Attempt to Divide Muslims on Quota Decried

The Andhra Pradesh government’s move to provide reservations for Muslims in professional educational institutions and government jobs by dividing them on the lines of castes has evoked strong reaction from the community.
All religious, social and political organisations of Muslims including Jamaat-e-Islami and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) have outright rejected the government move to provide reservations on the basis of castes saying this was unacceptable to them.
Islamic seminaries in the state have also issued a fatwa against the proposal and termed it un-Islamic. Six well-known seminaries made it clear that “all are equal among Muslims and there is no caste system in Islam,” They ruled this type of division on caste basis was unacceptable under Shariat Law.
“Muslims all over the world are equal. There is no distinction of caste, colour or race among them. Therefore, creating distinction among them for reservations is improper under Shariat,” Jamia Nizamia, the 125-year-old Islamic University based in Hyderabad, said in its fatwa.
Muslim United Action Committee (MUAC), which comprises half a dozen Muslim religious, political and social organisations, had sought the opinion from the seminaries.
The Muslim leaders rejected the government’s move and termed it an attempt to create divisions among Muslim community. They said reservations should be provided for Muslims, who are socially, economically and educationally backward, without dividing them on the basis of any caste or bradries.
“Islam has no caste system and the government’s move is nothing but an attempt to divide Muslims,” said prominent religious scholar and MUAC convenor Maulana Hameeduddin Auqil Hussami.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the government was deliberately creating castes while there is no caste system in Islam. He said backwardness should be the sole criterion for providing reservations for Muslims. “Andhra Pradesh government should follow the Karnataka model where reservations are provided for Muslims without creating any such distinctions,” he said.
Muslims constitute about nine per cent of 76 million population of Andhra Pradesh.
On May 18, the state government had appointed P S Krishnan, a retired bureaucrat, as Advisor on Backward Classes Welfare. In his voluminous report on identification of socially and educationally backward classes in the Muslim community, submitted on June 11, the advisor recommended splitting the Muslim community into several distinct socially and educationally backward groups and providing four per cent reservations for 14 such groups.
He recommended that the 14 groups be included as socially and educationally backward classes of Muslims in the Andhra Pradesh list of backward classes, as a separate Group E.
The groups recommended for inclusion in the list are Attar Saibulu, Attarollu, Borewale, Chakketakare, Dhobi Muslim, Faqir, Garadi Muslim, Gosangi Muslim, Guddi Eluguvallu, Hajjam, Labbai, Quresh (Muslim butchers), Shaik, Siddi and others. The report said the following Muslim groups should not get the reservations: Syeds, Mushaik, Mughal, Pathans, Irani, Arab, Bohara, Shia Imami Ismailis, Khoja, Cutchi-Memon and Navayat.
The AP Backward Classes Commission has put the Krishnan Report on the state government’s website for inviting views and suggestions from Muslims.
MUAC leaders warned that the move would have serious repercussions for the Congress government. “Congress came to power with the support from Muslim community and by taking this step it will lose their support,” said Majlis-e-Tameer Millat president Abdur Rahim Qureshi.
He pointed out that there was unanimity that Muslims were socially, economically and educationally backward. “Other communities have been divided in groups for providing reservations but the criteria of social backwardness is different for Muslims because they don’t have things like lower castes or upper castes or practices like untouchability,” he said.
“We are not demanding reservations for all those who profess Islam. We want reservations on the basis of backwardness by excluding the creamy layer,” he said.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy announced that an ordinance would be promulgated within a month to provide reservations for Muslims in education and jobs. He promised that the government would overcome all the legal hurdles to provide reservations.