Hindus urged to abandon their faith as Muslim cleric calls for mass conversion and sharia rule

Case ID : 30a9328 | Location : India | Date of Incident : Thu, 6 July, 2023

Case ID : 30a9328

India

6 July, 2023

Hindus urged to abandon their faith as Muslim cleric calls for mass conversion and sharia rule

Predatory Proselytisation

Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism

Hate speech against Hindus

Mocking/denigrating Hindu leaders

Case Summary

A Muslim cleric publicly called upon India's Hindu leadership and the country's Hindu majority to abandon their faith and embrace Islam, while describing idol worshippers and non-Muslims as misguided people who needed to be brought onto the path of Islam. During the interview, he also spoke about expanding conversion efforts across India, advocated the implementation of Sharia law, and warned of punishment for those who rejected the teachings of Islam. In an interview with Times Now Navbharat, Tablighi Jamaat Maulana Tauqeer Ahmad stated that his primary objective was to carry out Dawah and encourage as many people as possible to accept Islam. He specifically invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to convert to Islam, stating that many of the country's problems would be resolved if they did so. He further said that he would explain the true meaning of Deen and Islam to them and expressed confidence that they would eventually become Muslims. During the interview, Tauqeer Ahmad claimed that more than 20 lakh non-Muslims had converted to Islam in India since 2014. He further asserted that the objective of the Tablighi Jamaat was to establish Sharia law in India and cited Taliban ruled Afghanistan as an example, stating that Sharia would come to India in a similar manner. He also claimed that the Tablighi Jamaat was involved in 99 per cent of religious conversions to Islam and explained that members of the organisation approached non-Muslim youth by teaching them verses from the Quran, Hadith, and accounts of Islamic prophets as part of their conversion efforts. Tauqeer Ahmad further stated that those who rejected the message of Islamic prophets ultimately faced punishment. He also described idol worshippers as misguided people who needed to be brought to the path of Allah. In doing so, he characterised practices that are central to Hindu worship and belief as erroneous and presented conversion to Islam as the appropriate remedy. The cleric also described the organisational structure behind these conversion efforts. He stated that the Tablighi Jamaat was conducting Dawah activities across the country with the objective of bringing as many non-Muslims as possible into the fold of Islam. He further claimed that the organisation received financial support from Arab countries, Afghanistan, and other foreign nations, and that these funds were used to provide financial assistance to individuals who converted to Islam after leaving their previous religion. While explaining this mechanism, he specifically referred to Hindus who embraced Islam and stated that financial support was extended to converts who were expelled from their homes by their families after conversion. Taken together, the interview contained repeated appeals for the religious conversion of non-Muslims, including India's highest elected leaders, described Hindu forms of worship as misguided, warned of consequences for rejecting Islamic teachings, and openly articulated the objective of expanding Islam in India and establishing a legal order based on Sharia through sustained conversion efforts. The interview attracted widespread public attention and sparked debate over organised religious conversion campaigns and the public advocacy of replacing India's existing legal and social framework with one based on Sharia. At the time these remarks came to light, there was no information indicating that any police case or legal proceedings had been initiated against Tauqeer Ahmad in connection with the statements.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under two primary categories. The first is Predatory Proselytisation, and within this, the subcategory selected is Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The second is Hate speech against Hindus. Within this, the selected sub-category is Mocking/denigrating Hindu leaders. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Religious leaders are often seen as representatives of the community, especially, the community’s religious faith and beliefs. Mocking or denigrating a religious leader specifically owing to his religious identity and/or the religious rituals he observes can be considered hate speech because the motivating factor of the speech is animosity and/or dislike for what he represents – the religious beliefs and faith of the community. It is important to note that mere insulting words against an individual do not constitute hate speech. It is entirely possible that insulting words are used for an individual, however, the specific speech is not the result of religious hate and/or animosity towards the professed faith of the religious leader, but the individual himself. For the speech to be considered hate speech, the speech itself or the motivating factor behind the speech has to be religious in nature. Such speech which denigrates Hindu religious leaders specifically owing to animosity towards the faith they profess and the community faith they represent will be treated as hate speech under this category. This incident has been categorised as a hate incident because the statements were directed not merely at promoting Islam but at delegitimising Hindu beliefs, encouraging Hindus to abandon their religion, and portraying core Hindu religious practices as spiritually inferior. The repeated appeals for India's Hindu majority, including the country's elected Hindu leaders, to embrace Islam transformed what might otherwise be regarded as personal religious expression into a public call for the religious replacement of an entire community. By specifically identifying Hindus as the intended audience for conversion, the remarks singled out the Hindu community on the basis of its religious identity. The characterisation of idol worshippers as "misguided" is particularly significant because idol worship is a central and legitimate form of devotion in Hinduism. Describing Hindus as people who have strayed from the truth and need to be brought onto the "correct path" through conversion inherently delegitimises their faith and religious practices. Such rhetoric does not merely express theological disagreement. It establishes a hierarchy in which Hinduism is presented as an erroneous belief system requiring correction through religious conversion. When accompanied by repeated appeals to convert Hindus, such statements reinforce prejudice against Hindu beliefs and normalise the idea that Hinduism is a faith that ought to be abandoned. The remarks also went beyond isolated expressions of religious superiority by outlining an organised and sustained programme of religious conversion. The cleric openly spoke about nationwide Dawah activities targeting non-Muslims, claimed that his organisation was responsible for the overwhelming majority of conversions to Islam, described the methods used to influence non-Muslim youth, and referred to financial assistance being provided to converts. These statements portray religious conversion not as an individual spiritual choice but as a coordinated objective directed at expanding one religious community at the expense of another. Equally significant was the expressed aspiration to establish Sharia in India through widespread conversions, coupled with references to Afghanistan under Taliban rule as an example. When read alongside repeated calls for Hindus to embrace Islam, these remarks present the religious transformation of the country's Hindu majority as a means of fundamentally altering India's existing social and legal order. Such statements go beyond theological preaching and advocate replacing a community's religious identity through organised conversion efforts. For these reasons, the incident has been classified as a hate incident. The combination of denigrating Hindu forms of worship, portraying Hindus as spiritually misguided, publicly urging the country's Hindu majority to renounce their faith, and advocating organised conversion efforts directed at Hindus reflects hostility towards Hindu religious identity and promotes the erosion of that identity through mass religious conversion. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when a crime occurs, not when it is reported in the media. However, in this case, the available media reports do not specify the exact date on which the cleric made such statements. Accordingly, the date on which the incident was published in the media, 7th July 2023, has been adopted as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.