Madrassa issues fatwa against Bharat Maata slogan

Published: Mon 21 Mar 2016, 6:15 PM

In the midst of a raging debate across India over nationalist slogan Bharat Maata Ki Jai" a leading madrassa in Hyderabad, Jamia Nizamia, has issued a fatwa, ruling that the slogan was "un-Islamic and irrational."
This view cannot be enforced on others," Mufti Azeemuddin, who heads the Darul Ifta, or fatwa centre of the seminary, wrote in response to a query. The fatwa was in response to a query by a prominent religious figure Syed Ghulam Samdani Ali Quadri from the Old City.
Explaining the rationale behind the fatwa, an Cleric's jurisprudential opinion, Mufti Azeemuddin said, "Since only a human can give birth to a human, calling India as 'Mother' or Maata is irrational. The mother of a human is also a human. No piece of land, no animal or no other object gives birth to humans."
The seminary, however, clarified that if anyone wishes to treat the "land of Bharat" as their mother, then it is the person's individual religious belief and that the person "cannot force this belief on others." "The Muslims of Bharat love the country, but chanting Bharat Maata Ki Jai is not only against Islam and also irrational," the Mufti wrote.
The fatwa comes against the backdrop of a controversy stirred by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi who asserted hat he would not chant the slogan "Bharat Maata Ki Jai" even if a "knife is put to this neck." Owaisi had pointed out that there was no mention of the slogan in the constitution and it was ridiculous on the part of the right wing Hindutva forces to use this slogan as a test of one's loyalty to the country.
"I worship Allah, but my loyalty lies with India. I am not against Hindus but against Hindutva," asserted Owaisi against whom the Telangana police have booked a case for "promoting enmity among the people on the basis of religion."
The Hyderabad MP's remarks were in response to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that the new generation Indians needed to be inculcated values of respect and veneration and taught to hail "Mother India".
Owaisi also lambasted Congress for backing the suspension of his party MLA Waris Pathan in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and adoption of the censure motion in Madhya Pradesh House today against his refusal to chant the slogan "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".
The MP pointed out that the constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, freedom of religion and protection of cultural rights of minorities.
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