By DPA
Tags: fatwa, India, Islam
The Darul-Uloom Deoband in India, considered the most influential school for Islamic law in Asia, on Monday denounced terrorism as being against the teachings of Islam and said it was likely to impose a fatwa against it during a conference of clerics from India and abroad, media reports said.
The head of the powerful seminary, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, said terrorism was completely wrong and thoughtless, and contradicted Islam's concept of peace, the NDTV network reported, quoting from his address to 10,000 clerics from religious schools - known as madrassas - and foreign delegates.
Speaking at the institution, some 150 kilometers north of New Delhi, Rahman also criticized the Indian government, saying that policing of madrassas and students was unjustified and went against the secular character of the country.
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Meanwhile, scholars said the conference was likely to decide on a fatwa against terrorism and adopt a declaration denouncing terrorism.
The conference will also ask the Muslim community to stay away from acts of terrorism and organizations that encourage violence in the name of religion.
It was the first time in the school's 150-year history that such a conference against terrorism was held.
The seminary was established in the late 19th century and has adherents from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the whole of South-East Asia. The Taliban have often claimed adherence to the Deoband school, which has been strongly denied by the scholars there.
Deoband spokesman Asif Siddique told the NDTV that misconceptions linked with Islam and madrassas needed to be removed.
"We want to make the public conscious (about terrorism). The disease of (terrorism) has been diagnosed in a wrong way. Whenever any incident of terrorism happens, there is an effort to link it to Muslims or those studying in madrassas," he said.
"This is totally wrong. I must emphasize that the real disease must be diagnosed, then only is the cure possible," Siddique said.