Faizan Mustafa: Now Ulema Should Create Awareness Among People About The Context Of War Time Verses
New
Age Islam Staff Writer
14 April
2021
Dismissal
of Anti-Quran Petition Is Not Enough, Islamic Scholars Should Work To Clear
Confusion on War Verses
1. Law
expert Faizan Mustafa urges Muslim clergy to hold discussions on controversial
war verses
2. He
urges Muslim intellectuals to work towards removing misconceptions about Quran
3. He
says violence cannot be justified with the help of the Quran.
4.
Modern legal system can abolish certain religious practices that don't go with
the spirit of the time
-------
Waseem
Rizvi
-----
The
dismissal of Waseem Rizvi's petition on 26 verses of the Quran by the Supreme
Court of India has brought much relief to the Muslim community. It is also a
victory of the Quran over the malicious propaganda run against it. However, the
issue is not over. By filing a petition in the Supreme Court, Waseem Rizvi has
created doubts among the non-Muslims about the verses of the Quran which a mere
dismissal in the court can not clear or remove. It is, therefore, necessary for
the ulema to explain the meaning and context of the verses quoted by Waseem
Rizvi in his petition. The eminent Constitutional expert Faizan Mustafa has
also expressed the need to hold out of court discussions on the context and
meaning of the verses that are called Ayat-e-harb (War time verses) because the
dismissal of the petition, in his view, has not resolved the issue for good. We
reproduce excerpts from his lecture posted on his legal web series.
Interestingly,
Mr Faizan Mustafa believes that the dismissal of the petition at the threshold
is a victory for Waseem Rizvi because if the petition had been accepted for
discussion, all the cases pending against him with CBI and corruption charges
against him as the Chairman of UP Shia Waqf Board would have been brought to
the court. So the dismissal of the petition at the threshold saved him the
humiliation and embarrassment.
That's his
point of view but one thing Waseem Rizvi succeeded in is that he has put the
responsibility to explain the meaning and context of the verses to the general
public , especially non-Muslims of the world on the ulema. Mr Faizan Mustafa
says:
"It is
also the responsibility of our learned ulema to explain the issue and create
awareness among the people whether the aforesaid verses really inspire people
to commit violence and create terror as Waseem Rizvi claimed. The propaganda
and myths propagated on WhatsApp university and social media or the comments
that have been made on my video or the kind of opposition that has been
demonstrated by a section of our population make it clear that there is a large
number of people who believe that Waseem Rizvi's petition was right and that
there are indeed 26 verses that speak of terror and violence against
non-Muslims. Now the responsibility lies with the Muslim clergy to explain to
the people the context of those verses, that the verses are related to the laws
of war. I made a video and explained the contents of six verses. In future I
will make videos and explain the content and meaning of the remaining 20
verses. I did this because earlier I thought that it was only a theological
issue but some of my viewers told me that since the Quran is the source of
Islamic law, it was also a legal issue. So I will try to accomplish the task
that was not done in the court."
Faizan
Mustafa
------
Mr Faizan
Mustafa makes a very important point against filing petitions against religious
scriptures in courts of law. He says,
"Now
there is a need to understand a particular issue which Waseem Rizvi raised. He
claimed that due to these verses Muslims are perpetrating terrorism in the
whole world, and so, to prevent terrorism these verses should be expunged from
the Quran. The petitioner and his lawyer was so unsure that when Justice
Nariman asked him, "Are you serious?", he did not say that the
aforementioned verses should be removed from the Quran but went over to
madrasas. You are aware that Waseem Rizvi has said many things (against
madrasas ) earlier as well. In other words, the petitioner conceded a large
ground in the very beginning of the argument and confined his argument to the
submission that madrasas taught wrong things. Look, terrorism is a very serious
issue not only in India but also in the whole world. No Muslim can say that 'I
am involved in terrorism because the Quran has preached me to, and since the
Quran has taught me this, I should not be punished'. Terrorism has already been
made a serious capital offence. A number of laws were enacted such as TADA,
POTA, UAPA including the amendments. Therefore, the government can declare any
organisation a terrorist organisation. When a modern legal system does not
accept or recognise a teaching or custom supported by a religious scripture, it
does not say, 'Remove it from, say, the Vedas, from the Upanishads, from
Manusmriti, from the Quran, from the Bible' etc. It's not possible. Then what
does the legal system do? For example, our legal system does not say,
"Remove untouchability from Hindu scriptures"; "Remove Sati from
the Hindu scriptures." It simply abolished Sati. If anyone observes Sati
or glorifies it, he will be punished according to the law. We have made laws to
prevent untouchability and made SC/ST Laws stricter. Similarly, our law
prohibits terrorism and violence. Even if a religious scripture encourages
terrorism and violence, nobody has the right to justify it in the name of his
religion. It's an issue of criminal law and here religion becomes
irrelevant."
Mr Faizan
Mustafa also says that abusing or targeting Waseem Rizvi was not right because
he only used his constitutional right.
"In my
view demands made by some quarters for the arrest of Mr Rizvi was not right.
Waseem Rizvi had a right to go to the court as per Article 32 and he used his
right. The court had the right to dismiss such a frivolous and motivated
'publicity interest litigation' and the Court used its right. Now venting ire
against Waseem Rizvi will not serve any purpose. The real task at hand is
creating awareness in the society. The petition was sorted out in the court of
law but the clarification on the issue should be made in the public mind. So
efforts should be made to hold discussions on the verses in question and the
confusion over the content of the verses should be cleared. People should be
told that it’s not a general rule. Even today, peace time laws and laws of war
are different. In my view, it is the responsibility of our society, our
intellectuals and our clergy to clear the doubts of the people. Targeting
Waseem Rizvi and abusing him does not augur well for our legal system."
Mr Faizan
Mustafa's lecture should be an eye opener for our clergy and our intellectuals
who only rely on the courts to defend the Quran. They do not do anything to
clarify the doubts and confusion of the non-Muslims and also of common Muslims
about the verses of their scripture. Chandmal Chopra and Waseem Rizvi represent
a large section of our society which harbours misinformation and
misinterpretations of the Quranic verses. We make a big mistake by dismissing
their petitions as the figment of imagination of an individual. There is a
pressing need to explain the true teachings of the Quran to the Chandmals and
Waseem Rizvis of our society.
Mr Faizan
Mustafa should be praised for his efforts to explain the misinterpreted verses
of the Quran through his web series. But this kind of efforts should come from
our ulema because they have a bigger influence on the Muslims. It should be
recalled here that some time back the government of India had invited Muslim
scholars to create YouTube channels to counter terrorism and extremism among
the Muslims. Unfortunately, this initiative of the government was not received
well by our religious scholars. Mr Faizan Mustafa's web series explaing the war
time verses is a positive and commendable step in that direction. We should
shun the culture of violence and learn to work towards removing misconceptions
about Islam and the Quran with the resources available. Will our ulema pay heed
to Mr Faizan Mustafa's advise?
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/faizan-mustafa-now-ulema-create/d/124691
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