The mufti who rose through the power of social media

The mufti, over the last four years, as his speeches went viral, was invited to talk across the country, leaving him little time to be a full-time imam

Mumbai A product of Cairo’s Al Azhar University, son of an Islamic scholar from Karnataka, and a follower of the Sunni Barelvi school of Islam which is followed by the majority of Indian Muslims, Mufti Salman Azhari, who was arrested by the Gujarat ATS on Sunday night, typifies the new-age preacher. Unlike the maulanas of old, it is not his sermons in the mosque that have attracted the following he enjoys. It’s social media that has made his speeches viral. His following comprises those whose lives are ruled by social media, mostly the youth. Not surprisingly, #ISupportMuftiAzhari was trending on X on Sunday night.

Mumbai, India - Feb. 4, 2024: Muslim community people and Mufti Salman's followers gather out side the Ghatkopar police station, Gujarat Police probing a hate speech case on Sunday detained Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari in Mumbai, Mufti Salman is currently in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, February 4, 2024. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The mufti was earlier an imam in the Panke Shah Baba Dargah at Ghatkopar. However, over the last four years, as his speeches went viral, he started getting invited to talk across the country, leaving him little time to be a full-time imam of just one masjid.

Known for his in-depth knowledge of Islam, the mufti’s oratory is old style: loud and rhetorical, reaching a crescendo at various points, at which point his followers burst into a frenzy of religious slogans.

Mufti Azhari’s popularity can also be traced to the content of his speeches. To a community that is often living in fear in the current climate, the mufti’s message to his followers is: “Daro mat. Islam zinda hai aur zinda rahega. (Don’t be afraid, Islam is alive and will remain so.)”

Mufti Azhari was the only cleric to take up the challenge issued by hate-speech accused Yati Narsinghanand, who had dared any cleric to debate with him on the Quran and on Islam at the Jama Masjid, Delhi. The Mufti went to the Jama Masjid on June 17, 2022, but Narsinghanand did not turn up.

Disturbed by his arrest, everyone this reporter spoke to, from community activist to cleric, asked the same questions: The two lines because of which the mufti has been charged refer to no particular individual or community. How can he then be charged under Sec 153 B and 505(2), which pertain to statements against national integration and promoting communal enmity? And why was Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorist Squad sent to arrest him? Their presence sparked off fears that the mufti may be implicated in a false case in Gujarat, and led to thousands of youth protesting outside Ghatkopar police station on Sunday night. The police had to ask the mufti to request them to disperse. Even as he did so, Mufti Azhari declared, “I am not a criminal. I am cooperating with the police; you should too.”

Maulanas in Mumbai, including those not belonging to the Barelvi school, point out that many BJP leaders have made speeches directly abusing Muslims and instigating violence against them, but have yet to be arrested. Earlier, the likes of Narsinghanand, Nupur Sharma, Sudarshan Sudarshan Chavhanke who runs the Sudarshan TV channel and a host of saffron-clad preachers have heaped abuse on Islam and Prophet Mohammed, and declared their intention to demolish thousands of mosques, and no action has been taken against them.

“What is the message being sent?” asked Maulana Aijaz Kashmiri. “That we must silently swallow all the abuse and insults?”