By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Lucknow: All India Shia Personal Law Board(AISPLB) has passed a Fatwa against cow slaughter and beef eating, a move to ban triple talaq practice and early resolution of Ayodhya dispute.
AISPLB issued a Fatwa banning the cow slaughter in the country during its executive committee meeting in Lucknow. The Fatwa came after seeking a clarification from Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain Najafi, a top Shia cleric from Iraq.
The Fatwa said that communal tensions arise often in the country over cow slaughter. Seventy-five-year-old Hussain Najafi is one of the five Grand Ayatollahs in Iraq and is entitled to issue a fatwa for the community members.
Talking with TwoCircles.net, the spokesperson of AISPLB Maulana Yasoob Abbas said that the fatwa is issued after all the possible consultation with the higher bodies. He said, “to bring the harmony and peace with the Hindu community, Muslims of India have to give up beef.”
“For us (Shias), the horse is a pious animal. If anyone cuts the horse, the community will run after them for revenge. Same is with cows, Hindu brethren feel same for this figure. Why can’t we just ban few things to resolve the conflict?” he added.
When asked if the AISPLB consult with other Islamic bodies of India, Maulana Abbas said, “We had a talk with All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB) and they have agreed to extend their support to this matter.”
However, when Twocircles.net called AIMPLB over the same issue. Zafaryab Jilani, a member of Muslim Personal Law Board, said that the AIMPLB holds or endorses no such fatwa. Zafaryab Jilani said, “AIMPLB deals with the personal law and cow slaughtering or beef consumption does not come under personal law. Lynching or killing are serious events but they do not come under the personal law.”
Moreover, he said, “If I talk about the Triple Talaq, everyone knows what our view is. Shia body should not talk about Triple Talaq because Triple Talaq is not in practice among Shia Muslims. AIMPLB doesn’t endorse demands of AISPLB.”
Over the Triple Talaq, Abbas from AISPLB said, “We are moving an application in the SC in next couple of days and will request the court to make us a party.” Maulana Abbas said that he wants such a strong law against triple talaq that a man thinks thrice before divorcing his wife.
The fatwa from the Shia body came a day after when Dewan of Dargah Ajmer Sharif called for a constitutional ban over triple talaq and asked Muslim community to give up on beef.