| News Details |
| BJP through WAQF cannot dictate what Imams Preach, Says Mehbooba Mufti | | 
Srinagar, October 13(Scoop News)- Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti has expressed strong concern over attempts to introduce uniformity in Friday sermons through Waqf authorities, calling it interference in the religious practices of Muslims.
Questioning the rationale behind such directives, Mehbooba Mufti said it was unacceptable that a minister who does not even belong to the Muslim faith could decide what Muslim Maulanas and Muftis should speak about in their sermons.
She said Friday sermons are primarily shaped by the issues and circumstances confronting a particular region or locality, while also addressing wider social and national concerns. Imposing a uniform template on these sermons, she said, disregards the diversity of local realities and the role of religious scholars in guiding their communities.
Drawing a parallel with the BJP’s push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Mehbooba Mufti said the opposition to such measures stems from the concern that uniformity cannot be imposed on a diverse society without disregarding its distinct religious practices, customs and traditions. She said India’s strength lies in its pluralism, where different communities have the freedom to follow their respective faiths and traditions, and not in forcing them into a single framework.
She alleged that Kashmir was being treated as a laboratory to test the limits of Muslim tolerance, warning that such measures could eventually be extended to other parts of the country.
Mehbooba Mufti asserted that the BJP cannot use Waqf institutions to interfere in religious affairs or prescribe what should be preached from the pulpit. She said the administration of Waqf affairs should be handed over to an elected government rather than being used as an instrument to regulate religious expression.
She added that if any discussion on uniformity in sermons was considered necessary, the matter should be decided by recognised Islamic scholars and religious bodies themselves. Referring to the legacy of Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq Sahib and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), headed by him, she said the responsibility for taking such decisions should rest with the Ulema, not the BJP’s political establishment acting through Waqf authorities.
Mehbooba Mufti said religious practices and sermons must remain guided by the concerns of the community and the judgment of its scholars, rather than political directives imposed from above.
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