On Monday, June 12, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi raked up the incidents of violence that recently occurred in the districts of Ahmednagar and Kolhapur in Maharashtra over the Aurangzeb photographs. Owaisi said that it is difficult to verify and authenticate that the photos and videos used by some in the two regions were even of the Mughal emperor.
“Can you authenticate the image of Aurangzeb used by the people after which the violence happened? Aurangzeb died 300 years ago. I asked one is this photo of Aurangzeb and he said it could be his. What do I do then amid this ambiguity,” he said roughly in Hindi while addressing a conference in Chicago.
Large scale violence had erupted in the state of Maharashtra in several places including Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, and Yavatmal after some of the Islamists flaunted photos and videos of Aurangzeb in processions or on social media platforms. The images of Aurangzeb were reportedly flaunted on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and also on the 350th Rajyabhishek Day of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, with an intention to show disrespect to the Maratha king.
#LIVE | Aurangzeb faceoff escalates in Maharashtra. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi rakes up Aurangzeb issue in Chicago.
— Republic (@republic) June 12, 2023
Can you authenticate Aurangzeb's photo? asks AIMIM chief.#Aurangzeb #AsaduddinOwaisi #Maharashtra https://t.co/6CjsNJ9CEq pic.twitter.com/8NbtKYxiQr
On June 5 in Ahmednagar, four persons flaunted posters of Aurangzeb during a procession in the Mukundnagar area. The police have filed a case against four people in total and have arrested two of them. While Owaisi claimed that the posters used by the miscreants could not be proven to be of Aurangzeb, the videos of the procession had gone viral over the internet in which the accused could be seen flaunting posters of Mughal figure with ‘Aurganzeb’ clearly written on it.
Also on May 17, Maharashtra Police filed an FIR against one person identified as Sheikh Aftaab Shiekh Mannan for uploading an Islamist propaganda social media story on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The accused person had posted a video in which Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was seen bowing down before Aurangzeb. “Aurangzeb Hindustan ka Baap,” the video captioned.
Recently, massive violence erupted in the city of Kolhapur after around 7 miscreants posted social media stories praising Aurangzeb and Islamic tyrant Tipu Sultan on the day when the state celebrated the 350th Rajyabhishek Day of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The police had to resort to lathicharge and tear gas shells after the peaceful protest organised by several Hindu organisations against the Islamic act was attacked by miscreants who pelted stones at the protesters.
Owaisi got upset when Devendra Fadnavis called stone pelters the offsprings of tyrant Aurangzeb
Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis then commented on the issue and said that those who are praising the Islamic tyrants on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s land would not be spared. “This Maharashtra belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and people who show disrespect to him will not be spared. This is intolerable. The situation in Kolhapur is being monitored and it is under control now. The state appeals to people to maintain peace,” he was quoted.
Later speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis said suddenly Aurangzeb’s “aulaadein” (progenies) have taken birth in Maharashtra but the government will find out the people responsible for creating the law and order situation. “Displaying Aurangzeb’s photos and keeping a mobile status (on Tipu Sultan); this is creating tension in society. We will find the real culprits who are deliberately disturbing the law and order and defaming the state,” he said.
Owaisi took offence over Fadnavis’s statement and lashed out at him on June 9. “Maharashtra’s Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Aurangzeb ke aulaad. Do you know everything? I didn’t know you (Devendra Fadnavis) were such an expert. Then call out Godse’s & Apte’s offspring, who are they?” Owaisi said.
Considering that Owaisi took this to be an insult from Devendra Fadnavis, one would imagine that Owaisi denounces Aurangzeb as a tyrant who massacred Hindus and is therefore offended that current Indian Muslims, even those who pelt stones at Hindus and celebrate Aurangzeb were compared to the tyrant.
Owaisi follows Fatwa-e-Alamgiri,
It was reported earlier that Owaisi had said that majority of Indian Muslims are Hanafi and that they follow Fatwa-e-Alamgiri which he claimed was based on the Quran and Sunnah. However, it is pertinent to note that Fatawa-e-Alamgiri is a treatise authored by Aurangzeb wherein he outlines the ideal form of Sharia for all subcontinental Muslims and non-Muslims as well.
In order to compile Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, Aurangzeb gathered 500 experts in Islamic jurisprudence, 300 from South Asia, 100 from Iraq, and 100 from the Hejaz. Shaikh Nizam, a celebrated lawyer from Lahore was appointed the chairman of the commission which would compile the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri. The years-long work of these scholars resulted in an Islamic code of law for South Asia, in the late Mughal Era. It consists of legal code on personal, family, slaves, war, property, inter-religious relations, transactions, taxation, economic and other law for a range of possible situations and their juristic rulings by the faqīh of the time. In fact, it is documented that the Fatwa-e-Alamgiri even has elaborate instructions on how Muslim men can keep and treat slaves.
The Fatawa-e-Alamgiri was a creative application of Islamic law within the Hanafi fiqh. It restricted the powers of the Muslim judiciary and the Islamic jurists’ ability to issue discretionary fatwas.
Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaign alone took 4.6 million Hindu lives
In the 17th century, Aurangzeb was seen as the most ruthless Muslim king whose reign saw a scale of religious violence in India that is listed as 23rd in the 100 deadliest episodes of atrocities in human history. Having imprisoned his father and killed his brothers for the throne, Aurangzeb unleashed one of the strongest campaigns of religious violence in the Mughal Empire’s history. Aurangzeb re-introduced the jizya tax, led a number of campaigns against non-Muslims, destroyed Hindu temples, and arrested and executed the ninth Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur.
He not only destroyed temples but also built mosques on the foundations of destroyed temples. Idols were smashed and briefly, Mathura became known as Islamabad in local official documents, while the major Hindu pilgrimage sites in Varanasi and Somnath were destroyed. Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaign alone took 4.6 million Hindu lives, almost as much as the death toll of the Holocaust! During the Mughal-Maratha wars, about 2 million civilians died in war-torn lands due to famine, drought, and plague.
