Muslim Response to Waseem Rizvi's Anti-Quran Stand Does Not Show Maturity
By
New Age Islam Special Correspondent
20 March
2021
Waseem
Rizvi, the controversial Shia personality and former Chairman of UP Shia Waqf
Board has created a controversy in India by filing a Public Interest Litigation
in Supreme Court of India seeking to obtain an order to remove 26 war verses
that according to him promote terrorism and are a threat to India's security.
Muslims across the country have condemned his petition. Shia and Sunni ulema
have unitedly declared him an apostate (Murtad). Protest meetings have been
held in Delhi, Lucknow and other small towns of the country where Muslim
religious scholars from Shia and Sunni community condemned Waseem Rizvi's
anti-Quran statements.
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However,
the protest took violent turn as a lawyer announced a reward for Rizvi's head.
Others also swore to kill him whatever be the repercussions. Some Muslims,
according to Rizvi, abused him over the phone and threatened him with dire
consequences.
Prominent
Islamic personalities of India have said that Waseem Rizvi's petition is based
on his wrong and half-baked knowledge of the Quran and that not a single word
of the Quran can be removed from the Quran and that Allah has promised to
protect the Quran till the Day of Judgment. Raza Academy and Jamiat Ulema Hind
have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a rejection of the
petition.
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Anjuman
Haidari, an organisation of New Delhi organised a rally at Shahi Masjid on
Friday to protest against Rizvi's petition. Prominent religious leaders from
Sunni and Shia community including Supreme Court lawyer Mahmood Pracha
participated in the protest meeting.
But the
real question is: Was this kind of response necessary? Waseem Rizvi has filed a
petition in the Supreme Court and the matter is now sub judice. He has named
more than 57 Muslim organisations and personalities as respondents in his
petition and asked them to explain and justify the 26 verses he has quoted. The
response of the Muslim organisations and Islamic scholars is that they don’t
want the Supreme Court to entertain the petition and dismiss it without discussion.
There has not come any statement from any religious scholar on the verses in
question. All they have said is that not a single verse can be removed but they
have not explained the verses. They organised a protest march in Delhi to give
a 'befitting reply ‘to Waseem Rizvi but have not said that they would give a
befitting reply to Waseem Rizvi in the Court and justify the verses with their
knowledge of the Quran in the Court.
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We may
recall that in Babri Masjid- Ramjanmbhoomi case, Muslim organisations, clerics,
intellectuals and some university professors had unitedly said that they wiould
respect the judgment of the court and had appealed to the Muslims to maintain
peace and calm. But in this case, religious scholars, intellectuals and Muslim
personalities have not shown the same degree of maturity and trust in the
justice system. On the one hand, they claim their belief in the verse that says
that God will protect the Quran, and on the other they dont want to respond to
the points Rizvi has raised.
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In the
past, many ulema have defended the verses in question saying they are
contextual and do not apply in the modern circumstances. But at the same time,
there are ulema, past and present, who believe in the Theory of Abrogation
according to which all the verses preaching peace and harmony have been
abrogated by the war verses (Aayat-e-Harb)? Do they think that in the court
they won't be able to defend the interpretation of the ulema supporting the
Theory of Abrogation and so they want the petition to be dismissed by the court?
Both the
Shia and Sunni ulema have created a mass hysteria over the issue though at the
same time they say that God has taken the responsibility to protect it. Waseem
Rizvi has no support of his community. The central government has also opposed
Waseem's move. The prominent BJP leaders have also criticised Waseem. All this
has rendered his petition a one man show. Eminent lawyer Faizan Mustafa has
pointed out the flaws in the draft of the petition and has predicted that the
petition may be dismissed at the threshold. At the same time he said that
putting a reward at Rizvi's head was wrong.
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The imam of
Fatehpuri Masjid Mufti Mukarram rightly said that Muslims should not give
Waseem Rizvi much importance. But the fact is that Muslim intellectuals and
religious scholrs have not shown the same degree of maturity and restraint they
had demonstrated during the Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid suit. They have created
a mass hysteria over the issue though it has become clear that the petition is
not a concerted move from any political party or from the government. Even if
they want the petition rejected by the Court, there is a legal recourse. There
is no need to create a mass hysteria. When will the community learn to behave
like a mature religious community?
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Also Read: Waseem Rizvi's
Petition against the Quran: Muslims Should Adopt Abdul Muttalib’s Attitude
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URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/muslim-response-waseem-rizvi-anti/d/124590
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