14 September 2020
ATT: EDITOR OF THE POST
AKASH BRAMDEO
Your correspondent Professor Anand Singh in his piece, published in the Post on 9th September 2020, does not let facts get in the way of his Islamophobic diatribe. A self-confessed supporter, if not a member, of the fascist Neo-Nazi style RSS, Professor Singh under the guise of academic questions uses negative adjectives to clearly denigrate Islam and Muslims. He phrases his questions in a way that already implies that Muslims are guilty of the very issues that he questions.
Let us deal with the factual inaccuracies. He states as fact that Mr Ellaurie, in the Isipingo Azaan case, was subjected to ‘louder than legal noise limits’. Mr Ellaurie himself clearly stated that the call to prayer (Azaan) that he objected to was not amplified but that he disliked it because it had a foreign sound to him and that there were too many Muslims in the area. Mr Ellaurie produced no specialist evidence nor any sound level studies to show that that the unamplified Azaan was above any legal noise level. He is also not an immediate neighbour to the Madressa, while the immediate Hindu neighbours said in affidavits that they could not hear the Azaan.
The judgement has been so soundly and widely criticised by legal experts for its flawed assumptions and poor interpretation of the law and lack of consideration of legal precedent, that it negates any real substance to Mr Ellauries claims. Mr Ellaurie is a self-confessed hater of Islam and Muslims and Professor Anand Singhs RSS doctrines teach the same hate and division. The essence of the issue is not about the sound level but about the very call to prayer itself.
Professor Singh very disingenuously implies that Muslims do not consider their fellow citizens because other faith groups do not use loud halers. Do Temples and Churches go out to every person who can hear the bells and chimes respectively to ask them their permission as Singh insists Muslims must do?
Mosques have, for a very long time now, stopped amplifying the early morning call to prayer and where there have been objections; they reduce the volumes of the amplifications or in many cases even stopped amplification completely. Professor Singh is a member of GOPIO, an organization that receives many freebies, gratuities, funding and trips to India from the Indian Consulate, thus it should be no surprise that he sings the same RSS song as the ruling BJP and sings for his funding from the Indian Consulate. The call to prayer is in Arabic and meant for Muslims. People who are not Muslim are unlikely to understand it and even if they did, Professor Anand Singhs ridiculous insinuation that it is xenophobic is just laughable.
There is a famous Rugby team in Australia called The Crusaders and their Mascots is to have people on horses with shields and armour parading in imitation of Crusader warriors who massacred Muslims and Jews during many Crusades, but you do not see Muslims demanding the rugby team change their name and regalia. It is not uncommon to see many Christians sport stars cross themselves and even though Muslims do not believe in the trinity of God, it will be ridiculous for Muslims to object to Christians performing the holy trinity cross on themselves.
The Muslim call to prayer is exactly that, a call to prayer to Muslims and for Professor Singh to suggest that it is meant to denigrate those who choose to worship another God and worship in another form or manner is ludicrous and shows the ridiculous extent Professor Singh will stoop too to make a case for Islamophobia. The call to prayer is not meant for those other than whom it is calling to prayer. In trying to portray Muslims as violent, Professor Anand Singh really scrapes the barrel by trying to insinuate that a reporter asking Mr Ellaurie, if he is surprised that there is a call to prayer when there are many Muslims in the area.
The Azaan has not been banned in Western countries; yes in many countries, it is unamplified and Muslims are quite happy to adhere to those rules. Professor Singh knows clearly that the Isipingo Azaan judgement has been appealed and virtually all legal experts have pointed how flawed it is and that a higher court will very likely overturn it, yet he does not stop gloating and is trying very hard to encourage others to try to have the Azaan stopped. Professor Singh alleges that Muslims are trying to claim superiority over other religious beliefs by the use of loud halers and the call to prayer 5 times a day. The Azaan began at the advent of Islam and it has been part of the five compulsory daily prayers, recited for 1443 years. No matter whether amplified or not, Muslims do not need the likes of Professor Anand Singh telling us how to practice our faith.
Professor Singh tries to use similar warped sense of logic to equate dissent with India’s citizenship amendment act, one that has been condemned by Christians, Hindus and Hindu Human rights lawyers and Politicians as being Islamophobic and wanting to disenfranchise an entire Muslim Population, to being anti-Hindu. Professor Singh, singing to the tunes of his master, tries to suggest that criticism against Modi is criticism against Hindus. This is no different to Zionists who want to equate the criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism. Singh further goes on irrelevant tangents trying to generalise an entire community of 1.6 Billion Muslims. Professor Singh’s assertion that Islam is the antithesis of the Abrahamic religions reflects not only his islamophobia but also his sheer ignorance.
For the record, Muslims consider Islam as a continuation of the same religion taught from the time of Adam right up the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him). The Isipingo Hindu society and the Isipingo Christian society both supported the Madressah in the court case and along with the Hindu metro official who has worked for years in Isipingo state that in all the years the various communities have lived harmoniously and know of no complaint other than Ellaurie. It is a good thing that Muslims clearly know the difference between the vast majority of Hindus and the likes of the RSS and Proffesor Anand Singh. We know that the likes of the RSS represent a fanatical, loud but small minority of Hindus.
In a statement to the Muslims community from the South African Muslim Network (SAMNET) dated 23rd August, we stated the following:
‘While we are all appalled by this decision and the islamophobic nature of the applicants’ mentality, we should not be responding, whether on social media or against other faith groups, in a way that is not befitting our Islamic teachings or the example of our Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him). Our experience over the past five years of managing the Mosque Open days which serve the purposes of addressing the misconceptions and ignorance about our religion, has shown us that education and dialogue in a friendly environment is much more conducive to building mutual respect and acceptance than denigration of other people’s faiths and resorting to vulgarity. We cannot stress enough the importance of having these Mosque Open days as a forum for dialogue and education.’
The support received from Hindus in Isipingo or who live next to the Mosque, as well as the various correspondence to your post, clearly demonstrate the vast majority know right from wrong and are interested in promoting a harmonious society. It is sadly the likes of the RSS, ISIS and fundamentalists from other religions that are the scourge of religions and want to promote dissent, disunity and hatred. It is a pity that an academic, Professor Anand Singh cannot apply common sense and logic, using so called academic questions to stir up hatred and division.
