PROPHET’S TAIF EVENT LEFT IMPACT ON ASSEMANAND

The credit for RSS activist Swami Aseemanand’s change of heart, according to his confession, goes to 21-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Kaleem

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August 18, 2022

The credit for RSS activist Swami Aseemanand’s change of heart, according to his confession, goes to 21-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Kaleem, an accused in the May 18, 2007, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast. Kaleem, who is out on bail, addressed a rally against “sanghi (saffron)” terror at Azad Maidan on January 20.

Kaleem recalled many meetings with Aseemanand in Hyderaba’s Chanchalguda jail. “One day the jail warden told Aseemanandji that I had already spent 18 months in jail for the Mecca Masjid blast. Aseemanandji, for whom I brought water and food, would ask me questions about Islam.” Among the several teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him), according to Kaleem, the one which touched Assemanand was the spirit of tolerance the Prophet had showed at Taif, a place near Makkah. Legend has it that when the Prophet reached Taif with the message of monotheism, he was stoned by the pre-Islamic pagan tribe living there. As the Prophet started bleeding profusely, angel Jibreel (Gabriel) came and told Muhammad that, if the Prophet said yes, God would crush the people who had stoned him between two mountains. But the Prophet forgave his tormentors, prayed for them, hoping that truth would prevail one day. “This story had a great impact on Aseemanandji,” said Kaleem.