A Kerala Salafi preacher has asked the parents to not send their children to mainstream schools that attempt to take them away from Allah and make them Kaffirs. He however asked the community to set up home schools where the children would be taught in the pure Islamic way.
Prasanth MP reported for The Times of India that the audio speech a Salafi preacher Abdul Mohsin Aydeed surfaced on Sunday on an Islamic learning portal.
“In biology textbook of tenth standard it is explained that there are two opinions on creation. They say one is that God created, which is only a speculation. The other is that we are evolved from apes. Let others believe that their forefathers are apes, but we are the descendants of Adam,” the preacher said.
In the one-hour-long audio speech uploaded on edawa.net, the preacher can be heard asking the parents to make sure that their children follow the path of Allah.
Though it is unclear where the speech was delivered, the audio of the speech was uploaded with the title ‘We shouldn’t let them take our children’.
Interspersed with the verses of the Quran, Abdul Mohsin Aydeed reiterates that Muslims should bring up their children not according to other rules, but according to the ways prescribed by Allah.
“We should introspect whether we have fulfilled our duties with regard to our children, that Allah has bestowed on us. We should seriously introspect how much effort we have put in to lead our children through the path of Allah,” the preacher says.
Saying that Allah has asked Muslims to not only protect themselves but also their entire family, Aydeed says that children are the torch-bearers of Islam after them. And hence, Allah has given them the responsibility to lead their children towards him.
“We should understand that Allah has already prescribed the way we should bring up our children. We don’t need anybody else to tell us that. No government or police can dictate how we should bring up our children. Allah gave us our children so that we can bring them up in the way he has prescribed,” the preacher reiterates.
Children must be made to do niskaram (prayers) from the age of 7. And in case they refuse to practice it, Allah has given the right to parents to punish their children once they turn the age of 10, says the preacher. He adds that the children should sleep separately after the age of 10.
Declaring that Muslims should strictly follow the ways of Allah, and what appears to be an address to the government, the preacher says,
“Our children are not guinea pigs to follow your textbooks that change every 5 years. Allah has already prescribed what they should learn. We won’t follow the guidelines that your politicians, who came along just yesterday, wrote on how we should bring up our children. That is why we have kept our children away from you.”
He then goes on to justify this by saying that textbooks of other schools do not carry what Muslim parents want their children to learn and that not knowing the English alphabets will not prevent Muslims from attaining heaven.
“You protect Allah, Allah will protect you. This is what we want our children to learn. Are these there in your textbooks? Do your textbooks say that Allah should be given respect?"
He says that parents will send their children to “your schools” only if they start teaching about Allah.
“But if you are trying to inject hatred in their minds, how will we send them? So we will not send our children to your schools. They want us to be Kaffirs. They are not targeting just a couple of schools, but they are targeting Islam. Because they fear the future of Islam,” the preacher continues.
Background
Salafi schools and Salafi teachers in Kerala have come under the scanner after almost 20 people from the state joined the Islamic State in July this year.
Mohsin Fareed belongs to the group of Salafi preacher Shamsudeen Fareed alias Shamsudeen Palath who had a case filed against him last month for delivering speeches promoting enmity among communities.
In his speech Fareed had asked Muslims to flee India and go to countries that follow Quran.
The latest speech has surfaced at a time when Peace International schools, a chain of schools run by Salafi Muslims have been booked by Kerala Police for spreading enmity between two groups.