Fatwa on Salman; Can a human judgement considered as divine commands?

Sep 21: The Bareilly-based Daarul-Ifta-Manjar-e-Islam on Thursday has issued Fatwa against Salman Khan for attending a Ganesh Puja in Mumbai on Tuesday Sep 18, 2007.

Muslim Cleric said that Islam prohibits Idol worship and unless Salman read Kalma, he won’t be considered as Muslim.

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“A Muslim guilty of but-parasti (idol worship) ceases to be a true Muslim… he would have to recite the kalma in the name of Allah again, and publicly ask for forgiveness to become a Muslim,” said Maulana Farooq Barelvi, mufti at the “Darul Ifta Manzar-e-Islam” at Bareilly Sharif.

The Kalmas are declaration that God is one, and as the cleric said, “reading Kalma will purify him.”

The actor is alleged to be present at the Lalbaugcha Raja Mandal, where he participated in aarti performed by Sonu Nigam.

Salman too installed a Ganesh idol in his Bandra residence, and celebrated the puja was among the group who danced in the procession en route to immersing the idol.

Salam's father Salim Khan reacted strongly to the news of the fatwa, "If these are Muslims then I don't want to be called a Muslim. I want to know how these people are qualified to issue a fatwa against my son. I don't think people who have issued a fatwa against Salman have anything to do with Islam; they don't even know their religion well. Don't they know that the Koran says 'sab ka khuda ek'?

“My family is a cosmopolitan family with members from practically every religion living under one roof. What has my son done? He has gone for an aarti, which is not wrong at all. Such issues don't even come up for discussion in our house. All I can say is that a fanatic Hindu and a fanatic Muslim only thrive and live on hatred and it is their hatred towards us that they express through such fatwas.''

Zeenat Shaukat Ali, who teaches Islamic studies at St Xavier's College in Mumbai, dismissed the controversy as a "non-issue''.”What Salman did was his personal choice,'' she said.

"The Koran clearly says two things: you to your religion and me to mine; and secondly, there is no compulsion in religion. Therefore, the fatwa is the Bareilly maulvi's personal opinion and Muslims are not bound to follow it.''

Salman had said, "We believe in this. The energy here is spectacular. When we were kids, we used to come here and I have come here after a long time. Whatever I wanted, I have got."

Importance of Fatwa

Fatwa is a legal decree in Islam, issued by a mufti or a religious lawyer capable of issuing judgement on Sharia, Fatwa cannot be issued on their own will but should be in accordance with fixed precedent.

It generally depends on the acceptance by people. But this word has become synonymous with death penalty given to Salman Rushdie, by Ayotollah Khomeini, which still exist.

It has become a fashion and any body with the little knowledge of the religion issue fatwa on the issues which are of least concern, once Darul Uloom Deoband in UP issued a fatwa calling Muslim girl going to co-education institute is unslamic. One maulvi went to an extent and passed a fatwa saying Sania Mirja’s short skirt is obscene and again unislamic.

One such fatwa came as a shame to the one who seems to be qualified on religious matter and are expected to handle certain situation with responsibility, it was Imrana’s case who was raped by her father-in-law and a cleric commanded her to leave her husband.

The fatwa ordained on Taslima Nasrin also put a question mark on this self appointed custodian of religion.

But many of the scholars are in opinion that a fatwa is not mandatory …..

As somebody has said, “The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.”

Misinterpretation of the religion by these muftis has also become one of the reasons behind lopsided outlook towards female in the community…

Renowned Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad said, “If one ceases to be a Muslim just because of respecting another religion, it means he was not a true Muslim in the first place.”