Is Govt. of India Anti-Muslim !

News says India is trying to contain the diplomatic fallout, as outrage grows in the Muslim world following derogatory comments made by ruling party officials - Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal -about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

The United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman, and Iraq are among at least 15 Muslim-majority nations to have condemned the remarks, which were blasphemous, with several countries summoning India's ambassadors.

The incident sparked protests in neighboring Pakistan as well and prompted calls from around the region to boycott Indian goods.

India's Hindu nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rebuked the two officials involved, but the firestorm involving India's major Arab trade partners is yet to die down.

At the center of the controversy is Nupur Sharma, now suspended national spokesperson for the BJP -- the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On May 26, Sharma made profane comments during a televised debate on an Indian news channel about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) - that were offensive and blasphemous according to Islam.

Most Indian news media have not directly quoted Sharma's original comments.

Sharma later withdrew her remarks and said it was never her intention to "hurt anyone's religious feelings." On Twitter, Sharma said her words were a response to derogatory comments made during the debate about a Hindu god. "If my words have caused discomfort or hurt religious feelings of anyone whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement," later she said.

Another BJP spokesperson, Naveen Jindal, who has since been expelled, had also made comments about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on social media.

The BJP said on June 5 it had suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal from the party. But the Muslims demand exemplary punishment of the two involved.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party is also strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion. The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy," the party said in a statement on June 5 without directly referring to the comments from Sharma or Jindal. Police in the Indian capital Delhi have also registered cases against Sharma and several others accused of disrupting public tranquility and incitement, according to a tweet from the Delhi police's official Twitter account.

A complaint was also filed earlier in Mumbai against Sharma for her inflammatory comments.

On June 8, Indian police said they had arrested a former BJP local youth leader in the northern city of Kanpur for posting inflammatory content on social media about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

The incident has led to protests among the country's Muslim minority in several states. In Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur on Friday, at least 54 people were arrested in connection with the protests, senior Kanpur police official informed.

The BJP's move to suspend its spokesperson failed to stop the controversy escalating beyond India's borders.

Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoned India's ambassadors, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued statements of condemnation. Malaysia was the latest country to condemn the remarks. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the High Commissioner of India to Malaysia on Tuesday to convey their "total repudiation over this incident."

Protesters in the Pakistani city of Lahore called on Indian Prime Minister Modi to issue an apology. And some stores in Kuwait have removed Indian products from their shelves following similar calls for a boycott.

The hashtag "Anyone but the Prophet, oh Modi" has been trending on Twitter in all six Gulf countries, and as far away as Algeria. Oman's outspoken Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalili, the chief religious figure in the country, called Sharma's comments "a war on all Muslims" and a matter that "calls for all Muslims to rise as one nation."

Modi has not publicly commented on the incident but Indian embassies in Gulf nations have made statements saying the comments "do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the government of India" and the government "accords the highest respect to all religions."

Depictions of Islam's Prophet are considered blasphemous by all Muslims and offending images or comments have in the past led to mass boycotts, diplomatic crises, riots and even terror attacks.

On June 8, the terrorist network al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) issued a statement condemning the remarks from the BJP officials and called for revenge, warning they will "find refuge neither in their homes nor in their fortified army cantonments."

Analysts say AQIS had not recruited many people since forming in the subcontinent in 2014 so might not have the capacity to carry out such an attack. In 2015, Islamist militants attacked the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had printed cartoons of the Prophet, and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, killing 17 people.

For many of India's 200 million Muslims, Sharma's comments were not an isolated incident.

They came amid a broader trend in India, which has cracked down on its minority Muslim population ever since Modi's BJP came to power nearly eight years ago.

Analysts say there has been a rise in support for extremist Hindu nationalist groups and suspected hate crimes against Muslims since 2014.

In January, a senior member of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha political party called on her supporters to kill Muslims and "protect" the country. It triggered an outcry made worse by the subsequent lack of arrests.

In February, the southern state of Karnataka banned hijab in classrooms, sparking protests in the state and major cities including the capital New Delhi. The demonstrations prompted rival protests from right-wing Hindus who chanted a religious slogan in support of the BJP.

In 2018, India's current Home Minister Amit Shah said Muslim immigrants and asylum seekers from Bangladesh were "termites" and promised to rid the nation of them. And between 2015 and 2018, vigilante groups killed dozens of people -- many of whom were Muslims -- for allegedly eating beef or killing cows, an animal considered sacred by Hindus, according to Human Rights Watch.

In 2019, India's Parliament passed a bill that would give immigrants from three neighboring countries a pathway to citizenship -- except for Muslims. It led to extended protests and international condemnation.

And in December 2020, Uttar Pradesh enacted a controversial anti-conversion law, making it more difficult for interfaith couples to marry or for people to convert to Islam or Christianity.

All of this, analysts say, is evidence that Modi and his BJP party have pushed an agenda of Hindu nationalism onto secular India, a country of 1.3 billion people.

Analysts said Modi has walked a tightrope between keeping his Muslim international allies happy while pushing his party's Hindu nationalist agenda at home.

"Modi has tried very hard to prevent his party's domestic political agenda from spilling over and poisoning India's relations with the Gulf states," said Hasan Alhasan, a Bahrain-based fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who researches Indian foreign policy in the Gulf.

"The extent to which Sharma's comments have clouded India's relations with the Gulf states is unprecedented, and that's of course because she is the spokesperson of the BJP."

India has much to lose if it can't punish the people involved in controversy. 

India, the world's third-biggest importer of oil, looks to the Middle East for 65% of its crude. The South Asian nation also sends to the Gulf states millions of workers who send home billions of dollars in remittances each year. And the UAE has singled out India among seven other nations as its future economic partner.

The Gulf states are key sources of India's oil and gas imports, with bilateral trade worth more than $100 billion.

Learning Java: Intorduction

Hello everyone !

Ready to learn Java Programming !

What is Java:

Java is a very efficient and versatile programming language which can be used in any computer such as windows, linux, android, ios etc. That is why they call Java a platform independent programming language. Although there are other popular programming languages used by the programmers, Java is still being used for its efficiency in web development. Some other popular programming languages are Python, C++, C#, Perl, Ruby, PHP etc.

We intend to discuss about coding with Java in this learning article.

Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. The Java runtime provides dynamic capabilities (such as reflection and runtime code modification) that are typically not available in traditional compiled languages. As of 2019, Java was one of the most popular programming languages in use according to GitHub, particularly for client–server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers.

History of Java:

Java was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in May 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were originally released by Sun under proprietary licenses. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun had relicensed most of its Java technologies under the GPL-2.0-only license. Oracle offers its own HotSpot Java Virtual Machine, however the official reference implementation is the OpenJDK JVM which is free open-source software and used by most developers and is the default JVM for almost all Linux distributions.

Before Java was evolved there were other programming language in use, such as: FORTRAN, Basic, Visual Basic, C programming. Because of some limitations in those languages Sun Microsystems engineers developed Java to overcome those limitations. Java is also called a high level programming language as it has similarity to spoken words of humans. It is a procedural language as it follows an order of a set of commands. Now java is owned by Oracle.

James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced for the digital cable television industry at the time. The language was initially called Oak after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office. Later the project went by the name Green and was finally renamed Java, from Java coffee, a type of coffee from Indonesia. Gosling designed Java with a C/C++-style syntax that system and application programmers would find familiar.

Sun Microsystems released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1996. It promised write once, run anywhere (WORA) functionality, providing no-cost run-times on popular platforms. Fairly secure and featuring configurable security, it allowed network and file-access restrictions. Major web browsers soon incorporated the ability to run Java applets within web pages, and Java quickly became popular. The Java 1.0 compiler was re-written in Java by Arthur van Hoff to comply strictly with the Java 1.0 language specification. With the advent of Java 2 (released initially as J2SE 1.2 in December 1998 – 1999). New versions had multiple configurations built for different types of platforms. J2EE included technologies and APIs for enterprise applications typically run in server environments, while J2ME featured APIs optimized for mobile applications. The desktop version was renamed J2SE. In 2006, for marketing purposes, Sun renamed new J2 versions as Java EE, Java ME, and Java SE, respectively.

In 1997, Sun Microsystems approached the ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards body and later the Ecma International to formalize Java, but it soon withdrew from the process. Java remains a de facto standard, controlled through the Java Community Process. At one time, Sun made most of its Java implementations available without charge, despite their proprietary software status. Sun generated revenue from Java through the selling of licenses for specialized products such as the Java Enterprise System.

On November 13, 2006, Sun released much of its Java virtual machine (JVM) as free and open-source software (FOSS), under the terms of the GPL-2.0-only license. On May 8, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all of its JVM's core code available under free software/open-source distribution terms, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.

Sun's vice-president Rich Green said that Sun's ideal role with regard to Java was as an evangelist. Following Oracle Corporation's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2009–10, Oracle has described itself as the steward of Java technology with a relentless commitment to fostering a community of participation and transparency. This did not prevent Oracle from filing a lawsuit against Google shortly after that for using Java inside the Android SDK (see the Android section).

On April 2, 2010, James Gosling resigned from Oracle.

In January 2016, Oracle announced that Java run-time environments based on JDK 9 will discontinue the browser plugin.

Java software runs on everything from laptops to data centers, game consoles to scientific supercomputers.

Some other features of Java programming language:

1. Java is object oriented programming language

2. It is platform independent (write once and run anywhere)

3. It is a robust language where exception handling is easier

4. It is secure

5. It is multi-threaded can execute different thread simultaneously.

The next lesson will be how we can start learning Java programming by installing Java Development Kit (JDK) and Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

 

Class Notes:

1. A high-level language in computer programming is the language that is comprehended by humans. A low-level language is the language that is understood by the computer.

2. The process of compilation: Compiling is the process of transforming a high level language into a low level language. A high level language is closer to English. A low level language is closer to what the computer understands.

Compiler is a program. Compiler takes the recipe (code) for a new program (written in a high level language) and transforms this code into a new language (Machine Language) that can be understood by the computer itself. This "machine language" is difficult to impossible for humans to read and understand, thus the need for "high level languages" such as Java or C.

Hifz Academy: Guardians accusing sickness from spoiled school lunch.

Recently we have reports of students getting sick after eating lunch at Hifz Academy. There were several concerns over the food the school is providing for it's students. Last Monday some kids said they didn't like the way the mac and cheese was smelling especially the meatballs in it, and avoided eating it. Some consumed the food without noticing that and became sick.

The food supply system of the school has been under fire from guardians and workers for some time. Recently, concerns over Hifz Academy food has grown over this incident of students getting sick after eating the lunch. If the standard process of food handling and food safety was followed according to city and county guideline this kind of complaint should never come. Now that there are some sporadic talks about the school's food being below standard; the authority should pay attention to the matter. The sourcing of food ingredients also has different concerns other than being healthy. They are the question of being halal in the Islamic way and hygienic in the food safety standard.

What milk you drink?

Most milk we buy from the supermarket is of inferior quality in many different ways. We have seen adulteration of food everywhere on earth. People who are involved in adulteration of food items and food ingredients are actually unknowingly falling victims to their own business. All the prevailing diseases on earth are the result of unhealthy food. Diabetes, cancer, stomach ulcer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart dysfunction, kidney dysfunction, lung failure you name it. We hear the saying that says, "you are what you eat." So, all kinds of sickness is directly or indirectly related to food.

We have heard in the past that milkman add water to dilute milk to increase his volume to make more money. That kind of action didn't really change the quality of milk the way it is happening now-a-days.

Dairy farms has been industrialized. So, instead of getting farm quality milk we are getting industrial grade milk. They have set up their industrial standards, which in turn resulted to produce and market inferior quality milk for public consumption. All kinds of animal has their choice of diet by nature. But when dairy farmers were struggling to maximize profit, not until very recent industrialization of farming, they started to feed the cows with unusual diet. Then it started to degrade the milk for human consumption.

Cows sustenance is from plants and grass that they eat. Many pastures are gone with the wind of housing projects. Farmers are relying mostly on processed food for the cows and treating cows with artificial growth hormone. This eventually produces inferior quality milk, butter and cheese.

If you yell at people they will not complain anymore !

Masjid Al Jameya at ISTABA, as we all know, is a big and old place of worship in Tampa Bay area. Many people work here and a lot of money is spent to keep the Masjid running. And the authority as it claims to be, is working for the sake of Allah only without any remuneration; which is very much appreciative. Somebody by mistake, has asked one of the administrators - while he was out supervising the new construction - that the bathroom was not properly clean on a Friday prior to the jumuah prayer. He could be harsh, we don't know. Another high echelon administrator of ISTABA grabbed the microphone, right after the jumuah prayer and blew away the accuser, saying this kind of intervention was not right as the administrators are not getting paid. And perhaps the accuser might have never cleaned the bathroom of the masjid before, so he doesn't have the right to say something. And the authority as per Friday's outburst, wants people to go to the office and file an accusation if needed.

But we don't know of any concrete policy of the authority how they are going to handle the complaints. One thing I understand is that the accuser might have been wrong the way he approached a person of higher echelon at ISTABA. But the complaint could be valid. On the other hand complaint about bathroom is a common issue. Also we have to keep in mind that this is an old masjid. The bathrooms might be in need of renovation. Whatever the cause is, it is common in the community of Indian sub-continent that they care less about bathrooms. Actually, bathroom is your profile statement. For the Muslims it's even more obvious that our worship starts with cleanliness. Muslims get rewards simply for staying clean in the state of wudu.

The authority always brag about spending huge amounts of money to keep the masjid running, but there is no concrete picture of that in an annual report or in any kind of audit. A portion of the money that they say are being spent in a month can replace such a shabby bathroom with a clean shiny one. I would urge the authority to declare a concrete online complaint system so that people can state their arguments and complaints and see what kind of resolution comes from the authority. Another concern is please don't yell at anybody who yelled at you. That person may be a commonplace but you are the authority.

Guidance Residential and like minded mortgage companies doing riba-free business?

One of our brothers in Islam was looking to buying a house by the help of Islamic finance. But he was confused and curious about the existing Islamic home finance companies. There are many other brothers like him.

Guidance Residential is a company that boasts about financing billions of dollars worth of houses in USA. Besides, they are helping people working with them, by providing jobs, Guidance's activities are being questioned.

Ulema say that they are not following Islamic shariah law about financing houses. Many brothers already bought their houses with Guidance Residential. Many others with limited ability, are trying to buy houses with Islamic finance. Both these groups of brothers are now in dilemma about what they should do.

The general explanation the company gives us is - it is kind of rent to buy. The portion of ownership between Guidance and the home-buyer is calculated. According to the agreement the home-buyer is buying back the ownership of the house with monthly installments or mortgage payments, plus paying rent to Guidance for the company's portion of ownership. This explanation seems to be good as far as Islamic finance is concerned.

But ulema say, they're not doing, what they're saying. First of all they are calculating home-buyers' payments by interest rate. So, different home-buyers get different interest rates. Second accusation is - Guidance resells their mortgages. And also offer refinance for the same house that is under their account. Third accusation against Guidance is - they are working for conventional banks, i.e. they are investing money in Islamic home finance from Bank of America or other such banks.

Because of these accusations common Muslim brothers are suffering from confusion and dilemma as they want to buy houses with limited ability. Others are staying away from companies like Guidance Residential because they fear Allah and don't want to take any chance about it.

Hifz Academy calls for parents-meeting exactly at the time of Jumu'ah prayer !

It has been observed for long that Hifz Academy is calling parent meeting at the time of Jumu'ah prayer on Friday. No matter if any guardian says his Jumu'ah prayer or not; can the school call parents meeting at that time? It's completely prohibited. 'Ulema said when the khateeb steps on the mimbar to give the speech, everything you do other than sitting in the Masjid and listening to the speech is haram.

People that fear Allah are trying to find a school that will teach their kids Islam as a complete code of life; not Islam as a new fashion, which might make them 'modern Muslim' but a Muslim. Our Lord - The Creator of haven and earth and everything in between - is giving us an example of what kind of Muslim we should be; when He mentioned about Ibrahim (peace be upon him) in the Holly Quran,"When his Lord said to him Submit (i.e. be a Muslim)! He said, I have submitted myself (as a Muslim) to the lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists)." (2:131)

How can Hifz Academy work towards Islamic teaching if everything they do is not going towards that goal? The school is not truly depicting the Islamic ideology as we can see from this example of calling parent meeting exactly at the time of Jumu'ah prayer. Actually they are mixing up values and trying to give us potpourri of ideologies. Many people in the past trod to the derailment from the path - in Islam and before Islam. That's why it was mentioned in The Holy Quran:

 "They have purchased with the Ayat of Allah a little gain, and they hindered men from His Way; evil indeed is that which they used to do." (9:9) 

Doing wrong in the guise of religion is easy. People from all religious groups, sects and doctrines are doing it and did it in the past. Should we do the same to achieve nothing but Allah's anger!