Family of Hearts 

My name is Mumtaz Khan and so far I have not been introduced to be a  member of Family of Heats.

I saw the web site and was pleased to see discussion topics at higher intellectual level. 

Religion and science friend or enemies is very interesting topic.

Religion and science are opposite poles. Religion is discipline of rituals with manmade concepts where as the science is the name of human experience and observation of the universe. 

In case of Islam as a DEEN, Quran and science are from the same source. Quran is WORD OF GOD and  SCIENCE IS WORK OF GOD. Both explain each other.  

Knowledge needs of the Muslim of 21 century are different

Why we muslim of 21 century need science to explain Quran or vice versa? Equipped with scientific knowledge, our need is to understand Quran which do not contradict universe made by the same source.  

I compiled two articles comparing Quran vs. science on the following subjects:

      I.        Six stages of the creation of the universe – inspired by Steve Hawking’s Brief History of Time

    II.        Origin of life on earth – coming of ADAM 

It will be an honour to me if I can speak on the subject, with the great interest to the learned members of the FOTH. 

Best Regards

Mumtaz Khan MBA CMA

mmkhann@gmail.com

Pervaiz Sahib, you are the fastest gun these days, You put the stuff on the website, before we hit our [SEND] button J  (must be eating too many prathas full of ghee these days) 

By the way, you have post 301 typed as 3001 in the index. Although, no earth shattering consequence is expected because of this, but you might like to correct it when have time.  

Regards,

Pervaiz, I usually try browsing through most of your emails and enjoy.  Articles, debates, papers, discussions on variety of topics are always very interesting and help enable enhancing the knowledge and perspectives. 

The subject letter was though very long but extremely valuable and interesting.  I had the intention of browsing it as usual but found so interesting that I could not resist and read in full.  The writer has really taken lot of pain utilizing his best resources and efforts unfolding the correct history and realities.  Writer’s vocabulary and way of expression is found marvelous.  He deserves very high appreciation.  This letter should be mailed to every Pakistani living in Pakistan and abroad.  

Regards, 

Dear Dr.Sohail sahib,

I am so happy with the FOTH discussions now going on. People are opening up and embracing freedom and distancing from the dogmas. This is a good and positive sign. Freedom is taking over fear. Thanks to you and my good friend Pervaiz for this wonderful opening.

Regards

Aaj Kay Naam

Faiz CD- ROM

Faiz CD-ROM is a unique effort on the life and works of renowned Urdu poet with the desire to preserve and bring to an international audience the rich heritage of the subcontinent.  

Playable on multimedia computer system, it provides nearly 7 hrs of audio, video, images and textual information on his work and life and includes renditions of his verse in the form of Recitations, Art, Dances and Songs by many well known artists.

It is amazing to put together mood-capturing recitation of the selected poems of Faiz by Melody Queen Noorejehan, Malika Pukhraj, Nayyara Noor, Iqbal Bano, Begum Akhtar, Tina Sani and Talat Mahmood, while recognized poets Ahmed Faraz, Habib Jalib and Zehra Nigah paying tribute in their melodious recitation of Faiz. Among other divergence, its contents also include comments by well known writer Mushtaq Ahmed Usifi and Artist Zia Mohyeddin.

CD-ROM on Faiz is developed as a personal tribute to the great poet by the people involved in its production, and it would also help spark interest in our cultural heritage among our young generation. 

Regular Price: US $30.00

Discount Price: US $20.00 Plus Mailing Charges 

Contact: Sattar Qureshi

Email:hubqureshi@yahoo.com

Tel: 832-455-3724 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              832-455-3724      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Dear friends...we are planning a literary evening with rubina's story and rafi's poetry...

Dear Rubina...i requested baland iqbal to write a review of your story...qasoor kay khussay...and he kindly agreed and will present in our literary...planning the last Sunday of June 2009. Can you please send him the story?

Dear pervaiz...baland has an exam the 3rd week but is available the last Sunday of june....can you book danish's restaurant from 2---5pm and then we will have buffet dinner....

dear rafi raza...would you like to present your poetry

Dear rasheed nadeem...can you write a review of rafi raza's poetry....

Dear Sohail  

I am impressed.  I was wrong about you.  But I learned something today. We have nothing to lose by hearing new ideas.  Actually we could all learn something. 

Regards

Dear Friends..As a moderator of the seminar I welcome Mr Feroz Karamali to our seminar. He is more than welcome to share his views and speak for 10--12 minutes. That is the time allotted for all speakers and I hope they respect that. They will have more time as panelists when they are having a dialogue with the audience. I request Pervaiz Sahib to add Feroz's picture to the seminar panel. Welcome Feroz to the seminar. I do not think anyone is threatened by your views. We might disagree with you but your point of view is always welcome as we encourage honest dialogues and passionate discussions. That is how we learn from each other.

all the best

sohail

Pervaiz sahib 

I was looking at the speakers for 'Relevance of Quran to 21st century'. Of all the speakers, and the moderator, only one believes that Quran is from God,

This is quite an imbalance, for people who do not believe in Quran to be talking about its relevance. 

The relevance of Quran takes on a very serious meaning once it is proved that it is from God and contains knowledge that will help mankind. Therefore there should be someone speaking on this behalf.  There should be at least 2 speakers for, and to against, for a fair seminar. 

I know FOTH is controlled by non-Muslims who are pushing their own agenda. But FOTH loses it purpose of being a fair exchange of ideas in this case, and the panel of speakers should be revised.  I would be glad to speak on the relevance of Quran in the 21st century. 

Regarding the FOTH seminar on May 31, 2009 'Relevance of Quran to 21st century'. it is a shame that we always have the same speakers. No fresh ideas, just the same old beliefs of the speakers perhaps repackaged a little. This is almost like having an Ulema. 

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

What a disgrace! 

How could a country that claim Islam as its founding religion deny a segment of its population their right to define themselves as Muslims and to practice their faith in whatever shape or form they wish? Equally relevant, how could any self-respecting person consider the late Zulfikar Bhutto (a leading member of the feudal Bhutto clan) as a "secular" and "liberal" national leader when it was his regime that declared the Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslims? The ultimate in arrogance, indeed ignorance, is when a person, let alone a political leader, gives himself/herself the right to define another person or to deny people the right to define themselves (e.g. Golda Meir, a former prime minister of Israel, denied the existence of such a thing as the Palestinian people). When has Islam become the "monopoly" of certain self-appointed "guardians" of the faith? I strongly believe that one of the greatest dis-services, indeed damages, that numerous Pakistani leaders, be they military dictators like the late Zia and Yahya Khan, or despotic feudal landlords like Zulfikar or the present Asif Zardari,  have "managed" to inflict on Islam and Muslims is their ignorance of the true spirit of the very faith to which they claim to belong. Pakistani leaders (and their so-called secular intellectuals) should give themselves the chance to read the excellent writings of such great Pakistani Islamic scholars like the late Fazlur Rahman (author of ISLAM & MODERNITY, and MAJOR THEMES OF THE QUR'AN) and Asma Barlas (author of the magnificent book "Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretation of the Qur'an), or the writings of professor Tariq Ramadan (especially his recent book titled IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PROPHET: LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD) and professor Ingrid Mattson (author of THE STORY OF THE QUR'AN). They could learn something useful that would, hopefully, prevent them from engaging in such ludicrous practices, such as denying the Ahmadi Muslims the right to define themselves as Muslims and allowing hateful actions against them.  

Regards, 

Dear Pervaiz,  

I will be more than happy to speak on behalf of liberal Muslims in a debate hosted by Dr. Khalid Sohail and FOTH.  I do not consider socialist Muslims as not being liberal, but I do believe some of them have become obsessed with anti-Americanism, which is not the same as anti-imperialism and the two are vastly different traits. 

While both Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito were both anti-American, they were far from being anti-imperialist. Why then is the anti-Americanism of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Ayatollahs being painted as anti-imperialism? None of them have a problem with what Allama Iqbal called "Arab Imperialism" or the colonial ventures of the Central Asian Muslims into India or the invasion of Sind by Muhammad Bin Qasim. 

Looking forward to a healthy exchange to warm up the winter. 

Tarek Fatah

Dr. Sohail snatched words from my mouth.

Dekhna Taqreer Ki Lazzat Keh Jo Uss Nay Kaha

Main Nay Yeh Jana Keh Goya Bhi Mere Dil Main Hay  

Being an optimist I wish Dr. Sohail's dream comes true. I had same wish since my student days in Punjab University. Born and raised in an extremely conservative and religious family I was newly converted to humanist-socialist thinking. That was the time when I was young, ambitious, motivated and highly convinced that my newly found Nirvana is the only hope for humanity. My first few days in university were a big sock to me. Campus was filled with Moudoodists and they had a complete control of both residential and academic buildings of campus. The second shock was to see liberals divided in an infinite number of small groups like NSF, PSF, NSO, PSO, ISO, MSF, you name. All year round they fight with each other on petty things but cobble a fragile alliance during elections that they always loose. I observed similar phenomena among progressive poets and writers, the same writers whose writings triggered my paradigm shift from a narrow minded fundamentalist to a thinking liberal. After meeting them in person soon I found that beside their ideology many of these great writers also share jealousy, cocoon thinking and self-praise. I have observed a very similar trait among prominent groups of moderate Muslims. Fundamentalism feeds on ignorance and poverty but 'enlightened moderates' starve themselves with their cocoon thinking. 

I completely agree with Dr. Sohail and appreciate his noble intentions. We can succeed if we agree that heterogeneity of views breeds Creativity, diversity is beautiful and that difference of opinion or criticism should not be taken as personal. 

Tahir Ahmed

Dear Javed Chaudry Sahib....I thoroughly enjoyed your story. I wish you write more stories and share with us. Creative Writings have indirect and metaphorical communications and readers can enjoy them by putting their own meanings to them. That is why folktales and mythologies of different cultures have survived over the centuries. I call it wisdom literature. I do not think anybody will be upset by your story, at least I am not. I think we need to have big hearts and sense of humor which is good for our mental health.

in appreciation

Dr Suhelenstein