Love jihad has no truth to it
Love jihad is a highly debated topic in India today. Whenever the issue starts to peter out someone will come up with a statement or an action to bring it back to the limelight. The latest being Pala Bishop’s controversial statement about both love jihad and narcotics jihad. Narcotics jihad is something that was hitherto unheard of , the credit for coining the term should go to Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt.
Love Jihad , according to the proponents of this hate campaign is the attempt by Muslim youngsters to lure girls of other faiths into love affairs with the nefarious intent of converting them into their faith. Some go even further and claim that many of these new converts are being forced into terrorist activities.
Dismissal of such allegations by the highest court of the land and the categorical denial by the cabinet minister in the parliament of any such case being reported anywhere in the country haven’t deterred the advocates of love jihad from promoting their theory.
Even though love jihad has never been factually proven, the proponents have been successful in making substantial sections of Hindu and Christian population believe that these charges are true. In fact few States ruled by BJP have already framed laws to prevent love jihad without explicitly mentioning the term in their legislations. Truth has become a casualty in the high decibel campaign of the promoters of this unfounded allegation.
One of the features of this hate campaign is that it doesn’t target just the Muslim youth but it targets Islam itself. The campaigners are alleging that Islam promotes such schemes as it will aid the furtherance of faith. Nothing can be further from the truth. As a firm adherent of Islam I believe it’s my duty to counter this monstrous lie.
The most important text of Islam is the Qur’an. Muslims believe that Quran is the word of God. Every other islamic text is either it’s explanation or its interpretation. Hence anyone looking for an islamic opinion on an issue should refer to Qur’an first. If a satisfactory answer can be obtained from Qur’an itself then there is no need to look any further.
For islamic view on love jihad too we have to refer to Qur’an only. What does Qur’an say about the so called love jihad?
“Had your Lord so willed, all those who are on the earth would have believed. Will you, then, force people into believing?”
Holy Qur’an 10:99This verse makes it ambly clear that acceptance of faith has to be voluntary. Muslims doesn’t need to help God by converting people to Islam. If God so willed , everyone would have become believers. In other words, to become a believer one has to accept the existence of God and submit to His will as is made manifest by His Prophets and Scriptures on his own freewill. Doesn’t this negate the very idea of love jihad?
Another verse of Qur’an says :
“There is no compulsion in religion. The Right Way stands clearly distinguished from the wrong. Hence he who rejects the evil ones and believes in Allah has indeed taken hold of the firm, unbreakable handle. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”
Holy Qur’an 2:256This verse makes it clear that no one can be compelled to believe in Islam. Qur’an spells out to the mankind in detail what is right and what is wrong. Whether to accept Qur’an as the criterion of right and wrong or to follow the right path as shown by Qur’an is an individual’s choice. After all no belief can be forced on anyone.
This could be further understood by the following verse:
“Obey Allah and obey the Messenger. But if you turn away from obedience, (then know that) Our Messenger has no other duty than to clearly convey the Truth.”
Holy Qur’an 64:12Here God makes it clear that the Messenger’s job is to clearly convey the message. Whether the people accept the message or not is not his responsibility. If it’s not Prophet’s responsibility then how will conversion be ordinary Muslim’s responsibility?
Qur’an also advices the faithful about how to convey the devine message.
“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation,and reason with them in the best manner possible. Surely your Lord knows best who has strayed away from His path, and He also knows well those who are guided to the Right Way.”
Holy Qur’an 16:125The key words are wisdom , goodly exhortation and reasoning, how can anybody who reads this verse get the idea that one can indulge in a preposterous scheme like love jihad to convert people into his or her religion?
Love jihad is a nefarious scheme concocted by the Indian right-wing forces to suit their communal and political agenda. There is no truth to it. Supreme Court, High courts , National Investigative Agency and the Union Home Minister have refuted all claims to the contrary. Allegation that Islam encourages it’s adherents to indulge in such wicked schemes is equally wrong. Common people of this country should not fall prey to this divisive agenda of the communal forces.