He does his homework no doubt, and has mastered the art of selective quotation mongering. That suits his style.

His latest work, The World of Fatwas, is a painstaking effort at what the blurb describes as 'the mindset of the controllers of the community as well as the mindset they foment in the community'. In a way it proves that no one has harmed Islam more than Muslims themselves. That is why the great philosopher Allama Iqbal had opined that nothing has hurt Islam more than historical Islam. After reading Shourie's book, I was reminded of Katherine Mayo's Mother India; she had dug out the worst in every aspect of Indian life. Gandhiji characterised it as a 'gutter-inspector's report'.

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What Shourie has done is not so bad; there are a number of green patches in his book, although he presents them with reservations, asserting that these represent the minority, defensive view. Such books have also been written about other major religions and their mentors: their detractors too have been no less critical and hostile. But what purpose do they serve, except to cause pain, anger and resentment among the followers?

World of Fatwas by Arun Shourie, 958, available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide.

The books don't help to reform them. Computer training at a madrasa in Patna: Do fatwas really affect Muslims' daily lives?Shourie's definition of a fatwa itself is incorrect; it is not a ruling but an opinion by a moulvi, who has no special place in Islam, which does not recognise priesthood.

A fatwa has no binding force. Even during the heyday of Muslim rule, under the Umayyids, the Abbasids or the Ottomans, it was enforceable only when sanctioned by the ruler. The five tomes of fatwas issued by some Indian moulvis, on which Shourie relies, comprise their conflicting views on various mundane topics. Belonging to different schools, these venerable old men resort to abusive terminology. They are not the pillars of 'the Shariah in Action', as the author has subtitled his book. In the last 100 years in India, the Shariah has not only been expounded but also laid down, first under the British Raj, by the Privy Council, and subsequently since Independence by our Supreme Court. It is euphemistically called 'The Mohammedan Law', and applies as much to marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance as to Wakf and even management of mosques and durgahs.

Poor, innocent Muslims, not well versed in the meanings of the Quran and the Hadiths, do ask some moulvi questions regarding day-to-day dealings, wondering whether they are on the right track; when put in print they sound silly. Shourie begins the second chapter, entitled 'All of Life', thus: 'If only the forepart of the man enters the sharmagah (the vagina), is a bath obligatory? Even if there is no discharge of semen? If both the man and the woman have clothes on during the act, is a bath necessary?' It is a pity that the Darul Ulum of Deoband has wasted its time in answering these questions.

Worse, in publishing them, thus providing the wherewithal for critics like Shourie to ridicule the Shariah. Broad guidelines would have been more useful than encouraging the Muslims to ask such questions as, 'If a man knowingly inserts a finger in the vagina of a woman, is a bath due upon a woman or not?'

Or 'Why does a bath become necessary when one has intercourse with a thick cloth tied around one's organ?' Shourie has, no doubt, worked hard to gather such material; but after going through page after page of his book. I found that it is partly instructive, partly entertaining but mostly distressing. Most of it deals with trifles: only a few basic issues are touched but they are wrapped up in contrary robes, which makes confusion worse confounded.

There are amusing replies to such questions as whether a Muslim should keep a moustache and/or a beard and, if so, of what length: whether he should urinate sitting or standing. The reality, however, is that interest from banks is freely taken; birth control is universally practised; co-education is on the increase: and polygamy is on the decline, much to the chagrin of these moulvis. Arun Shourie: Selective quotation mongeringProfessor Ziauddin Sardar of King Abdul Aziz University of Jeddah has given a fitting reply to their antediluvian views, which Shourie has picked out with his characteristic ingenuousness: 'By emphasising the precision in the mechanics of prayer and ablution, length of beard and mode of dress, they (the moulvis) have lost sight of individual freedom, the dynamic nature of many Islamic injunctions, and the creativity and innovation that Islam fosters within its framework. They have founded intolerant, compulsive and tyrannical orders and have provided political legitimacy to despotic and nepotistic systems of government. They have closed and constricted many inquiring minds by their insistence on unobjective parallels, unending quibbles over semantics. They have divorced themselves from human needs and conditions. Qari obaid ur rehman full quran mp3.