Misuse Of Mosques For Politics: Shahi Imam calls for Love Jihad in Friday Sermon; ‘convert them and marry them, this is the only reply to attempts at forcible conversion of Muslims to Hinduism’

12 December 2014

Shahi Imam Ahmad Bukhari of Jama Masjid, Delhi

“Convert them and marry them. This is the only suitable response to attempts at converting Muslims to Hinduism,” he told thousands of Muslims listening to his speech within the mosque and outside. ( “islam ki tabligh hamara deeni fareeza hai, … ghar ghar islam pahunchayiye, inhein musharraf ba islam karwayiye aur shaadiyan kijiye, yehi hai jawab in ka.”)

In his 41-minute political speech, descending at times to the language of the gutter, he announced, amidst chants of Allahu Akbar (God is Great!), the Muslims will never accept a second class citizenship status in this country and will keep fighting for their rights, despite the thousands of riots inflicted upon them, including the one Muslims will never forget, the one that happened in Gujarat in 2002.

He said Islam did not spread with the use of sword or compulsion. Muslims do not believe in forcible conversion. He quoted the Qur’anic verse “la ikraha fid deen” which means “there can be no compulsion in religion.” He cited this as a proof that Muslims rulers of India did not force Hindus to convert, otherwise, he said there would not have been one Hindu left in this country after 800 years of Muslim rule.

Recalling all the myriad communal statements made by BJP and other RSS-affiliated organisations since the last elections that brought BJP to power, the Shahi Imam said these people were rewarded with cabinet posts in the central government. In this context he patted his own back for not having invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his son’s anointment as the next chief cleric. Using language utterly becoming of any civilised discourse, much less a mosque, which Muslims consider their spiritual refuge, he said, people who criticised him for this non-invitation to Modi on television channels and elsewhere were either prostitutes or those who use their wives for prostitution. He said:”one doesn’t know where these women or the wives of these gentlemen spend their days and nights!”

The Imam talked about the enormous pressure that was brought upon him to invite Narendra Modi. But he withstood all that pressure and congratulated himself for that amidst chants of Allahu Akbar from his acolytes within the mosque, while the rest of the crowd, most of whom had just come for Friday prayers, remained impassive throughout his theatrics.

Of course, none of the thousands of  Muslims present there protested at this misuse of the mosque, and one can rest assured that no Muslim intellectual or leader  will protest.

He criticised heavily the so-called secular political parties who make use of Muslims as vote banks and then abandon them when they come to power. Citing the example of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh where these conversion attempts are taking place, he said there are 18-20 per cent Muslims in UP and only 7 per cent Yadavs. Clearly it’s Muslims who brought him to power but when the issue of forcible conversion was discussed in Parliament, Mulayam Singh Yadav said that this was not such an important issue as nothing was happening in Agra and Muslims had not shown any signs of agitation. We have not forgotten the hundreds of Muslims killed in Muzaffarnagar in UP under the same government of Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh. He warned them that Muslims will never tolerate any further attempts at forcible conversion or other atrocities in UP and without their support they will not be able to come back to power.

The Imam was full of praise, however, for the electronic media, particularly Times Now whose anchor Arnab Goswami had given munhtor jawab (appropriate reply) to the spokesmen of Hindutva parties on his show on 11th of December.

He said this country is secular because the majority of people are secular.  Only 31 per cent voters have supported the saffron alliance. He repeatedly invoked the rights given to minorities by the constitution of India. He said the country is moving in the direction of another partition. The present-day situation is beginning to resemble the situation in 1947. But Muslims have to work to save this country from another partition. It’s our duty. Muslims had made untold sacrifices for the independence of this country and it’s time we geared up to make another effort to save the country from another division, he said.

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-politics/new-age-islam-special-correspondent/misuse-of-mosques-for-politics–shahi-imam-calls-for-love-jihad-in-friday-sermon;–convert-them-and-marry-then,-this-is-the-only-reply-to-attempts-at-forcible-conversion-of-muslims-to-hinduism-/d/100456