Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article /
'The Fatwa is provocative'
Updated On: 04 November, 2009 07:08 AM IST | | Bipin Kumar Singh and Varun Singh
Secular Muslims denounce Fatwa against National song and term Deoband Maulvis Anti-National
Listen to this article :
Secular Muslims denounce Fatwa against National song and term Deoband Maulvis Anti-National
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has stirred up a hornet's nest by passing a resolution opposing the recitation of Vande Mataram, terming it un-Islamic.
Not only that, the Muslim body claims that members of the community must withdraw their children from schools that force their wards to recite the Vande Mataram.
But this leaves Muslim kids with few options to choose from.
u00a0
If the diktat is to be followed, Muslims will have no choice but to home-school their children, as there is a dearth of modern Islamic schools in Mumbai.
The Muslim body's biggest grouse is on the grounds that some verses of the national song are against the tenets of Islam.
 |
|
We have passed a resolution that we are not bound to sing Vande Mataram, as some of the text is un-Islamic. The fatwa will be implemented strictly |
The Darul Uloom's fatwa department had issued this edict in 2006, days before the 100th anniversary of Vande Mataram.
The fatwa opposing the recitation of Vande Mataram was one of the 25 resolutions passed yesterday at the 30th general session of the Darul Uloom in Deoband, in front of Home Minister P Chidambaram.
"We have passed a resolution that we are not bound to sing Vande Mataram, as some of the text from the song is un-Islamic.
The fatwa will be implemented strictly," said Mehmood Madani, chief, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.
Gulzar Azmi, general secretary, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, added, "Vande Mataram is against the ethics of Islam, as the meaning of Vande Mataram is to bow the head to the motherland; we can only bow before Allah.
We want to convey this message to our youth that they should not recite Vande Mataram, and if any one forces them action will be initiated."
Though the national song is taught as part of India's freedom struggle movement in History textbooks, it is not compulsory to recite it in most schools.
M P Sharma, director, G D Somani School, Cuffe Parade, said, "We recite the national song in our assembly. I don't think any Muslim parent will remove their child for singing Vande Mataram."
"Most Muslim students don't sing Vande Mataram in schools. Even teachers never force students so that their feelings are hurt," said Arundhati Chauhan, president of Parents Teachers Association United Forum.
'I sing along'
However, despite all the apprehensions Muslim students have no issues in reciting the song.
"We sing the national song during the assembly. I don't know anything about the fatwa, and neither have my parents ever forbade me from singing it," said a Muslim student of Std X at Sir J J Fort Boy's School.
However, maulvis insist that Muslims withdraw their children from schools that make students recite Vande Mataram.
"Students are free to leave the schools/colleges if they are force to sing the song," said Mufti Salman Mansoorpuri Dar-ul-Ifta from Muradabad, Deoband.
 |
|
SONG STIR: It's a practice in some of the schools to recite the national song in morning assembly and the national anthem when the school ends. Read Next Story Trending StoriesLatest Photos |
