Go ahead, 'Fatwa' my blog!

FOREWORD : The author doesn’t wish to hurt religious sentiments.

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This is a sad day for women, for artists, for freedom loving people, for a democracy.

An all-girl rock band from the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir shall never play music again. They quit. They let them win.

All this because they felt intimated and feared for the worst because of online threats and absurd comments, which was followed up with a “FATWA” issued by Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad yesterday.

A “FATWA” is a legal pronouncement in Islam, issued by a religious law specialist on a specific issue.

This is what they had to say :

“Yes, I issued the fatwa. All the bad things happening in the Indian society are because of music,” he said.

“They (girls) should stop from such activities and not get influenced by the support of political leadership.”

“There is no room for nourishing Western culture and immoral values in Kashmir. No noble family will allow their girls to choose their profession as a dancer,” said Ayaz Akbar, their spokesperson.

DECODING WHAT THEY SAID :

So, when they said there is no room for Western culture in Jammu and Kashmir, what did they really mean?

Any guesses?

As radical as it may sound, they were losing sleep over the western wear an all-girl band wears. What else can it mean?
Lyrics of the songs?

No! These nutjobs aren’t educated enough to understand English lyrics. That makes them more insecure.

“What are they singing, Mullah Sahib?”, one cleric asks the another.

The other nods to explain his ignorance.

“I think they are talking about the Sax (read : sex) and immoral activity (read : open mind towards sexual activity).”

“Tauba, tauba! Let’s fatwa them”.

I am sick of this whole exercise in futility. I sick of writing angry pieces reacting to one after the other trash that keeps happening in India.

I feel so puny, and insufficient in the wake of these idiosyncrasies.

Who am I? Just a blogger.
What can my writing about it do? Nothing.
Why do I write then? To be able to sleep at night.

To tell myself, “Subh, you’ve done your bit. You’re morally superior to your other online friends who use social network to find girlfriends and to hit on girls. This gives you a right to block, unfollow, delete them from your list. Your conscience is clean.”

Somewhere those guys mentioned something about noble families.
What kind of noble family do you mean, dear Mullah Sahib?

Do you mean the noble family that laments the birth of a baby girl – that teaches her from childhood that she is inferior to her brother – that tells her when she is an early adolescent, that it is okay if her brother kneads her breasts, or if her uncle places her hand on his crotch, or if her grandpa makes her sit a little too long on his lap?

Are you talking about the same family that teaches her to cover herself from head to toe or to not talk with male classmates?

Is it the same family that stops educating her when she is 16 and marries her off after paying a huge dowry?

If you are talking that that noble family, then you are right. Such noble families do not allow their girls to become singers or dancers.

Such noble families only allow their girls to become 24hour work machines, sex slaves, and a pair of child bearing hips!

You can have your noble family and shove it up your behind.
You have a problem with a girl wearing jeans, isn’t it?

You feel your hand itching, don’t you? You can’t take your eyes off that perfect behind of the girl in jeans, isn’t that your problem?

Well, then, I’ll tell you what to do, Mullah Saheb. Cut off your arms. Gouge your eyes out. Go for chemical castration.

You are a nuisance to the society, not those three teenaged girls who just wanted to make music.

I was a musician at some point of time. I gave up because of some problems. It broke my heart to do so.

Tonight I feel the pain those rock band members feel.
Dear Sisters, I am sorry that you were born in India. I am sorry that this happened. I am very sorry.

I stand with you, sisters. In solidarity with you, I’ve written the most abusive post of my life. I’ll post it now, and challenge the fatwa brigade to bring a fatwa against my blog and my writing and me.

Yes, to all you freaking nutjobs, I challenge you to bring a fatwa against my blog, my writing and me.