The VHP addressed similar letters to Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and the All India Milli Conference, leading to suspicions that it is part of politics being played out before the coming parliamentary polls.

But the VHP need not have bothered to send the missive to Deoband, for the seminary has already declared India ‘Dar-al-Aman’, or a ‘Muslim-friendly country’.

India had become a ‘Muslim-friendly’ country when the British left the country in August 1947.

VHP also conveyed its concern to the seminary that jihad could be waged against Hindus who were dubbed Kafirs or non-believers.  

Reacting to the VHP letter, the vice rector of the Deoband seminary, Abdul Khaleque Madrasi, was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying ‘How can a country where you choose your own government be Dar-al-Harb (abode of war or a country hostile towards Muslims)?’

Way back in 1803, a Delhi cleric, Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz had declared India Dr-al-Harb to drive out the British, said Madrasi. The British left India six decades ago.

As for the use of the term Kafirs for Hindus, Madrasi explained that it did mean a person who did not follow Islam, but it did not automatically follow that such a person is deemed an enemy of Islam.

Madrasi said that a country is deemed Dar-al-Harb if it denies the right to pray to Muslims. That clearly is not the case. ‘We have already said conditions for jihad don’t exist in India’, he added.

Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband is a widely respected centre of Islamic education. Its rulings on religion, philosophy and lifestyle are widely followed by Muslims all over the sub-continent.

Islamic theology does tend to divide geographical territories into three categories: Dar-al-Harb, Dar-al-Islam (abode of Islam) and Dar-al-Aman.

A territory termed Dar-al-Harb is considered threatening to Islam and can be brought into the Islam fold by jihad. Dar-al-Aman is a territory that is not under Islamic law but allows Muslims to live in peace and harmony without any interference in their practice of Islam. India is one such country where citizens have full freedom to practice their religion.

The term Fatwa is being freely used by a section of clerics as well as others who see it as an evil practice. Muslim clerics in India have not issued any Fatwa against the majority community in India.

A Fatwa is issued by a recognised religious-cum-legal authority when its opinion is sought on a particular matter. Most of the time these are matters that relate to questions about everyday life of a Muslim who wants to know if what he is doing is in accordance with the laws of the religion. It could be about such non-religious issues as diet, the use of new technologies and gender relations.

It is interesting to note that the Al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden had issued a Fatwa for ‘war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places’. The reference was not to the two places considered holy by the Muslims—Mecca and Madina, both in Saudi Arabia, Osama’s original home.

Many had questioned Osama’s authority to issue a Fatwa since he was clearly not a religious authority, even though he claimed to be fighting for a religion.