Support the Poor Muslim, not the Feudal Waqf Lords

The one creator, God, created the cosmos. He is the Supreme Controller. Yet nobody feels his control over anything. That's how God governs his creation. He always works behind the scenes without making his authoritative presence throttle his creation. Parents must provide their children with a fabric of loving care without making it evident so that children do not feel coerced to placate them. God is so gracious that he doesn't even demand people to acknowledge his presence. Likewise, the WAQF board, if it belongs to the creator God, should not come in the face of poor people (Peasants, Trusts/Societies, or Shopkeepers) with claims that threaten their existence.

 

Instead, Waqf must be a source of comfort to the hurting. If anybody can donate their properties to it, anybody can also be its beneficiary. Why do the Pro-WAQF politicians find it difficult to vote for the amended bill? Do they not care for the poor Muslims whose rights are denied due to the one-sided laws? Why don't they speak for Kerala Catholics and the Hindu peasants of Karnataka whose properties WAQF is claiming wrongly? These people don't even have a fighting chance with the present laws. After Parliament passes the amended rules, they can fight for their rights. Those who are against this amended bill are not fighting for minorities. They are fighting for the wealthy WAQF Lords against the weak.

 

What is Religion? Is it not God's way to dispense justice and help to the poor? Or is it a way to usurp what belongs to the impoverished in the name of God? Is not the WAQF created to help God's people? And who are God's people? Did not the same God –the one God– create all humans (Hindus, Christians, Muslims)? Does he not care for all humans equally? Will God attach the properties of people who are unwilling to offer voluntarily? It is a shame that the WAQF is claiming the lands of poor farmers? If an industrialist does it, what would Congress party call it? Perhaps, since it is a God-distributing agency with a healthy voter base that may help INC monetarily, the INC supports the wealthy WAQF board leaders.

 

The only people who don't need the WAQF to be transparent are the wealthy board leaders who want to control everything Waqf owns. What's the need for so much attachment to power? Is it for good motives, or is there something ulterior they don't want the world to know? Why can't females be included on the board? Are they not yet equal to male members of the society? What's wrong with some outsiders monitoring? Will the minority's rights be affected if they do the right thing? Why do they challenge the law that states that the government can take back the properties wrongfully claimed by WAQF? Are they claiming any such properties? Why claim others' properties for God?

 

I can understand the logic that if Christian societies have only Christian people and Hindu societies have only Hindu people, then the WAQF must have only Muslim people. Even so, the provision to include two non-Muslims came from complaints against the WAQF's transparency. If there were no such issues, there would be no need for non-Muslims. Since so many extraordinary Hindu politicians fought against this amended bill in the Parliament, what is wrong with including two such secular Hindus on the WAQF board for transparency's sake? If only Muslim males are the members of the WAQF, how can they have an unbiased view about how they deal with Muslim women, poor Muslims, and people whose properties they claim to own unfairly.

WAQF Amendment Bill is fair . It corrects the unfairness of Al-Al-Aulad, Waqf by user, and WAQF donation of properties that people don't themselves own. It also rights the wrongs done to people who purchased the property and are targeted by WAQF boards and tribunals. They can now approach the court directly. Including two women and two neutral (secular) men in the WAQF would add to its credibility. 

Finally, government property belongs to the people of the country, not the WAQF. You may declare anything as waqf, but in a sense the whole cosmos is a property of God. Therefore, these narrow minded, medieval laws like Al-Al-Aulad need to be revoked completely to give fair rights to the legal heirs even if they are females. If Allah can't receive the prayers or soul of a non-Muslim, how can he receive his property only?

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27). Is this not the work of pure religion? Then, why bother claiming rights to the properties others own or use? Why behave like Feudal Lords, attaching the lands of peasants and shops of poor traders who are affected by so many atrocities that you propose to fight against? The Congress party has once again embarrassed itself by supporting the wealthy Lords against the Weak peasants in the Parliament. It seems that God is working through the team we label as SuitBootKiSarkar, at least this one time.