Jaipur: Announcing that he will stop eating beef, Ajmer dargah head Zainul Abedin Khan called upon Muslims to give up beef eating. Mr Khan is the direct descendant in the 22nd generation of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, the Sufi saint.
“My family and I have taken a pledge on this day that we will never have beef for the rest of our lives,” he said in a statement while urging the Muslim community to do the same.
“On the occasion of the 805th Urs (death anniversary) of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti, who all through his life strived for peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims, we (Muslims) should give up eating beef to honour the religious sentiments of our Hindu brethren,” he said.
Mr Khan also supported the Gujarat government’s recent legislation awarding life sentence for those found guilty of killing cows. The Gujarat Assembly had last week passed a bill enhancing the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment.
His appeal comes amid the ragging controversy over cow slaughter with many Indian states coming up with stringent laws to prevent killing of cows and eating its meat.
“This (Gujarat legislation) would be a great deterrent for those involved in killing cows for meat and other products,” he said and called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare cow as national animal. In fact, he appealed that slaughter of any animal should be stopped.
The Dargah diwan also criticised practice of Triple Talaq, saying that this is not only irrelevant in today’s time but also against spirit of holy Quran. According to him when marriage is matter between two families, how come Talaq can be given in private.
“Why some people in the community are reluctant to give up the practice which Quran and Prophet Mohammed never approved and is beyond the comprehension of a reasonable section of Muslim,” he said.
“Time has come to eschew the practice that victimises our sisters and daughters,” Mr Khan said, adding that Prophet Hazrat Mohammed had said that Allah did not like Talaq.
