[ads1]
Forty-six Muslim clerics in Assam have issued a fatwa against up-and-coming singer Nahid Afrin, who was the first runner-up in the 2015 season of a musical reality TV show Indian Idol, asking her to stop performing in public.
Nahid, a resident of the Biswanath Chariali city in the Biswanath district of Assam, was the first runner-up in the 2015 edition of Indian Idol Junior. The Standard 10 student, along with her parents, has approached the police after the fatwa was issued against her.
[ecp code=”4″]
Police said they were investigating whether the fatwa was a reaction to Nahid recently performing songs against terrorism, including the Islamic State terror group. “We are looking at this angle as well,” ADG (special branch) Pallab Bhattacharya said.
According to the fatwa, a March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College in Lanka, Assam, where Nahid, 16, is scheduled to perform is “against the Sharia”.
Sharia is the religious law whose various interpretations, ranging from strict to lenient, are followed by Muslims across the world.
Nahid, when contacted about the fatwa, said on Tuesday: “My singing is a gift of God. I believe it must be properly utilised. Not doing so is ignoring God.” She added on Wednesday: “I was shocked and broken from inside at first, but many Muslim singers gave me inspiration and courage to not quit music. I will never do it.”
[ads2]