Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar March 13 (KINS): Religious, political, civil society groups and common masses have denounced Waseem Rizvi’s blasphemous act and demanded strict action against him.
Ex-Chairman of the Shia Waqf Board Syed Waseem Rizwi has filed a petition in SC seeking removal of 26 verses of the Quran.
There is anger among people in Kashmir against this blasphemous act. On Saturday, people in Kashmir held various protests against Rizvi and demanded action against him.
At Srinagar’s press colony, scores of people protested where they burnt effigy of Rizvi and shouted slogans against him.
“No Muslim will tolerate this for raising fingers on Quran. Quran teaches us peace and not violence. This man is trying to create a misconception by filing such petition,” one of protestor told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
Muslims have also taken to social media expressing their anger against him.
“This man deliberately wants to target Islam which no one will tolerate. There has to be strong action against him for this act,” said Faizan Ahmad.
Grand Mufti J&K, Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam said Rizvi should be immediately arrested for this blasphemous act. “This man has not understood Quran and saying such things,” he said.
Jammu and Kashmir ‘Majlis-e-Ulmae Imamia’ has also demanded Rizvi’s arrest.
A spokesperson of the recently formed Jammu and Kashmir ‘Majlis-e-Ulmae Imamia’ said that Rizvi’s outrageous remarks of recommending omission of certain verses of holy Quran and his appeal in the court are ‘not only condemnable but unpardonable as well.’
“This vile man has shown disregard to holy Quran and hurt sentiments of millions of Muslims across the globe. We condemn his acts and urge the government to put him behind the bars immediately,” the Majlis spokesperson demanded.
Anjuman Sharie Shiayan President Aga Syed Hassan has urged judiciary to book Waseem Rizvi under Section 295A of IPC and other relevant provisions for deliberately and maliciously hurting feelings of Muslims by insulting their holy book and beliefs.
Ittehadul Muslimeen President Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari also condemned Rizvi. “We strongly condemn the recent statement of Wasim Rizvi of Lucknow, against the Holy Book Quran. This man has become a tool of conspiracies of the enemies against Islam & Shiaism. Indian Muslims have already kicked him out of their midst and he has been excommunicated from Islam”, Masroor tweeted.
Criticising Rizvi for this blasphemous act, Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society Forum chairman Qayoom Wani said, “Any kind of blasphemous act about Quran is intolerable to humanity in general and to Muslims in particular and whosoever does the blasphemous act, history is witness, he has seen its harsh result. JKCSF has appealed the Supreme Court of India to outright reject the petition of amendments against Quran to safeguard and respect the sentiments of the Muslims and other Quran lovers who seek guidance from this book of Allah”.
Wani demanded life imprisonment for culprit’s like Rizvi, so that “in the future, nobody can dare to speak against Prophet Mohammad and the Quran”.
In the PIL, Rizvi has claimed that these verses were added to the holy book of Muslims later. “These verses were added to the Quran, by the first three Caliphs, to aid the expansion of Islam by war”, the former Chairman of the Shia Waqf Board said according to media reports.
Rizvi wrote in the petition that “after Mohammad, the first Caliphs Hazrat Abu Bakr, the second Caliphs Hazrat Umar and the third namely Hazrat Usman released the Quran as a book, based on the oral preachings of Mohammad”. This was passed on from generation to generation.
Rizvi has added in his petition that almost 26 verses that were added to the Quran by these Caliphs promoted violence. According to Rizvi, terrorists use these verses to fuel jihad. He also said that these “verses are used to mislead the young Muslims generation, provoking them to become radicals and terrorists resulting in the massacre of millions of innocents”. Kashmir’s religious scholars have, however, appealed the people to maintain calm, control their emotions, and to register protests in a peaceful manner against the blasphemous act of Rizvi.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Muhammad Wali, in a statement, denouncing Waseem Rizvi, said that he had filed the petition in the Supreme Court of India for his vested interest and gaining cheap popularity. He said, the action of Waseem Rizvi is not new as in past many people have also tried to harm Quran and Islam but they never succeeded in their nefarious designs. (KINS)
