After Paris attacks, Muslim community asks why it is expected to condemn every single terror act

New Delhi: Has the Muslim community in India been strong enough in its condemnation of acts of terrorism across the world? It can be a loaded question, even an unfair one. But the community itself is divided on this.

Mumbai-based advocate Yusuf Hatim Muchhala, who is also a member of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), says there are enough voices of condemnation from within the community but they are not getting published by the mainstream, especially the English media.

“Urdu dailies are full of statements condemning terrorist attacks in strongest possible words. Everyone has condemned the incident (the Paris attack) in one voice. Everyone has called it a bloodbath of innocents, not Jihad. Jihad is a kind of war in which only combatants are killed, not non-combatants. Even if we condemn such acts a hundred times, people are not ready to listen. We cannot help it,” he said.

Asked why Muslims have to always condemn such acts, he replied “because everything is being done in the name of their religion”. “The religion is being abused. Therefore, it is their religious duty to raise their voice against the abuse,” he added.

But Shakeel Ahmad Samdani, professor, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, feels Muslims do not always need to react on such terror acts.

“It is true that killing innocents is not an Islamic act. And what has happened is completely un-Islamic. But why are we always expected to react and condemn such acts as though we are party to them? We are never remembered when it comes to welfare schemes for the upliftment of our community but when a terror incident happens, we are expected to condemn it. Why? We reiterate that we have nothing to do with any kind of terrorism. But why should we feel so insecure and give statements against it?” he asked.

Prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind today said that Islam’s name was being misused by terrorists. The organisation also claimed that Muslims were being unnecessarily attacked and linked to terrorists.

“It is unfortunate that certain elements, intentionally or unintentionally, attribute these mindless acts of violence to Islam and connect terrorists with Jihadis. Waging Jihad is a positive act intended to root out evils from the society, not killing innocent people,” JUH General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani said during a press conference here.

“It is quite obvious that accusing Muslims and holding them responsible for these ghastly killings will no doubt strengthen radical forces, who in no way represent Islam,” he said. The JUH also staged protests today at 75 places across the country to condemn the attacks in Paris.

Disagreeing with UP Minister Azam Khan’s remarks that Paris terror attack could be a “reaction” to the “killing of innocents” in Arab countries by the “superpowers”, Madani said that no such “reactions” can be justified and there is no place for any reaction in Islam.

Noted Muslim scholar and former minister Arif Mohammad Khan, however, feels the Muslim community has organisations which are promoting enmity and hatred.

“We have organisations which are promoting enmity and hatred. Men like Akbaruddin Owaisi (All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Ittihad al-Muslemeen leader) have the freedom to abuse anybody. We should accept that we have people who only know the language of hatred. We try to justify such language citing provocative statements made by right wing organisations. But I argue that those who make provocative statements do not cause damage to others. They always harm their own people. For instance, Partition caused more damage to Muslims living in undivided India than the rest of the country,” he told Firstpost.

He justified his statement by quoting Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of Independent India, who had said after the Partition, “A big flood occurred and it drained away all dirt along with it, but there are still some potholes where some water-logging has taken place from which bad odour is emanating due to decomposition.”

The battle against communalism, he said, is a fight against your own greed, selfishness and interest because communalism is the combination of all these social evils. The other battles you fight are against others, but you have to fight against your own communalism. You cannot fight against the communalism of others, he added.