With the murder of 31-year-old H Farooq at Coimbatore last Thursday by his own friends, the hardliners in Islam have given a blunt message to members in the community. “It is not safe for Muslims to believe in atheist ideology. This is the warning which has been conveyed by the extremists,” said an intelligence official pursuing the case.
Farooq was an atheist and was a member of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhakam (Dravida liberation Party), an outfit which scoffs at religion and religious leaders. It is reported that Farooq used the social media and posted messages and materials highly critical of his religion which were not to the liking of the puritans.
last Thursday night, Jaffer, one of Farooq’s friends called him on his mobile phone and sought his help as the bike in which the former was riding had ran out of petrol. When Farooq came out of his house to help his friend, a group of five persons hacked him to death.
Saddam Hussein, Samsuddeen and Arshant (all friends of Farooq) surrendered in a court once the police intensified the investigation. Based on the call records of the mobile phone used by the deceased, the police zeroed in on Abdul Munaf, Jaffer and Akram who confessed to the police about their role in the murder.
Usually, the atheist outfits in Tamil Nadu attack and ridicule only Hindu gods and spiritual leaders. Most of the members in these outfits are Hindus while Muslims form only a miniscule portion of the members.
Though the DMK also professes atheism, over the years it has softened its stance against Islam and Christianity which has made many people from these communities aligning with the party.
“Ours is a political party professing atheism. Those who do not believe in god and spiritual leaders are welcome to join us. We do not differentiate people based on the religion to which they belong,” said Janardhanan, the young leader of Dravida Kazhagam. But he admitted that the number of Muslaims in these outfits are not high.
Sources in Police said that the murder of Farooq by members belonging to his own community over the messages he had posted in the social media was a rare incident. “Usually they target Hindus. But it is strange that they had murdered a man of their own community,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
He said the warning given by the act is loud abd clear. “It is not safe for Muslims to be atheists or rationalists,” he said.