Why banning all over India? In other parts of India, Shia Muslims have options to stay away from Sunni people and they do & live peacefully with us.
And they take their processions with grace(right from my village till the city). Shia people support us all across the India. Some suitable links are given for your information and Kashmir doesn't revolves around Mujaheddin only, these people are well educated to take their own independent decisions. Thank you.
The Leader Of The Shia Muslims Praises BJP, Protests The 'Secular Alliance' And Prefers BSP
Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi is one of the most influential leaders of Shia Muslims in India today. From his seat in Lucknow, he makes proclamations that influence and sway the Shia community who constitute around 25 percent of the Muslim population in the country.
During election time, Jawad's directives on which party to choose carries much weight. The cleric has advised his community against voting for the alliance between the Samajwadi and Congress parties in the ongoing U.P. Assembly polls. The Shias had backed the SP in the 2012 Assembly elections. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Shias were with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Jawad has recently announced his support for the Bahujan Samaj Party. A week earlier, while speaking to
HuffPost India at his home in old Lucknow, Jawad said, "The people must choose between the BSP and the BJP."
The question that stood out was why a Shia cleric should be open-minded about the BJP. This was a political party, not only rooted in the ideology of Hindutva, but which had not fielded even a single Muslim candidate in the ongoing polls. Jawad told this reporter that the Muslims were safe under the Modi government. He was dismissive of "
gharwapsi," "Love Jihad" and "Anti-Romeo Squads" as the talk of some "crackpots" in the party.
Referring to Modi, Jawad said, "
When his government came to power, people thought there would be communal riots everywhere. Nothing like that happened. Where has there been the most communal strife? Here in UP, more than 500 episodes in five years."
Where has there been the most communal strife? Here in UP, more than 500 episodes in five years.
Apart from "gharwapsi," Love Jihad" and the "anti-Romeo squads", there were the self-appointed Gau Rakshaks who had created an atmosphere that, many believe, led to the lynching of a Muslim over rumours of cow slaughter.
Was Jawad forgetting about the Muzaffarnagar riots that had claimed the lives of at least 60 people and displaced over 50,000 Some local BJP leaders in western UP were booked for inciting communal passions at the time. "Are you forgetting the role of Azam Khan," responded Jawad, referring to the veteran SP leader of whom he is routinely critical. This was in context of the
sting-operation by a news channel which suggested that Khan had exerted political pressure on the police to go slow on the rioters, allowing the violence to fan out.
"Are you forgetting the role of Azam Khan."
On the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Jawad said that it was the responsibility of the state government to maintain order and deliver justice. "Is it the BJP or the SP government that made a case against Akhlaq's family members for cow slaughter. Just because some BJP leaders come and raise slogans, does that mean the government has to act on it. Are they working together?" he asked.
Modi, he said, "is the one who shut down all the Gau Rakshaks."
Is it the BJP or the SP government that made a case against Akhlaq's family members for cow slaughter.
Jawad's angst against the SP comes from a host of issues ranging from the "broken promises" over employment for Muslims to alleged corruption in the management of waqf property.
While Jawad spoke, his aide brought out an album filled with photographs of the police crackdown on a protest staged by Shia Muslims against alleged corruption in the management of waqf property.
The Shia cleric spoke about the case of the six Muslims who, after spending nine years in prison, were absolved of terror charges by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in October 2015. It came as a shock to the Muslims when their acquittal was challenged by the Samajwadi Party government in the Supreme Court. "They had promised to protect innocent Muslims from going to jail on false charges. But it was not honored," said Jawad.
"Under Mulayam Singh Yadav, we were given some attention but under Akhilesh, we are totally neglected," he said. "His own father says that he is against the minorities."
Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The Conundrum
The Muslims in UP, whether Shia or Sunni, find themselves in a conundrum in these Assembly polls. On the one hand, they are angry with the ruling Samajwadi Party for failing to prevent the Muzaffarnagar riots and then failing to deliver justice. Amnesty International recently reported that not a single person has been convicted in seven cases of gang-rape during the riots.
The Muslims are also angry about the hundreds of instances of communal strife in the past five years of the SP government, all the way from Saharanpur in the west to Azamgarh in the east. Official figures record
450 instances from 2013 to 2016, the highest of any state. Close to 500 people were injured with 29 people losing their lives in 2016 alone.
The Muslims are also angry about Mulayam Singh Yadav's promise of reserving jobs for the community. The SP government could not deliver on because the Constitution does not provide for religion-based reservation.
On the other hand, the Muslims feel compelled to vote together to stop the BJP from coming to power in Uttar Pradesh. Those who are hardcore SP loyalists will swallow their anger, but those who sit on the fence could also opt for the other "secular" option of Mayawati's BSP which has fielded the highest number of Muslim candidates while making a pitch for Dalit-Muslim solidarity.
The Muslims in UP, whether Shia or Sunni, find themselves in a conundrum in these Assembly polls.
To add to their confusion is the SP's alliance with the Congress Party aimed to mobilize the Muslim vote. Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi have made their campaign about development. They both represent a break from the old guard who banked on communal polarisation.
However, there are many Muslims with long memories. They have not forgotten that it was Rajiv Gandhi, who, on the counsel of his advisor Arun Nehru, had the locks of the Babri Masjid opened in 1986, allowing the entry of Hindus into the disputed site.
Months earlier, caving under the pressure of orthodox Muslims, Gandhi neutralized the Supreme Court's decision regarding the payment of maintenance by the ex-husband of Shah Bano, a mother of five children, from Indore.
Rajiv Gandhi had faced criticism for appeasing Muslim orthodoxy. The unlocking of the Babri Masjid was widely regarded as a move to restore the balance. Unfortunately for the Congress, it backfired and the party has been out of power in UP for almost thirty years.
"No party has played with the Muslims more than the Congress. No party has been worse for the Muslims," said Jawad. Referring to the SP-Congress alliance, he said, "I would say that voting for the BJP is better than voting for these two parties."
No party has played with the Muslims more than the Congress. No party has been worse for the Muslims.
A few days after speaking to
HuffPost India, when Jawad endorsed the BSP, the Shia leader appeared to be on the same page as his Sunni counterpart Imam Bukhari of Delhi's Jama Masjid, who also backed Mayawati's party.
In fact, a number of influential clerics have endorsed the BSP, giving impetus to Mayawati's attempt to win of votes Muslims and Dalits. She also has the backing of The All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board, a body of Sunni Muslims.
While there are many Muslims still concerned by the fact that BSP had once formed an alliance with the BJP, Jawad is not one of them. "Here is the main difference. Under the SP, there will be hundreds of communals tensions, but under Mayawati, there will only be one or two," he said.
Under the SP, there will be hundreds of communal tensions, but under Mayawati, there will only be one or two.
Shias And The BJP
The comfort level of the Shia Muslims for the BJP is by no means novel. Jawad claimed that it was the support of his community which had resulted in the victory of BJP's Rajnath Singh.
The Shia Muslims while fewer in numbers are more affluent and educated than their more numerous Sunni brethren. Many of them traders and businessmen. They have a history of being on the side of reigning power of the time. The Nawabs of Awadh, who ruled over what is central U.P. and Lucknow from 1722 to 1856, were mainly Shia Muslims who left behind a rich legacy of tolerance, art, culture and the famous Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb.
The Shia rulers were also quick to make peace with the East India Company, but the room they made for the foreign power eventually left them powerless.
In Gujarat, the Dawoodi Bohras and the Khojas, both Shia sects, have supported the BJP despite the 2002 Godhra riots.
The BJP's development agenda is a key reason behind the support of the Shia Muslims, said Jawad, while knocking down Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's record. "The Expressway is only half finished, the metro still has two years to go. He had promised government jobs for the Muslims, but those eventually went to the Yadavs. Not all Yadavs, but to those from their family stronghold of Kannauj, Etawah and Mainpuri," he said.
He had promised government jobs for the Muslims, but those eventually went to the Yadavs.
It is never said aloud, but the smaller and more vulnerable of the two Muslim sects has often backed the BJP because of its perceived ability to keep the more numerous Sunnis in check. Jawad, too, shrugged and said, "There is no place where Shia Muslims are safe except Iran and India."
Jawad's house near Victoria Street in Old Lucknow is close to the locality of Patanala, famous for its Idris biryani, and
infamous for some of the worst bloodshed between Shias and Sunnis in Lucknow. The spark for this violence was the elaborate mourning practiced by the Shia Muslims of Lucknow in memory of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, who was slain in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.
The practice of Azadari (mourning) was banned in 1977 only to be restored three decades later by the Mayawati government following a nine-month long agitation involving marches, hunger strikes and the self-immolation of three Shia youths.
"
There is no place where Shia Muslims are safe except Iran and India."
Jawad, who was twice arrested during the protests, is seen as calming influence on the once volatile relations between the Shia and Sunnis. He has led several prayer meetings where the two sects pray together. In 2015, the Shia community in Lucknow invited Sunni clerics to speak at their "majlis," for the first time during Muharram.
On whether he believed that the peace between the Shia and Sunni was more than skin deep, "I don't believe those kind of problems with Sunnis exist anymore. There maybe a few incidents now and then. But what
we are cautious against is the growing Wahabi influence from Saudi Arabia."
On the surgical strikes against Pakistan, Jawad gave Modi a thumbs up, but expressed his distress at the prime minister's visits to Saudi Arabia and the United States and his planned trip to Israel. "These are countries that make Muslims fight other Muslims," he said.
What we are cautious against is the growing Wahabi influence from Saudi Arabia.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/0...s-praises-bjp-protests-the-secula_a_21714468/
Something for them to ponder upon.
Here's how schools of faith, mobiles are radicalising Kashmir
Last month, in a south Kashmir mosque, a fiery cleric in his raucous voice and shrill cries, defended former Hizbul commander
Zakir Musa's call for Islamic jihad.
For the first time, a cleric, using his religious pedestal, was exhorting his audience to support Kashmir's most wanted terrorist who recently aligned ideologically with al Qaeda. The audio recording of Mufti Shabir Ahmad Qasmi's incendiary speech was widely circulated on instant online messaging platforms in the valley. The Mufti very likely converted many of his ardent followers into Musa cheerleaders.
Kashmir's mosques have always been used for religio-political ends, and for separatism since 1989 when the militancy broke out. But the character of the mosque has changed dramatically in the last decade.
Hanafi/Barelvi Islam, the traditionally moderate school followed by the majority in Kashmir, is being replaced by the radical Ahl-e-Hadith, the local moniker for Saudi-imported Salafism or Wahhabism. Though many Hanafi clerics like Moulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi are resisting their Wahhabi competitors, "the attendance in annual fairs of all major Sufi shrines has been decreasing," said Muzamil, a Sufi practitioner. Of the roughly six million Muslims in the Valley, the once-marginal Ahl-e-Hadith now has over a million followers, claimed its general secretary, Dr Abdul Latif.
The Arab funded Wahhabism finds convergence with other already established conservative strains of Islamic movements, such as Deobandi and Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir. The mufti who made a plea for Musa is a Deobandi from a Jamati household. Such religious intersections are not limited to fundamentalists. Last year, Sarjan Barkati, a self-proclaimed Sufi, earned epithets like 'Pied Piper of Kashmir' and 'Freedom Chacha' for mobilising people and glorifying the Hizbul commander
Burhan Wani who had wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate.
These mutations from moderate to radical have been happening insidiously and manifested themselves in the mob that lynched deputy SP Ayub Pandith on Shab-e-Qadr.
The coalescing of all the schools of Sunni Islamic thought in Kashmir is result of a "common broad-based platform, Ittehaad-e-Millat, created to resolve differences" not only among the puritanical groups but also with syncretic Barelvi outfits, said Jamat-i-Islami Amir chief Ghulam Mohammad Bhat. Incidentally, IeM was actively involved in organising protest rallies in favour of Wani last year.
Way before Wani was killed, the signs of Wahhabised radicalisation had already begun to emerge.
Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri, for example, was already popular in south Kashmir by 2015 for sermons in which he praised the IS and Caliph Al Baghdadi. "It was only a matter of time before the youth started waving IS flags while pelting stones, or Wani or Musa declared jihad for the Caliphate. Ironically, many moderate Kashmiri Muslims claim that IS has been created by the US and Israel to malign Muslims,"said a student of religion from Bijbehara.
Official sources said that there are over 7,500 mosques and seminaries in Kashmir, of which over 6,000 are Hanafi and around 200 are syncretic Sufi shrines. Ahl-e-Hadith, Deoband and Jamat put together have just over 1,000 mosques and charity based seminaries, of which Ahl-e-Hadith has the largest number. "Ahl-e-Hadith mosques are popular for their modern furnishing and facilities," said Shahnawaz, a Barelvi follower in Anantnag, adding that the organisation also funds several orphanages, clinics and medical diagnostic centres.
Sources said Ahl-e-Hadith mosques and seminaries have doubled in the last 27 years. FCRA annual reports show that top donors to India among the Salafist Islam practising states are the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Although it is not clear who the top donor and recipient in J&K is, the state has received between 10 and 100 crores as foreign funds each year in the last decade.
A lot of Salafist literature was being distributed for free in Kashmir through last 30 years, a Shia Kashmiri said. "There is a sizeable number of Kashmiri diaspora in the Middle East who send remittances, mostly through Hawala to fund not just this radical doctrine but terror too."
Religious scholars in Kashmir point out that Ahl-e-Hadith has four sub-schools—Jamait-ul-ahl-e-Hadith (puritan), Difai (ultra-puritan), Guraba (religio-political ultra-puritans like Masrat Alam), Sout-ul-Haq, represented by ISIS, where a nonconformist is 'wajib-ul-qatl' (eligible for murder). A scholar who didn't want to be named claimed the radical subsects are anywhere between 1 to 5 percent in Kashmir.
Ahl-e-Hadith played a role in the separatist movement as a part of the joint Hurriyat Conference until it was split in 2003. The organisation is known to share a relationship with Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, which is closely associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. The TuM is a part of the Azad Kashmir-based United Jihad Council headed by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin, who in 2014, had declared support for al-Qaida's entry into Kashmir.
However, security officials believe that the influence of Wahhabi discourse through the Internet, social media and messaging platforms is far more dangerous than the mosques and literature. "Kashmir has around 2.8 million mobile internet users. Even if there is one Salafist preacher glorifying Burhan Wani or Zakir Musa and the clip is circulated over smartphones, it has a dangerous multiplying effect over a huge population," a senior police official said.
Mobile data usage, officials claim, is higher in Kashmir than other parts of the country because of lack of other sources of entertainment. Cinemas, bars and discotheques were shut in Kashmir in the early 1990s when militant groups issued diktats against all things "un-Islamic".
Wahhabism/Salafism/Ahl-e-Hadith: The most puritanical Sunni Islamic movement developed during the 18th century in central Arabia. It aims to return to the original ways of Islam by emulating Prophet Mohammad and his earliest followers.
IS, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad claim to be practitioners
Deobandi: Inspired by scholar Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and native to Indian subcontinent. Although Deobandi beliefs are almost the same as Salafis, in mainland India it is now a moderate school.
Taliban claims to be Deobandi
Jamaat-e-Islami: A Sunni Islamist party that believes in the idea of an Islamic state under Sharia law.
In Kashmir, terror group Hizbul Mujahideen is its armed wing
Barelvi/Hanafi: Native to India, this Sunni school is influenced by local culture. Accommodates Sufi practices and followers believe in saints and visit shrines
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...radicalising-kashmir/articleshow/59507200.cms
Not a single terrorist following, says it all. Thank you.
, just get the visa from Indian embassy in Islamabad!
That was a pretty good laugh, really. Thank you.
