Anti-terror sermon plea to imams

[srinu]

Anti-terror sermon plea to imams
TAPAS CHAKRABORTY AND RASHEED KIDWAI

Lucknow/Bhopal, May 19: Mosques will soon start preaching an anti-terror message after the Friday prayers if an umbrella body of Muslim religious leaders has its way.

Following the Jaipur blasts, the Movement Against Terrorism (MAT), formed by mainstream Shia and Sunni bodies and scholars, has issued an appeal to the imams of the Friday prayers. They have been asked to include in their sermons a message to the community not to provide shelter, help or support to terrorists.

Thousands of imams across Uttar Pradesh towns and villages, who crucially influence behaviour in rural Muslim society, are expected to start preaching the message from next month.

The two-month-old MAT hopes the campaign will not only erode grass-root support for terror groups but also help rid the community of its image as supporters and sympathisers of terrorism.

This is the first major initiative by the movement, which is inspired by the February 25 fatwa by the influential Deoband seminary, the Dar-ul Uloom, that declared all forms of terrorism “un-Islamic”.

Some community leaders, however, have questioned the landmark drive on two grounds.

Sceptics led by Barelvi sect leader Maulana Asjad Khan feel such a campaign amounts to acknowledging a link between terror organisations, its sympathisers and Islam.

Another set of scholars, headed by Maulana Rabey Nadvi, president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, believe that campaigns against terrorism amount to “tokenism”, generating publicity but making little headway in curbing the menace.

The MAT’s convener is young Maulana Khalid Rasheed, head of the Lucknow-based Firangi Mahal and a key member of the law board.

Rasheed, 34, says the drive looks to insulate ordinary Muslims from jihadi propaganda.

“When imams deliver their sermons after the Friday prayers, they should make it a point to warn Muslims against terrorism. The terror groups cannot operate without local help; so they try to influence young, frustrated Muslim men,” he said.

Imams’ sermons have so far dealt mainly with religion and Muslims’ grievances. While the grievance part may still continue, Muslims would now be told that even in the face of discrimination, they must not support terror groups.

Rasheed said he was hopeful of the drive’s success because representatives from over 4,000 madarsas and Islamic institutions had unanimously condemned terror during the February 25 Deoband meeting.

After the campaign starts from Uttar Pradesh mosques, the MAT will approach the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the Dar-ul Uloom’s parent body and India’s largest conglomerate of madarsas and seminaries, to take the initiative across the country.