KOCHI: The Kerala State Waqf Board has taken a firm stance against the discriminatory treatment being meted out to ‘Barbar’ and ‘Labbai’ communities within Islam and observed that “Islam does not permit untouchability and differentiating its believers based on caste.”
The State Waqf Board directed the Divisional Waqf Officer, Kottayam, to initiate a prosecution case against the secretary of Puthoorppally Muslim Jama-ath, Changanassery, who asked the members of the community not to take part in the general body meeting.
The board issued the order on a petition filed by Aneesh Sali of Changanassery and 11 others alleging that the Jama-ath prevented them from taking part in the committee’s general body meeting, as they belonged to the Ossan community traditionally engaged as barbers.
The board’s order stated, “It is convinced that the Jama-ath committee is following an illegal caste system in the Jama-ath by keeping the Barbar and Labbai community away from participating in the Jama-ath activities thereby treating them as lower class and they are not provided equality in the Jama-ath. As far as Islam is concerned, people are equal regarding their right to life, property and human dignity regardless of their religion, race, gender or ethnicity.”
The board pointed out that Islam teaches that in the eyes of Allah all people are equal but they are not necessarily identical, but the religion does not treat some people as superior and others as inferior based on their abilities, potential and ambitions, wealth and so on. Hence, the act of the committee is clearly “un-Islamic and is against the law of the land.”