Mirwaiz Umar Warns Against the ‘Normalisation of Abnormal’ in J&K

 Srinagar: A day after emerging from yet another round of house detention, Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric, Mirwaiz Muhammad Umar Farooq, voiced sharp concern over what he described as the growing normalisation of restrictions on religious rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking against the backdrop of a region where law and order is overseen directly by the Centre through its appointed Lieutenant Governor, the Mirwaiz argued that the elected government cannot remain passive “when people’s rights and institutions are under assault.” He stressed that silence from those chosen by the public is not only disappointing but deeply damaging.

The cleric-politician had been confined to his home earlier in the week, initially to prevent him from visiting the family of a 12‑year‑old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in central district of Budgam. The restrictions were then extended through Id‑ul‑Zuha, during which Srinagar’s historic Idgah grounds and Jama Masjid were sealed off, preventing the traditional congregational prayers that mark the festival. When he finally addressed worshippers on Friday from the pulpit of the Grand Mosque in central Srinagar, the Mirwaiz spoke with a mix of sorrow, urgency and warning.

He lamented that, as in previous years, Id prayers were once again barred at both Idgah and Jama Masjid. While the emotional hurt caused by these repeated curbs was undeniable, he said the deeper danger lay elsewhere. “The greatest danger to any society is when abnormal things begin to appear normal,” he cautioned. When a community is denied the right to gather peacefully for prayer year after year, he warned, future generations may begin to believe that such restrictions are the natural order of things. “It is not.”

The Mirwaiz described the silence of Idgah on Id morning as profoundly unnatural, just as the closure of Jama Masjid on one of Islam’s holiest days was anything but normal. A community cut off from traditions that have shaped its religious life for centuries, he said, cannot be expected to quietly accept such ruptures. What troubled him even more was the growing quiet around these actions. While acknowledging that avenues of expression have been severely curtailed through bans, threats and arrests, he insisted that silence cannot be the response.

He reserved his strongest criticism for elected representatives who, he said, watch as “mere spectators,” claiming helplessness while continuing to enjoy the privileges of office. When the rights and institutions of the very people who elected them are under strain, he argued, it is their fundamental duty to speak up. Institutions, he reminded them, are tested not by how they handle easy matters but by how they respond when fundamental freedoms and deeply held public sentiments are at stake. Silence may be convenient, but it weakens institutions, disempowers people and deepens their sense of loss.

Reflecting on the repeated restrictions on Id prayers at Idgah and Jama Masjid, the Mirwaiz said they raise a profound question- whether the religious, cultural and historical identity of a people will be respected and accommodated, or whether it will be expected to quietly shrink under the weight of each new restriction until it dissolves. “The issue is of our basic existence as a people,” he said, urging serious reflection. Whatever course the community chooses, he emphasised, it must be guided by dignity and preservation.

Yet even as he spoke of hurt and uncertainty, the Mirwaiz urged people not to let disappointment harden into despair. Islam, he said, offers strength and hope even in difficult times. Kashmir’s own history shows that despite repeated pressures, its institutions have survived because people held them close in their hearts and memories. “As long as that faith remains alive within, no restriction can erase it,” he affirmed.