah should be identified by a thorough probe and their conspiracy exposed. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has condemned the blast at the Ajmer dargah, saying that “condemnable designs of elements inimical to the country to cause communal discord should not be allowed to succeed.†Appealing to the people to remain calm and face the situation bravely, Mr. Patil assured the Rajasthan government that it would be helped to provide succour to the victims of the blast and act against the culprits.

Thats all totally true veeray, but do you think its possible to cover up 1200 workers dying at work?

I have to agree with you here about "no one wants it to be public". I have seen such similar stuff happening for myself but only for other smaller scale buildings. Didn't know Burj Dubai had blood on its hands as well. Vaaheguroo! Thats sad! Veerjee thats because a number of Gurdwaras are in labor camps. But the one in Sonapur now has many bibiaan come as well. Again it all depends on which Gurdwara you are talking about as many are there now, thank God! Have you visited the one in Bur Dubai? The Sindhi GurDarbar? Baki I haven't been to mainland Iran. Maybe you were referring to Javanmard

Sources please. Not doubting it, just need sources. Yes that is sadly true.

I grew up in UAE. It is 2nd best in terms of freedom after Bahrain and Oman, and Sikhs are kicking it there. Have you ever been to UAE? If not then you have to visit and find out before saying things.

Bhatt Bal in Svaiyay Mehl 5 on Ang 1406 hm Avguix Bry eyku guxu nwhI AMimRqu Cwif ibKY ibKu KweI ] ham avagun bharae eaek gun naahee a(n)mrith shhaadd bikhai bikh khaaee || I am overflowing with sins and demerits; I have no merits or virtues at all. I abandoned the Ambrosial Nectar, and I drank poison instead. mwXw moh Brm pY BUly suq dwrw isau pRIiq lgweI ] maayaa moh bharam pai bhoolae suth dhaaraa sio preeth lagaaee || I am attached to Maya, and deluded by doubt; I have fallen in love with my children and spouse. ieku auqm pMQu suinE gur sMgiq iqh imlµq jm qRws imtweI ] eik outham pa(n)thh suniou gur sa(n)gath thih mila(n)th jam thraas mittaaee || I have heard that the most exalted Path of all is the Sangat, the Guru's Congregation. Joining it, the fear of death is taken away. iek Ardwis Bwt kIriq kI gur rwmdws rwKhu srxweI ]4]58] eik aradhaas bhaatt keerath kee gur raamadhaas raakhahu saranaaee ||4||58|| Keerat the poet offers this one prayer: O Guru Raam Daas, save me! Take me into Your Sanctuary! ||4||58||

October 8, 1745 Bhai Taru Singh's scalp was removed by orders of Nawab Zakaria Khan. Nawab Zakaria Khan's orders were carried out and Bhai Taru's scalp was removed. On Harbhagat Naranjania's complaint, Bhai Taru Singh of his village was arrested and accused of providing rations to the Sikhs. Bhai Taru Singh admitted the facts. Nawab Zakaria Khan ordered the removal of his scalp. Bhai Taru Singh said that the Governor would suffer as much torture. And Bhai Taru would take Zakaria Khan along with him to the other world. Upon carrying out Nawab's orders, Zakaria Khan's urinary system stopped functioninh, puttiung him in great pain. The Qazi addressed Bhai Taru Singh "Oh Kafir, what have you done? The Nawab can't urinate. He is in great pain." Bhai Taru Singh told him to take his shoe and beat it on Zakaria's head to make him urinate. On the fifth day of shoe beating, Zakaria Khan died on July 1, 1745. on hearing of that the same day Bhai Taru Singh left his mortal remains. Now innocent Sikhs were being killed. Thum Sahib Girdwara in Kartarpur, Jallandar, was burned down. Here the brave Bhai Bagh Singh Halowalia killed Kutabdin, responsible for this desecration. After Jakaria Khan, his son Yahiha Khan took control of Lahore. His brother Shah Niwaj Khan became the commander of Jallander and started edging for controling Lahore. -Ref. "Amritsar Ji Dae Darshan Eshnan Utay 500 Sala Di Ethasak Directory," Satnam Singh Khalsa Advocate, pp 78.

One of my friends just returned from Tehran to Dubai. He told me they have Nishan Sahib there! I was so much impressed. In UAE they have Nishan Sahib like next to Gurujee's saroop as they can't hoist it, but in Iran its allowed. He also told me people while driving pass comments at Sikhs and laugh, but I guess thats something Sikhs are used to, especially in the West.

I just saw a clip from a Hindi movie Kaafila (starring Sunny Deol) on youtube. Actor Sudesh Berry plays the role of a Sikh, and explains the reason behind the 12 o clock joke. I think this is the first time a Bollywood movie is expressing the truth about Sikhs. His turban looks strange, but the aggressiveness with which he expresses himself is just way too amazing! Check it out : After I saw this, all I could say was... BOLAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL S A T S R I A K A A L !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahahahaa

I wasn't trying to prove anything. Just stating a fact. But thanks for clarifying the difference that lies behind Nadir Shah's use of "Shah" and that of others. And believe me I got nothing against Shia Islam (you know that by now I guess after all the stuff I've shared with you 8) ) or Iran (I grew up all my life not too far from there).

There was an invader who attacked India few centuries ago. He killed scores of people and looted massive wealth, including horses, and even captured large numbers of women and men to be taken to his native country and kept as slaves (women as sex slaves). But he got his behind thrashed by the Singhs as he passed through Punjab, and the Singhs rescued 2200 Hindu women. Invader's name: Nadir Shah His native country: Iran OUCH!!!! Oh well! My history sources are obviously corrupted! :cry:

I heard about this guy while I was in Dubai. He had offered 1 crore Rupees (Rupees 10 million) to anyone who proved that Dasam Granth was Gurujee's Bani.

When we are asking Gurujee for Naam di daat, what is it exactly that we are asking for? References to what certain Gurmukh Mahapurkhs have said in this regard will be helpful in understanding this, so please bring that out or quote it, and also shed some light with your own understanding of this concept.

Thats probably true.

Lets see how many of us can kiss the noose with a smile to find that out

Humble respects to this great martyr

http://www.samachar.com/showurl.php?rurl=h...ord=indexp_home New Delhi, September 15: The RSS has sought to blame Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directly for the controversial affidavit on Lord Ram and pointed to his Sikh faith and its sacred texts that contain numerous references to the revered figure. An editorial in RSS mouthpiece Organiser alleged that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would not be able to understand India and its 'identity Ram' because of her foreign and Catholic origin. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a confirmed religious Sikh, should have known better, for the holy Guru Granth Sahib, holy Gurbani of revered Guru Gobind Singh are known for their salutations to Sri Ram," the Sangh mouthpiece wrote. "Sonia Gandhi will not know. She will never understand this country. No foreigner can fathom the place of Sri Ram in the lives of the people of this country. Sri Ram is the identity of India. But the UPA action was premeditated and calculated," it said. The write-up also referred to Gandhi's Catholic origin as it accused the government of regarding Ram as a fiction. It also found 'understandable' Shipping Minister T R Balu's rejection of demands to realign the Sethusamudram project because of his Dravida background. "The over enthusiasm of T R Balu on the subject is understandable, for he belongs to a creed that always reveled in sympathising with the heroism of Ravana, the abductor of Mata Sita," the editorial said. Earlier this year, the Akal Takht, Sikhism's highest temporal authority, took strong exception to an RSS statement posted on its Website that says Sikhs are part of the great Hindu Samaj.

http://www.tapoban.org/index.html

Find out http://www.calendarwerks.com/calendars/20th-century http://www.calendarwerks.com/calendars/21st-century

Couldn't have said it better

Well this morning I happened to be listening to Sikhnet radio, and they had a katha of Sant Baba Darshan Singh Khalsa Dhakki Sahib waale (I’ve never heard of him before) playing. Sant jee started talking about the importance of Naam Simran, and referred to a sakhi which I really want to share. He talked about two British army officers, one was W.T. Stead, and the other was Julia. They tried a great deal to find out as to what happens to a person after death, and made a pact that whoever died first would return and tell the other one what he/she went through. As time passed, it turned out that Julia was the first one to die. Stead waited for days, weeks, months, and years for her soul to come back and tell him what happened. After many years had passed and he didn’t hear from Julia’s soul, he went to church and prayed to God, saying that if he didn’t hear from her he would become an atheist and stop believing that there was a thing called soul that existed. Some time later, as he was writing down something, his hand started to write something on its own, and it wrote “Hi this is Juliaâ€. This was how he communicated with Julia after she had died. He asked her loads of questions, and a book was made out of their written conversation. I ran a search on google and found it here: http://www.spiritwritings.com/LetterFromJulia.pdf . Initially the book was called Letters from Julia but was re-named After Death. Stead asked her how was it in the after life. As you can see it’s a 123 page book, and so it means that they had a whole lot of exchanges as to what went on after death. But one thing that Sant jee mentions is that Julia stressed on the importance of reciting and repeating the name of God, which we know as Naam Simran. Stead said that although he was comfortable with the belief in doing good deeds, helping needy people, he didn’t understand the concept of repeating a word over and over and over again and said it was not possible for him to do it. But Julia stressed a lot on it, and so finally Stead said “Ok, how long do I have to do it for?†Julia asked him to do it for 2 hours daily. Stead refused and said he couldn’t sit free for 2 hours. She came down to 1 hour, then 30 minutes and finally Stead agreed to sit and repeat God’s name for 5 minutes. Julia told him that if he did it just for 5 minutes a day, he would be rewarded a lot in the court of God. I tried to search for the parts Sant ji said. Although I didn’t exactly find the words I was looking for as Naam Simran in the Christian terminology isn’t exactly referred to as “repeating God’s nameâ€, I did come across the same message given by Julia. Check it out guys!

good point