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Najam Sethi and other editors of TFT need to make a critical distinction – by Shazia Najmi

posted by Guest Post | February 10, 2013 | In Original Articles

 

Ulema Deoband do not do General Takfeer of Shia Muslims

Ulema Deoband do not do General Takfeer of Shia Muslims

It took LUBP to sacrifice its entire editorial team and go out of the way to establish détente with Maulana Tahir Ashrafi. To his credit, the Maulana was forthcoming. The new editorial team led by Ali Taj had only one point to clarify: Does the Koran allow humans to declare a human being a kafir? If yes, what verses say so. If no, then why the Takrifi Deobandis supported by the Islamofascist Urdu media has been apostatizing the Shias and carrying out their uninterrupted genocide in Pakistan?


Certainly, there is no way the Shia apostatizing can be justified in any way unless the wolf comes crashing and says, “If not you, it must have been your father who swore at me!”
The Maulana in clear-cut terms has said that the Shias as a collectivity cannot be declared kafirs. He said only those Shias can be apostatized who insult the rightly guided caliphs of Islam. His complete statement is given below:

“Any Sunni or Shia doing takfeer (apostatizing) of Khulfa-e-Rashdin is considered Kafir by us (Deobandi ulema). We or any of our senior Ulema have never done general Takfeer of Shia Muslims. No eminent Deobandi scholar has ever demanded that Shia Muslims be banned from visiting Mecca and Medina. This in itself is a proof that we (Sunni Deobandis) consider Shia sect to be a part of Islam. We want to promote unity between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims.”
Despite its logical deficit, the Maulana’s statement was a good opening to build trust between the non-Takrifi Deobandis and the Shias. 

However, according to an article in The Friday Times, Maulana Ashrafi has said that a Shia cannot be regarded as a Muslim by a Deobandi. The reader is urged to read the article to see what insinuations it makes about the Shias.
The article is available: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130208&page=9.

Here are a few points insinuated in the article:

1. The article presents the Maulana as a Shia hater who ‘warns’ the Shias instead of engaging them. It insinuates that it is the Shias who produce hate literature.
2. The article reminds readers that the Maulana “has been close to Malik Ishaq, the founder of the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and, but has dissociated with some of his views. Now, he talks about sectarian harmony.”
The point to be noted is that “Now” he talks about harmony; as if he has been forced into doing so. He is reluctant to talk to the Shias.

3. The article quotes from the Maulana: “If they [i.e., the Shias] can’t stop [abusing the Sunni religious figures], they should do it behind closed doors and not on the streets.”
The writer insinuates that the Shias are incorrigible because they cannot stop abusing Sunni religious personalities. Thus, by implications, they must be declared kafirs. Such misrepresentations endanger Shia lives.  In the past too, articles in TFT have presented Takfiri militants of LeJ-ASWJ as Sunni Muslims, which is both inaccurate and counter-productive.

This is not a sectarian war but target killing of Shias by militants who can be broadly termed as being Takfiri Deobandi — that is, those Deobandis who practice ‘takfir’ or apostasise, other Muslims. They include the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and the Taliban.
Takfiri Deobandis believe that Shias are non-Muslim (kafir). These divisive beliefs are based on fatwas (religious decrees) by leading Deobandi clerics including Darul Uloom Deoband (India) issued at various times that declare Shia Muslims to be Kafir.
It is important to change the public discourse on this issue in order to deny legitimacy to these forces. It is critical that responsible publications like TFT to understand this distinction and promote it.

Related:

http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20121228&page=7

http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130208&page=9

https://lubpak.com/archives/241639

https://lubpak.com/archives/240579

https://lubpak.com/archives/241257

https://lubpak.com/archives/240339

http://freespeechpakistan.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/how-najam-sethi-brought-down-maulana-tahir-ashrafis-solo-flight-by-shazia-najmi/

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  1. Yasin

    Text of TFT article (written by M. Shahzad, edited by Najam Sethi and Raza Rumi):

    Report By Mohammad Shehzad
    Allama Tahir Ashrafi proposes five measures for sectarian harmony in Pakistan

    Five steps to peace

    16 103

    
    A special board of The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) should check religious literature for hate speech, Allama Tahir Ashrafi proposed as part of his five-point agenda to counter sectarian violence.

    Ashrafi, a former Jihadi and now the chief of Pakistan Ulema Council, shared the proposal with a select group of reporters in Islamabad. The proposal comes days after President Asif Zardari appointment him a member of the CII. Tahir Ashrafi said he intended to submit it to the council’s chairman and said it was intended to lead to new legislation.

    Allama Tahir Ashrafi has fought against the Soviet Union in the Afghan Jihad in the 1980s and has also been the information secretary of the defunct Sipah Sahaba Pakistan. He has been close to Malik Ishaq, the founder of the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and, but has dissociated with some of his views. Now, he talks about sectarian harmony.

    “I have seen the world. I am now convinced that Shias and Sunnis will have to co-exist peacefully. There is no other solution”
    “I have seen the world,” he said. “I am now convinced that Shias and Sunnis will have to co-exist peacefully. There is no other solution.”

    Because of his past, some civil society activists still look at him with suspicion. “If Shias will keep on abusing religious figures, I will not be able to stop myself from calling them Kafir,” he said. “If they can’t stop, they should do it behind closed doors and not on the streets.” But he said Shias were not infidels collectively as a community in any part of the world. When Shia and Sunni leaders will learn to sit together, sectarian harmony will prevail, he said, citing a meeting between key clerics Sajid Naqvi (Shia) and Zia Qasmi (Sunni) that he had arranged in Lahore. “They arrived with a dozen guards each and looked at each other angrily. But when I asked them to shake hands, they seemed to have become calm.”

    Tahir Ashrafi is known for his recent stance on the forged blasphemy case on a Christian minor Rimsha Masih. She was later found innocent and acquitted. “That gave the Christians a feeling for the first time in Pakistan’s history that they are part of the Pakistani society,” he said. “We need to strengthen this feeling.”

    He also asked civil society organizations to invite madrassa students to their programs, giving them an opportunity to express their views and make them them part of the mainstream.

    To counter forced conversion of Hindu girls into Islam through marriage, Ashrafi said that such girls should be given in the custody of neutral trusts where they should live for one month, after which they should be asked whether they converted and married of their own free will or were coerced or pressured.

    Among the several other issues he discussed was the controversy on the sighting of the moon. He said he would propose to the CII that the moon-sighting committee should be dissolved and the issue should be left to the experts of astronomy.

    Journalist Aoan Sahi asked his opinion about clerics from various sects occupying each other’s mosques. Tahir Ashrafi said he believed a mosque should belong to the sect that has run it for the previous 10 years.

    He said the Pakistani society had been becoming more and more radical and intolerant, and some clerics would even declare a person infidel if their trousers reached below their ankle, ordering their killing.

    His five points are listed below:

    1. Followers of one sect should not be allowed to abuse the followers of other sects. They should not be allowed to declare each other infidel in public. They should not be allowed to abuse/insult/defame each other’s religious figures.

    2. Hate material that fans sectarianism and provokes the sentiments of any sect should be banned. All the religious material should be presented before a special board of Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for approval.

    3. Minorities are being marginalized. They need to be assured that they are assets for Pakistan, not a burden. Their persecution should be stopped. They must be assured that they are equal citizens.

    4. Students of seminaries should be integrated into the mainstream. They should be given a feeling that they have to live in this society too.

    5. Only an approved body should be allowed to issue an edict on religious matters. The members of such a body should be qualified to issue an edict. All the edicts should be registered with this authority.

    http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130208&page=9

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  2. Roshan

    Najam Sethi was a caretaker minister in ISI-installed government after BB’s government was sent packing.

    However, he draws salary from U.S.A. too.

    ……

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/personnel-files-new-america-adds-najam-sethi-and-jugnu-mohsin-to-work-on-pakistan/2011/08/18/gIQAtukxNJ_blog.html

    , 08/18/2011
    Personnel Files: New America adds Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin to work on Pakistan
    By Allen McDuffee
    The New America Foundation has announced Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin as two new senior fellows to the think tank’s National Security Studies program.

    Prior to joining the New America Foundation, Sethi and Mohsin co-founded The Friday Times, Pakistan’s first independent weekly newspaper as well as Aaj Kal, a liberal Urdu weekly paper.

    The addition of Sethi and Mohsin indicates an increased commitment to the study of Pakistan.

    “Najam and Jugnu are two of Pakistan’s most important public voices – courageous, analytical, and focused on the big questions that will shape their country’s future, said New America Foundation Steve Coll in a released statement.

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  3. Roshan

    Najam Sethi faces tough questions on Twitter:

    Abbas Raza ‏ @iamabbasraza
    Dear @najamsethi u took SSP/LJ terrorist live in ur show. I cant remember u interviewing anyone in AKB ever before. #Double Standards?

    Najam Sethi ‏ @najamsethi
    @iamabbasraza No double standards. SS called. Wanted right to respond to serious allegations. We took call. Did you believe Ludhianvi or me?

    29 Feb Abbas Raza ‏ @iamabbasraza
    @najamsethi Funny no one else got this chance ever before on ur show.” u got a text” and then u took him live. anyways thanks 4 ur reply sir

    29 Feb Najam Sethi ‏ @najamsethi
    @iamabbasraza If leader of any party calls during my program and wants to come online for defense, I will welcome it! Good for my show!

    ………

    Najam Sethi self-congratulates himself on his brave stance on ‘sectarian violence’. Hey, you forgot Farhat Taj, Dr. Taqi, Mehmal Sarfraz and quite a few others!

    Najam Sethi ‏ @najamsethi
    @Nauman_789 I had said more against SSP in ten mins than anyone in ten years! Least I could do was allow them defensive response. Fair?

    ………

    Jhangvi media cell celebrates the fact that their terrorist leader was allowed to speak on national circuit in Najam Sethi’s popular program:

    18h Jhangvi ‏ @JHANGVI
    نجم سیٹھی آپس کی بات میں اظہار خیال ‎fb.me/1tESBLl9i‏

    19h Jhangvi ‏ @JHANGVI
    Hazrat Molana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi sb, apas ki bat Geo News 28 February 2012 fb.me/1mDepBhss

    http://criticalppp.com/archives/73439

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