Why Namaz on Roads is a problem?

The month of Ramzan concluded this week with Eid-al-Fitr and like every year there were prayers organised on road barring traffic and causing inconvenience to common people. However, this is not new as we have been watching it forever. No law is in force to curb such gatherings, where thousands of people sit on national highways or any public place to offer Namaz. This cannot be justified under ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’ as such gatherings have hidden political agendas.

This year visuals from the Delhi-Jaipur Highway showing thousands of people obstructing the public passage were shared widely. There were reports of such prayers being organised from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh as well.

The problem is though, Islam sees itself in a binary way, where there is Islamic rule and there is non-Islamic rule. There is the believer and there is the kafir. Defeating the kafir is central to Islamic belief systems, and this makes it political.

It is noteworthy that, the number of namazis has increased manifold due to the rise of organisations like the Tablighi Jamaat.

What happened at Ram Navami and especially what unfurled following the Friday prayers this year reveals that these gatherings are not just peaceful meet-ups. Such, gatherings have political and nefarious motives and sometimes may even lead to violent activities.

Some of the visuals from this year’s Namaz on Streets:

5 km long Jam on Delhi-Jaipur road due to Namaz in the middle of the road.

A video of the highway near TP Nagar in Dehradun has gone viral, in which it can be seen that people are offering Eid prayers by blocking the road.

In Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh Muslims offered Namaz on roads even after the police officials made it clear that no such gatherings will be allowed. Police had already removed the roadside tents outside Idgah on Chhaprauli road. But soon, hundreds of people from the Muslim community gathered outside the Idgah and were on sitting on the road saying that there was less space inside. They refused to adhere to the officer’s orders and offered Namaz on the streets.

Notably, there are countries even Islamic countries around the world have barred people from offering Namaz on the streets. There are about 8 lakh mosques in Indonesia, while there are more than 3 lakh mosques in India. Still, more people show up on the streets offering Namaz in India. However, there are some reports which suggest that the maximum number of mosques in the world is not in Indonesia, but in India.

There are 27 countries in the whole world whose national religion is Islam, but despite this, Namaz is not offered on such a large scale in the open. There is a law in Saudi Arabia that no one can offer Namaz by stopping the vehicle.

Offering Namaz on the road in UAE is a big problem for the administration there. This is the reason that the Dubai administration has decided to impose fines on those who offer Namaz by parking their vehicles on the road. Those who do this will have to pay a heavy fine of 500 dirhams i.e. 8800 rupees. Dubai Traffic Police has already requested people several times to avoid offering Namaz on the roadside. Now, they impose fine on those offering Namaz by stopping their vehicles.

There is no such law to curb Islamic prayers on streets or any rule to impose fine on those barring traffics.

Apart from protests in November 2021, following the Namaz in public at Gurugram by Hindu activists there has been no big event to count on when Hindus united to demand action against such gatherings. If there were ever demands even in the murmuring voices, the idea of ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’ rattled it.

Hindus in Gurugram staged protests demanding action against Namaz gatherings. The matter escalated after, Hindu children playing cricket refused to vacate the ground for the namaz offerings.

People protesting accepted on camera that they travel 50 kilometres to offer Namaz in public. “This is Sector 10 of Gurugram. I am coming here (every Friday) for the past 10 years,” the man named Khalid informed. On being asked about protests against the offering of Namaz on the road, the Muslim man had denied the occurrence of any such incident.

“India is a secular country that needs a law to ban such gatherings, even if they are done twice a year. Say we allow these gatherings twice a year and then they will demand it every Friday. What we Hindus will do is take an off from work or keep waiting until the jam clears?” said a Bajrang Dal member protesting against Namaz on the streets.

Asked, what about the Navaratri and Ganpati visarjan processions on streets, he said, “We don’t pelt stones at common people after such processions or gatherings. There are permits and diversions. Those processions do not obstruct traffic on roads.”

The activist was referring to the attack on Hindu residential areas following the Friday Prayers in West Bengal after Islamists attacked Ram Navami procession in the state this year. After the Friday prayers, there were targeted attacks on Hindu houses.

States including Uttar Pradesh and Madras have imposed a strict ban against these gatherings be it on the occasion of Friday or Eid. Although, these bans are temporary as there is no such law to impose a total ban on the gatherings.