A collection of some of the recent controversial fatwas
Caught in a controversy relating to his appreciation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Deoband based Darul Uloom vice chancellor Maulana Mohammad Ghulam Vastanvi offered to step down.
In a fresh fatwa, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deboand has said that Islam does not permit celebrating birthdays. Responding to a query posed by a woman, the country's biggest Islamic seminary observed that the tradition to celebrate birthdays was started by the Jews and Christians, but Islam does not permit this practice. The Darul Uloom Deoband has in recent days issued edicts declaring that working in banks and opting for an insurance policy were against Islam.
Denying charges that Madarasas were terror hubs, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind General Secretary Maulana Hakimuddin Qasmi has said that Darul Uloom or any Madarasa in the country never harboured terror activities.
On the recent decision allowing survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, Madani said, "We have no objection to the survey. We believe that if the survey is conducted honestly, nothing will come out of it."
Chief Rector of Darul Uloom, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, has asked Saudi Arabia to rethink its decision, saying otherwise a wrong message may be conveyed to Muslims.
Television is a tool of enjoyment and most widely used for 'prohibited' things and impossible to use 'without a sin,' says a fatwa by Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, a view brushed aside by three influential Muslim organisations.
Clerics at Uloom's Darul ifta, the body which issues fatwas, says contraceptives are permissible so that 'the children are properly nourished.'
Darul Uloom of Deoband, the largest seminary in the country, has issued a fatwa (edict) against female foeticide, calling the act unlawful and against Islam.
Seeking to make changes in the process of granting recognition to madrassas, Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that two universities will be opened in the state and all madrassas will be affiliated to them.
"I do not want to go into politics, be it Uttar Pradesh politics or Gujarat politics. If you want to ask me about education or Uloom I would be glad to reply," he said when asked if he had become target of Muslim politics. Vastanvi, who earned a reprieve as the seminary's powerful Majlis-e-Shura (governing council) did not accept his resignation, received an overwhelming welcome at the Ahmedabad airport, where he landed en route to his native place in Surat.
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom's fatwa evoked sharp reactions from political parties.
A fatwa has been issued by a leading Islamic seminary against modelling by Muslim women. Darul-uloom Deoband has said that exhibiting bodies by Muslim women while modelling is against the Shariat law. The fatwa, which describes modelling as 'un-Islamic', was issued by Mufti Habibur Rehman, Mufti Mehmood Hasan, Mufti Fakhrul Islam, Mufti Zanul Islam and Mufti Waqar Ali of the seminary on Monday.
Despite the relaxations announced in the lockdown, religious and other large gatherings are still banned.
Let's take a look at some controversial fatwas.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Wednesday demanded that "controversial authors" be kept away from the Jaipur Literature Festival in the PinkCity.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa against manufacturing and selling of firecrackers, saying it was against Sharia law.
Condemning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's much-hyped three-day fast as a "melodrama", leading Islamic scholars and clerics have called upon both Muslims and Hindus to pray for divine retribution.
The Election Commission has given a clean chit to Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, former vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, over a speech that the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed was 'provocative' and violated the poll code.
The two-day India visit by Islamic hardliner and Pakistan's Jamiat-ul-Islami chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is believed to be aimed at reinforcing the anti-Vastanvi forces at the Darul-Uloom Deoband seminary in Uttar Pradesh, where the recently appointed vice chancellor Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi had drawn much flak for praising Narendra Modi's governance in Gujarat.
A woman, awarded post-doctoral fellowship on the novels of controversial author Salman Rushdie, has decided not to go ahead with it following objections from Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband.
Nirmohi Akhara, the main plaintiff in the Ayodhya title suit, wants the mediation of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoban and the national organisation of Muslim ulemas-- Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind -- along with Hindu religious leaders like Baba Ramdev, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and Murari Bapu.
Continuous projection of Rushdie-like issues, as vital to Muslims, comes in the way of development as their priority requirement, says Saeed Naqvi
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, naib imam of Idgah and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli, the main pujari of the Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya, Acharya Satyendra Das Mahraj, and Mahant of Janki Ghat in Ayodhya, Janmey Sharan, have asked people respect the verdict of the court and maintain communal harmony
Adding to the opposition to author Salman Rushdie's proposed visit to India, another Muslim sect Darul Uloom Farangimahal has issued a "fatwa" in Lucknow, justifying protests against the visit. "All Muslims, without flouting the law, should oppose through every possible means, the visit of the person who used insulting words against the Prophet so that he cannot set his foot in this country where crores of Muslims live," Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangimahal said.
Opposing controversial author Salman Rushdie's visit to India, Islamic Seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Monday said the government should cancel his visa as he had hurt religious sentiments of Muslims in the past.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called on All India Muslim Personal Law Board chief Maulana Rabe Nadwi, further indicating the party's intent to woo Muslims in view of the 2012 state assembly elections.
Transcript of Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's chat on rediff.com on the compulsory singing of Vande Mataram controversy.
A collection of some of the recent controversial fatwas
A collection of some of the recent controversial fatwas
"If the bill were to be taken up in its present form, it would fail to serve any purpose; it would seem that the government's objective was to further make lives of innocent citizens more difficult rather than providing any respite to them."
Terming the Right to Education Act as an "attack" on the sovereignty of madarsas and other minority institutions, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Thursday said it will oppose it.
A huge conclave of madrassas (seminary) from across the country, under the aegis of Asia's most revered Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband, on Monday declared that all acts of terrorism as 'unislamic'.
His remarks against Narendra Modi nearly cost him his job, but Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi will for now remain vice chancellor of Asia's largest Islamic seminary,Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.
The top clergy of Darul Uloom will meet in Deoband on Wednesday to decide the fate of seminary's Vice-Chancellor Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy by praising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, amid speculation that he may be asked to quit.
Editor of the Milli Gazette and former president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Zafrul Islam Khan tells rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that this entire controversy is the result of a war between two factions of the Darul Uloom.
Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy with his remarks on Gujarat, on Thursday said he has not resigned as the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. "I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e-Soora (governing council) will be held on February 23, which scholars from all over the country will attend. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.
Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the first Gujarati rector of the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, is finding himself in the eye of the storm, barely 10 days after he appointed to the post. The Muslim community across the country has been up in arms against Vastanvi after his remark on 'prosperity of Narendra Modi's Gujarat'.
Amid government moves for a re-look at criminalising homosexuality, several Muslim leaders have said any attempt to legally permit unnatural sex is an attack on religious and moral values.
Lyricist and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar has been provided round-the-clock security following death threats received by him for allegedly calling an Islamic cleric "insane" during a television debate on a fatwa against working women.
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