Quoting a press release
of Majlis-e-Ahrar, Punjab, the Daily Sahafat, Delhi (18 May 2010) reports that
Muslims are proud of the fact that, with the intervention of Majlis-e-Ahrar
chief Maulana Amanullah and the Shahi Imam of Punjab Maulana Habeebur Rahman
Saani Ludhianawi, they were able to raise their heads high in this Kufristan,
the land of Kafirs. Ahrar volunteers raised the war cry of Allah-o-Akbar when
the local administration removed the film shooting apparatus of a movie company
that was trying to shoot a film “Tanu weds Manu” reportedly without any
permission inside the premises of a mosque. [Urdu paper report published
below]
It is possible that, as reported, the movie-makers were
doing something unauthorised. If so, local Muslims were right to protest and
Majlis-e-Ahrar was right to come to their aid if the administration was
reportedly not listening to them as there are few Muslims in Kapurthala. It is
quite possible that the administration went into action only when they
apprehended a law and order problem following the involvement of Majlis
warriors. If true the administration should be taken to task by the higher
authorities for allowing this unauthorised shooting to continue within the
mosque premises despite the local Muslims’ protest.
But the proud victory celebration in this “Kufristan”
was amazing. As reported, this victory “not only stopped the shooting of the
film but restored the prestige of the few Muslims who live in Kapurthala”, said
Dr. Abdur Rasheed and other Muslims thanking the Shahi Imam of Punjab Maulana
Habeebur Rahman Saani Ludhianawi and Majlis-e-Ahrar. They said: “we are proud of
our lion-hearted leader whose courageous intervention raised our heads high with
pride in this Kufristan.”
Clearly there are people in our community who are not
happy living in what they call Kufristan, the land of infidels, even though the
overwhelming majority of people in India are believers. But a believer for them
is one who believes in their narrow interpretation of a religion that had come
to this world as a blessing for the entire world. Not for them is the Quranic
dictum lakum deenakim waleya deen (For you your religion and for me mine). The
only Deen for them is the one they think they possess. There are no other deens
in the world. God has sent to this world no prophets other than Prophet Mohammad
(S) as far as they are concerned. It means nothing to these people that the Holy
Quran has repeatedly demanded that we believe in all the prophets (1, 24, 000,
according to one account,) as a part of our basic faith and give them equal
respect as Prophet Mohammad (S) and treat their followers as Ahl-e-Kitab (People
of the Book) and have close social interaction with them including establishing
marital relations. Indeed even within
that Deen, for them the only correct interpretation is the one they believe in.
No one else has the right to interpret Islam according to his own light and live
by it.
These Kufristanis apparently believe they are living in
the Mecca of Prophet Mohammad’s early years of prophethood. But if that is the
case, should they not be following the policy of Prophet Mohammad in those days.
Are they aware what horrendous atrocities the Prophet and his followers had to
face day in and day out? And do they know what the Prophet and his followers
did? They did not even raise a finger in their defence. So, if you believe you
are a Muslim living in early seventh century pre-Hijri Kufristan of Mecca,
behave like one. Don’t go to the administration protesting shooting of a movie
in your masjid precincts. Be grateful for having a masjid in the first place.
Muslims in Kufristan Mecca didn’t have a mosque at all.
However, the question for us, the mainstream Muslims, to
ponder is: do we want people like this living in our midst? Can we live
peacefully in this multi-cultural, multi-religious Darul Aman with some in our
midst treating it as Darul Harb? Would the confrontationist behaviour of these
people not embroil us all in a conflict with other people in our
multi-religious, multi-cultural society? How would people from other religions
distinguish between mainstream Muslims and these Kufristanis? How would they
know this Muslim is a HIndustani and this one is a Kufristani? Is it not time we
asked the few Kufristanis among us to leave us and migrate to the land that was
specifically created for them? Obviously when Pakistan was created it was clear
that it would not be able to accommodate all Indian Muslims. So who was it
created for? Apparently the founders of Pakistan, whether they were Muslims or
Hindus, must have thought this new country will be a haven for those who were
uncomfortable living among Kafirs and want to live among the “pure.” How come we
still have people among us who consider this land Kufristan? What are they doing
here? What is there motive in living in our midst? How come they are allowed to
run major warrior organisations, mosques and newspapers?
A popular Dawn columnist Nadeem F. Paracha writes in a
recent column: “A few weeks ago I got an email from a reader about a Pakistani
in the US who (on Facebook) accused me of being a “Zionist-backed agent of
secularism”. When someone asked the gentleman that, if he hated the US so much
why was he living there, he conveniently (and without any hint of irony) claimed
that his mission was to convert (to Islam) as many Christians and Jews in the US
as possible.” Now, is it possible that these Kufristanis are living in India
with a similar motive? After all, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-ul-Ulema did not
support the creation of Pakistan with a similar motivation.
But can we mainstream Muslims, who are proud of and
happy living in multi-religious India, allow these Kufristanis to live in our
midst? Should we not ask them to leave for the “land of the pure,” where there
would be no "kafirs" (the Hindus have been practically weeded out), only Shias
and Sunnis, Deobandis and Barelwis, Salafis and Ahl-e-Hadeesis and, of course,
Ahmadis, both the Lahoris and the Qadianis?
Sultan Shahin,
Editor, New Age Islam
By Sultan Shahin, Editor, New
Age Islam
Quoting
a press release of Majlis-e-Ahrar, Punjab, the Daily Sahafat, Delhi (18 May
2010) reports that Muslims are proud of the fact that, with the intervention of
Majlis-e-Ahrar chief Maulana Amanullah and the Shahi Imam of Punjab Maulana
Habeebur Rahman Saani Ludhianawi, they were able to raise their heads high in
this Kufristan, the land of Kafirs. Ahrar volunteers raised the war cry of
Allah-o-Akbar when the local administration removed the film shooting apparatus
of a movie company that was trying to shoot a film “Tanu weds Manu” reportedly
without any permission inside the premises of a mosque. [Urdu paper report
published below]
It is possible that, as reported, the
movie-makers were doing something unauthorised. If so, local Muslims were right
to protest and Majlis-e-Ahrar was right to come to their aid if the
administration was reportedly not listening to them as there are few Muslims in
Kapurthala. It is quite possible that the administration went into action only
when they apprehended a law and order problem following the involvement of
Majlis warriors. If true the administration should be taken to task by the
higher authorities for allowing this unauthorised shooting to continue within
the mosque premises despite the local Muslims’ protest.
But the proud victory celebration in
this “Kufristan” was amazing. As reported, this victory “not only stopped the
shooting of the film but restored the prestige of the few Muslims who live in
Kapurthala”, said Dr. Abdur Rasheed and other Muslims thanking the Shahi Imam of
Punjab Maulana Habeebur Rahman Saani Ludhianawi and Majlis-e-Ahrar. They
said: “we are proud of our lion-hearted leader whose courageous intervention
raised our heads high with pride in this Kufristan.”
Clearly there are people in our
community who are not happy living in what they call Kufristan, the land of
infidels, even though the overwhelming majority of people in India are
believers. But a believer for them is one who believes in their narrow
interpretation of a religion that had come to this world as a blessing for the
entire world. Not for them is the Quranic dictum lakum deenakim waleya deen (For you your
religion and for me mine). The only Deen for them is the one they think they
possess. There are no other deens in the world. God has sent to this world no
prophets other than Prophet Mohammad (S) as far as they are concerned. It means
nothing to these people that the Holy Quran has repeatedly demanded that we
believe in all the prophets (1, 24, 000, according to one account,) as a part of
our basic faith and give them equal respect as Prophet Mohammad (S) and treat
their followers as Ahl-e-Kitab
(People of the Book) and have close social interaction with them including
establishing marital relations. Indeed
even within that Deen, for them the only correct interpretation is the one they
believe in. No one else has the right to interpret Islam according to his own
light and live by it.
These Kufristanis apparently believe
they are living in the Mecca of Prophet Mohammad’s early years of prophethood.
But if that is the case, should they not be following the policy of Prophet
Mohammad in those days. Are they aware what horrendous atrocities the Prophet
and his followers had to face day in and day out? And do they know what the
Prophet and his followers did? They did not even raise a finger in their
defence. So, if you believe you are a Muslim living in early seventh century
pre-Hijri Kufristan of Mecca, behave like one. Don’t go to the administration
protesting shooting of a movie in your masjid precincts. Be grateful for having
a masjid in the first place. Muslims in Kufristan Mecca didn’t have a mosque at
all.
However, the question for us, the
mainstream Muslims, to ponder is: do we want people like this living in our
midst? Can we live peacefully in this multi-cultural, multi-religious Darul Aman
with some in our midst treating it as Darul Harb? Would the confrontationist
behaviour of these people not embroil us all in a conflict with other people in
our multi-religious, multi-cultural society? How would people from other
religions distinguish between mainstream Muslims and these Kufristanis? How
would they know this Muslim is a HIndustani and this one is a Kufristani? Is it
not time we asked the few Kufristanis among us to leave us and migrate to the
land that was specifically created for them? Obviously when Pakistan was created
it was clear that it would not be able to accommodate all Indian Muslims. So who
was it created for? Apparently the founders of Pakistan, whether they were
Muslims or Hindus, must have thought this new country will be a haven for those
who were uncomfortable living among Kafirs and want to live among the “pure.”
How come we still have people among us who consider this land Kufristan? What
are they doing here? What is there motive in living in our midst? How come they
are allowed to run major warrior organisations, mosques and
newspapers?
A popular Dawn columnist Nadeem F.
Paracha writes in a recent column: “A few weeks ago I got an email from a reader
about a Pakistani in the US who (on Facebook) accused me of being a
“Zionist-backed agent of secularism”. When someone asked the gentleman that, if
he hated the US so much why was he living there, he conveniently (and without
any hint of irony) claimed that his mission was to convert (to Islam) as many
Christians and Jews in the US as possible.” Now, is it possible that these
Kufristanis are living in India with a similar motive? After all,
Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-ul-Ulema did not support the creation of Pakistan
with a similar motivation.
But can we mainstream Muslims, who are proud
of and happy living in multi-religious India, allow these Kufristanis to live in
our midst? Should we not ask them to leave for the “land of the pure,” where
there would be no "kafirs" (the Hindus have been practically weeded out), only
Shias and Sunnis, Deobandis and Barelwis, Salafis and Ahl-e-Hadeesis and, of
course, Ahmadis, both the Lahoris and the Qadianis?
11:09 PM
Sultan Shahin
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