A Crime beyond Religious Discrimination in India

Condemning the medieval behavior shown towards Indian Muslims, the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution of Iran and religious authorities, famous characters, institutions and scientific and cultural centers in Iran and other Muslim countries stressed the need for Indian officials to reconsider such kind of behavior, asked the government of India to confront extremist Hindus and considered it necessary for all free-spirited people in the world, international communities and Muslim countries to prevent the occurrence of a human catastrophe for Muslims by placing India under pressure.

As Ijtihadnet reported, on December 12 a bill was passed by the parliament of India and approved by the country’s president, Ram Nath Kovind, which sparked protests in India, and its scope is broadening every day.

Based on this controversial law known as “Citizenship Amendment Act”, from now on the religion of illegal immigrants who have entered India before 2015 can be considered as a criterion to give them Indian citizenship.

According to the new law, only Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis can acquire Indian citizenship, and not Muslims..

Indian officials said that this law aimed to protect religious minorities in India who are subject to prosecution in neighboring countries.

This means that the new law excludes Rohingya Muslims who are subject to prosecution in Myanmar and have taken refuge in India.

Most of India’s Muslim population which stands at 200 million believes that the new citizenship law is against Muslims.

Since it was passed, this discriminatory and anti-Islamic law has led to massive protests by Muslims in India and Islamic countries, sparked a new wave of violence against Muslims, mosques and sacred things in India, and caused heavy casualties on Indian Muslim population.

In this regard, many famous characters, religious authorities, institutions and scientific and cultural centers in Iran and other Muslim countries, by issuing statements, voiced their deep concern about this new citizenship law, warned against the implications of the law which discriminates against Muslims and vehemently condemned this discrimination practiced by the Indian government and also the slaughter of Muslims in India.

Indian Government Should Stand up to the Extremist Hindus

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, condemned the massacre of oppressed Muslims in India.

“The hearts of the Muslims of the world are broken by the massacre of the Muslims in India. The Indian government should stand up to the extremist Hindus and their parties. By stopping the massacre of Muslims, it can prevent itself from becoming marginalized in the Muslim world.”

Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani Slams Violence against Muslims in India

In a statement on Tuesday, Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani deplored the situation facing the Indian Muslims, and said that unfortunately, news coming from India and religious discrimination against Muslims after US president’s visit to the country is worrisome.

“Attacking Muslims, killing them, forcing them out of home torments hearts of all free people. Unfortunately, all the catastrophes take place at a time when the international community which is claiming to be advocating human rights is watching in silence and this reveals their human rights claims are false,” the Ayatollah said.. Continue Reading

The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom Urge Organization of the Islamic Conference to Defend Rights of Indian Muslims

The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom issued a statement condemning the recent events in India and calling for Organization of the Islamic Conference to act in regard their Islamic and humanitarian duty to defend the indisputable rights of the Muslims of India… Read The Full Statement 

Al-Mustafa International University Condemns this Violence and Inhumane Behavior

These days sad news is coming in of the organized violence of extremist groups against Muslims in India, bringing deep sorrow to all pacifists in the world.

The enemies of nations’ unity and friendship, especially the domineering and tyrannical regime of America and its puppet the usurper Zionist regime, who consider the integrity and solidarity of our region’s people against their interests and think they can save their life by creating divisions and tensions between nations and governments, again pursuing the colonial policy of “divide and rule”, have targeted the stability and peace in India through stimulating an extremist group.

Unfortunately, as a result of this extremism, a group of Muslim people in India have suffered considerable physical and property damage.

Al-Mustafa International University condemns this violence and inhumane behavior and expects the Indian government to be alert and neutralize the intrigues of division-creating governments and adopt an effective policy to end the violence and return security and peace to the large and civilized society of India as quickly as possible.

The Islamic Ummah World Assembly in a statement reacted to the Indian military and Hindus’ crimes against Muslims of India. This statement says:

Unfortunately, simultaneously with Donald Trump’s trip to India, pressure on Indian Muslims has increased so that dozens of Muslim men, women and children have been brutally killed.

Crimes against Muslims have not been restricted to their slaughter; the Glorious Quran, the holy book of Muslims, and mosques have also been desecrated by Hindu extremists.

The silence of the United Nations Organization and international communities on this human and religious catastrophe is very surprising. The question is if Torah and Bible were desecrated in a country, would the United Nations Organization and international communities still remain silent?

Would they be willing to see the massacre of Christian and Jewish women and children?

Now is the time to break silence on such brutal crimes which are against humanity, international law and religious freedom. All communities, organizations and people in the world must either react appropriately to these extremist activities or wait for struggling with them in future.

Are Islamic and Arab countries asleep or pretending to be so? Don’t they see how their religious sisters and brothers are brutally buried alive? What does these countries’ silence mean? Why don’t they put the Indian government under pressure to stop its crimes? Any silence on this important issue for the Islamic world would mean expressing satisfaction with the massacre of Muslims in India.

In the end, the Islamic Ummah World Assembly asks all opponents of violence and extremism and all world peace advocates to break their silence and do not let such crimes occur again.

Egypt’s Al-Azhar Urges India to Renounce Religious and Racial Discrimination

Egypt’s Al-Azhar issued a statement on Saturday expressing its deep concern about the wave of sectarian violence India has been witnessing in the past week because of the country’s new citizenship law.

India’s new law grants citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants only coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before 2015.

Al-Azhar called for the prevalence of the values of citizenship and the inclusion of all, and the rejection of all forms of religious and racial discrimination.

Egypt’s top religious institution expressed its confidence in India’s ability to resolve the crisis once the culture of dialogue and the principles of coexistence prevailed.

Al-Azhar pointed out in its statement that Muslims in India are the second largest group of Muslims globally, and that they have been an important part of what India’s history.

Al-Azhar brought to attention its statement issued last December in which it warned against the consequences of excluding Muslims from the new Indian citizenship law.

It said that the new law was an unexpected blow since India “has always been an example of religious pluralism and acceptance of the other.”

Earlier last week riots broke out in the Indian capital New Delhi. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims left at least 40 dead and hundreds injured.

For months tensions had been building between Hindus and Muslims protesting against the citizenship law and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. However, this wave of violence exploded last Sunday on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India.

Egypt’s Al-Azhar extended its condolences to the families of the victims, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Yemeni Clerics Condemn Violent Actions against Indian Muslims

The Association of Yemeni Ulama issued a statement about Hindus’ recent violence against Indian Muslims and strongly condemned it.

The statement said, “We condemn the racist actions and savage attacks against Indian Muslims and hold the Indian government responsible for these crimes.”

The Association of Yemeni Ulama added, “We ask all members of the Islamic nation to stand by our Muslim brothers in India, support them and make serious and constructive moves to block the attacks against them.”

Some Hindus recently attacked several Muslims and Islamic sites in India, and this was simultaneous with the American president’s trip to New Delhi.