MUZAFFARNAGAR: Days after Uttarakhand High Court ordered a blanket ban on fatwas, the influential Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has approached Supreme Court against the order.Maulana Mahmood Madani, general secretary of the Jamiat told TOI over the phone from London, “The ban doesn’t hold ground as the apex court had already recognized the validity of fatwas in a 2014 ruling. In its observation, Supreme Court had stated, ‘A fatwa is only an opinion an expert is expected to give, and it is not sanctioned under our constitutional scheme.’ The court did not give legal status to fatwas but at the same time did not quash them either and allowed them to be issued, provided people involved in it were willing to accept the religious suggestions.”The petition was filed by Maulana Niyaz Faruqi, a Supreme Court lawyer and national secretary of the organisation. He said, “The ban is against fundamental rights of Muslims. The Indian Constitution has given them the right to observe their religious beliefs.”Two days after Uttarakhand High Court had passed the controversial order on August 30, Deoband based Darul Uloom Islamic seminary had also asked the high court to reconsider its decision. Madani told TOI, “Earlier in a very beautiful way Supreme court had passed a verdict on fatwa in which it had been said that fatwa was not mandatory, but was an answer to a question by somebody. Fatwas do not influence secular courts, nor do they violate human rights. The high court passed its order in one day without any argument, which is why the issue became important to us and we moved Supreme Court.”Faruqi said, “The petition was filed in Supreme Court on Tuesday. The case in Uttarakhand High Court was about a panchayat, not about fatwa, and the high court passed its order without defining what a fatwa was.”The Jamiat also issued a press note which it defined a fatwa. “It is passed by the fatwa department of the Darul Uloom Deoband, and not by panchayats. Islamic scholars issue fatwas only after getting questions. Nobody can be forced to obey fatwas, and they have no legal status.”

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