Highlights – 

  • Raids on PFI, arrests of leaders and now support for ban
  • Many Muslim organizations came forward and supported the government’s actions.
  • Voice raised from Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj to Ajmer Sharif Dargah

After nationwide raids were conducted on Popular Front of India (PFI), different Muslim organizations came out in open support. Some organizations have even issued statements saying that PFI was promoting terrorism in the country and the actions of the government are to stop terrorism. There are rare occasions when action is taken on any Muslim organization and Muslims show their activism and come out in support. Action is the opposite of far-fetched talk, inquiry or even survey. Even if some reforms are discussed from the point of view of constitution and law, then strong opposition starts from the Muslim side. Then what is the issue of PFI that Muslims are happy. Or to say that a large section of Muslims is not at least angry, it is definitely being experienced. This question must have been flashing in your mind as well.

Understand the secret of supporting action on PFI

In fact, even among Muslims there is division at many levels. There are many firkas, there are many maslaks, and apart from these, they have many castes in India. There are firke and maslak at the religious level, while there is a separation of Ashraf and Pasmanda at the ethnic and social level also. Sanjay Dixit of Jaipur Dialogues, an organization working for Indian understanding and culture, has talked about this in detail in one of his YouTube videos. Dixit, an expert on Islamic affairs, points out that the Islam followed by the PFI and its supporters has very few followers in India and the Indian sub-continent. He says that Sufi Barelvi and Sunni Deobandi Muslims dominate India. At the same time, the PFI’s are followers of Ahle Hadith. Secondly, the leaders and supporters of PFI are mostly from Ashraf i.e., upper castes, hence organizations like Pasmanda Mahaj openly oppose them. Dixit said, ‘I have always been saying that action should be taken on PFI, Others will not come along. Why have I been saying this? I say this on the basis of Jaipur Dialogues and my personal information about Islamic organizations.

Terrorist organizations also attack each other,

He explains it further by referring to the conflicts between global terrorist organizations. He says, ‘If you look in Afghanistan, why there’s always friction between Al-Qaeda and Taliban? Why are ISIS terrorists attacking Taliban?’ He further explains, ‘There is Hanafi Islam in Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent. The people of Arabia and its surrounding Islam, that is, Hanbali and Safai, do not like the Hanafis. There is a huge difference especially between muqallid and non-muqallid.

Know the difference between muqallid and non-muqallid

Sanjay Dixit also explains the meaning of Muqallid. He says, ‘There is speculation in Muqallid. Under this, the Ulema has the right to interpret the issues related to the Quran and Hadith in his own way. And whatever he interprets, that duty falls on his followers. That is, in whatever form the Ulema has interpreted the Quran and Hadith, its followers would believe the same. But, in the Islam that prevails in Arabia and the surrounding Muslim Muslims, it is not obligatory to accept the interpretation of the Ulemas. That is, whatever the Ulema says, it is correct, it is not mandatory in the Arab world. They are non-Muqallid Muslims.

Sanjay Dixit of Jaipur Dialogues.

People of PFI believe in Ahle Hadith

According to Sanjay Dixit, India also has a non-Muqallid branch which is very small. The name of this Indian non-Muqallid branch is Ahle Hadith. The firka of Ahle Hadith in India is very short. PFI and Islamic religious leader Zakir Naik, who fled from India, are the followers of this Ahle Hadith. He says, ‘It is being claimed that the government has already taken care of Muslims, so no one is supporting the PFI, but is openly supporting the actions taken against them. It is being said that neither Deobandi nor Barelvi, no one is supporting them. Know that both are similar.

He goes on to say, ‘Most of the PFI people are non-Muqallid of Ahle Hadith. So was Zakir Naik. Zakir Naik’s biggest support was in PFI itself. Most of those going from India to Al Qaeda and ISIS have gone through PFI. He says, ‘Have you ever wondered why most of the Muslims went from Kerala to join Al Qaeda and ISIS when that state is the most educated? You will understand this only when you understand the difference between Mukallid and non-Muqallid.’

Sanjay Dixit says, ‘It is they who imitate their Ulemas and those who do not have Taqleed, they do it not only of the Ulemas but of the Rashidun Khalifas. Rashidi means the first four caliphs. Non-Muqallid imitates the same four caliphs – Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman or Osman and Ali. There is no speculation about them. They call it speculation, which the Ulema do. Whereas the people of PFI have full faith in the Ulemas. That is why the Deobandis and Barelvis have a complete ideological separation from the PFI people.

Muslim organizations came out in support of the government’s action

A strong voice has also been raised against PFI from Ajmer Sharif Dargah. The spiritual head of the dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan has welcomed the actions taken on PFI. He said, ‘If the country is safe then we are safe, the country is bigger than any institution or idea and if anyone talks about spoiling this country, its unity and sovereignty or the peace of the country, then he has no right to stay in this country.’ He said, ‘I myself for the first time had demanded the government to ban PFI two years ago.’ Sanjay Dixit points out that in Jaipur more than half of the mosques have been occupied by the Ahle Hadiths, whereas here their number of followers will not be even one percent. This is the secret behind these statements of Ajmer Sharif Dargah.

Sanjay Dixit says, ‘That’s why they are not getting the support of other Muslims. This is the reason that when the raids took place, the PFI leaders were easily caught. Secondly, almost the entire leadership of the PFI is of the Ashraf, the upper caste. All his followers are also ashrafs. Since they are Ashrafs, Pasmanda Mahaj (organization of lower caste Muslims) has also openly supported the actions taken on PFI.

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