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Fatwa against Vande Mataram
Published on Sat, Jun 10, 2006 at 07:49, Updated on Sat, Jun 10, 2006 at 14:41 in India section
Tags: Sania Mirza, Skirt , New Delhi
New Delhi: After asking tennis pinup Sania Mirza to get rid of her signature T-shirts and short skirts, Muslim clerics in Hyderabad have turned their attention to the National Song Vande Mataram.
They have issued a fatwa (religious edict) against the Song, and have asked Muslim parents in the city not to send their children to schools where they are required to recite the Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composition.
The clerics are of the view that the Song goes against the teachings of Islam.
Too much of a song and dance being made here? Not when there is an open confrontation between the stunned schoolteachers and the orthodox parents.
"There is nothing wrong with Vande Mataram. Everyone should sing it. We will ensure that all students sing it," Principal Sujata High School Nagavasudha says.
To sing or not to sing, that seems to be the question playing on the minds of some Muslim parents.
"If our kids are made to recite Vande Mataram, we will withdraw them from the school," a parent Mohammad Abdul Raouf says.
The controversy with the National Song is not new. Even progressive Muslims feel that the words Vande Mataram are against the teachings of Islam where Allah is supreme and no one else, not even the Motherland.
"Singing Vande Mataram is against the teachings of Islam and I will not sing it,” Member Muslim Personal Law Board Kamal Farouqui says.
But even he agrees that issuing a fatwa is not the way to ensure that religious sentiments are not hurt.
"You can refuse to sing the song but withdrawing children from schools is not the answer," Farouqui says.
Will religious politics be allowed to play with the future of the next generation?
"Fatwas cannot be issued on any topic. Especially with regard to education. In fact, it was said that in the quest of education, you can even go as far as china, but here we have people asking to take children out of schools over a song," National General Secretary of Samajwadi Party Shahid Siddiqui says.
The debate here is not just about religious sentiments.
It is about a larger concern - is the politics of fatwas here to stay and how far is it going to be taken?
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