'Fatwa' issued against 16-year-old Assamese girl for singing anti-ISIS songs
- The 'fatwa' read that Nahid is scheduled to perform “against the Sharia” on March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College in Lanka, Assam
- The only bright side of all of this is that Nahid has refused to bow down and take things as they come.
FollowNahid Afrin is now facing the wrath of 46 Muslim clerics in Assam who have issued a pamphlet against her. Police are investigating whether the pamphlet has to do with Nahid singing songs against terrorism especially the ISIS group or is it because of her being a Muslim and singing in concerts.
TOI reported that the police were looking into the terror angle. The report stated that leaflets bearing the order (misconstrued as fatwa) by the 46 clerics were distributed in Assam on March 14. They were distributed across Hojai and Nagaon districts in central Assam. The piece of paper read that Nahid is scheduled to perform “against the Sharia” on March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College in Lanka, Assam.
“If anti-Sharia acts like musical nights are held on grounds surrounded by masjids, idgahs, madrasas and graveyards, our future generations will attract the wrath of Allah,” the fatwa read.
The young singer, though saddened by the turn of events, has bravely faced the challenge and said, “I am speechless. I think my music is God’s gift to me. I will never bow down to it (such warnings) and never leave singing,” she said.
Police have assured that the family will be given additional security and even her parents have said that they would not discourage their daughter from her passion and that the March 25 event will still be on.
It is a sad state of affairs that a talented girl like Afrin who is just getting started in life is having to cower and retreat because of hardliners and religious orthodoxy. No religion prohibits music or pursuing one’s passion and the clerics, much older than her, are using religious pressure to intimidate her talent. The only bright side of all of this is that Nahid has refused to bow down and take things as they come.
Nahid has just started her career and she has even sung a song in Sonakshi Sinha starrer film Akira. Instead of encouraging talent from the North East, such orders will only push girls, women and talent further behind. The young girl was seen weeping in television interviews, understandably overwhelmed by what has befallen her.
A lot has been said about these leaflets and now certain media are reporting that it was an 'appeal' and not a fatwa as earlier presumed. The problem the clerics had, as they say, was with the performance being around some places of worship and not because of her singing anti-ISIS songs. Yet, you cannot completely say that the clerics were not wrong in their appeal.
