By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: A debate between Ahl-e-Hadis and Barelvi sects of Muslims in the border district of Kutch over the issue of whether the eating of sacramental food(niaz) or flesh of an animal slaughtered in gratitude to anyone other than Allah, is allowed in Islam has reached the Gujarat High Court.
Though the court has no jurisdiction to decide on it as it has already told the parties verbally to settle it out of court, what the petitioner’s party has prayed is quashing of an FIR registered against Ahl-e-Hadis leaders on charges of promoting enmity between two groups under Sections 153-A and 505 of IPC.
The genesis of the dispute lies in some members of the Ahl-e-Hadis sect in Anandsar village of Nakhatrana taluka of Kutch district refusing to eat `niaz’ on the third day after `Yaum-e-Ashura’ in January this year.
Those who refused to eat `niaz’ believed in Barelvi traditions till recently. However, they gave up the Barelvi traditions after they came in contact with Ahl-e-Hadis preachers in the district.
But the majority of the villagers, who still follow the Barelvi school of thought, did not like the changed behaviour. They tried to force the neo Ahl-e-Hadis people to fall in line by organizing their boycott.
This led to a debate between the two sides. But the Ahl-e-Hadis members well-versed in Quranic knowledge put a question to other villagers: “Is it permitted in Islam to eat food consecrated to somebody other than Allah?’’
Ahl-e-Hadis members said they would have no objection to eating `niaz’ if it was allowed by the Quran and Sunnah of the Prohphet.
In support of their argument that `niaz’ was not allowed, Ahl-e-Hadis group presented translation of verse no. 173 of Surah Bakra which says: “Allah has made unlawful to you only carrion (dead animal) and blood and the flesh of swine and that over which there has been pronounced the name of some one other than Allah…’’.
Another verse quoted by them was verse no.3 of Surah Al-Maidah which translates as: “Forbidden to you are carrion, the flesh of swine, the animal slaughtered in any name other than Allah’s….’’.
Explaining the two verses, the Ahl-e-Hadis group argued that the `practice of pronouncing the name of anyone or anything other than Allah and dedicating the animal as an offering, or consecrating the food, to a holy personage, dead or alive’, is totally inappropriate and amounts to showing gratitude to some other being, instead of Allah.
As the `niaz’, a food, is dedicated to someone other than Allah, Ahl-e-Hadis members ruled that it was forbidden for eating as per instructions of the two verses of the Holy Quran.
Their arguments led to panic in Barelvi camp. They said that if it was not allowed by Quran, why should they eat it. As they had little knowledge of the Quran, 11 of the Barelvis, accompanied with an Ahle-Hadis follower, went to 85-year-old Barelvi spiritual leader Mufti Haji Saiyed Ahmed Shah Bawa and put the question to him.
Haji Juma Raima, a follower of the Barelvi sect and representative of the Mufti, told Twocircles.Net that Mufti sahib told Ahl-e-Hadis people clearly that if they did not want to eat `niaz’, they were free. But they should not disturb others.
But Ahl-e-Hadis group was not satisfied by the answers of Mufti. They wrote a letter to him saying that his interpretation of the Quranic verses were not proper and that he was misguiding Muslims with regard to worship of shrines, pirs and the dead.
In another letter, Maulana Suleman Siddiq of the Ahl-e-Hadis reportedly asked the Mufti to apologise publicly if he has justified the eating of `niaz’ by mistake and “let’s all think of what will happen to us after death’’.
The discourses between the two sides were also got published in a local Gujarati daily published from Bhuj. The Barelvis suspected another Ahl-e-Hadis religious leader Ibrahim Bachchu behind it.
Feeling that the Ahl-e-Hadis group will not restrain itself, Juma Raima lodged a criminal complaint in Bhuj Police Station against several persons belonging to Ahl-e-Hadis sect, including Maulana Siddiq and Ibrahim Bachchu, levelling charges of promoting enmity between two groups.
While Ibrahim Bachchu was arrested and kept in police lock up for more than 24 hours before being let out on bail, Maulana Siddiq is still wanted in the case by the police.
Subsequently, Ibrahim Bachchu moved the Gujarat high court seeking quashing of the the FIR.
With a total population of 14 lakhs in Kutch district, Muslims account for about 4 lakhs, 90 per cent of them Barelvis, running several schools, hospitals and other institutions as they are financially quite strong.