In a plural society like ours in India, where peoples of various faiths and cultures live as bona fide citizens, sensitivity of a particular faith group is irked even at the cost of communal amity and social cohesion. This happens more often than not, and the world knows it well, as far as minorities especially Muslims are concerned. This is thanks to hate juggernaut being practised by certain groups having vested interests since pre-Independence days. Sometimes it appears as mere statements against some religious practice of the target faith group; some other times it makes headlines because of writing venomous slogans on the walls of a mosque or throwing something provocative into the mosque premises; yet some other times it hurts the target group for blaspheming its revered personages. Last week such a situation was brought to light when a Lucknow-based Muslim organisation took a strong exception to the depiction of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) in a class IV book of the ICSE Board.
Though Islam strictly prohibits depiction of Prophets and other revered personages through photographs or cartoons, the Blessed Prophet has been depicted in a caricature on Page No. 35, Chapter 6, “Being Good and Gentle” in a textbook titled Moral Education Ethics by Chandra Prakash, published by Active Mind Publications, Allahabad, and approved by ICSE Board. As the report goes, the book is in circulation and about eight lakh copies of the book have already been sold.
Maulana Syed Hashmi Kichachauvi of Sunni Markaz, who is spearheading the campaign against this blasphemous caricature and likely to get support from all over the country, has demanded that the Government at the Centre tender an apology and recall all such books from the market. Otherwise they would be “forced to take the help of the court and launch protest through democratic means”. His organisation has already lodged its objection in this regard with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). Since ICSE Board runs under the HRD Ministry, the Ministry should file a case against the Board if the latter approved the publication of the objectionable caricature without bringing it to the notice of the HRD Ministry.
That Muslims hold Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) in the highest esteem can be gauged with the fact that belief in Muhammad as the Prophet of God forms the proclamation of the basic kalimah, and it is Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) whose teachings and practices hold the importance only next to or better said side by side the Holy Qur’ān. So it is high time the Government at the Centre should read the writ on the wall and fulfilled the demands of the withdrawal of the said book and punishment to the persons concerned – the sooner the better – to save the situation from exploding into something volatile.