Author: Our Special Correspondent
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: May 5, 2003
Kashmir's Grand Mufti has called
for social boycott of Ahmadiyyas, thus endorsing the view held by orthodox
Muslims across the globe that since the members of the sect have apostatised
they cannot claim to be Muslims.
Prophet Mohammed was the last messenger
of God and nobody, after his apostleship, can claim to be one nor will
such a claim be acceptable, says a decree issues by Maulana Mufti Bashiruddin,
the Mufti-e-Azam of Jammu and Kashmir. The decree states that whosoever
makes such a false claim and also all those who accept it have apostatised;
hence they cease to be Muslims. This is the unanimous decision of the Muslims
world over.
The fatwa has appeared in the latest
issue of Mir-e-Karwan, the official organ of the Srinagar-based Markaz-ul-Ifta-wal-Quaza
or the supreme court of Islamic Shariat. Mufti Bashiruddin heads the court,
frequently approached by the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir to seek settlement
of disputes as per the Islamic law and for other religious injunctions.
The fatwa also asserts that a claim of attaining prophethood amounts to
showing offence towards Prophet Mohammed and is blasphemous. To mingle
with or eat or drink with those who hold such a view is absolutely illegitimate
and unlawful, it insists, adding that a deceased member of this school
of thought cannot be buried in a Muslim cemetery nor can a Muslim attend
his or her funeral.
The fatwa has been issued in response
to an inquisition from three residents of Maashwara, a remote hamlet in
Shopian's Keller area. The trio identified as Syed Peer Nizamuddin, Ali
Muhammad Shah and Abdul Gani Shah had recently approached the Markaz to
report that two of their neighbours, who are brothers, had sometime ago
married Ahmadiyya women and subsequently embraced the faith themselves.
Their offspring swelled and we, the anti-Mirzai Muslims, dissociated ourselves
from them and snapped all relationship with them; hence a gulf was created
between the two, they told the Grand Mufti.
The petitioners also informed him
that they with other Muslims of the area had set up a committee to defend
the belief of Prophet Mohammed being the last apostle of God.
They now wanted to know if the members
of Ahmadiyya school of thought, known as Mirzais in Kashmir, could be allowed
to be buried in a Muslim graveyard and whether the pressure applied by
the police on this account was legal.
While responding to the latter part
of the query, Mufti Bashiruudin has urged the police and the government
to respect the sentiments and religious beliefs of Muslims so that no unpleasant
situation is created. In his concluding remarks, he has asserted that no
Muslim can tie himself in nuptial knot with a Mirzai woman and vice versa
and has asked the Muslim to remain at a distance from the Ahmadiyyas.
Though there is nothing new in the
fatwa as orthodox Islam refuses to accept Ahmadiyyas or any one else who
does not subscribe to the view that no Nabi or apostle of God will arise
after Prophet Mohammed as Muslims. But it assumes significance in the backdrop
of reports suggesting that the Ahmadiyya missionaries have stepped up their
activities in Jammu and Kashmir specially the predominantly Muslim Valley.
Also in circulation are reports
that the Christian missionaries are equally active and have, in fact, set
up several offices in and outside Srinagar allegedly to spread the faith
in the garb of social work. The priests at Srinagar's Catholic and Protestant
church have strongly denied the charge. Nevertheless, a national daily
recently carried a series of stories on growing number of conversions,
the reasons thereto and how the Church was seizing the prevailing ground
situation particularly the economic distress for the purpose. In follow
up stories, while Greater Kashmir put the number of Muslims who have converted
to Christianity as 12,000, Urdu daily Al-Safa News raised it t o 20,000.
It also published a photograph showing a jam-packed City Church during
a sermon.
But investigations have revealed
that the number of those who have formally converted into Christianity
runs in few hundreds although a large number of local youth attend sermons
on Sundays and other special occasions at various churches in and outside
Srinagar on regular basis. This, undoubtedly, is a new phenomenon in Kashmir
where not more than few families had changed their faith and converted
into Christianity during the past century. The Christian missionaries who
run half a dozen first-class schools in the Valley, four of them in Srinagar,
for the past several decades have hardly tried to woo the local Muslims
in the past in order to spread the faith. Their activities were confined
to imparting education and doing social work. In fact, recitation of verses
from all holy books, including Quran and Bible, at morning assemblies in
these schools has been a routine.
Investigations have, however, confirmed
that, of late, it is mainly for economic reasons that the Christian missionaries
attract local unemployed Muslim youth and other disadvantaged. There are
as many 11 Christian organisations on the job, mainly in the areas where
the number of orphans, widows and other destitute has manifold during the
13-year-old insurgency.
If not in every case, they have
used the social work for spreading the voice of Jesus Christ at many places.
For instance, activities underway at a sewing centre for the poor women
set up in a Srinagar locality a few years ago have raised many eyebrows
among the residents. According to them, the organisers would initially
avoid using the facility for religious purposes but, after some time, they
distributed a booklet titled Messiah based on the life and teaching of
Jesus Christ among the apprentices. Though there was no wrong in doing
that, the recipients were after some time reportedly asked whether they
would like to know more on the subject, which they suspected was a deliberate
attempt to influence them into the faith in a discreet fashion.
Alarmed by the development, local
Muslim clergy and various social activists have decided to put their act
together and are busy in identifying the people and areas hit by the poverty
the most. Apart from coming to their rescue by providing them financial
help, they intend to launch a campaign against social evils like dowry
and lavish spending on marriages, birthday parties and other such engagements.
As far the activities of Christian
missionaries, it is surely an exploitation of economic conditions and other
social problems of the local populations, complained a cleric. He, however,
admitted that the responsibility lies with the local leadership-political
and otherwise-which has failed to help the needy on time. There would be
no direct confrontation with the missionaries whether Christians or from
any other faith. Everything we intend to do will be within the ambit of
law of the land. Well try to rectify where we have failed. At the same
time, we would see that money power is not used for conversion as that
is illegal and unethical, he asserted.
