Many readers will be familiar with Imam Mohammed Tawhidi, who has been nicknamed the ‘Imam of peace’ because of his willingness to tackle the violence that is an inherent part of Islamic theology and ideology. He is one of those Islamic scholars or a sort which have cropped up at various times throughout the history of Islam, who have observed that there were problems in how Islam was interpreted and put into practice. Unfortunately those who have attempted to reform Islam in the past have failed and sometimes they have been killed by conservative Muslims because of their attempts to reform. Partly because of the stranglehold that Islamic scholars have over their Muslim societies and the lack of a literate culture, there has been no Islamic equivalent to the Christian reformers William Tyndale or Martin Luther or the Jewish reformer Rabbi Abraham Geiger. This has meant that the likes of Imam Tawhidi, although he may be on the right track when it comes to reform, are always going to be opposed, sometimes violently, by those clerics opposed to such reform and their brainwashed and violent followers.
There has been a worrying development in Imam Tawhidi’s mission to point out the bad aspects of Islam and to suggest ways that Islam could and should reform. This development is the issuing of an Islamic legal ruling or ‘fatwa’ against Imam Tawhidi by a Pakistani Mufti that declares him a ‘Kufar’ or unbeliever and that no Muslim should read or buy Tawhidi’s book. The declaration by Mufti Ahmad Raza Sialvi also is said to contain the claim that Tawhidi had insulted the Islamic prophet Mohammed and his companions and therefore should be killed.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, Imam Tawhidi is taking these threats seriously and has cancelled upcoming public appearances in order to protect himself from the many Islamic nutcases who are liable to take this fatwa seriously. This in my opinion is a wise thing for Imam Tawhidi to do. Australia where Imam Tawhidi lives, does have a problem with the sort of Islamic extremists and literalists who would without doubt see murdering Imam Tawhidi as an act of worship. As I have said before, it is a rare Islamic cleric indeed, that makes me want to dance around my kitchen singing Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu (peace will come upon us yet) when he speaks, but Imam Tawhidi is one such Islamic cleric.
If genuine peace is to come to this unhappy world it will come via people like Imam Tawhidi and for that reason all of us who believe in peace should support him and do our very best to protect him from those who mean him harm. Imam Tawhidi’s fate should not be that declared in the Pakistani Mufti’s fatwa, a fate that has befallen too many of Islam’s reformers over the centuries.
