By New Age Islam Special Correspondent
20 March 2021
Waseem Rizvi, the controversial Shia personality and former Chairman of UP Shia Waqf Board has created a controversy in India by filing a Public Interest Litigation in Supreme Court of India seeking to obtain an order to remove 26 war verses that according to him promote terrorism and are a threat to India's security. Muslims across the country have condemned his petition. Shia and Sunni ulema have unitedly declared him an apostate (Murtad). Protest meetings have been held in Delhi, Lucknow and other small towns of the country where Muslim religious scholars from Shia and Sunni community condemned Waseem Rizvi's anti-Quran statements.
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However, the protest took violent turn as a lawyer announced a reward for Rizvi's head. Others also swore to kill him whatever be the repercussions. Some Muslims, according to Rizvi, abused him over the phone and threatened him with dire consequences.
Prominent Islamic personalities of India have said that Waseem Rizvi's petition is based on his wrong and half-baked knowledge of the Quran and that not a single word of the Quran can be removed from the Quran and that Allah has promised to protect the Quran till the Day of Judgment. Raza Academy and Jamiat Ulema Hind have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a rejection of the petition.
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Anjuman Haidari, an organisation of New Delhi organised a rally at Shahi Masjid on Friday to protest against Rizvi's petition. Prominent religious leaders from Sunni and Shia community including Supreme Court lawyer Mahmood Pracha participated in the protest meeting.
But the real question is: Was this kind of response necessary? Waseem Rizvi has filed a petition in the Supreme Court and the matter is now sub judice. He has named more than 57 Muslim organisations and personalities as respondents in his petition and asked them to explain and justify the 26 verses he has quoted. The response of the Muslim organisations and Islamic scholars is that they don’t want the Supreme Court to entertain the petition and dismiss it without discussion. There has not come any statement from any religious scholar on the verses in question. All they have said is that not a single verse can be removed but they have not explained the verses. They organised a protest march in Delhi to give a 'befitting reply ‘to Waseem Rizvi but have not said that they would give a befitting reply to Waseem Rizvi in the Court and justify the verses with their knowledge of the Quran in the Court.
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We may recall that in Babri Masjid- Ramjanmbhoomi case, Muslim organisations, clerics, intellectuals and some university professors had unitedly said that they wiould respect the judgment of the court and had appealed to the Muslims to maintain peace and calm. But in this case, religious scholars, intellectuals and Muslim personalities have not shown the same degree of maturity and trust in the justice system. On the one hand, they claim their belief in the verse that says that God will protect the Quran, and on the other they dont want to respond to the points Rizvi has raised.
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In the past, many ulema have defended the verses in question saying they are contextual and do not apply in the modern circumstances. But at the same time, there are ulema, past and present, who believe in the Theory of Abrogation according to which all the verses preaching peace and harmony have been abrogated by the war verses (Aayat-e-Harb)? Do they think that in the court they won't be able to defend the interpretation of the ulema supporting the Theory of Abrogation and so they want the petition to be dismissed by the court?
Both the Shia and Sunni ulema have created a mass hysteria over the issue though at the same time they say that God has taken the responsibility to protect it. Waseem Rizvi has no support of his community. The central government has also opposed Waseem's move. The prominent BJP leaders have also criticised Waseem. All this has rendered his petition a one man show. Eminent lawyer Faizan Mustafa has pointed out the flaws in the draft of the petition and has predicted that the petition may be dismissed at the threshold. At the same time he said that putting a reward at Rizvi's head was wrong.
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The imam of Fatehpuri Masjid Mufti Mukarram rightly said that Muslims should not give Waseem Rizvi much importance. But the fact is that Muslim intellectuals and religious scholrs have not shown the same degree of maturity and restraint they had demonstrated during the Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid suit. They have created a mass hysteria over the issue though it has become clear that the petition is not a concerted move from any political party or from the government. Even if they want the petition rejected by the Court, there is a legal recourse. There is no need to create a mass hysteria. When will the community learn to behave like a mature religious community?
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Also Read: Waseem Rizvi's Petition against the Quran: Muslims Should Adopt Abdul Muttalib’s Attitude
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1:41 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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