Udaipur Beheading: Educated Muslims Say Not In My Name
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
31 June
2022
On June 28, in one of the most barbaric acts, a man in Udaipur was killed by two fanatics in the name of Islam. They killed the man accusing him of blasphemy and later in a video message, hailed themselves as defenders of Islam. Followers of Islam, in India and elsewhere, immediately denounced the act. On behalf of Awaz-the Voice, I have contacted many educated Muslims from different walks of life and asked for their reactions. Everyone seems to be disturbed at this very wrong interpretation of Islam and Prophet Muhammad’s teachings.
Eminent
Scientist Padma Shri Prof. Syed Ehtesham Hasnain said, “this act is completely
against Islam. It should be condemned in no uncertain terms.”
Sahitya
Akademi Award winner author, Rahman Abbas feels that extremist interpretation
of Islam needs to be rejected. He said, “ the Udaipur incident of murder is
inhuman and barbaric. This is in a way a victory of hate over love,
brotherhood, and togetherness. At the same time it is a victory of the narrative
of radical Islamists who believe and propagate that whoever commits blasphemy
or disrespects the Prophet has no right to live; should be condemned and killed
without any judicial trial. This narrative is a result of a narrow
interpretation of Islam. This needs to be condemned first without any ifs and
buts. No civilised society can progress with this extremist narrative.”
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Dr. Adil Hossain, an anthropologist who has
worked on marginalisation of Muslims and communal violence in India, thinks,
“language of death for blasphemy is not the language of resistance. That's
almost terrorism.”
Noorus
Saboor Rahmani, Deputy Director of Fisheries Department, U.P, said “innocent
killing is not justified either in any religion or in any society under any
circumstances. No excuse could be forwarded in support of this incident by any
civilised human.”
English
writer, Annie Zaidi was at a loss of words and denied commenting more than, “it
is horrific”.
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Guru, Syed Amjad Ali of Communication Catalyst, said, “The Udaipur incident is
highly disturbing. And those people should be given the rarest of rare
punishment. No religion permits this barbaric act, and in a democratic setup
like ours, it has no place. How can they imagine something like this, it
defeats your mind. There should be zero tolerance for such horrible acts and
therefore courts should set an example. Period. No ifs and buts.”
“The incident is unfortunate and is an act of
terror, it has been widely condemned by Muslims..no matter what the provocation
is, such barbaric acts have no place in a civilized society, perpetrators of
such heinous crimes need to be brought to justice”, said Kolkata based social
and political activist, Saira Shah Halim.
Young Indian Muslims
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Hina Fatima Khan, an Aligarh-based writer and
journalist believe, “the beheading of a man in Udaipur can be termed as a
classic example of Talibanic bigotry.” She further said, “religious views,
expression, and beliefs are a part of one's identity and the Constitution
guarantees us these rights as citizens. But that doesn't and must not even
translate to taking the law into one's hands. This incident doesn't endorse
anything, forget Islam. It's reprehensible and the perpetrators should be
punished. At the same time, we need to reiterate the importance of respecting
each others' religious beliefs and practices. What I believe is that politics
and religion should be kept apart.”
Arsh Iqbal,
a Delhi-based journalist said, “I strongly condemn the brutal murder in Udaipur
of tailor Kanhaiya Lal, a father of two sons, by two people Gos Mohammad and
Riyaz because violence in any form by anybody of any religion is not good and
shameful act against humanity. The attackers should be punished as per law.”
Amana
Begam, a research associate in CFPS, said, “As a Muslim, I am ashamed that a
radicalized man killed an innocent man to defend Islam. This is against
humanity, Islamic teaching, and the intellectual and political class of Muslims
must address the issue.”
Prof.
Nazura Usmani (Zoology) from AMU denounced the killing by saying, “we cannot
tolerate any derogatory language for our beloved prophet, but on the other hand
we would prefer to follow his footsteps when he was targeted in his time.” She
further quoted the Quran to support her view, “ Islam does not permit killing
at all, debates can be held discussion can be made but whosoever kills a human
being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as
though he had killed all mankind ... (5:32) … Islam does not permit killing at
all, debates can be held discussion can be made but whosoever kills a human
being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as
though he had killed all mankind ... (5:32)... Co-operate with one another for
virtue and heedfulness and do not cooperate for vice and aggression (5:2)”
Dr. Mahino
Fatima, a Delhi-based neurobiologist, believes, “these narrow extremist
interpretation of Islam is the real enemy of the religion. Bigotry and
unprovoked violence have no place in Islam. The Prophet believed in winning
people through dialogue instead of killing them. We must popularise teachings
of the Prophet and save our religion from extremist bigots.”
Muslims
from all walks of life expressed their opinion that such unlawful violence has
no place in their religion and their Prophet was sent upon the earth as a
messenger of peace. We must preach peace and not hate.
Source: Udaipur Beheading: Educated Muslims
Say Not In My Name
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/udaipur-beheading--muslims-/d/127364
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