<span style='color:red'>Lucknow cleric issues fatwa against âMadhushalaâ </span>
TIMES OF INDIA November 6 2008
Lucknow: Itâs an indictment that came 73 years too late. Harivansh Rai Bachchanâs magnum opus, Madhushala, which made him an overnight celebrity with its publication in 1935, has ruffled holy feathers here for âits potential for promoting moral depravity and licentiousness in society, particularly among youthâ.
On Friday evening, Shahar Qazi Lucknow, Maulana Mufti Abul Irfan Ahmad Jaimul Aleem Qadiri, who is also the president of Idara-e-Sharia, issued a fatwa against Madhushala. The book, he decreed, âwas anti-Islamic and also unfit to be taught at any academic instituteâ.
And even as the edict by the veteran cleric â generally regarded as a liberal â sparked off a passionate debate in literary circles, not to mention feeble protests from his younger colleagues like Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali, the mufti justifies his stance.
Talking to TOI, mufti Qadiri said that a Muslim organisation from Madhya Pradesh approached him on November 10 with a copy of Madhushala. âThey had sought my opinion over the wisdom of prescribing as textbook in schools and colleges a book that eulogised alcohol and drunkenness in society,â he said. The decree, the mufti added, was passed after going through the contents which âturned out to be extremely hurtful to the sentiments of devout, though this kind of writing has its own set of admirersâ.
The fatwa said: âBachchan sahab may have been a good shair but artistic licence can be allowed upto permissible limit, which he obviously crossed in his writings.â
It categorically states that âpaeans to alcohol can only pollute young and impressionable minds and bring about social ruination. Moreover, use of words like masjid, muazzin, Allatala, Eid, marsia, namazi, etc along with sharab, sharabi and maykhana is truly blasphemous. The usage only signified mental bankruptcy.â
The compilation of the objectionable ashaars (couplets) in the two-page fatwa includes the famous rubai â sheikh kahan tulna ho sakti, masjid ki madhushala se, chir vidhwa hai masjid teri sada suhagan madhushala (O Sheikh, where is a comparision of a Mosque with Madhushala! While your mosque is a widow since birth, a madhushala is a suhagan forever.)
Asked if he would recommend banning Ghalibâs poetry, too, the mufti said Ghalib and others had a religious undertone when they mentioned sharab and saki, something missing in the âmajmoone qalam of janaab Bachchanâ.
TIMES OF INDIA November 6 2008
Lucknow: Itâs an indictment that came 73 years too late. Harivansh Rai Bachchanâs magnum opus, Madhushala, which made him an overnight celebrity with its publication in 1935, has ruffled holy feathers here for âits potential for promoting moral depravity and licentiousness in society, particularly among youthâ.
On Friday evening, Shahar Qazi Lucknow, Maulana Mufti Abul Irfan Ahmad Jaimul Aleem Qadiri, who is also the president of Idara-e-Sharia, issued a fatwa against Madhushala. The book, he decreed, âwas anti-Islamic and also unfit to be taught at any academic instituteâ.
And even as the edict by the veteran cleric â generally regarded as a liberal â sparked off a passionate debate in literary circles, not to mention feeble protests from his younger colleagues like Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali, the mufti justifies his stance.
Talking to TOI, mufti Qadiri said that a Muslim organisation from Madhya Pradesh approached him on November 10 with a copy of Madhushala. âThey had sought my opinion over the wisdom of prescribing as textbook in schools and colleges a book that eulogised alcohol and drunkenness in society,â he said. The decree, the mufti added, was passed after going through the contents which âturned out to be extremely hurtful to the sentiments of devout, though this kind of writing has its own set of admirersâ.
The fatwa said: âBachchan sahab may have been a good shair but artistic licence can be allowed upto permissible limit, which he obviously crossed in his writings.â
It categorically states that âpaeans to alcohol can only pollute young and impressionable minds and bring about social ruination. Moreover, use of words like masjid, muazzin, Allatala, Eid, marsia, namazi, etc along with sharab, sharabi and maykhana is truly blasphemous. The usage only signified mental bankruptcy.â
The compilation of the objectionable ashaars (couplets) in the two-page fatwa includes the famous rubai â sheikh kahan tulna ho sakti, masjid ki madhushala se, chir vidhwa hai masjid teri sada suhagan madhushala (O Sheikh, where is a comparision of a Mosque with Madhushala! While your mosque is a widow since birth, a madhushala is a suhagan forever.)
Asked if he would recommend banning Ghalibâs poetry, too, the mufti said Ghalib and others had a religious undertone when they mentioned sharab and saki, something missing in the âmajmoone qalam of janaab Bachchanâ.