By: Lailuma Noori
Mawlavi Mujib Rahman Ansari, a religious scholar and imam of Herat’s Guzargah mosque during Friday’s prayer has somehow declared support to the Taliban group.
Mohammad Qasim Halimi, Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, in a news conference in Kabul has said that a number of religious ulamas who are supporting the Taliban group are evil, vicious and coward, asking the government to arrest them.
“Response to ignorant people wearing the clothes of religious ulamas will be given and from now on, no ignorant person will raise their voice in support of the enemy in mosques,” Mawlavi said, adding that these ignorant people are those who are getting salaries from the government, but raising their voice for the support of the enemy.
Mawlavi Mujib Rahman Ansary, the religious figure in Herat’s Guzargah mosque, had said that in current government of Afghanistan, everything could be found except Islam. Minister of Hajj has rejected Ansari’s remark and called him a hypocrite.
Mohammad Qasim Halimi said that any religious scholars who preach against the government and propagate for the enemy should be arrested as soon as possible. He asked the government that clerics who do not offer funeral prayers of the martyrs of the security forces should be sent to prison.
The minister further said that Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Ansari, the Khateeb of Guzargah Mosque in Herat, had recently said that the veteran politician of the province, Ismail Khan, should not fight against the Taliban, and let the insurgents bring a ‘true Islamic’ system in the country.
Mawlavi Halimi has also asked chairman of Pakistan’s Ulama Council and Ulama-e-Haqqania to prevent the Punjab government from interfering in internal affairs of Afghanistan. A number of Afghan religious ulamas and scholars in reaction to recent remarks of Mawlavi Ansari said that Ansari’s remarks are not acceptable and even call it against human and Islamic values.
“Mawlavi Ansari’s remarks and preaches are against the country’s national interests,” said Abdul Ali Kohi, a religious scholar and university lecturer.
He told the media that Taliban was a vicious and dangerous phenomenon as they were against all values of humanity and enemy of development and civilization.
A number of Afghan citizens have also reacted to the recent remarks of Mawlavi Mujib Rahman Ansari. The Afghan citizens said that those individuals such as Mawlavi Ansari, standing against the government and people, could pose threat to the country’s national security, asking for arresting and punishing them as soon as possible. “Recent remarks of Mawlavi Ansari and his supporters show that the problem of Afghanistan is not only the 70,000 Taliban but the vision of Talibanism and extremism among some people in the country,” said Mohammad Salihi, an Afghan social activist. Another Afghan social activist says it is time that all those religious scholars and people who are somehow supporting the Taliban and currently working with the government should be sacked and fired. Afghans are asking the government to take serious action against all those who are somehow supporting and raising their voices in support of the Taliban group. This comes amid increasing insecurities and surge in Taliban attacks in western Herat province.
