By Milli Gazette,
New Delhi: We strongly condemn yesterday’s violent attack and chopping off of the hand of Mr T. J. Joseph, a lecturer in Ernakulam District of Kerala by some miscreants on the pretext of taking revenge for Joseph’s act of blasphemy.
We feel that law was taking its due course against the said lecturer for his misdeed and he was already suspended from his college for a year due to his insult to the Prophet of Islam by replacing the word “madman” in a quote with that of “Muhammad” while preparing an exam paper for the students of his college.
Those who attacked Joseph forgot that the Prophet of Islam, upon whom be peace, in his own life had pardoned a Jewess who used to throw garbage on him and when she did not do so one day, the Prophet enquired about her and upon being told that she is ill, went to wish her early recovery and good health. The Prophet forgave the people of Mecca after its conquest although they had pained him, expelled him from his hometown and had waged war against him for years. We find that the attack on the Kerala lecturer is against the basic tenets of Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet which emphasis on forgiveness. Islam explicitly forbids taking law and order into one’s hands in the presence of competent authorities to deal with an issue.
We hope that law will take its due course to punish the criminals who attacked the professor. They have clearly sinned and defamed Islam by committing this crime which we condemn without reservations.
Dr. Manzoor Alam,
Secretary General, All India Milli Council
Mohammad Jafar,
Naib Ameer, Jamaat e Islami Hind
& Acting President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat
Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan
Ex-President. All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat
& Editor, The Milli Gazette
Niaz Farouqui
Secretary, Jamiat Ulama e Hind
Navaid Hamid,
General Secretary, Movement for Empowerment of Muslim Indians (MOEMIN)
& Member, National Integration Council