Daily Times

Sir: Regardless of the claim by Darul Uloom Karachi that they did not issue any fatwa (edict) against Dr Shakeel Auj declaring him a blasphemer and infidel, the point is that even a fake fatwa was sufficient to run a sustained campaign that ended in his coldblooded murder. Dr Shakeel was a religious scholar, the head of the Islamic Studies Faculty at Karachi University and a standard bearer of inter-sectarian harmony. Denials aside, some facts cannot be overlooked: the fatwa had the seminary’s letterhead and the required signature of a mufti and that did the job. Even if we assume that it was a fake document, can we curb the power these muftis carry, which can brainwash normal people to kill anyone in ‘service’ to their religion? If anyone remembers the first cabinet of Pakistan, it had personalities from all ethnic and religious communities. But where do we stand today? After the Second Amendment to the Constitution, the state took over the authority to declare who is a Muslim and who is not. Later a military dictator fine tuned this myopic vision of state authority. That was enough for the fanatics to take such decisions into their own hands. My question is that when we have a parliament that is able to make or amend laws and we have courts to decide cases as per the laws, then why are seminaries producing loads of muftis to issue fatwas?

MASOOD KHAN

Jubail

Saudi Arabia