Lucknow: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani on Thursday said communalism is the first step towards the country’s destruction, and urged political parties to spread love and brotherhood, not hatred.
Asserting that “love jihad” was a term coined by those who want to spread hatred in the country, Madani strongly advocated for the opening of as many separate schools as possible for Muslim girls.
Addressing a conference of 37 district units of the Jamiat in eastern Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, Madani said, “It is the country’s misfortune that hatred in the name of religion has been increasing since independence.
“Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind considers communalism as the first step towards the destruction of the country. Those who are sowing seeds of hatred instead of love are just playing their cards to capture power,” he said.
“We also want to give a message to political parties… whether they are in power or not they should propagate only love and affection, not hatred. The country’s welfare lies in this,” he said.
Madani said that the Jamiat has always been against sectarianism and that it never accepted the Muslim League’s wish to live separately from the Hindus after India’s independence.
“When the country was moving towards independence, the British sowed the seeds of division in the country. They convinced the Muslim League that we (Muslims) will not live with the Hindus but the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind never accepted this point of view.
“We opposed the Muslim League. Many atrocities were committed but we did not deviate from this approach,” he said.
“Even today we cannot accept ‘firqa parasti’ (sectarianism). Whether someone likes it or not, the country can only run with love. The country will not run on hatred. This country is ours. We were born here and will die here. We have called you all here to send out this message, Madani said.
Madani asked Muslims to resist sectarianism and support all people irrespective of the other person’s religion.
“If someone is setting fire, then stop it. If someone is abusing, let him do that,” the Jamiat president said.
“Irrespective of the other person’s religion, do not be influenced by the sectarianism of the communal mind. We see each other as brothers and support them no matter his religion,” Madani said.
Madani said that he had not heard the term “love jihad” “for the past 80 years”.
“This is a word coined by those who want to sow hatred within the country. We ask Muslims to open as many separate schools as possible for their daughters so that those who intend to hurt them on the pretext of ‘love jihad’ allegations against Muslims can be stopped,” he said.
He also expressed the need for modern education in madrasas and added that while the Muslim community needs good scholars, it also needs excellent lawyers, doctors and professors.
About 1,000 members from 37 districts of the state participated in the conference organised at Sunni Inter College, Lucknow. Eight different resolutions were also passed in the conference.
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