A video featuring Radio Mirchi RJ Sayema is doing rounds on the internet in which she was seen normalising anti-Hindu bigotry by legitimising the usage of radical Islamic terms as ‘Kafir’ and ‘Jihad’.
In a video, titled ‘Urdu Ki Paathshala’, the self-proclaimed Urdu expert RJ Sayema explains the ‘real meaning’ of Islamic concepts of ‘Kafir’ and ‘Jihad’. According to Sayema, if one googles the word ‘Kafir’, it would throw up a definition which people are normally aware of. However, as per the ‘Urdu expert’ Sayema, Google picks up the ‘most-used’ definition instead of giving a ‘real’ one.
So, according to Sayema, one should pick up a dictionary to understand the real meaning of the word ‘Kafir’. Sayema, interpreting the definition of Kafir from a dictionary, says the word ‘Kafir’ originates from another word ‘Kufr’, which meant ‘to hide/conceal’. However, Sayema conveniently forgets how the Quran, holy book for Muslims, prescribes severe punishment for ‘Kafirs’.
Sayema continues to claim that, according to Islam, the word ‘Kafir’ meant that the person who tries to hide the religious teachings of ‘God’. “Someone who tries to hide the makers of us and the one who hides the truth is a ‘Kafir’,” says Islamist Sayema as she reads out a poem narrating the ‘true meaning’ of ‘Kafir’.
So, any individual who is a ‘non-believer’ and tries to conceal the teachings of the ‘God’ (including Bhagwan, she mentions) is a ‘Kafir’, says Sayema. It should be remembered that as per the Holy Quran, repeated usage of ‘God’ by Sayema in her videos is nothing but Allah. In fact, anyone who worships an idol of gods or goddesses, is a ‘Kafir’. Thereby, by that logic, all Hindus are ‘Kafirs’.
Jihad means ‘struggle’, says Sayema
Next up, Sayema tries to explain the ‘real meaning’ of another Islamic concept of ‘Jihad’. Citing that the Islamic terrorists have demeaned the term ‘Jihad’, Sayema goes on to claim that not even five per cent of humanity knew the real meaning of the word ‘Jihad’. The Urdu expert Sayema then passionately claims that the word ‘Jihad’ never meant a ‘holy war’. As per Sayema, the word ‘Jihad’ means “to struggle”.
In an attempt to normalise the usage of such inciting words, RJ Sayema goes in length to find ways to explain how the term ‘Jihad’ and “Kafir’ never meant any bad to the ‘non-believers’ or non-Muslims.
RJ Sayema, in her video, kept on claiming that ‘Jihad’ never meant ‘terrorism’ but a ‘struggle’. Interestingly, Sayema never cites the sources where such concepts are defined as such, as claimed by Sayema in her video.
Radio Mirchi RJ Sayema finds space with radical preacher Zakir Naik
Interestingly, these misleading videos are now being shared across Islamic channels on YouTube in an attempt to distort the real meanings of Islamic terms. A YouTube channel – The Muslim Guide, which telecast videos of radical Islamic terror sympathisers such as Zakir Naik, has uploaded RJ Sayema’s video on its channel.
The video was first uploaded by RJ Sayema in ‘Urdu ki Pathshala’ series, a show in which she claims to explain the real meaning of Urdu words. The same was uploaded by The Muslim Guide about five months back on their own channel.
In fact, the connotations of ‘Kafir’ and ‘Jihad’ in Islam is completely different from the understanding of RJ Sayema. If one carefully analyses the Islamic scriptures, the usage of ‘Kafir’ can be found in multiple instances.
What is ‘Kafir’ and ‘Jihad’ then ?
According to New Age Islam, an Islamic reformist organization, Quran says, “The word Kufr means to reject faith in God, God’s signs, the prophets, the Holy Scriptures and the Day of Judgment. One who does not have faith in the unity of God and does not have faith also in other sacred signs of God is a Kafir”.
Further, the Quran says, “One who rejects faith in God or does not have faith in God is called a Kafir. A Kafir may also be an idolater who worships gods and goddesses”.
According to the Quran, they are those who have gone astray. There are about 350 verses about Kufr and Kafir. In the majority of the verses, Kufr is non-belief in one God and prophets of God and in Holy Scriptures. Kufr is also the worship of idols and gods and goddesses other than God. In some of the verses, the word Kufr and its variations are used to mean ingratitude for the favours of God. It is natural that if someone does not recognize God or does not have faith in God, he will also not acknowledge God’s favours but will attribute the favours to his gods and goddesses.”
The words Kufr and Kafirun and Kafirin and its other variations are used for non-belief in Allah, the Holy Scriptures of Islam, its messengers and the Day of Judgment. These are variations of the word Kafir.
We had earlier listed numerous quotes from the Quran so that readers can understand what the word Kafir and its variations mean. Here is a list of verses cited by various Islamic scriptures which defines and helps to understand the real meaning of ‘Kafir’.
In fact, RJ Sayema herself agrees to the point all non-Muslims are ‘Kafirs’ when she points out that anybody who is not willing to accept the teaching of ‘God’ (Allah), he/she is termed as a non-believer or a ‘Kafir’.
With Islam being a ‘monotheistic’ religion, the concepts of ‘Tawheed’ clearly explains how one is a ‘Kafir’ or ‘infidel’ if he does not believe in the concepts of one God ‘Allah’. According to the concept of ‘Tawheed’ in Islam, there is no ‘God’ other than Allah and people who do not accept the concept of ‘Tawheed’ are essentially non-believers or ‘Kafirs’. Hence, all non-Muslims are ‘Kafirs’, as per Islamic principles.
The other term ‘Jihad’ appears in the Quran in different contexts and can include various forms of ‘struggle’, including ‘armed struggle’. Jihad or Islamic holy war is a fundamental foreign policy concept in Islam. In the specific context of Islamic law, ‘Jihad’ generally signifies an armed struggle against ‘non-believers’, meaning ‘Kafirs’.
The Islamic concepts of ‘Jihad’ and “Kafir’, which is being normalised by the likes of Sayema, has been used by several radical Islamic terror groups to wage a ‘holy war’ against the ‘non-believers’. Just a few months ago, it was very much evident in the country when Islamists had descended on the streets of the country during the anti-CAA protestors and had shouted slogans like ‘Kafiron se Azadi‘ (freedom from Kafirs).
If Sayema believes that ‘Kafir’ had no negative connotations, she should also perhaps explain to her viewers on why were anti-CAA protesters were seeking independence from these ‘Kafirs’ and what sort of ‘Azadi’, these mobs led by Muslims wanted ‘freedom’ from so-called ‘Kafirs’.
RJ Sayema’s history of normalising hatred
RJ Sayema, an ardent Aam Aadmi Party supporter, was in the middle of a controversy last year after she had incited a mob to protest outside the Delhi Police headquarters. She incited people on Twitter to gather in large mobs outside the Delhi Police headquarters, which subsequently turned into violent protests.
Delhi Police had to resort to lathi-charge after protestors at Jamia Nagar had set buses on fire and raised communal slogans. She later clarified that the mob needs to gather outside the old headquarters of Delhi Police at the ITO.
Recently, the Delhi High Court had issued a notice to the Union government in connection with the impleadment application seeking FIR against rabble-rousers like RJ Sayema, Swara Bhaskar under appropriate IPCs & IT Act and also issued directions to NIA to conduct an investigation into their alleged role in the anti-Hindu riots that was unleashed by Muslim mobs in Delhi in February.
