Shahid Siddiqui

Shahid Siddiqui is a former member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament representing the state of Uttar Pradesh from 2002 to 2008. He is a journalist and the chief editor of the Nai Duniya, an Urdu weekly published from New Delhi.

Political career

Siddiqui began his political career with the Indian National Congress and was the head of its Minority Cell from 1997-99. He subsequently joined the Samajwadi party and was its National General Secretary from 2002 to 2008 and its Rajya Sabha member till he quit the Samajwadi party on July 19, 2008 and joined its arch-rival, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He was expelled from the BSP on 14 December 2009 for speaking out against its leader, Mayawati. He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal on 12 April 2010. He cited his support for the RLD chief, Ajit Singh's demand for the creation of the state of Harit Pradesh as the reason for his joining the RLD. Prior to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election, 2012, Siddiqui resigned from the RLD in protest against its alliance with the Congress party and returned to the Samajwadi party.

Siddiqui

Siddiqui is a family name or surname. Siddiqui means The Truthful in Arabic. Siddiquis are spread all over the world mainly the Middle east, Asia Pacific and Europe. Siddiquis are the descendants of the first Muslim Caliph Abu Bakr as-Siddiq of the Rashidun Caliphate (The four Rightly guided Calips). The title "Siddiq" .(The Truthful) was given to Abu Bakr by the Prophet Mohammad himself. Siddiqui is sometimes also rendered as Siddiqi, Sediqi, Siddique, Siddiquee, Siddighi, Sadighi, Seddighi, Sidiki, Siddiki, or Siddiquie.

The Siddiqui surname is found among a number of ethnic groups and communities after its spread from Middle East to Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia.

Between 1690 and the early 20th century, the District of Badaun, in India, was ruled by the Rohilla Siddiqi Nawabs.

Notable Siddiquis

Times Now

Times Now is a 24-hour English news channel in India. It is owned and operated by The Times Group.

History

The channel was launched in 2006 by Times Global Broadcasting Company Limited, a joint-venture of The Times Group (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.) and Reuters. Sunil Lulla was hired from the Sony Entertainment Television as CEO. In 2008, Reuters exited the venture by selling back its 25.82 percent stake in Times Global to BCCL.

Associated journalists

Arnab Goswami is the Editor-in-Chief and news anchor of Times Now.

Hector Kenneth is Director of News Operations. After years as a journalist, he came into prominence for his reports from the Gaza Strip. Hector began his career in sports.

Maroof Raza is the consultant and strategic affairs expert.

Distribution

Along with the other Times group channels (Zoom, ET Now and Movies Now) Times Now is distributed by Media Network and Distribution (India) Ltd (MNDIL), which is a joint venture between The Times Group and Yogesh Radhakrishnan, a cable and satellite industry veteran, under the brand Prime Connect.

Shahid

Shahid and Shaheed (Arabic: شهيد‎ šahīd, plural: شُهَدَاء šuhadāʾ ) originates from the Quranic Arabic word meaning "witness" and is also used to denote a "martyr". It is used as a honorific for Muslims who have died fulfilling a religious commandment, especially those who die wielding jihad, or historically in the military expansion of Islam. The act of martyrdom is istishhad.

The word shahid in Arabic means "witness". Its development closely parallels that of Greek martys (Greek: μάρτυς - "witness", in the New Testament also "martyr"), the origin of the term martyr. Shahid occurs frequently in the Quran in the generic sense "witness", but only once in the sense "martyr; one who dies deliberately for his faith"; this latter sense acquires wider use in the hadiths.

Quranic references

A shahid is considered one whose place in Paradise is promised according to these verses in the Quran:

The Quran, chapter 3 (Al Imran), verse 169–170:

The Quran, chapter 9 (At-Tawba), verse 111:

The Quranic passage that follows is the source of the concept of Muslim martyrs being promised Paradise:

PBS NewsHour

The PBS NewsHour is an American daily evening television news program that is broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), airing seven nights a week on more than 300 of the public broadcaster's member stations. As the nation's first hour-long nightly news broadcast, the program is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.

Since August 2013, the program's weekday broadcasts – which run one hour in length, and are produced by Washington, D.C. member station WETA-TV – have been co-anchored by Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff--the first, and as of 2016, only, all-female anchor team of a national nightly news program on broadcast television. Since its launch in September of that same year, the Saturday and Sunday editions of the program (titled as PBS NewsHour Weekend) – which run for 30 minutes and are produced by New York City PBS member station WNET – have been anchored by Hari Sreenivasan.

The PBS NewsHour originates from WETA's studios in Arlington County, Virginia with additional facilities in San Francisco and Denver. It is a collaboration between WNET, WETA-TV, and fellow PBS member television station KQED in San Francisco.