16 British Muslims get OBE
Mohammad Jehangir Khan is the only British Muslim who was honoured with Order of British Empire (OBE) in this year's list of honours of British Queen. Khan is chairman of the Puretone Plc, and has been honoured for his services to those who need hearing aid and business in Kent. His company manufactures and exports hearing and audiology equipment.
Thirteen Muslims received Member of British Empire (MBE). Among them is Foysol Hussain Ahmed from Edinburgh for his services to promote community relations. He organises Edinburgh Mela every year and brings together Asian and the British citizens. He is in the restaurant business. Others include Ismail Yusuf Ginwala, 42, for Community relations. He originally hails from Gujarat; Zulfikar Ali Mulak, 44, for service to community, heading the Housing Needs Borough of London borough of Hackney, member of ROOF magazine and member of the Chartered member of Institute of Housing; Zerina Kheraj for promotion of English language among immigrant communities, Syeda Khatun for community service, a member of the Sandwell Council; Dr. Hany Abdel Gawad el-Banna for overseas humanitarian work as a Member of the Islamic Relief; Prof. Dawud Olatokumbo Noibi of Council of Nigerian Muslim Organisation for community work. Others include, Ashiq Hussain, councillor at Derby; Shiraz Durrani for Library services; Farzand Ali Khan, for community relations in Huddersfield; Maria Shamms for services to Red Cross; Rubina Shamim for services in Crawley; Chaudhury Asif Yaqub, director marketing for Quat-Chem Ltd. Among KBE honours are Prince Karim Agha Khan for services to international development. Dr. Khalid Hameed of Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council is honoured with CBE. No Muslim was knighted.
Two from the Hindu and Sikh communities were honoured with OBE and six with MBEs. Three from the Jewish community were knighted and 16 received other honours such as OBE, MBE and KBE.
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Nominated: Maulana Mahmood Madani, general secretary of the Jamiatul Ulema Hind, who ran a Dalit-Muslim campaign for the last three years has been nominated by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to fight the election from Amroha Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. RLD is headed by Ajit Singh, who was agriculture minister in NDA government for nearly four years.
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Replaced: Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, leader of the Majlis Ittihadul Muslimeen, will not fight the election from Hyderabad Lok Sabha constitutency this time. He has been replaced by his son Asaddudin Owaisi who was an MLA in the dissolved Andhra Pradesh Assembly. Salahuddin had been elected from Hyderabad for five times in a row. Besides Assaduddin, another son Akbaruddin was also an MLA in Andhra Pradesh Assembly as part of the 4-member group, all elected from the constituencies in Hyderabad.
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Appointed: Prof. A. M. Pathan has been appointed the vice chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University at Hyderabad. Pathan was vice chancellor of Karnatak University, Dharwar for two terms and recently demitted the office. He earlier taught geology at Bangalore University and later at Karnatak University. Maulana Azad National Urdu University is a central university that conducts distance education through Urdu medium.
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England's No. 1 Badminton player: Aamir Ghaffar, 24 became England's number one Badminton player when he defeated Colin Houghton, the title holder in the English National Championship in Manchester National Cycling Centre recently. He is of Pakistani origin and his wife, Sheeba Khan is being denied visa by the British Embassy in Pakistan. They were married for eight months and Ghaffar could spend only two months with his wife. In 2002, Ghaffar played the European championship while fasting for Ramadan.
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Martyred: Shaikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Palestinian struggle was assassinated by Israeli forces who targeted him and seven other colleagues with rockets launched by helicopter gunships on March 21. He was 67. All eight died in the attack.
Shaikh Yassin was born in Gaza in 1938 and educated in Cairo. He was injured in an accident early in his life and was bound to a wheelchair since then. He was of the opinion that Israeli usurpers should leave the entire land of Palestine and jihad must be waged against them. He was elected the spiritual leader Islamic movement of Hamas and became known all over the world in 1987 when he was imprisoned by Israeli forces for being in the wake of Intifada in Occupied Palestine. Israel considered him the ideological guide of the Intifada. He was released in 1997 in lieu of the two Israeli agentrs who had been captured by the Palestinians for killing certain leaders of Hamas movement in Jordan.
Israeli President Ariel Sharon had declared early last year that it intends to kill Shaik Yassin. Yassin survived an attack by Israelis six months ago.
The Security Council of the United Nations adopted a resolution condemning Israel for assassinating Shaikh Yassin with 11 to 1 votes. However, the United States vetoed the resolution. Britain, Germany and Romania abstained. The US only expressed concern over the assassination of Shaikh Yassin.
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Austere Saudi Dies ‘Aged 130’
Riyadh: A aged Saudi has died at the purported age of 130 after an exemplary life. According to Al-Watan, the man spent his life eating “only the fruit of his labour” and making the pilgrimage to Makkah three times on foot. Zafer ibn Yehya Al-Asmari died in Ballasmar in southern Saudi Arabia last forthnight, leaving behind some 60 grandchildren. His son Abdullah said that Asmari never wore shoes and never travelled by car except once when he was once taken to hospital. Asmari spent a lifetime eating only what he grew or raised and always warned his children to avoid chemicals, the son said. He was also “known for his boldness and daring in confronting wild animals, once killing a tiger.” n
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I thank the readers of Islamic Voice for their response towards my magazine-Might in Minorities. As a community we all need to work together and I welcome articles from the community on issues related to the Minorities. As the countdown begins for the release of the magazine this summer, inshallah, your support shall be valuable. While moral support has been coming from various quarters including S.M.H Kirmani, cricketer and chairman BCCI, the Governor of Karnataka Mr T. Chaturvedi has extended his best wishes for the magazine, I request you all to pen your thoughts and send it to me as early as possible. Address your articles and views to:
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