On Wednesday (31st January) evening, Mufti Salman Azhari made derogatory remarks against the Hindu community during his 56-minute-long speech in Junagadh city of Gujarat.
In the contentious video that went viral on social media, the radical Islamic preacher was heard saying, “Abhi to karbala ka akhiri maidan baqi hai…Kuch der ki khamoshi hai, fir shore ayega… Aaj kutton ka wakt hai, kal hamara daur ayega (The final battle of Karbala is yet to come… a moment of silence, then there will be noise again. The dogs are having their time today. Our time will come tomorrow).”
His provocative remarks against the Hindus were applauded by his supporters, who yelled ‘Labbek ya Rasulullah’ in unison. But this was not the only genocidal comment made by Salman Azhar on that day.
Following his speech, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him. On Sunday (4th February), a team of Gujarat police reached Mumbai and arrested Salman Azhari in connection to his genocidal comments.
The cops also obtained a 2-day transit remand to take the Islamic hate preacher to Junagadh in Gujarat. As expected, Muslim ‘journalists’ came to defend Azhari on social media and seek his immediate release.
Islamist tries to give clean chit to Salman Azhari
One such ‘journalist’ in particular Mohammed Asif Khan, infamous for peddling fake news, claimed that the Islamic hate preacher was being ‘falsely implicated’ based on a cropped video.
He had shared a clip of Salman Azhari to falsely claim that the latter’s comments were not directed at the Hindu community.
In the video shared by him, the preacher was heard saying, “People mock us saying if Muslims are true, then, why are they being killed in Palestine, Iraq, Sham, Yemen, Afghanistan and Burma? Forward my response to these tyrants.”
He claimed that Muslims are ‘born to die’ for the Faith. “Remember even if we die, our death will not end Islam. If Islam was to end, it would have ended in Karbala (Iraq). Islam is the truth. And it awakens after every Karbala.”
Salman Azhari brazened out, “Don’t be afraid, Muslims. The honour of Allah remains. Islam is alive. The Quran is still there. Those who fight with us everyday, remember the last war of Karballa awaits your destiny.”
He further added, “A moment of silence, then there will be noise again. The dogs are having their time today. Our time will come tomorrow.” Mohammed Asif Khan used the short clip to suggest that the derogatory comment of Salman Azhari was not directed at Hindus.
He insinuated that the Islamic hate preacher was talking about the ongoing situation in Palestine. Mohammed Asif Khan tweeted, “He was talking about Palestine and Muslim countries,and then he recited a couplet. Hindutva IT cell cropped his video and circulated it with false claim that he targeted a community.”
The missing context
In his desperate attempt to give a clean chit to his co-religionist, the Muslim ‘journalist’ forgot to tell his supporters that Azhari had referred to Hindus as ‘dogs’ in the same speech.
Prior to his ‘dog reference’, Salman Azhari spoke in the context of the Ram Mandir Pran Prathiostha at Ayodhya and the legal battle surrounding the disputed Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi.
“If you keep idols inside a mosque, then, it will not become an idol-worshipping place (referring to temples),” he had stated. Azhari defended the tendency of Islamic invaders to appropriate religious structures of non-Muslims and pagans.
“You have kept 1 idol ( at Ram Mandir) but there were 360 idols at Kaaba. Even then, the Kaaba belonged to the Muslims. This did not atop the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj,” he continued.
“…Dear Muslims, the revolution will begin from your homes. They (Hindus) do not have the courage to convert your mosques to idol-worshipping places (referring to temples). You have yourself abandoned the mosques,” Azhari further added.
While referring to the Hindus as ‘dogs’, he emphasised, “We have a saying – When the ground is left open, dogs take over the place. But if you keep using the ground, then, they won’t become the shelter for dogs.”
Conclusion
This particular segment of Salman Azhari’s speech preceded the reference to Karbala and the ‘time of the dogs’. He had spoken in the context of Ram Mandir and the disputed Gyanvapi mosque and labelled Hindus as ‘dogs’, who somehow strayed into the ground of Muslims.
In this context, he spoke how ‘Muslims become stronger’ after each fight of Karbala and how they are not afraid to die for the sake of Allah in any part of the world.
‘Journalist’ Mohammed Asif Khan shrewdly omitted this important context to claim that the radical Islamic preacher was talking about worldly affairs and did not make derogatory references to any community. Later, other Islamists took to social media to make the same dubious claim.
Disseminating conspiracy theories to absolve co-religionists of any wrongdoing is a common strategy adopted by Islamists. The desperate attempt to give Salman Azhari a clean chit is part of their sinister modus operandi.