RSS:Redifine meaning of Jihad, Kafir and other Islamic Terms

[Guest guest]

Muslims should reinterpret Islamic terms: RSS

 

"He said the Hindus believed in plurality and diversity of faiths

and the RSS only wanted the minority communities to recognise that."

 

Vaidya said, "Christians should also accept that there is salvation

outside the Church too. Nobody should indulge in mass conversions

and nobody should claim to offer a superior spirituality." Hindus,

he underlined, believed in plurality and diversity of faiths and the

RSS wished that the minorities recognised it too.

 

 

When asked how, in his view, Muslims could earn the goodwill of

Hindus, Vaidya said they had to condemn the activities of those who

professed to carry out a ``jehad'' against ``idol-worshippers''. He

said the RSS did not consider all Muslims terrorists, but many

terrorists happened to be Muslims and claimed that they were

pursuing ``jehad, which is an Islamic cause''.

 

The BJP's only Muslim Cabinet minister Shahnawaz Hussain said the

RSS Bangalore resolution had been misiterpreted.

 

 

Carrying forward its advise to Muslims to earn the goodwill of Hindu

majority for their safety, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on

Wednesday asked Muslims to reinterpret a few Islamic terms, not to

play into the hands of Hindu-baiters and condemn all violence

against Hindus.

 

Defending the controversial Bangalore resolution asking Muslims to

earn the goodwill of Hindus as 'a statement of fact', its spokesman

M G Vaidya, however, said the Sangh was ready 'to remove irritants'

with Muslims on the lines of a similar dialogue with the Church.

 

"But they (Muslims) should take the initiative. Liberal Muslims like

Asghar Ali Engineer, Sikander Bakht, Mushirul Hasan are sidelined

today. Muslims should come forward and strengthen the hands of such

leaders," he said.

 

"The Muslims should reinterpret and define the meaning of Kafir

(infidels), Kufr (the philosophy behind the term Kafir) and Jihad

(holy war against infidels).

 

They should not play into the hands of known Hindu-baiters like the

Left parties and condemn any violence on Hindus whether in Kashmir

or elsewhere.

 

"This would assuage the pent-up feelings of Hindus," he said.

 

He said the Hindus believed in plurality and diversity of faiths and

the RSS only wanted the minority communities to recognise that.

 

"Christians should also accept that there is salvation outside the

Church," he said.

 

"There are certain irritants and some incidents that cause

irritants. We don't want people to be killed when they go for

pilgrimage to Amarnath or Sabarimala (Kerala). We want Muslims to

remove them (irritants) and then there will be no occasion to

disrupt social harmony," the RSS spokesman said.

 

Vaidya said that while the RSS did not consider all Muslims to be

terrorists, many terrorists happen to be Muslims and claim they are

working for 'Jihad which is an Islamic cause'.

 

On the Bangalore resolution, he said, "Much unwarranted hype has

been created in a section of the media about one sentence 'Let

Muslims understand that their real safety lies in the goodwill of

the majority'. What is objectionable in this? Does the safety of any

minority group lie in the ill-will of the majority?" he asked.