Fatwa factory
A look at some of the more absurd directives issued by the Darul
Uloom Deoband in recent years
Darul Uloom Deoband, India’s foremost Islamic
seminary, is at the centre of controversy once again.
Smelling a rat in the Madhya Pradesh government’s
plan to hold a mass surya namaskar – a yogic exercise – to
commemorate Swami Vivekananda’s birthday on January 12, the seminary has
issued a fatwa forbidding community members from participating in the
event. It has termed the move as an attempt to saffronise the education
system.
This is not the first time that Darul Uloom has
stirred up a hornets’ nest with a notorious fatwa. From television
viewing to selling firecrackers, many of the Deoband seminary’s diktats
have come under sharp criticism.
In its defence, the seminary says that a fatwa is not
an order but a guiding principle that anybody can abide by or ignore.
Let’s take a look at recent controversial fatwas.
Un-Islamic: Veena Malik
Pakistani actress Veena Malik has often been caught
flirting with controversies. But when she signed a contract with a
channel for her wedding on Indian television, community leaders flared
up and wasted no time in issuing a fatwa against her.
“We were getting complaints from concerned community
members who said that the activities of this Pakistani female actor were
sending a wrong message to our teenagers, especially girls,” Ausaf
Shahmiri Khurram, chairman of the majlis-e-shura (governing
council), was quoted in the media.
“The complaints said that there were offensive
photographs of this woman all over the Internet and that she was going
to have a swayamvara on television. Islam has a certain procedure for a
nikah (marriage). We do not have swayamvara,” he added.
Unfazed by the religious decree against her, Veena
continues to make headlines – more recently with her controversial
photoshoot for FHM magazine.
Un-Islamic: Manufacturing and selling firecrackers
This fatwa really left many people clueless.
Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa against the
manufacturing and selling of firecrackers, stating that it was against
Shariah law.
Manufacturing and selling of firecrackers is against
Shariah law and bursting of crackers is misuse of money, the fatwa said,
adding that men who misuse money are “brothers of [the] devil”.
The fatwa was issued on a query from a man involved
in the business of manufacturing firecrackers.
Un-Islamic: Blood donation
According to Darul Uloom Deoband, the donation of
blood and body parts was against the tenets of Islam. But ironically, it
also observed that giving blood to save the life of a near and dear one
was acceptable.
In a fatwa issued in response to a question, the
seminary said donating blood or body parts was not permitted in Islam,
as human beings are not the “owners” of their bodies.
The decree was posted on the website of Darul Uloom’s
fatwa section dealing with ‘haram and halal (forbidden and acceptable)’
issues, where a questioner asked the seminary its opinion on whether
taking part in blood donation camps is right or wrong.
However, the opinion of the prominent Islamic
seminary did not go down well with several Muslim intellectuals who
asserted that religious bodies have already stated that there was no
problem with blood donation.
Un-Islamic: Jeans, contraceptives…
This one triggered a dress code debate across the
nation.
According to a fatwa issued by Darul Uloom Deoband,
wearing “skintight” dresses is “not lawful” and that clothes should be
“loose and simple”. It gave its opinion on the issue when asked by a
woman whether wearing “skintight” trousers and jeans was allowed as per
religious beliefs.
Also asked if it was permitted to wear loose pyjamas
or jeans with a frock that stretches below the knees, accompanied by a
headscarf, the scholars again replied in the negative.
In another controversial observation, it said a
couple should first seek the opinion of a hakim or Unani practitioner
before resorting to the use of contraceptives if needed for medical
reasons.
Un-Islamic: Women travelling alone beyond 48 miles
All it took was a query from a female follower and
the Darul Uloom Deoband decreed that Muslim women could not travel
beyond 48 miles from their homes without being accompanied by a male
relative.
The reply on the Deoband website read: “She cannot
travel without a mahram (male relative). It is mentioned in the
Hadith that a woman should not travel for more than 48 miles except in
the company of a mahram.”
The decision was defended by a Deobandi spokesman who
said the increase in violent crime against women in India showed it
remained relevant. “No Muslim family should have any objections,” he
said.
Its ruling was based on the Hadith – the sayings of
Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime. The 48-mile limit is believed to
reflect the maximum distance one could then travel by camel or horse in
one day through dangerous desert.
Un-Islamic: Watching television
This controversial fatwa by the Islamic seminary tops
the list of bizarre decrees.
For clerics at the seminary, watching television is “haram”.
Even watching religious programmes is not acceptable to them. The
Deoband clerics argued that while television “is a tool of entertainment
and enjoyment”, it was mostly used for “unlawful and prohibited things”.
“These matters [watching Islamic channels] are
related to religion so you should see from whom you are taking your
religion. You should learn from authentic and pious people,” the fatwa
said.
Following an uproar over the fatwa, the seminary
added a rejoinder: “It is not compulsory for Muslims to follow it.”
Un-Islamic: Vande Mataram
Vande Mataram may be the national song but
Deoband clerics view it as against Islam.
The clerics, contending that Vande Mataram
meant ‘Mother (India), I bow to thee’, said: “Islam teaches us to
worship only one god, Allah. We are Indians and there are other ways to
express our feelings for the nation rather than bowing before it. Loving
your country doesn’t only mean worshipping it,” Maulana Muizuddin said.
“We love our mothers. Islam doesn’t even permit bowing before mother. We
love the prophet but we cannot even bow before him.”
Maulana Salman, a teacher at the Deoband seminary,
was quoted as saying: “We are true Muslims and true Indians. There is no
doubt about that. But we no longer remain Muslims when we offer our
prayers to anybody [other] than Allah. Patriotism is not only about
singing songs. We are and will remain Indians without singing Vande
Mataram.”
Un-Islamic: Birthday celebrations
The rationale given by the Deoband clerics for
issuing this fatwa was that Islam does not permit such a practice which
is a “tradition of western countries”.
Responding to a query from an Aligarh Muslim
University student, the fatwa department of the country’s biggest
Islamic seminary said that Islam does not permit such celebrations, as
they are against Shariah law.
“Muslims should not follow the tradition of western
culture of celebrating birthdays, as it is against Shariah law,”
vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, said.
Nomani added that even the Islamic seminary does not celebrate the birth
anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the religion.
Islamic: Abortion
This fatwa elicited a major thrashing for the clerics
from women’s rights organisations.
The seminary ruled: “If a holy Muslim doctor advises
that a woman is unable to bear birth pangs then a less than
three-month-old pregnancy can be terminated but if it is more than three
months old, the abortion is absolutely unlawful.”
The Deoband seminary issued this fatwa in response to
a question from a Muslim couple who sought its permission to abort their
third child after a doctor had advised them to wait for at least 30
months before the birth of another child.
Different schools of Muslim law hold different views
on whether any other reasons for abortion are permitted and at what
stage of pregnancy if so. Some schools of Muslim law permit abortion in
the first 16 weeks of pregnancy while others only permit it in the first
seven weeks.
However, even those scholars who would permit early
abortion in certain cases still regard abortion as wrong but do not
regard it as a punishable wrong. The more advanced the pregnancy, the
greater the wrong.
Islamic: Talaq on the mobile phone
According to this controversial fatwa, the word talaq
uttered thrice by a Muslim (man) on a mobile phone will be considered
valid even if his wife is unable to hear it all three times due to
network and other problems.
The Darul Ifta’s fatwa said: “If you have given three
talaqs to your wife, all the three took place and she became haram for
you. It is not necessary for talaq to take place that the wife hears it
or that witnesses are present.”
The fatwa said the woman would be free to marry
anywhere she liked after her iddat (three-month period after
divorce) was over.
Prior to this decree, the Islamic seminary had ruled
that saying talaq three times even on a humorous note was valid as per
the Shariah.
Un-Islamic: Insurance
Opting for insurance too is un-Islamic.
The prestigious Sunni Muslim seminary declared that
since the calculation of the money pledged in the policy is based on
“interest”, it was un-Islamic to opt for one. The edict asked Muslims
not to go for life insurance policies, as ‘life’ is given by Allah and
to insure it or assure it is a crime in the eyes of god.
Earlier, Darul Uloom had declared the job of writing
and calculating interest-based work in banks and insurance companies as
unlawful. The fatwa was in response to whether Muslims can work in a
bank or insurance company.
The seminary had also decreed that it was illegal,
according to the Shariah, for a woman to work and for a family to accept
a woman’s earnings.
Un-Islamic: Working in banks, liquor firms
“It is haram to work in a bank, which involves
writing interest. Income thus earned will be regarded as unlawful. Ask
your friend to look for lawful and halal sources of income and leave the
bank job,” reads the mind-boggling fatwa displayed on the Deoband
seminary’s website.
The fatwa was a reply by the mufti-e-karam – a
three-cleric bench – to a question from a man about a friend whose
family refused to accept his salary, as it came from sood
(interest money). Accepting and paying interest is considered haram in
Islam.
Another fatwa displayed on the website said Muslims
should only buy or sell shares of a company not “involved in unlawful
things like (an association with) an interest-based bank, an insurance
company and a wine company”.
Un-Islamic: Bowing before elders
Bowing before elders, even parents, or touching their
feet is un-Islamic as per a fatwa issued by the Darul Uloom.
The Darul Ifta of Deoband issued the decree saying:
“It is unlawful to bow down and touch feet in respect of anyone, whether
a Muslim or a non-Muslim.”
On the ways of giving respect to elders, the online
fatwa states: “If one meets an elderly Muslim, one should stand up and
greet with salaam, shake hands or hug… And if the elderly is non-Muslim,
one should say adab arz but should not touch their feet,”
stresses the decree.
(This article is the text of a slide show that was
posted on www.rediff.com on January, 12, 2012.)
Courtesy: www.rediff.com
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