Muslim clerics on Tuesday reiterated that singing of the national song Vande Mataram was “un-Islamic” and hence they could not recite it.
Addressing a gathering of over 10,000 Muslim clerics on the last day of the three-day conference of the Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind at Deoband, 150 km
northeast of Delhi, ulema (Muslim scholars) and Jamiat leaders reaffirmed their views on the fatwa (advisory issued by clerics) released earlier against the reciting of Vande Mataram.
They also passed a resolution against Muslims reciting the national song. Speakers said some couplets in the song were against Islam. “We must stick to the fatwa issued before Independence against its recitation,” they said.
Clerics said that the national song is a hymn to the nation which is given the status of a god in whose praise the song is sung, whereas Islam permits only the worship of Allah.
In Saharanpur, Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarkapeeth said, “Vande Mataram is a prayer to the Mother and no one should have objection to it.”
In New Delhi, the BJP criticised the Jamiat’s resolution and asked Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who addressed its general assembly, to explain why he kept silent on the resolution when it was adopted before he spoke.
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “He (Chidambaram) has mentioned the Babri mosque demolition and communal riots, but there is no mention of the resolution against Vande Mataram.”