صراط عشق صراط عشق
Muslim religious leaders have urged the community “not to fight fire with fire” but to “defeat hatred with love”. The message of peace has emerged from a gathering of over 5,000 clerics and religious scholars in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh at a time a concerted campaign is under way to file cases demanding the takeover of Muslim places of worship, capping attempts to intimidate the minorities through physical and livelihood attacks, citizenship bias and genocide calls.
Maulana Mahmood Madani, President of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hindi that is organising the two-day national convention at the Idgah Ground in Deoband, said on Saturday 2 May 2022): “We don’t need to fight fire with fire; we need to maintain peace and follow traditions by playing a role in the positive development of the country even when some groups have been trying to poison society.
“The fanatics will succeed in their game plan if we react in the same spirit. We should try to defeat hatred with love.” Madani added: “The number of worshippers of hatred has suddenly multiplied in the country. The silence of the government is unfortunate. But we will face this situation and never let the fanatics weaken the country.”
The participants agreed to observe March 14 as “International Day to Combat Islamophobia” and requested Muslims not to publicly vent their anger against “Hindutva fanatics”. “We will pass many more resolutions by Sunday evening,” Madani said.
