Indian Muslims take a clear stand against terrorism

Jihadism misinterprets the verses of Holy Quran and concocts Hadees (Sayings of the Prophet) to entice the unwary, comments Sultan Shahin

  Nudged by persistent and growing identification of Islam and Muslims with terrorism at the national as well as global levels since 11 September 2001, Indian Muslim clerics of all hues came together at Deoband, 140 km east of Delhi, on 25 February to pronounce an unequivocal fatwa against terrorism of all kinds. In an event organised by the premier Muslim religious educational institution Dar-ul-Uloom, 6000 heads of madrasas from across the country along with the heads of organisations sponsoring their institutions, joined hands to say with one voice that terrorism of all kinds was against the peaceful principles of Islam.
The audience numbered tens of thousands. The Deobandis, Barelwis, Wahhabis, Ahl-e-Hadees, in short Sunnis of all hues were there. The Shias had already participated in another get-together organised by Jamiat-ul-ulema for the same purpose in Delhi over a year ago at a smaller level.
   The conference appealed to all Muslims to continue, as they always did in the past, their loyalty towards the dear motherland and love and respect towards humanity. It appealed to them ‘to fully understand the present alarming situation, the gravity and intensity of the time, and feel the pulse of the present world so that they might not be employed as tools of evils by anti-Islamic or anti-national forces’ and ‘to live with dignity and pride being faithful to the country, to keep full trust in their leadership…’
   Based on intelligence reports, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan has pointed out several times that hundreds of terrorist sleeper cells lie dormant in various parts of the country, presumably deeply buried as ordinary people living in Muslim localities. Some of these could be activated at any time by forces inimical to India’s national integrity.
   I recall visiting the offices of Sipah-e-Sahaba in Karachi in the early 1990s and spending an evening in an atmosphere of pleasant bonhomie with likeable people, without even gathering a hint that soon they were going to become known as remorseless killers.
   Jihadism is an ideology in its own right. It misinterprets the verses of Holy Quran and concocts Hadees (Sayings of the Prophet) to entice the unwary. One Kashmiri jihadi organisation, for instance, quotes a so-called Hadees, according to which the Prophet called jihad against India as more worthwhile (afzal) than any other jihad.

                     
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