[Yaadein_Meri] Saw Bengal drowning in Dowry

Brothers,   Assalamalaikum.   Like many other parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Bengal too is drowning in the system of dowry. During our 5-day "Stop-Dowry" campaign in Kolkata, We observed that if our scholars and Madarsas do not raise voice more loudly, and if our rich educated but greedy of pomp and vanity society does not refrain from mean ways of extravagance, the community is going to be destroyed morally and financially worse than Dalits.   Although the Quran defines the MALE (Mard) as the one who spends on the women, but the situation is reverse. 99% of the MALES have given up their malehood (mardanagi) and opted to begging or expecting from the women and never pay the MEHR which is obligatory on them to pay net.   In Bengal, minimum cash starts from Rs. 50,000 besides the furniture, other household items and gold. The price of the man is fixed on the educational qualification, financial background, family status etc. and thus ends up in Crores even. Somewhere, it is compulsory to give dowry, and mostly it is "by default", means the father of the girl is supposed to give by consent. The wedding day dinner is compulsory to be paid by the bride's side.   The consequences are described in the following article. Since this evil of dowry is common in other communities too, and they are more crushed than the Muslim society, It is a great chance for us to rise to the occasion, purify the marriage system according to the Sunnat and present a model to others. They will be on the feat of Islam if we perfom our marriages on the way of Hazrat Ali RA and Fatima RA. We request the brothers to consider this point seriously.   Thanks to Mr. Omer Khan of Rahma Foundation who patronised the whole campaign and held several seminars, gatherings and Friday Khutbas at various places like Muslim Institute, Madarsa Khaja Ghareeb Nawaz, Kanki pura, Ameena pura, Malanchak, Mahesh Gaddi, Matyabride, Garden Beach, Chaabdani etc.  Huge number of audience turned up at these places, and Alhamdulillah they realised the illegitimacy of the Dowry system and pledged by raising hands to refrain from dowry as well as from wedding day dinners. They realised the importance of MEHR and many pledged to pay Mehr. Those who have taken dowry by force, demand or due to lack of awareness under the system pledged to return as, according to the Shariya, it is obligatory to return.   We also thank to Prof. Md. Sulaiman Khursheed, Dr. Aqeel Ahmed Aqeel, Irfan Sher Sahab, Dr. Mehnaaz warsi, Maulana Nisar Qasmi, Maulana Ameenul Islam, Maulana Dr. Omer Farooq, Javed Nihal Hashmi and Shahid Nihal Hashmi. Special thanks to brother Abdul Qader Ameerullah who organised the whole tour under the patronisation of Janab Omer Khan Sahab.   The booklet "mard bhi bikte hain...jahez ke liye" was distributed free in Urdu, Hindi and Telugu. The translation is underway in Bengali, by our next campain it will be ready to be distributed inshallah.   We also thank to Mr. Rahman Sarkar, Azad Hind, Rashtriya Sahara, Payame Mashriq, Kee Khobar and Srishti TV who helped to launch the campaign in media thru newspapers and TV in Bengali, Urdu and English.   Lastly, we request your cooperation in our future campaigns in Sholapur (Jan'2012) and Bihar (March 2012). We will be grateful for your kind guidance in advance.   Aleem Khan Falaki Jeddah aleemfalki@yahoo.com www.socioreforms.com ** ** ** **