Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Asad Madini has launched a concrete criticism on former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Niyaz Khan’s advice to Muslims. In his advice he asked Muslims to avoid wearing traditional religious symbols such as caps and keeping beards to protect themselves from mob violence.
“Most of the mob lynchings of Muslims in India have occurred when they were wearing kurtas, pajamas, beards, and caps. Their identity is easily recognizable from this attire. To avoid mob lynchings, Muslims should change their dress and appearance. They should wear clothes like Turkish Muslims so that their identity remains hidden,” Khan wrote on X.
Reacting to the advice, Madani said such advice sidelined the real causes behind the attacks unfolding on Muslims. He said that this advice shifts the responsibility from those committing violence to those facing it. Madni said the issue is not with the attire of a person; it is about the hatred that motivates attackers.
“The problem is not in the beard of the victim, the cap on his head, the hijab, or the kurta-pajama. The real problem is the hatred that exists in the mind of the attacker,” Madani said.
“Instead of stopping criminals and punishing them, asking victims to erase their identity is not justice. No civilized democratic country can accept such an approach,” he said.
Furthermore, he claimed that in 38 major cases of mob violence that have been reported over the last decade, approximately 83 percent of victims were wearing ordinary clothes. Madani said that these incidents have occurred because of the rumors, hatred, and violence against a particular community.
Madani highlighted the killing of Mohammad Akhlaq, Dadri, 2015; Rakbar Khan, Alwar, 2018; Qasim Qureshi, Hapur; Tabrez Ansari, Jharkhand, 2019; and the killing of Sabir Malik, Charkhi Dadri. Talking about these killings, Madani said that the aforementioned people were attacked because of their false allegations and communal hatred and not because of their clothes.
