Amid ongoing row over the chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', Uttar Pradesh-based Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband has issued a fatwa against the nationalist slogan. A move that is guaranteed to make matters worse, the fatwa read, “We love our country, but it is not our god. In Islam, we believe in only one God and hence it is against the faith of a Muslim to chant the slogan.”
The fatwa was passed following a two-day long deliberation in Darul Ifta, an eight-member panel of Islamic scholars from all over the country. “In the past too, a similar controversy emerged about the chanting of Vande Mataram in schools. That song was made mandatory for students. Now, Bharat Mata Ki Jai is being made compulsory. Both the issues are the same. India is without doubt our country. We and our ancestors were born here. We love our country, but we do not think it is our God,” Darul Ifta said in its statement. Islam is a monotheistic religion that believes in the idea of one God whose idol or picture cannot be made.
The statement by Darul Ifta said, “ Bharat Mata, according to a section of Hindus, is a goddess and they worship her. For Muslims, participating in the worshipping of that goddess would be apostasy and against Islam. No government or organisation can force such unlawful activities on other people if it contradicts their faith.” The BJP and RSS have been forcefully promoting the slogan. In a recent incident, a lawmaker from Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen, was suspended from the Maharashtra Aseembly for refusing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jay. Owaisi himself has called bull over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement about teaching youngsters to chant the slogan.
