There is unrest among the Muslim community over silence of its clerics on the issue of community youths’ participation in Garba.
The clerics are though telling those who approached them for guidance over the issue in the light of Islam that the dancing and singing are ‘Haraam’ (forbidden) but neither are they coming out with public statement nor are they making any appeal with the community to stay away from it. And this is the reason that is irking the community that is of the view that when the act is forbidden and the issue is creating communal tension, then why not they come on public platform and appeal the community youths to stay away from Garba as it is forbidden in the religion.
Member - Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) Dr Yusuf Khalil Hussaini while talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over the issue said, “It is the collective responsibility of Muslim clerics and leaders to tell the community that dancing and singing is forbidden in Islam and this is what is done in the Garba. This becomes essential especially when the communal tension is mounting over the issue.”
Dr Hussaini further said that the community youth should also understand that Garba is not simple dance and song instead it is worship of Goddess Durga and by participating in it they are unknowingly worshipping her.
President of Jamiat Ulama Madhya Pradesh and Mufti e Azam of MP Mufti Abdul Razzaq while talking to media persons in the State capital on September 16 said that dance is forbidden in Islam and we preach this to our youth. We welcome the call of some Hindu leaders that identity check should be made at the places where Garba would be organised, but if the entry of Muslims would be banned on communal lines in the Garbas, then it would not be in the interest of the Ganga- Jamni culture of the country, he added.
However, the Mufti distanced himself from warning the community youth if they attend Garbas.