Fatwa issued against Bihar minister Khurshid Ahmed over chanting Jai Shri Ram'

Patna: A Muslim cleric, Suhail Ahmed Quasmi, on Sunday issued a fatwa against Bihar minority affairs minister Khurshid Ahmed for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ outside the legislative Assembly.

Suhail, who is a Mufti of Imarat-e-Sharia, an Islamic religious body in Bihar declared the minister’s nikah as null and void and asked him to “apologise in an Islamic manner to remain a Muslim”. He said “a woman who follows Islam cannot remain married to a person who leaves his religious path and starts believing in another religion. He will have to apologise in an Islamic way to remarry the same wife”.

The verdict created controversy and sparked a debate within the political circles here. While JD(U) and BJP leaders termed the fatwa against the minister “unfortunate”, RJD leader and former minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui said, “Those who have faith in Islam will accept the fatwa”.

The senior RJD leader further said that “it seems that the JD(U) leader chanted the slogan in excitement”.

Khurshid Ahmed had chanted slogans outside Bihar Assembly on Friday, the day Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the vote of trust after he snapped ties with Grand Secular Alliance and joined hands with the BJP.