Page 4 - Pakistan Link - December 31, 2021

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – DECEMBER 31, 2021 OPINION
Pakistan Link n By Mowahid Hussain Shah Heroics Down under

estern opinion-makers
Advisory Board often conflate Muslims

Dr Sohail Masood Wwith terror. In doing
President so, Muslims in their midst pre-

Arif Zaffar Mansuri dictably bear the
ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org brunt of their
diatribe. Inevi-
Editor tably, those who
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui get caught in the

afaruqui@pakistanlink.com crossfire are the
unconnected and
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan) most apolitical,
Shabbir Ghori either in schools, workplace, or in
urdulink@yahoo.com daily routine. Missing from the
Resident Editor Urdu Link big picture is the extent to which
& Director Video Operations Muslims themselves have been
Anwar Khawaja targets of terror, whether in West
akhawaja@pakistanlink.com or East.
Far from the madding crowd,
Manager Sales & Advertising remote benign New Zealand was
sales@pakistanlink.com violently catapulted into global fo-
cus when, on March 15, 2019, two
Regional Offi ces
Christchurch mosques were at-
tacked by an Australian terrorist.
YKKB The admirable New Zealand prime

ykkb03@gmail.com minister Jacinda Ardern, on De-
cember 15, 2021, gave two Muslims Left to right: Abdul Aziz and the late Dr Naeem Rashid
Sacramento, CA
Sacramento@plpublications.com New Zealand’s highest award, the
New Zealand Cross, the bravery forced the gunman to flee.” Ajaz, his parents, and two sisters, Could a Bollywood screenplay have

San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA equivalent of Great Britain’s Victoria Another New Zealand Mus- left Mumbai for New Zealand in scripted this unbelievable comic-
Sanfrancisco@plpublications.com Cross for gallantry. lim, Ajaz Yunus Patel, rode into 1996, where the devout Muslim book fantasy? Ajaz has irrevocably
According to the Christchurch immortality on December 4, 2021, now lives with his wife, Nilofer. stamped the presence of Muslims
New York, NY
Newyork@plpublications.com Press of December 16, 2021, protect- by taking all 10 wickets in a Test in- Former New Zealand captain, Dan Down Under – they are there to stay.

ing others who were trying to escape nings at the Wankhede Stadium in Vettori, termed it “the greatest in- This was done with Indian umpires,
Houston, TX from Al-Noor Mosque through a on an Indian ground, and before an
Houston@Plpublications.org small window and door, Dr Naeem According to the Christchurch Press of December 16, Indian crowd. It is the only such
Rashid, originally from Pakistan, ran performance on an away Test match.
Phoenix, AZ at the terrorist as he was firing, col- 2021, protecting others who were trying to escape It is faintly reminiscent of the

Phoenix@Plpublications.org

liding with him and knocking him from Al-Noor Mosque through a small window and hit 2014 Helen Mirren movie, “The

Ontario, Canada down. The terrorist regained his Hundred-Foot Journey” wherein a
Ontario@Plpublications.org footing and fatally shot Dr Rashid door, Dr Naeem Rashid, originally from Pakistan, Muslim restauranteur family fled ri-

but not before at least 7 people were ran at the terrorist as he was ring, colliding ot-stricken Mumbai and found fame

Letters to the Editor able to escape. The award citation and fortune in France.

recognized Dr Rashid’s “great cour- with him and knocking him down. e terrorist Muslims in New Zealand have
Readers are welcome to express their opinion
in these columns. Please keep your letters age and bravery in challenging the regained his footing and fatally shot Dr Rashid but yet to hit the 100,000 mark, while
brief and to the point. Letters without full gunman” and saving others “at the Muslims in America are now ap-
name, complete address, and a daytime not before at least 7 people were able to escape
phone number will not be published. cost of his own life.” proximately 10,000,000. Yet, in
Also, copies of letters sent to other news- At the Linwood mosque attack, effect, they remain mired in mis-

papers are not encouraged. Letters can be

mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at Abdul Aziz ran after the terrorist, Mumbai alongside the Arabian Sea. dividual feat in New Zealand his- directed priorities keeping them
the Pakistan Link Headquarters address ducking bullets, picked up his dis- This is only the third time this rare tory.” That Ajaz accomplished this collectively under-resourced, with

listed below.

Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is pub- carded rifle, and yelled at him to get feat has occurred since Test cricket in his birthplace, Mumbai, is, to cite negligible presence in zones of in-
lished weekly for $85 a year by JAZ LLC, his attention. Seeing Aziz with the started 144 years ago, in 1877, at a line Humphrey Bogart used in the fluence.

DBA PL Publications, LLC. rifle, the terrorist abandoned the at- Melbourne. Ajaz finished the match movie, “Maltese Falcon”: “the stuff The heroics Down Under is a

Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA tack and ran to his car, driving off. with 14/225 – the best bowling fig- of dreams.” salutary lesson. Weakness is not re-

and additional mailing offices.

POST MASTER: Send address changes to The award recognized Mr Aziz’s ure in a Test match against India. Bollywood movies are prone spected.
Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA
92815 “brave actions” which “ultimately Under trying circumstances, to pander to Hindutva at the helm.
The management has the right to refuse

to print any advertisement, news, article,
letter or any other material. In case of n By Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy The Pitfalls of Ideology recently lashed out at Turkish busi-
any errors in advertisement the manage- nessmen who are unimpressed by
ment will not be liable for more than the Islamabad, Pakistan
amount paid for the advertisement to the his faith-driven economic policies.
Link. ecep Erdogan, president of After chairing a cabinet meeting

Advertisements in Pakistan Link are
placed in good faith. The newspaper is not Turkey, says his faith in Is- on the falling lira, he accused them
responsible nor endorses the contents of of “scheming to topple the govern-
any advertisement. In case of a frivolous Rlam stops him from raising

lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost bank interest rates. His hardline ment” and said their hopes would be
of the suit, including but not limited to the position sent the in vain.
Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.
lira tumbling from Erdogan is just one example
one low to another; where ideology — whether religious
Information for in the past three or secular — gives the driving seat to
emotion and the back seat to reason.
months it has lost
Subscribers half its value. In Turkey is in trouble, but the United
The printing of Pakistan Link is unfail- spite of a partial States is in still deeper waters. Even
ingly completed by Wednesday every
week and its copies are handed over to recovery, Turks are in the post-Trump era many elected

the mailing house for prompt dispatch still saddled with an inflation rate officials — both in the Senate and

to the subscribers. The Link should so high that supermarket employ- Congress — are ideologically
reach its destination on time if there is
no delay at the post office. If a delay is ees are barely able to keep up with IDEOLOGY, P26

occasioned it is in no way attributable changing labels. But Erdogan has
to the performance of Link’s manage- Views and

ment. In case of delayed receipt of Pak- not budged: “As a Muslim, I will 2014, the top ulema of Pakistan be- what may. But, to be safe, they first
istan Link or missing issues, please con- continue doing what our religion longing to the Fiqhi Majlis said that looked around for muftis who could opinions ex-

tact your local Post Office and submit a pressed by

“Publication Watch” form. tells us. This is the command.” even the so-called Sharia-compliant justify European banking — and authors and
Command? Dear Mr Presi- Islamic banking merely renames in- found some. One can endlessly de-
dent, surely as one who aspires to terest as profit and, as such, is decep- bate whether these justifications are co nt r i b u-

tors in arti-
PAKISTAN LINK be a Muslim hero you have read the tion. All banking, they concluded, genuine or manufactured. cles, letters,

But in Erdogan’s Turkey, state
is haram. Historically, banking was
Qur’an. Therein stands the clear in-
Headquarters junction: “Allah has permitted trade absent in Muslim countries until the and religion have been joined to- o p inio n
P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 and has forbidden interest/usury” 18th century because nothing except gether; ideology has trumped prag- pieces, reports, advertise-
Tel: 714-400-3400 ments, etc appearing in Pak-
Fax: 714-400-3404 (2:275). “Forbidden” here does not zero interest can be allowed. matism. Still, puzzles remain: how istan Link and Urdu Link

E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com mean negotiating what is low or The Ottoman rulers of Tur- come an interest rate of six per cent are their own. The paper

middle or high — forbidden means key were, however, not ideologues. is somehow un-Islamic but a 4pc neither shares nor endorses
zero, exactly zero. Haram is haram. As pragmatists who ran an empire, rate is okay? What about 5pc? Er-
Pakistan Offi ce This is why all early Muslim scholars they broke the ban on banking be- dogan is untroubled by such ques- them and thus should not

42 Rehman Court rejected interest. cause they well knew that no bank- tions because he is an Ertugrul-like be held responsible for the
Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road Many scholars still do today, ing meant no trading. This Western figure in his own imagination, con- views/opinions of the writ-

Karachi-74400, Pakistan ers & advertisers.
particularly Arabs and Pakistanis. In innovation had to be adopted come vinced of his absolute wisdom. He
www.PakistanLink.com