The beheading of a tailor by two Muslim men in Rajasthan has sent shock waves across the country.
Muhammad Nihad PV | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — Several Muslim clerics, leaders and organisations have unanimously condemned the brutal killing of a Hindu tailor by two Muslim men in Udaipur for the former’s support to now suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s derogatory statements about Prophet Muhammad. The accused duo were later arrested in the Rajsamand area in Rajasthan.
In a statement, Ajmer Dargah Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan criticised the barbaric act, saying, “No religion promotes violence against humanity. Especially, in the religion of Islam, all the teachings act as sources of peace.”
“In the gruesome video that surfaced on the internet, some non-ethical minds committed a brutal attack on a poor man which is a punishable sin in Islam,” Khan said.
All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat President Navaid Hamid took to Twitter to condemn the incident. “The gruesome beheading in Udaipur is anti-Islamic and an open case of hate crime. Prophet Muhammad had never harmed anybody in his entire life. Those pretending to indulge in crime because of the Prophet’s love are criminals and need harshest punishment as per the law,” he tweeted.
“There can be no justification for it. Our party’s consistent stand is to oppose such violence. No one can take law into their own hands. We demand that the state govt take strictest possible action. The rule of law must be upheld,” commented Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
The country’s top Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) also condemned the incident, with its general secretary, Hakeemuddin Qasmi, saying in a statement, “The act is a crime in the eyes of law, and our religion does not allow this.”
Muslim socio-religious organization Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) called the statement barbaric. Taking to Twitter, JIH said, “The Udaipur incident is barbaric, Uncivilized and there is no room for Justification of violence in Islam. We strongly condemn it. No citizen should take law into his own hands. Let the law prevail.”
Following the killing, all districts in Rajasthan are on high alert with internet services temporarily across the state, NDTV reported. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has appealed to all the citizens to maintain peace and called for an emergency meeting today.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has transferred the case to the anti-terror task force National Investigation Agency (NIA), saying the involvement of “any organisation and international links” would be thoroughly investigated, The Print said in a report.
Muhammad Nihad PV is a sociology student at the University of Hyderabad. He tweets at @nihadbinnisar