[Nahid Afrin is in no way the first Indian Muslim woman singer - it has a a long lineage including the too well-known Begum Akhtar and Parveen Sultana (also from Assam), and, of course, scores of others. Nor she's going to be the last. That's for sure.
The controversy is just ridiculous.] I/III. https://scroll.in/article/831852/the-fatwa-against-assam-singer-nahid-afreen-that-never-was FREE EXPRESSION The ‘fatwa’ against Assam singer Nahid Afrin that never was While there was a pamphlet campaign to shut down the event at which the 16-year-old was to perform, a top Assam cleric says there is no fatwa against it. Facebook/Nahid Afreen 7 hours ago. Arunabh Saikia Nahid Afrin is an over-achiever by all standards. At 16, she has been a playback singer in a mainstream Bollywood film, finished second in the country’s most high-profile musical reality show and has won so many awards in singing competitions across the country that she doesn’t even bother to count them. Not that it is very consequential, but she also got promoted to Class 10 this year. So, when news broke that a fatwa had been issued against her by some 46 Muslim clerics, warning her to stop singing as it was “against the Sharia”, there was, understandably, an outrage. Enough outrage for even national news channels to take notice and Assam’s chief minister to tweet condemning the “fatwa” and assuring the young woman of his government’s commitment to protect her freedom of speech and safety. We strongly condemn putting restrictions on performance by young talented singer Nahid Afrin by some organisations. — Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) March 14, 2017 Freedom of artists are essence of democracy. Spoke to Nahid and reiterated our Govt's commitment to provide safety and security to artists. — Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) March 14, 2017 Even Taslima Nasreen tweeted out, expressing support and solidarity for Afrin. After getting fatwa from 46 mullahs in Assam,16 yrs old Nahid Afrin said she'll never bow down and will never leave singing. Bravo girl! — taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) March 15, 2017 According to a report in the Times of India, the Assam Police was also looking to investigate an Islamic State angle to the episode. All extremely heartening, expect for that fact there may not have been a fatwa at all. The primary evidence of the supposed fatwa is a leaflet signed by 46 Muslim men, which was distributed in the districts of Hojai and Nagaon. [Facsimile of the leaflet in Assamese.] While the leaflet does categorically mention that the March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College in Lanka in Hojai district, where Afrin was scheduled to perform was “against the Sharia”, it does not as much as even mention Afrin’s name. The leaflet, which is headlined Guhari (translates into request/appeal), asks people not to attend the March 25 event. “If anti-Sharia acts like musical nights are held on grounds surrounded by masjids, idgahs, madrassas and graveyards, our future generations will attract the wrath of Allah,” it reads. Referring to a magic show that was recently held in the venue, the pamphlet proclaims that magic, drama, theatre, dance, etc. are intrinsically against Sharia. “If we don’t keep our children away from such things, Allah will not spare any of us,” it says. In context of the musical show that was to be held on March 25, the pamphlet warns that such an event so close to religious places would “definitely anger Allah”. “We humbly request you to restrain not only yourself from attending such an event but also encourage others to do the same,” it concludes. The 46 signatories of the pamphlet include office bearers of the Assam State Jamiat Ulama and teachers from various madrassas around the state. Afrin, too, told Scroll.in that she only got to know about the so-called fatwa, when “a few media people called up my father last night.” The controversy has, however, left Afrin highly perturbed. “I didn’t even know what a fatwa means,” she said. “For a few minutes, I thought I had done something wrong and I should give up singing.” What fatwa? A fatwa is a non-binding but authoritative legal opinion or learned interpretation that a qualified jurist or mufti, can give on questions pertaining to Islamic law. The secretary of the Assam State Jamiat Ulama, Maulvi Fazlul Karim Qasimi, stressed that no fatwa has been issued in this case and blamed the media for spreading misinformation. “Is this how a fatwa is issued? On a piece of paper?” The venue in question, Qasimi said, was in close proximity to religious and educational institutes and there have been instances of people creating a ruckus during similar shows in the past. “The appeal simply states that people might as well avoid the event since there have been instances of people getting drunk and vitiating the atmosphere in the past,” he claimed. The Maulvi insisted that the community was proud of Afrin – and the notice had nothing to do with her in particularly. “It is just that she was performing in that particular venue.” That may, however, not be strictly true. According to Afrin, a few local clerics had also objected to her participating in the reality show where she finished second. “They had dissuaded people from voting for me, saying it was a gunah [a crime] to do so as it was against the Sharia,” she said. While there is little doubt that Afrin has been at the receiving end of bigotry more than once as a result of her singing, the outrage about a fatwa appears misinformed at best. II/III. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/46-assam-mullahs-issue-fatwa-against-singer/articleshow/57641175.cms 46 Assam mullahs issue fatwa against singer Nahid Afrin Prabin Kalita | TNN | Updated: Mar 15, 2017, 03.35 PM IS [Video] GUWAHATI: Forty-six Muslim clerics in Assam have issued a fatwa against up-and-coming singer Nahid Afrin, who was the first runner-up in the 2015 season of a musical reality TV show, asking her to stop performing in public. Police said they were investigating whether the fatwa was a reaction to Nahid recently performing songs against terrorism, including the Islamic State terror group. "We are looking at this angle as well," ADG (special branch) Pallab Bhattacharya said. Leaflets bearing the fatwa in Assamese and the names of the clerics were distributed across Hojai and Nagaon districts in central Assam on Tuesday. According to the fatwa, a March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College in Lanka, Assam, where Nahid, 16, is scheduled to perform is "against the Sharia". "If anti-Sharia acts like musical nights are held on grounds surrounded by masjids, idgahs, madrassas and graveyards, our future generations will attract the wrath of Allah," it said. The young singer, a Class X student who lives in Biswanath Chariali, broke down on hearing news of the fatwa. "I am speechless. I think my music is God's gift to me. I will never bow down to it (such warnings) and never leave singing," she said. Top Comment Fatwa word itself is new to Assam. Put all the so called Bangladeshi Muslim clerics into jail. This is not a part of Arab country, this is Assam ! Hridoy Baruah Her mother added, "The organisers of the musical night told us that the programme on March 25 will not be cancelled." Police said Nahid and her family would be provided security cover. Nahid, who made her Bollywood debut singing for Sonakshi Sinha in the 2016 film 'Akira'+ , first rose to stardom after her successful innings on reality TV . Her beautiful renditions of songs written and composed by the Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva have made her especially popular in Assam. III. Press release Sing on Nahid, sing on Suhana; IMSD is proud of you Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) applauds the achievements of two young Muslim women, Nahid Afreen (Assam) and Suhana Sayed (Karnataka), who have wowed music lovers cutting across religions with their outstanding singing talents. And it condemns the attempts of certain Muslims who with their blinkered brand of Islam seek to silence the nightingales of Indian Islam. In the latest instance of dissonant discourse, 46 Muslims from Assam, molvis and madrassa teachers included, have put out a pamphlet seeking to muzzle the 16-year-old Nahid Afreen who was the first runner-up in the 2015 season of a musical TV reality show. Five days earlier, 22-year-old Suhana Sayed was trolled by an outfit that identified itself as “Mangalore Muslims” after she received a standing ovation at a Kannada reality TV show for her superb rendering of a bhajan in praise of Lord Balaji. The judges even applauded the young hijab-wearing woman as a "symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity." The pamphleteers from Assam and the trolls from Mangalore are cultural misfits who seem to have imbibed nothing of India’s composite culture where for centuries Hindus and Muslims have dressed alike, shared the same cuisine, spoken the same language, sung, danced and played music together. Who hasn’t heard of Bismillah Khan, or Allah Rakha’s jugalbandi with Ravi Shankar? Or Mohammad Rafi singing, ‘Hari Om! Man tadpat Hari darshan ko aaj’ with lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni and music composed by Naushad? Suhana who was warned that even “her parents will not go to heaven” because of her sinful act reportedly went “underground”. But the gutsy Nahid is not so easily frightened. “I was shocked and broken from inside at first, but many Muslim singers gave me inspiration to not quit music, will never do so,” she has told the media. Bravo, Nahid. Be not afraid, Suhana. Through the simple act of singing their songs, they project an image of Muslims at peace with the world. In striking contrast, through their pamphleteering and threat of hell-fire, the maulanas of Assam and the Mangalore Muslims present before others the unpleasant picture of bigoted Muslims and an intolerant Islam. Sing on Nahid, sing on Suhana. IMSD is proud of you. For more information, contact: Javed Anand Convener, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) P.O. Box: 28253, Juhu Post Office, Juhu, Mumbai - 400049 Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; Mobile: +919870402556 -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
