Muslim families make stoves for Hindu festival

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Muslim families make stoves for Hindu festival

Friday, 16 November 2007

Patna, November 16: Many Muslim families in the Indian State of Bihar are currently busy making 'chulhas', or earthen stoves, used to prepare the holy offering for the Chhath festival of the Hindus, in yet another example of communal amity in India.

Muhammad Nizam, along with his wife and children, has made the special stoves for Hindu devotees who use it during the four-day Chhath that began Wednesday. His family is one of a dozen Muslim families engaged in making earthen chulhas in Patna and elsewhere.

"We made the earthen chulhas with great care as they are being used for Chhath. We make substantial money too as the devotees don't bargain much," said Nizam, who is in his 40s. He is selling the stoves for Rs.25-40 ($.64 - $1.02) each at Daroga Prasad Rai Path in Patna.

During Chhath, a large number of people, mostly married women, throng the banks of rivers, including the Ganga (Ganges), Punpun, Gandak and Kosi, for a bath before preparing vegetarian food on the hand-made stoves. Married women also observe a fast during the festival.

Similarly, Lal (Red) Muhammad, Salim Muhammad Shafique and Muhammad Buttu are eagerly waiting to sell chulhas to Hindu devotees who worship the sun god during Chhath.

"We began making the chulhas a week ahead of Chhath to sell them on time," Lal (Red)Muhammad said. The Muslim families buy clay from farmers in nearby rural areas at around Rs.800 ($20.51) per tractor and distribute it among themselves for making the chulhas.

"We consider chulhas pure and it is an age-old tradition to prepare cooked offerings in them for Chhath. We are thankful to the Muslim families which make and sell these chulhas to us," said Kanchan Bala, a middle-aged Hindu woman.

Ashok Singh, a businessman, said hand-made stoves were rare in urban centres like Patna. "They are available to Hindus during Chhath thanks to the Muslim families," he said.

Interestingly, Chhath is celebrated by Muslims too in several villages of the state.

Besides preparing and selling chulhas, many Muslims have also volunteered to clean up rivers, ponds and streets for the festive occasion. They are helping Hindus sanitise riverbanks in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga.

[Revert]

I don't know about this..making the stoves seems dodgy..however cleaning the riverbanks is great!

[riad19]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

Patna, November 16:[/b] Many Muslim families in the Indian State of Bihar are currently busy making 'chulhas', or earthen stoves, used to prepare the holy offering for the Chhath festival of the Hindus, in yet another example of communal amity in India.

thats the worst translation i've seen in a long time

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by riad19

thats the worst translation i've seen in a long time

lol how would you translate it then?

i dont have a problem with them making the stoves, because they are doing it make a buck and earn a living, but i do have a problem with that one sentence i underlined, where muslims in several villages of bihar are actually celebrating the festival.

[SaidAbdullahofDarfur]

See this is what happens when kindness goes a bit to far...

Donating is all nice and good, but man...celebrating their holyday?

DO these muslims want to become Hindu?

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by SaidAbdullahofDarfur

See this is what happens when kindness goes a bit to far...

Donating is all nice and good, but man...celebrating their holyday?

DO these muslims want to become Hindu?

well technically they once were, at least thier ancestors were, but alot of those old jahil ways and practices still remain. it really has nothing to do with being kind, it has more to do with old jahil habits. even the arabs never truley gave up many jahil practices. and on top of it, i dont see anything wrong with them selling items to the hindus since they are just earning a living, but there is a line that cant be crossed.

[Revert]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

well technically they once were, at least thier ancestors were, but alot of those old jahil ways and practices still remain. it really has nothing to do with being kind, it has more to do with old jahil habits. even the arabs never truley gave up many jahil practices. and on top of it, i dont see anything wrong with them selling items to the hindus since they are just earning a living, but there is a line that cant be crossed.

This is not an attack but just a question, how do you feel about Muslims making Crucifixes or Minoras for a living?

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by Revert

This is not an attack but just a question, how do you feel about Muslims making Crucifixes or Minoras for a living?

well that's a very interesting question. one can easily say its just art, and that these people are not worshipping it. but then again hazrat Ibrahim fought with his father over him being the idol maker, and even reminicent of his story, muhammad ali also fought with his father for just painting pictures of jesus.

anyhow these muslims were not making idols, they were just making stoves, that hindus just happen to use for religious ceremonies. its the law of economics, supply and demand. in fact in the holiest hindu cities of india, such as benaris on the river ganges, there are muslim merchants who actually sell idols to hindus. for them, its just making a quick buck.

let me say this though, you have seen what kind of news i post. i really dont like hindus and sikhs to begin with. almost hatred if you want to call it that. my own younger cousin once named his pet dog ram, after a hindu idol, that gave us plenty of laughs. in my family home in india, the nieghborhood has seen its fair share of hindu-muslim rioting. there was even a guy i remember who used to ride around on a motorcycle and wear a red checkered saudi kaffiyah, and he had organized muslims to go fight hindus in street battles during those riots. in fact, he even recruited one of our house servants, from our family home, in a plan to kill the hindu nieghbor who lived in a nice big house next door, boy did they kill him.

Hindus have even called me 'fanatical' because i speak up for the rights of muslims in india. well they wont say it to my face, they just say it behind my back.

so i just want everyone to know this, after you read what i have to write.

just this past eid i ran into a childhood freind of mine. his wife is a hindu. but you know she seemed really nice, she came and attended the salatul eid, i didnt say anything to them about it. she was dressed as a muslim and all, and i showed her the same courtesy and respect i would show the muslim wives of any of my freinds. i said salam and eid mubarak to her and even khudahafiz. instead all i got was a 'hi' and a 'bye' lol. but even though i had heard he had married a hindu girl, by someone from islamica of all places haha, i didnt say anything, and i acted like i didnt know anything about it and had simply assumed that she was a muslim. i was impressed though that she was very nice and did come out to attend our eid salat.

[Revert]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

well that's a very interesting question. one can easily say its just art, and that these people are not worshipping it. but then again hazrat Ibrahim fought with his father over him being the idol maker, and even reminicent of his story, muhammad ali also fought with his father for just painting pictures of jesus.

anyhow these muslims were not making idols, they were just making stoves, that hindus just happen to use for religious ceremonies. its the law of economics, supply and demand. in fact in the holiest hindu cities of india, such as benaris on the river ganges, there are muslim merchants who actually sell idols to hindus. for them, its just making a quick buck.

let me say this though, you have seen what kind of news i post. i really dont like hindus and sikhs to begin with. almost hatred if you want to call it that. my own younger cousin once named his pet dog ram, after a hindu idol, that gave us plenty of laughs. in my family home in india, the nieghborhood has seen its fair share of hindu-muslim rioting. there was even a guy i remember who used to ride around on a motorcycle and wear a red checkered saudi kaffiyah, and he had organized muslims to go fight hindus in street battles during those riots. in fact, he even recruited one of our house servants, from our family home, in a plan to kill the hindu nieghbor who lived in a nice big house next door, boy did they kill him.

Hindus have even called me 'fanatical' because i speak up for the rights of muslims in india. well they wont say it to my face, they just say it behind my back.

so i just want everyone to know this, after you read what i have to write.

Coo Bro I just wanted to hear your opinion on it is all

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by Revert

Coo Bro I just wanted to hear your opinion on it is all

anytime, no problem at all for me.