Fatwas in the Wrong Land

As many as 42 Islamic organizations operating in Assam issued a fatwa on Tuesday, March 14, banning popular singer hid Afrin from singing at public functions in Assam. Quite obviously, the fatwas or injunctions were directed mainly at the Bihu songs that hid Afrin would be singing during a function on 25 March and during Rangaali Bihu. These gratuitous fatwas give rise to several pertinent questions that any organization issuing such unconstitutiol injunctions are obliged to answer. The first is the question of authority. From where do such organizations pretend to derive any authority to issue such injunctions about who shall sing or not sing at public functions? There are very eminent Muslim singers, both male and female, who have done our country proud with their music. They have been singing for centuries. We have never had the experience of hearing about any Islamic organization ever having presumed to order our musicians not to sing. In any case, no one has the right to issue such illegal injunctions in a secular democracy. And this year 42 Islamic organizations have arbitrarily decided that hid Afrin shall not sing. They have issued fatwas that she shall not sing. In doing so, they have arbitrarily decided to take away her fundamental right to continue in her present vocation, which is singing, in total and blatant violation of the Indian Constitution. We have the right to ask these 42 organizations whether they have had the decency and the courage to issue 42 separate written fatwas so that hid might take a decision about what she intends to do about the 42 oral fatwas clearly issued out of malice since they seek to take away what 16-year-old hid has been doing. We have a right to ask who gives these 42 organizations the right to do what they have done? Do these organizations honestly expect anyone to accept verbal injunctions as one might accept written injunctions from appropriate authorities? In sending out proper written fatwas such organizations at least indicate that they are prepared to take full responsibility for their actions. When they issue only verbal fatwas, no one is obliged to take such injunctions seriously because only those organizations that are afraid to issue written fatwas (because they know they are illegal) will resort to verbal fatwas.