Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – A renowned Indian scholar said that Islam does not accept creating chaos and doing harm to the society and nation where we are living in the name of freedom of expression. Sheikh K. Ali Kutty Musliyar, one of the most influential Islamic scholars in India, said that the divine religion strictly forbids any attempts to undermine the security and stability of any country or its people in the name of freedom of speech. He was addressing a press conference in Jeddah after attending the three-day international conference on "Intellectual trends between freedom of expression and the rulings of Shariah" organized by the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IFA), an affiliate of the Muslim World League (MWL), in Makkah recently. Musliyar, who is secretary general of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyatul Ulema, the largest Islamic organization in the southern Indian state of Kerala, and member of IFA, is among the two scholars who attended the conference from India. A well-known scholar in Islamic jurisprudence, Musliyar said that freedom is considered as a basic principle of Islamic faith and a natural right of the Muslims. Allah, the Almighty, ordered that human being should be bestowed freedom but it is to be controlled by the parameters of Shariah and border lines set by the Qur'an and Sunnah. "The controls ordered by Allah to restrict the freedom are in the interests of human being as an individual, and part of society and the nation. Islam guarantees the right of life for every human being, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims." He explained that Islam orders its followers to respect rulers and followers of fellow religions and ideologies. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), in his final sermon at the farewell Haj, declared that the lives, wealth and honor of all people are sacred in the same sense that Makkah and the Haj days are sacred. "So, there should not be any attempt to inflict damage to the honor or shedding blood and depriving wealth of any human being irrespective of his religion or caste. Prophet stressed this, 1400 years ago, as the only way for the peaceful coexistence of human beings at all times. This universal message is relevant for all people at all times, especially in the current international scenario," he said while voicing concern over the growing intolerance, hate crimes and Islamophobia in many parts of the world. The scholar said that the IFA conference emphasized the fact that the right to life has been recognized as the first and foremost universal right in the Islamic Shariah and this shall not be encroached upon in the name of freedom of expression. "This is more evident in a pluralist society like India, which boasts of a population of 1.25 billion. Islam never allows doing any harm to the lives, wealth and honor of any fellow human beings in our country in the name of freedom of expression," he said while urging Muslims to embrace what Islam endorses and reject what Islam abhors with maintaining utmost decency while dealing with other members of the society. In a previous MWL conference, Musliyar presented a paper on the period a woman has to wait after the disappearance of her husband. "There were divergent views among scholars about the waiting, ranging from two to four or more years. But I emphasized in the paper that in the present scenario with the modern communications facilities and services, especially the services of diplomatic missions, a decision could be taken by the concerned qadi after waiting for six to eight months," he said, adding that this proposal was approved and published by MWL and circulated it among Muslims around the world as the global Islamic body's opinion. Musliyar, who is the executive committee member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), said that triple talaq or the so called muthalaq is an issue that comes within the purview of the Muslim personal laws. "There are divergent views among various Muslim sects on this issue on the basis of the four major schools thought followed by an overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world," he said noting that the annual conferences of AIMPLB held in Lucknow two years ago and in Kolkata a few months ago, had taken unanimous decision not to allow others to intervene in the religious matters of Muslims. "Muslims have only a few areas to decide under Shariah rules in India, and these include marriage, divorce, inheritance, and endowment, and if we miss one of these, it will be detrimental to our holding fast to the Shariah. This is the unanimous position taken by the board, which is the common platform of all Sunni and Shia sects in the country," he said. Referring to the suggestion of the Supreme Court chief justice for an out of court settlement on Babri Mosque issue, Musliyar said that AIMPLB is not in favor of such an initiative while considering its unanimous position on this contentious issue. "The site of Babri Mosque is on endowed land. If a plot endowed for one time, its status is the same for all the time and not for a fixed period of time. This is the decisive position of the AIMPLB and the Sunni Waqf Board, and hence it is not permissible to do any compromise on the mosque site as it is a religious matter." Musliyar is serving as the principal of Jamiya Nooriya Islamic University and qadi of several mosques in Kerala. He has served as vice chairman of the Indian Haj Committee and chairman of the Kerala Haj Committee. The press conference was also attended by Sayyid Sahal Thangal, Sayyid Ubaidullah Thangal, Ali Moulavi Nattukal, and Abdullah Faizy.
