The real issue here is not his hypocrisy. There are hypocrites and people who fail to live up to their religious ideals in all religions, all over the world. The real issue here is that the Sharia prohibition against music, which the Grand Mufti endorsed and applied in his fatwa, is contrary to the human spirit. It would be hard not to become a hypocrite if one actually believed in this prohibition, because music is so irresistibly attractive and so nourishing to the human soul. So the Grand Mufti shouldn’t be criticized for enjoying the concert — that’s just human nature. But the fact that he enjoyed it shows us something quite important about Sharia.
“India’s Grand Mufti seen enjoying concert after declaring music ‘un-Islamic,'” by Dean Nelson in the Telegraph, July 28 (thanks to Pedro):
The Grand Mufti of Kashmir has been accused of hypocrisy after he was captured on film enjoying a concert months after he issued a fatwa declaring music un-Islamic.
A video clip of Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, the ceremonial leader of Muslims in the state, apparently enjoying an evening of Kashmiri ghazals, musical poems, and Punjabi folk tunes, quickly went viral on YouTube as political leaders accused him of hypocrisy….
In February an all-girl rock group in Kashmir was forced to disband amid threats from Islamic militants, following the Grand Mufti’s statement.
He had proclaimed: “Singing is not in accordance with Islamic teachings. Society cannot be built or developed by doing un-Islamic acts like singing.
“I have advised these girls, and other Muslims as well, to stay within the limits of modesty as prescribed for them.”
The fatwa was backed by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary, one of the world’s most influential centres of Islamic jurisprudence. It provoked a public debate over freedom of expression in Kashmir, which, while Muslim-dominated, has traditionally been a more liberal culture than in the Arab Islamic world.
Kashmir’s chief minister Omar Abdullah defended their right to perform following the Mufti’s fatwa, but the threats intimidated the group, called Pragaash, and its members decided to disband….