Hon. Governor of Kerala, Shri Arif Mohammad Khan sat down in conversation with R Jagannathan over ‘Islam In India’ at Mangalore Lit Fest organized by Mangalore literary foundation on November 30, 2019, at TMA Pai Convention Hall, Mangalore.
Shri Arif Mohammad Khan in his address traced back to the inter-religious differences existed in Islam, he said “There existed a sharp division existed among the different school of thought from the early days of Islam”.
Honourable governor explained the differences in religious practices among the Muslims in Northern and Southern part of India and claimed that Southern part of India accommodates enormous harmony among the religious communities, due to commonality in language, food and culture. He reiterated “Islam in North of India was mostly introduced through the foreign Invaders whereas in south it was preached by the Arab traders.”
“Religion is medium to establish the relation between the creator and creation,” Arif khan staunchly defied the structure of organized religion and further said, “Between creator and creation no third party should be allowed to interfere”.
While discoursing on Jihad in Islam he invoked the opinion of the early Islamic scholar Ata bin Rabaa stating he was staunchly against the military expedition of the caliphates as Jihad, as he considered these expeditions were to expand their dominance rather for the cause of religion.
In conclusion, he urged to restore the harmony among the various religious communities, whilst quoting several verses of Quran, Tulsidas and Swami Vivekananda, and he concluded quoting Maulana Rumi “The purpose of religion is to bring people together and establish harmony”.
Written by Faisal Ahmed