SALAAM CENTRE, Bangalore presented the Holy Quran to the Honorable Chief Minister, Honorable Speaker, Honorable Ministers, all the Honorable MLA’s and Honorable MLC’s of Karnataka State.
It has been a tradition with the Prophets of Allah to take the Divine message to the Kings and rulers. It was pioneered by the great patriarch of three world religions, Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and was continued by Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon), Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and Prophet Musa (Moses) and the last among the Prophets i.e., Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon all of them. Prophet Muhammad (s) organized special missions and appointed envoys to convey the message of Allah to all the prominent rulers around the Arabian Peninsula. The envoys were specially trained for the purpose. The letters addressed to these rulers carry a lot of importance and several of them have been reproduced in the biographies of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).
India has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Yet the Muslims here are leading a life without a definite agenda. The Muslims should have been resourceful enough to present a recipe for the national issues and problems and should have entered the decision-making bodies with the solution. But unfortunately, they merely carry a begging bowl before the powers that be. A few crumbs of some sops and schemes are tossed into these bowls by way of appeasing them and they seem to jubilate and celebrate every such gesture. An Urdu poet very aptly sums up the situation in the following couplet:
‘Tu hi naadaan chand kaliyon per qinaath kar gaya –
Warna gulshan mein ilaaj e tangi e daaaman bhi tha’
(You, the naïve sat content with a few buds
Otherwise, the garden had ample number of flowers to offer you)
The reins of administration are in the hands of our legislators (MPs as well MLAs) who enact laws and formulate schemes and monitor their execution. It is therefore imperative that they are conversant with the useful guidelines, Divine commandments and important clues for law-making. God being our Creator alone knows as to what would suit the human beings and what laws and regulations would guide their lives better. His commandments are guidance and are contained within the Quran which is preserved with us. Shouldn’t this guidance reach our legislators? It is a must and this responsibility is on our shoulders. But this has barely received any attention.
Mr. Syed Hamid Mohsin, the Chairman of the Salaam Centre organized a programme to convey the Divine message to the members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council during the month of Ramazan. He met the Hon’ble Speaker of the Assembly Mr. Kagodu Thimmappa and requested that the Salaam Centre be permitted to reach every single member of the two houses of State Legislature in the month of Ramazan which is a month for spiritual regeneration. He told him that the Salaam Centre would like to present the Divine message during the month to the members of the two august houses of the Legislature.
Following Mr. Mohsin’s request, the Hon’ble Speaker directed the legislature Secretary Mr. P. Om Prakasha to co-operate Salaam Centre to present the sets of books to all the hon’ble members of the two houses.
Very next day Mr. Mohsin organized distribution of the Holy Quran’, ‘FOLLOW ME, God Will Love You’ the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (s), ‘ISLAM, Facts vs Fictions’ a Book to remove Misconceptions about Islam and ‘ISLAM For You’ a book on Introduction to Islam among the 220 (of the total 225) MLAs and 70 (of the total 75) MLCs together with a personal letter. The hon’ble members included those belonging to the Indian National Congress, the Bhartiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal (Secular) with a few others who were independents.
The letter addressed to them had the following text:
“Dear Sir, The vast chunk of people you represent have entrusted you with a huge responsibility of representing their aspirations. It is almost like the God having appointed you as the custodian of their trust. This responsibility urges you to closely study their faith, doctrine, culture and their social ethos in order that you could serve them effectively and maintain communal harmony and social equilibrium. The books being gifted to you carry not merely the spiritual nourishment for you, but would also make you aware of their sentiments and expectations. We hope this gift would be of immense benefit for you.”
Insha Allah, the gesture of taking the Quran to the legislators during the auspicious month of Ramazan would have its beneficial consequences. Following the distribution of the set of books, Syed Hamid Mohsin observed: “It will be a matter of great satisfaction for us if this small initiative is accepted by Almighty Allah as a step towards discharging a duty in compliance of the Prophetic tradition of taking the message to the rulers. The Holy Prophet had while addressing his message to the common masses and the elite, took special care that it even reaches the rulers as well as administrators of the various neighbouring nations. One wishes that the Muslims should have carried out this obligation since the Independence. However BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. There is ample scope for its acceptance even now and the community should wake up even at this late hour to reach out to the people at the helms.”
The set of books was even gifted to the secretarial staff in the Vidhana Soudha with an enclosing letter. Altogether 52 secretaries and other members of the staff received their gift of books.
Legislators’ Hostel attached to the Vidhana Soudha has a large number of security staff consisting of senior police officers. Even they were gifted with the books. Some of them observed that during Ramazan, they were often invited to feasts where samosas, biryani and other snacks were served. “But what you are doing is more important as it would provide us the spiritual nourishment for thought.”
This was certainly a historic programme accomplished by the Salaam Centre. Mr. Hamid Mohsin has appealed to the dawah organization to take inspiration from the initiative and organize similar programmes in their respective states and region.