In a video, the actor said all Indian Muslims should be introspective if they want “reform and modernity” in religion or if they live with dated “barbaric” values.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has criticized a section of Indian Muslims for celebrating the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan and said it is a cause for concern.
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The Taliban ousted the government in Afghanistan and took control of the country after capturing Kabul last month.
Shah, in a video that has gone viral on Twitter, said all Indian Muslims should be introspective if they want “reform and modernity” in religion or if they live with “barbaric” values.
“While the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for everyone, the celebrations of the barbarians in some sections of Indian Muslims are no less dangerous. All Indian Muslims should ask themselves if they want reform and modernity in Islam or the barbaric values of the last centuries, ”Shah said in the video.
The 71-year-old actor referred to Mirza Ghalib’s poem and said his relationship with the Almighty is informal (betakaluff).
“I don’t need a political religion,” he said.
Shah said Indian Islam has been different from the rest of the world and hoped it would never change beyond recognition.
“Hindustani Islam duniya bhar ke islam se humesha mukhtalif raha hai. Khuda woh pandan na laye ki woh itna badal jaye ki hum use pehchaan bhi na sake. (Indian Islam has always been different from the rest of the world. May God not lead a time when it changes so much that we don’t even recognize it), ”he added.