Anti-terror fatwa endorsed at nation’s largest gathering of Muslim clerics
HYDERABAD: The Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind (JUH), the country’s largest Islamic organisation, on Saturday endorsed a fatwa issued against terrorism by the Darul Uloom Deoband. The Darul Uloom, an Islamic school of international repute based in the town of Deoband, UP, had issued the fatwa on March 31 this year. The JUH’s endorsement of the fatwa, initially backed by just four clerics, gives it the support of 6,000 clerics from across the country attending the organisation’s two-day 29th national session in Hyderabad, which concludes on Sunday.
“An act of terrorism is carried out by a set of insane individuals and no one should link them with a community (Muslims) that believes in peaceful coexistence with other communities,” JUH leader and Rajya Sabha MP Maulana Mahmood Madni said at the conference. “Islam is a religion of peace. In its eyes, spreading rioting and bloodshed are most inhuman crimes.”
This means the clerics are responsible for keeping away members under their supervision from coming under the influence of terrorist ideology.
It also means madrasa teachers need to sensitise students to terrorism.
The fatwa, which the Deoband school made public at a meeting in New Delhi in May, states that terrorism is un-Islamic and a true Muslim would never commit an act to kill other humans.
Islamic scholars are calling the JUH’s endorsement a landmark event. “The (fatwa’s) interpretation will have a major impact on the entire community,” Mohd Mehtab, a cleric attending the session, told DNA. He said the JUH’s move means that terrorism has been declared un-Islamic “officially”. “Muslims who won’t follow the fatwa will not be considered members of the community,” Mehtab said.
“Now, there will be great responsibility on clerics to ensure people in their areas are not misguided,” said Hafiz Shabbir Naqshbandi, president of the JUH’s Andhra Pradesh chapter.
At the conference, Madni said he disapproved of the use of the term ‘Hindu terrorism’. “For the last so many years, when terrorism has been linked to Islam to malign Muslims, we have been opposing the association strongly. How now can we resort to a similar tactic and blame another community for terrorism?”
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