Jihad means self-purification: Arif Muhammad Khan

Story by ATV | Posted by Aasha Khosa | Date 11-12-2021

Speakers at Seminar (Pictures by Manmeet Singh Khalsa)

Abdul Hai Khan/New Delhi

“Jihad means self-purification. To this day, we have not been able to explain the meaning of jihad to the world; and when it is explained regarding the Qur'an, the non-Muslims will know the real meaning of jihad.” These views were expressed by Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan in a seminar on the topic 'Global Terrorism vs. Humanity, Peace and Prospects' that was organized by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, and Rashtriya Sarksha Jagran Manch.

Khan, who is known for speaking bluntly, narrated an incident of violence in Jammu and Kashmir where terrorists once made the passengers of a bus disembark and asked them to recite the Qur'anic verses to differentiate between Hindus and Muslims.

On their turn, a couple, who were Hindus, surprised the terrorists by the husband reciting a Sanskrit shloka in Arabic-style. He was spared his life by terrorists. His wife was very surprised as she knew he didn’t know the Quran.

Arif Muhammad Khan said that they were terrorists who did not even know how to read Arabic or Sanskrit; they were not able to make out that the Hindu man had recited Sanskrit shloka and not Quranic verse. As they had not studied religion or Arabic. He said terrorism, therefore, is a way to go astray. If the terrorists had read the Qur'an, they might not have been killing the humans.

He said the greatest folly of the Muslim world was not to condemn the 9/11 killings. Instead, the Saudi Arab government closed the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic countries (OIC) in Riyadh.

This proves that the American intelligence agency CIA is the brain behind the Islamic world. He also called for reforms in the education and curriculum of madrassas.

On the situation in Afghanistan, Arif Mohammad Khan said that just to enforce its rule, the Taliban are forcing the people to resort to violence and abuse of women. “Where is Islam in this?” he asked.

He said that terrorism is not a new thing; it has been used to make Islam a tool of politics and its new name is jihad.

Earlier, the head of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Indresh Kumar, said that the world was still suffering from serious problems of terrorism, violence, and extremism. Today some rulers exploit their people in the name of religious extremism.

The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan under similar circumstances and now pose a challenge to the rest of the world. "Our efforts today can help us solve some of these problems," he said.

Prof. Tariq Mansoor, Vice-Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University, Prof. Talat Ahmed, Vice-Chancellor, Patna University, and Prof. Najma Akhtar, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia were also present in the seminar.