KOCHI: Leaders of Sunni organisations, who are traditionally loyal to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), have resented party leader KNA Khader’s gestures at the Guruvayur temple during a visit in connection with election campaigning. Khader, the sitting MLA from Vengara, is the IUML candidate from the Guruvayur constituency.
In an FB post, Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) state secretary Abdul Hameed Faizy Ambalakkadavu objected to Khader’s deeds and words at the temple. Faizy found Khader’s words like “Lord Guruvayurappan will certainly read my mind and has blessed me” and the god “will certainly accept the avilpothi from this Kuchela” un-Islamic. He said there is a chapter in Islamic scriptures titled ‘Kithaburiddath’ which explains actions that will eject a person from Islam. He said even a cursory reading of the chapter will make one realise the gravity of Khader’s actions.
“The deeds of leaders of a Muslim organisation will not only affect thems, but will also send a dangerous signal to followers that such things are acceptable,” Faizy said. He said secularism is not taking a bit from all religions.“It would amount to what Emperor Akbar did by forming a new religion ‘Deen e-Ilahi.’ If secularism means accepting customs and beliefs from other religions, we don’t need such secularism,” he said. “We proudly remember former education minister Abdurabb who refused to light the traditional lamp saying that it is against his beliefs. We also remember late Panakkad Syed Umar Ali Shihab Thangal who took a stern stand against a minister who sported a tilak on his forehead, an alien custom for Muslims,” Faizy said.
The incident involving Umar Ali Thangal that Faizy referred to happened around two decades ago. Late Cherkkalam Abdulla, the then minister for local administration, was chided by Thangal for sporting a ‘tilak’ during his visit to a Hindu Mutt in Kasaragod in 2003. Thangal was the state president of the SYS at the time. Khader remained unavailable for comments. Another Sunni leader, Nazar Faizy Koodathayi also termed Khader’s gesture as an unwanted act.
In his FB post, Nazar said not even Hindus would expect a Muslim to accept their beliefs. He said the political bankruptcy of certain Muslim leaders will only create an aversion in the minds of polytheists. He said Panakkad Syed Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal had rushed to Tali Temple at Angadippuram in Malappuram when he heard about the fire that broke out at the temple. “But Thangal didn’t offer prayers there. Yet he was a great religious person and a secularist,” he said.
Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation leader Onampilly Muhammad Faizy too expressed similar sentiments. Without naming Khader, he cautioned against the tendency to show ‘over subservience’ in the specific Indian political context and recalled the leaders who valiantly fought for ‘honourable cultural existence.’