By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, March 31 (IslamOnline.net) - The religious scholars of Darul
Uloom Deoband, India's top Muslim seminary, issued a Fatwa (edict)
Sunday, March 30, urging to boycott American and British goods in
protest against the attack on Iraq.
The
Fatwa was issued by Darul Ifta (office of Fatwa) of the seminary.
Deoband is the largest and oldest Islamic university of the Sunni sect
in the Subcontinent. The Fatwa contains the signatures of luminaries of
Deoband, including its rector Maulana Marghooburrahman.
The
Fatwa reads, “It is incumbent in these conditions upon every Muslim to
boycott the tyrant and terrorist regimes of the US and Britain by
whatever means he can. He must totally stop the sale and purchase of the
products of these countries. Sale and purchasing of their goods amounts
to helping the aggressor which is prohibited and illegal."
The
Fatwa called upon all justice-loving citizens of the country to boycott
American and British goods.
A
day earlier Darul Uloom Deoband had issued an official appeal to the
Muslims of the same effect. Yesterday's Fatwa come in reply to a
question from a citizen who asked if it is allowed to boycott American
and British goods now that we are not able to help our Iraqi brothers in
this Crusade.
Deoband
had issued a similar Fatwa after the American aggression against
Afghanistan in 2001 in the wake of September 11 attack on World Trade
Center.
In
the meantime, protesting the US attack on Iraq, People’s War Group
(PWG), an outlawed leftist outfit, attacked a Pepsi warehouse in Guntur
district of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, on March 30. Two
such incidents of ransacking American soft drink companies have earlier
taken place in the very province since the U.S. attack began.
Describing
the U.S.-led attack as “naked aggression,” the PWG has appealed to
the people to boycott U.S.- and UK-made products. It left a note at the
site which reads: “The invasion of Iraq is the imperialist design to
control its oilfields besides attempting to redraw boundaries of West
Asia in favor of the Anglo-American surrogate state of Zionist
Israel.”
Meanwhile,
the student community in the state capital of New Delhi has also
announced to boycott U.S. and British goods as a form of protest against
the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq. They have decided to shun products
like Coke, Pepsi, Levi’s jeans, Reebok’s T-shirts and shoes.
Springdales, a top school in the heart of New Delhi, has taken the lead.
It is to launch a campaign urging to boycott American goods. To meet the
object, it will urge other schools to support the campaign.
