Sufi Islamic Board Condemns Death Threats against OpIndia's Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma

The Sufi Islamic Board on Thursday condemned the death threats issued against OpIndia’s Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma after her comments about the history of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti and the Ajmer Dargah during her interview of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder who worked for Israeli intelligence. It said that after going through the statement, Sufi Raj Jain, president of Sarv Dharm Khawaja Mandir and Punjab president of Sufi Islamic Board, had issued a statement saying that everyone in the country has freedom of expression. The suggestion made was that Sharma should sit across the table to discuss Sufism and visit the Ajmer Dargah.

Following Sufi Raj Jain’s statement, Sufi Islamic Board president Mansoor Khan was asked by the police if further action was sought against Sharma. Khan said that to judge and punish a person ignorant of Sufism was not in their tradition which forgives all.

Those threatening Sharma do not understand Sufism, said Khan. He added that any person who does not practise Sufi Parampara has no right to say what is right or wrong.

“It has come to our notice that the name of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was removed from the video before it went viral because Nupur J Sharma believed it could be misinterpreted. Every citizen of the country has the right to express views and discuss history and we condemn the threats against her,” the Sufi Islamic Board said. “Nupur J Sharma and her publication were the only ones standing by Sufi Islamic Board when it was getting threats from radicals of PFI and Al Massari of Al Qaeda. We know her intention is to protect Hindus and Indians from radicals and we also know there are some pseudo sufis who have raised slogans like SAR TAN SE JUDA in our country against Muslims also which we feel is totally undemocratic. In fact Nupur J Sharma had helped us in our campaign against PFI with their reportage which is why we wish to end the matter here.”

A video clip had gone viral in which Nupur J Sharma had used objectionable comments against the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. She started receiving threats and some organisations called for her arrest. The original clip was part of an interview with Mosab Hasan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of Hamas. The interview was later updated by Sharma where she had removed the objectionable comments.