Controversial Islamic outfit, Raza Academy known for inciting riots, has once again threatened that ‘Sweden will have more violence than France’. The organisation has a history of violence from Azad Maidan in 2011 to the recent protests against the film Ajmer 92, they have been held culprits in inciting clashes among communities a number of times.
The academy was founded in 1978 by Sunni leader Ahmed Raza Khan, who lived in the 20th century. Its office is located on Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai. It is known for holding protests and raising voices in support of minorities.
Before moving ahead with the organisation’s past let us take you through what happened in France. A 17-year-old boy with a criminal record was allegedly killed by police. The country is witnessing act of arson and vandalism in different parts of the country since his death. Reinforcements were sent to Marseille, Nanterre, Paris and other parts of the country. The Emmanuel Macron government has said that the violence has “lessened” now but deployed 45,000 police to the streets nationwide to curtail the situation.
The Raza Academy said similar attacks will happen in Sweden as well. The comment comes as a response to the burning of the Islamic religious text Quran in Sweden. Notably, Salwan Momika, reportedly an Iraqi residing in Sweden, set fire to a copy of the holy book of Islam near Stockholm’s central mosque. The act of burning the Quran was met with condemnation from numerous countries with Muslim-majority populations.
In response to the incident, a sizable gathering amassed outside the embassy in Baghdad on June 29. The protests were seen in Iran, Iraq and Pakistan among other Muslim nations.
The Raza academy has been protesting against the sacrilege and hence threatened, if not stopped Sweden will have much more violence than taking place in France.
A little history of the organisation
In 2012, it came to light that the Raza Academy does not have any registration. Its founder and President Saeed Noori did not even receive a formal Islamic education. He was into the sewing thread business when he decided to become a leader of Sunni Islam.
Raza Academy under the leadership of Noori shifted direction from publishing literature to leading Islamist protests. The academy held several protests, which often led to violence, injuries and deaths. Despite its activities, Raza Academy has not been banned or subjected to police scrutiny.
As per the details available, Raza Academy has been the face of a number of protests in the past including the vandalism of the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial at Azad Madian in 2012, protests of Bhiwandi in 2006, in 2021 a protest organised against violence in Tripura, in 2015 the academy issued a fatwa against singer and composer AR Rehman, In July 2020, the Raza Academy opposed the release of “Muhammad: The Messenger of God”, a 2015 movie directed by Iranian director Mazid Mazidi, the list includes number of such protests.
On 11 August 2012, Raza Academy staged a protest at Azad Maidan ground against the alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar. However, the protest turned violent after the notorious group attacked the policemen. This led to police firing, resulting in 2 deaths and 63 injuries. Raza Academy had earlier assured the Mumbai Police that only 1500 people would turn up for the protest.
However, more than 15000 people assembled at the Azad Maidan, which later increased to 40000. The most shocking incident of the Azad Maidan Riots was the desecration of the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial by the Muslim mobs.
The organisation protested against the women’s rights programs of Taslima Nasrin and Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. It deemed the enactment of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 – which declared triple talaq (instant divorce) as a criminal offence – to infringe upon the religious rights of Muslims in India.
In 2015, Raza Academy issued a fatwa against music composer A. R. Rahman and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi for making a film on Muhammad. In 2018, it called for a ban on the public dissemination of the viral song “Manikya Malaraya Poovi” from Oru Adaar Love, which allegedly insulted Mohammed and his wife.
In October 2020, the Islamist outfit demanded that Muslim countries issue a fatwa against French President Emmanuel Macron after cartoons on Prophet Mohammed by Charlie Hebdo were projected onto government buildings. It demanded that all French embassies and consulates in Muslim countries be shut down and all ambassadors to France be recalled. It also urged people on social media to exercise their freedom of expression against the ‘Satanic-minded president’ using the hashtag ‘Macron the Devil’.
In February 2021, it lodged a complaint against the BBC for publishing a picture of Muhammad. The BBC revised the video and removed the contents that hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.
In September, Raza Academy ran a campaign on social media platforms, urging King Salman of Saudi Arabia to impose a ban on cinema halls in Madina Shareef. The Islamist outfit also held a protest march outside Minara Masjid in Mumbai. The protestors were heard raising slogans of “Saudi Hukumat Murdabad” and holding placards that read, “Saudi Government Must Stop Desecration of The Holy City of Madina Munawwarah.” The development came against the backdrop of the Kingdom’s decision to open 10 cinema halls in the country.
The organisation has been holding protests against the film Ajmer 92 which is based on the story of the victims of the 1992 Ajmer rape case involving the serial gangrape and blackmailing of more than one hundred school and college-aged girls in Ajmer, Rajasthan. The perpetrators were a group of young men led by Farooq and Nafis Chishty, members of the influential Khadim family that oversaw the caretaking of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah. Over the course of multiple years, ending in 1992, victims were lured into a remote farmhouse or bungalow, where they were sexually assaulted by one or several of the men. Additionally, the perpetrators took nude or otherwise revealing photographs of their victims, which were used as blackmail to prevent the women from speaking out.
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