Despite their negative image in popular news platforms, the Taliban is winning support from some Muslims of India. Some are wishing for the Taliban to knock on India’s doors and establish their Islamic caliphate in India as well.
The Indian Muslims who have openly declared their support for the Taliban are not a poor, uneducated bunch of hoodlums who can be dismissed as exceptional cases. Several Indian politicians, eminent citizens, government officials and teachers from the community have been found to be supporting the Taliban, with even more fervor recently than they had shown before, as they celebrate the group’s recent victory. Some social media accounts belonging to reputedly moderate Indian Muslims couldn’t contain their exhilaration following the return of Islamic rule in India’s northwestern neighborhood.
In a first, the Secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani, took the nation by surprise by taking to his official Twitter account to shower praises on the terror outfit for their “extraordinary success” in Afghanistan. In a tweet written in Urdu, he also claimed that this victory had come with the help of Allah, and that such powerful decisions are “made in Heaven and not on Earth.”
Just days after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan; an Indian MP, Shafiqur Rahman Barq, tried to legitimize the jihadist outfit by likening them to the Indian freedom fighters who fought the British. “When India was under British rule, our country fought for freedom. Now the Taliban wants to free their country & run it,” asserted the people’s representative from a local leftist political party in India. He further justified the actions of the Taliban by claiming that the “Taliban is a force that did not allow even strong countries like Russia and America to settle in their country.”
A Mufti of Darul-Uloom Deoband, Maulana Mufti Arshad Farooqi, who is also the chairman of Online Fatwa Department, was seen glorifying the Taliban in a now-viral video. He hailed the Taliban for ousting the “superpower” from Afghanistan and forcing Afghan forces to concede. The Maulana of Deoband also stated that there is something special about the Taliban. He may feel elated; after all, it is from this Deobandi movement that the Taliban originally drew inspiration.
It appears as if the Taliban’s defeat of the Afghan government has sparked new hope among Islamic clerics across India. Tamil Nadu-based Maulana Shamsudeen Qasimi congratulated the outfit for their exemplary feat and asserted, “Allah has given us this huge victory to us through the victory of Taliban. The Muslim world should celebrate this victory.” He also encouraged the Muslim brethren not to be afraid to show support to the Taliban just because some “media prostitutes” have falsely portrayed them as terrorists.
An Islamic organization, the Popular Front of India (PFI), has hailed the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, expressed confidence in their “administration,” and demanded that the Indian government initiate diplomatic ties with the jihadis. Parroting the words of Maulana Shamsudeen Qasimi, the PFI chief claims that there is a conspiracy involved in how the media depicts the Afghan jihad terror outfit.
In addition to these eminent Muslim Indians and Islamic organizations that vocally endorsed the Taliban, pro-Taliban voices have surfaced from the state of Assam as well. On August 22, the state police detained fourteen civilians who were mostly in their 20s for making social media posts allegedly backing the Taliban. The accused include a medical student from Tezpur Medical College, Islamic clerics, teachers, and reporters associated with reputed media groups, among others. Shockingly, a police constable, Md Fazlul Karim Qashimi, was also among these fourteen. He also served as a leader in the local Islamic political party, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). All of them will be charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and anti-terror laws. Various other sections of the Indian penal code will also be applied.
Some social media accounts with massive numbers of followers have also been sympathetic towards the Taliban and pounced on non-Muslims for “vilifying” the jihad group. One Instagram handle, muslim_students_of_delhi, with thousands of followers, published a string of provocative stories inciting his followers to defend the Taliban, wishing more power for the Taliban, and calling for the implementation of the Sharia across geographical boundaries, bringing about the humiliation of the non-believers. The account has since been taken down.
A Member of India’s Parliament (MP), Rakesh Sinha has expressed his concern on the matter, stating, “There is a big chunk in India which is endorsing the activities of the militant group, whether silently or vocally.”
Wellington says
This is why for years I have contended that so-called moderate Muslims are about the most useless, gutless, clueless and unreliable group of people on the planet. In fact, a solid argument could be made that so-called moderate Muslims are worse than the most ardent, most devout, of Muslims (like the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.) because they give cover to Islam’s many foul doctrines and thus help to obscure the real nature of Islam.
Best if virtually all Muslims were like the Taliban so the West would finally wake up to the true nature of Islam, though I do understand that die-hard Western Leftists en masse would still probably defend Muslims, so filled with stupidity, ignorance and hate are they of Western Civilization. Besides, freedom is not a Left-wing value and one either knows this or should know this, and thus in this particular respect Lefties and Muzzies are definitely simpatico, though I have zero doubt that the Islamic world looks upon Western Leftists as useful idiots for the time being.
The greatest tragedy of our era is the incapacity of so many in the West, and not just Leftists, to comprehend that Islam is inimical to so many Western values, including overall freedom, equality under the law and women’s rights. Oh yeah, overall happiness and romantic love as well. And sundry more to boot. Definitely.
john smith says
Wellington,I have never looked at it that way before, but I can see exactly were your coming from. Moderates are worse than the most devout muslims, they are the ones who are pulling the wool over our eyes, I get it. At least you know were you stand with a jihadi.
SAFI says
They often actually do worse than merely providing cover for the extremists. Most “moderate Muslims” are at the forefront of the “battle”(witch-hunt) against “islamophobia”(islamic threat awareness). I said “most” because there are a few exceptions of truly reformist Muslims who recognize the faults in Islam and islamic culture, but they’re really few and far between, incapable of making any real difference against the backdrop of the decid,edly and unrepentantly hateful, supremacist, infidel despising and forever stuck in the 7th century orthodox minded muslim majority which either ignores them or very often tries to kill them(well the “extemists” do that while the “moderates” just ignore or even justify the violence of the former).
overman says
Thanks for this. lt just shows that no matter how ‘Moderate’ they are – they can never be trusted. Taqiyya is widespread and will be used to infiltrate everywhere. This is what is coming to the west as they invite hundreds of thousands of afghans over; and moderate muslims will give support to hard-line jihadi’s at the drop of a hat.
God help us when that happens..
Raja says
Overman,
This is the real problem with the nice Muslims. They are as evil as gun totting Islamist. The “moderates” have NEVER condemned islam, so why trust them at all?
I personally know of a nice Muslim who approached some mullah goon when his family was protesting Indian govt laws on granting citizenship to non-Muslim refugees. Just as they don’t question koran or Mohamed they don’t reason about anything. Total herd mentality. No question of right or wrong, moral or immoral.
Walter Sieruk says
It’s wise to remember that it’s very possible that a good number of “moderate Muslims” might be underneath a violent jihadist Muslim in heart.
At least they are if they, in any way , support and approve ofthe Taliban
Infidel says
I watch quite a few YouTube channels in HIndi by pro-Hindutva bloggers and influencers. One of them came out w/ an opinion poll in UP, which is headed for the polls in a few months. In it, a survey of muslims showed that even though they are recipients of all the general welfare schemes of Yogi’s government in that state, they don’t care and don’t plan to vote for him, since implementation of shariah is all that they care about
In the meantime, on the flip side, Hindus in that state have become more alarmed at the extremism displayed by muslims, and Yogi’s support is stronger than ever. In political circles, that is considered to be disadvantageous to Modi, since he’d like his Home Minister Amit Shah to succeed him. However, the BJP id doing badly elsewhere – earlier this year in Bengal, and also looks like losing Uttarakhand and Punjab, so Amit Shah or other BJP leaders won’t have anything outside UP (where Yogi is the sole reason they are winning) to claim credit for. If Yogi alone stands out, then in 2024, he could be the prime ministerial candidate for the BJP, instead of either Modi (who can’t continue after 2025 since he’ll be 75, the mandatory retirement age in the party) or Shah
Looking at how Hindus have been let down in India, I for one dearly hope that Yogi is the one who becomes prime minister in 2024
Wellington says
Where/ when did you learn Hindi, Infidel? I’m impressed.
Infidel says
Lived in India from 1977 to 1991, so….
Raja says
Wellington,
In India “picking” several languages is quiet normal. Some in the southern parts of India may not know as many except Keralites, who are called Malabaris in Persian Gulf states. In fact most schools have at least 2 or 3 languages for curriculum. In my school they taught 4 languages between grade 4 and grade 8.
That is not to demean Infidel, who is smart, blessed with good vocabulary and almost expert in demographics and history. He might know much more, I am not aware of. Being an enthusiastic counter-terrorist, he comes under a much higher pedestal.
abu taleb says
There is no moderate muslims, there are only “honest” muslims who practice what Islamic teaching like beheading enemies, enslaving people (ISIS, Taleban for example) and dishonest muslims who try to whitewash Islamic teaching but at the blink of eyes, they will switch to become “honest” when the situation allows them to do that. The rest are the ignorant muslims who does not follow Islamic teaching because they don’t know the teaching.
SAFI says
Yeah I think that’s the correct classification: honest(aka “extremist”), dishonest and ignorant. Other than that there’s just ex-muslims who couldn’t stomach Islam once they figured the truth but maybe didn’t wanna come out for fear of the death for apostacy rule and maybe a few actual reformists usually with no sway whatsoever who are regarded as abominable heretics who should be killed by the rest.
gravenimage says
India: Many ‘moderate’ Muslims increasingly open about their support for the Taliban
………….
Odd how many “moderate” Muslims are anything but, even in Dar-al-Harb.
Uma says
These people are unfaithful to the country that gave them a home, like a mother.
OTTER says
It has been said is that a ‘radical Muslim’ wants to kill you, and the ‘moderate Muslim’ wants the ‘radical Muslim’ to kill you. And when he does, the ‘moderate Muslim’ will strenuously be denied that the murder was committed by the ‘radical Muslim’ and will claim instead that the murder was committed by a) the West b) the occupying forces (Israel) c) by Hindu fascists and in any case was taken out of ‘context.’
Infidel says
OTTER
That’s a fantastic description of the difference b/w a moderate and a radical muslim
a, b or c are locale dependent, so the appropriate entity will be blamed accordingly
Raja says
Infidel,
Quiet simply put, blame it on the Kufaar, as he should be banished from your presence anyhow. Then, of course there is a million excuse for carrying out the grand plan and vision of the devil.
Raja says
Infidel,
BTW, I read about an European author who had said that an Islamist who want to kills you and a moderate helps the murderer-Islamist by holding fast the hands and legs of the Kufaar. Doesn’t that sound more apt?
Infidel says
Raja
I think OTTER’S description is most on target
T.L. Clark says
Militant and moderate has not been very different…………EVER.
The militant muslim is the person who beheads the infidel, while the moderate muslim holds the feet of the victim. – Marco Polo.
T.L. Clark says
A moderate muslim is merely a sleeper.
gravenimage says
T.L., I’m afraid you are mistaken. This quote is not from Marco Polo.
It sems to be from philosopher Dr. M. Sabieski. It certainly is spot on, though. But correct attribution *is* imporant.
SAFI says
LOL whoever said it was right on spot
gravenimage says
Actually a fine post here by OTTER.
Giacomo Latta says
All these proud Taliban supporters currently living in democracies should migrate to Afghanistan. Then we will see, by means of Taliban reaction, whether they are real muslims who wear the right muslim clothing, pray with their hands in the right arrangement, have wives who reveal the proper amount of skin or bruises, etc.
sidney penny says
“A Member of India’s Parliament (MP), Rakesh Sinha has expressed his concern on the matter, stating, “There is a big chunk in India which is endorsing the activities of the militant group, whether silently or vocally.””
A big chunk=of Muslims
The Hindus in India are asleep.
The comments by “moderate” Muslims are originally seen as anti-American (West) but are also anti-Hindus.