TIME
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1537516,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1537516,00.html
Last week, many Muslims in India, like their counterparts around the world,
gathered on the streets to burn effigies of the Pope and shout slogans
denouncing him for his remarks on Islam and
violence. Even before that fully died out, however, a new controversy
erupted â€" one that has turned Muslim ire against some of their own local
clerics.
India's "cash-for-fatwas" scandal broke out last weekend when a TV channel
broadcast a sting operation that showed several Indian Muslim clerics
allegedly taking, or demanding, bribes in return
for issuing fatwas, or religious edicts. The bribes, some of which were as
low as $60, were offered by undercover reporters wearing hidden cameras over
a period of six weeks. In return for the cash, the clerics appear to hand
out fatwas written in Urdu, the language used by many Muslims in Pakistan
and India, on subjects requested by the reporters. Among the decrees issued
by
the fatwas: that Muslims are not allowed to use credit cards, double beds,
or camera-equipped cell phones, and should not act in films, donate their
organs, or teach their children English. One cleric issued a fatwa against
watching TV; another issued a fatwa in support of watching TV.
Adding to the shock in India, home to the world's third-largest Muslim
population (approximately 150 million), is that some of the clerics
apparently caught in the sting operation teach at important institutions â€"
one belongs to India's most famous Islamic seminary, the Darul Uloom at
Deoband. At least two of the clerics have been suspended from their posts,
but that hasn't satisfied everyone. Students at one madrassa in north India
denounced the clerics, and in the city of Meerut, where a mufti, or cleric,
had been caught on camera, the congregation at one mosque refused to offer
prayers until he came before them, admitted to taking the money, and
apologized.
The "cash-for-fatwas" scandal has also led to a renewed debate on what
constitutes a fatwa, and who has legitimate authority to issue one. Fatwas
â€" like the one passed by Iran's Ayatullah Khomeini in 1989 against the
novelist Salman Rushdie, or those issued by Osama bin Laden in 1996 and 1998
against America â€" have come to epitomize the intolerance of Islamic
fundamentalists. Yet many Muslims argue that the purpose of fatwas has been
misunderstood: A fatwa is, technically
speaking, a ruling on a point of Islamic law made by a recognized Muslim
scholar in response to a question put to him. Since Osama bin Laden is no
Islamic scholar, many deny his right to issue a
fatwa. The sway that fatwas hold over Muslims is also not as great as many
outsiders think. Last year, a Muslim cleric issued a fatwa stating that it
was un-Islamic for Sania Mirza, India's
most famous tennis player and a Muslim, to wear sleeveless tops or short
skirts on court. Mirza simply dismissed the ruling; indeed, many, if not
most, urban Indian Muslims do not take fatwas seriously. However, in rural
communities, a well-respected mufti's fatwa â€" on issues ranging from
marriage to health to women's rights â€" can carry considerable influence.
India's Muslim leaders announced that they will soon create a new body that
will monitor the passing of fatwas in the country, in a bid to preserve that
influence, and nip the popular anger swirling around this scandal.
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