Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Mahmood Madani reminds former IAS officer Niyaz Khan that asking Muslims to hide their religious identity shifts blame from attackers to victims
NEW DELHI — Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani has strongly criticised former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Niyaz Khan’s advice to Muslims to avoid wearing traditional religious symbols such as caps and keeping beards as a way to protect themselves from mob violence.
Madani said such advice ignores the real cause behind attacks on Muslims and shifts responsibility from those committing violence to those facing it. He said the issue was not about a person’s beard, cap, hijab or traditional clothing, but about the hatred that motivates attackers.
Reacting to Khan’s remarks, Madani said, “The problem is not in the beard of the victim, the cap on his head, the hijab or the kurta-pajama. The real problem is the hatred that exists in the mind of the attacker.”
He questioned why discussions often focus on what victims wear instead of addressing the atmosphere in which groups feel they can take the law into their own hands.
“Instead of stopping criminals and punishing them, asking victims to erase their identity is not justice. No civilised democratic country can accept such an approach,” Madani said.
Madani referred to a research report on mob violence cases and said that in most incidents, victims were not wearing any special religious clothing that could identify them as Muslims.
According to him, in 38 major cases of mob violence reported over the last decade, around 83 per cent of victims were wearing ordinary clothes. He argued that these incidents were not caused by the victims’ appearance but by rumours, hatred and violence against a particular community.
Mentioning cases such as the killing of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri in 2015, Rakbar Khan in Alwar in 2018, Qasim Qureshi in Hapur, Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand in 2019, and the recent killing of Sabir Malik in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri, Madani said these victims were attacked because of false allegations and communal hatred, not because of their clothes.
“The solution cannot be hiding one’s identity. The solution is to stop those who spread hatred and those who believe they can attack innocent people,” he said.
Example of Bosnian Muslims cited
Madani also referred to the violence against Muslims in Bosnia, saying that changing appearance does not always protect a community when hatred is deliberately created against it.
He said Bosnian Muslims shared language, clothing and daily habits with their Christian neighbours, yet they faced mass violence.
“When hatred is created against a community, changing identity does not become a guarantee of safety,” Madani said.
Call for Stronger Action Against Mob Violence
The Jamiat chief said the main question should be how ordinary people gain the confidence to stop someone, ask their name, question their religion and attack them.
He said focusing on clothing and identity could wrongly place the responsibility on victims instead of criminals.
Madani called on authorities to strictly implement the Supreme Court’s directions in the Tehseen S Poonawalla case and take strong action under Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with punishment for murder committed by a group.
“Only when criminals receive punishment will this hatred come to an end,” he said.
