BJP leader Jamal Siddiqui urged Darul Uloom Deoband to issue a fatwa against Mohammad Rizvi to correct him and “uphold Islamic morality and respect”. BJP Minority Morcha national president Jamal Siddiqui has approached the seminary Darul Uloom Deoband for a fatwa against a man who has been arrested for using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother during the Congress-RJD ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar.
A fatwa by a seminary thus could essentially call out the man for his act being “against the teachings of Islam”, if it goes by Siddiqui’s. Calling the incident “a matter of grave concern and sensitivity,” Siddiqui said that Islam accords the highest respect to elderly parents. The BJP has targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, though they were not present when the abuses were thrown from an event stage.
Siddiqui said the remarks made against Modi’s late mother at an INDIA bloc rally in Darbhanga by Mohammad Rizvi, who has been arrested and sent to 14 days’ judicial custody, tarnished the image of the Muslim community.
In a letter to Maulana Abdullah Mujahid Siddiqui, head of the Uttar Pradesh seminary central to Sunni Islam in the subcontinent, Siddiqui noted that Rizvi, alias Raja, a Congress worker from Singhwara, had made “extremely derogatory and indecent remarks” about Prime Minister Modi during Rahul Gandhi’s campaign on alleged vote theft, the report added.
Following a complaint by the BJP, an FIR was registered, which also triggered clashes between BJP cadres and those of the Congress-RJD. The Opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar denied any connection with Rizvi and distanced itself from his remarks, while the BJP demanded a public apology from both the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
“In the Holy Quran, Surah Al-Isra (17:23), Allah commands believers to treat their parents with kindness, and in the Hadith, Prophet Muhammad has described a mother as the gateway to Paradise,” Siddiqui wrote.
“Mohammad Rizvi’s actions, therefore, not only insult a family but also go against Islamic teachings and moral values. Such conduct creates discord in society and tarnishes the image of the Muslim community, which is being condemned across the nation,” he added.
Urging the scholars of Darul Uloom Deoband to examine the matter and issue a fatwa against the “disgraceful act committed by Mohammad Rizvi”, Siddiqui said that such a fatwa would not only serve as “a path of correction for the individual” but also “reinforce Islamic morality and the spirit of respect within society.”