The Buddhist community’s sacred place has been under the control of Hindus for a long time. Followers of Buddhism have been demanding its complete control over the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya. Buddhists across the globe revere this temple as the holiest site where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment in 500 BC. The Govt. of India in 1949 passed a law and put the temple under a management committee consisting of four Hindus and four Buddhists with District Magistrate of Gaya as its Chairman. The law mandates that this DM must be a Hindu, or if not, his Hindu subordinate / deputy will assume the role or perform the duties.
This effectively ensures non-Buddhist dominance over the temple’s administration, despite it being the holiest site of Buddhists.
Buddhists have gone on hunger-strike, represented to the State and Central Governments several times, but in vain. The case was filed in the Supreme Court in 2012,the judgement of which is awaited.
By prolonging the procedure, it seems that the government is not in favour of handing over the Buddhist temple to its followers and wants to continue dominance over the temple by non-Buddhists (i.e. Hindus).
Can we ask the authorities as to what is their interest in continuing their control over the Buddhists’ Temple?
I, Farooq AbdulgafarBawani, a member of the minority community (Muslim), respectfully appeal to the authorities to hand over the temple to Buddhists at the earliest, before the situation goes from bad to worse.
Bawani Farooq Abdulgafar
Rajkot, Gujarat
Email:bawanifarooq@gmail.com
Kudos to Dr. M.A. Saleem
The recent remark by Karnataka Police Chief Dr. M.A. Saleem that the confidentiality of victims of particularly sexual assault cases needs to be protected is a very humane, sensitive and responsible comment. Only the victims and their kin know the immense trauma and stigma associated with those who have gone through such assault cases. Everything can’t be exposed in the public domain, especially from the perspective of victims of such crimes. Kudos to the top cop for such sensitivity. Cops in other posts should consider this as sagely advice and make sure they follow it in both letter and spirit.
- Akbar, Cox Town
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Difference between Prophets and Other Men
One of the basic beliefs in Islam is the belief in the prophethood,i.e. believing in all Prophets of Allah. The Prophets were human beings experiencing joy and sorrow, pain and comfort, hunger and thirst, and sleep and fatigue, like us. As a man, the Prophet also ever yielded to the temptation of Satan and committed some faults. But he was chastised for them and forgiven by Allah in this world. (The Qur’an 21:87-88, 48:2) Islam teaches that the Prophets were born sinless and died sinless; hence they are called masum (innocent) and perfect men in Islam.
A Prophet is called ‘‘nabi’’in Arabic which is derived from the root ‘‘naba’’ meaning message or oracle. The man who receives the divine messages (wahi) from Allah and faithfully delivers them to his people is called nabi in Islam. According to Islam, the word nabi applies only to the man who received wahi. Allah bestowed the prophethood upon a man only because of His choice. What is the basic difference between a prophet and a man is that the former received wahi while the latter didn’t. Allah announces it in the Qur’an: “O Muhammad! Say: I am but a man like you, but the inspiration has come to me that your God is one God…. So in His worship, admit no one as partner.” (18:110)
Notably the channel of prophethood is completed, ended and sealed forever with the advent of Prophet Muhammad ﷺas the last and final prophet of Allah. (The Qur’an 33:40) So anybody claiming prophethood after him is uprightly considered Kafir(unbeliever) in Islam.
Muhammad Abdus Samad
Ambari,Dhupdhara, Assam