‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai Is All Jumla’, Muslim Clerics Hail Fatwa

Muslim clerics react to the fatwa issued against chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.

It all started when All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi refused to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. What followed was a full-fledged controversy with the Shiv Sena wanting to revoke his Lok Sabha membership, another ABVP leader offering a reward for cutting off his tongue and the suspension of an AIMIM MLA from the Maharashtra Assembly.

Watch: QRant: Omg! Owaisi Won’t Say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Uhm. So?

In the midst of all this, a popular Hyderabad-based seminary has issued a fatwa against chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ calling it non-Islamic. The fatwa reads:

For a Muslim chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is not permissible as the land of Hind (India) is not a goddess. Every Muslim loves the country and is willing to sacrifice his or her life for it, but prostrates only before Allah. For Muslims, only Allah must be worshipped. 

Speaking exclusively to The Quint, Mufti Muhammad Azeemuddin, the mufti at Jamia Nizamia, the seminary that issued the fatwa said:

‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is all jumla. No land can be a mother, only a human can give birth to a human. Our religion very clearly says that we only bow to the creator not to his creation. We love India but you cannot force us to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. This has become a political issue now, it is not religious anymore, I don’t want to comment further.

Mufti Muhammad Azeemuddin, Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad

The Quint tried to reach out to several scholars and clerics but most refrained from commenting, not wanting to court controversy. However, Tariq Bukhari while calling it ‘political’, concurred with the idea of the fatwa:

This is all in reaction to Owaisi, it is all politics. He has only done this to sensationalise. A fatwa is issued only for a religious issue. But I get the reason behind the fatwa. The land or the country is not a creator and in Islam we only bow to the creator. We can’t even say ‘Jai’ for the Prophet Muhammad, even though he is included in our kalma. We love our country but cannot bow to creation. 

Also Read: ‘Mother India’ Hysteria: Patriotism or Political Ploy?