A month ago, six thousand Muslim clerics congregated in Hyderabad to sign on to a declaration condemning terrorism. Initiated by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which is closely identified with the Darul Uloom at Deoband, the resolution sought to remind the nation that jihad and terrorism were “poles apart” and that “terrorism is the biggest crime as per the Quran”. In a secular democracy such as India such assertions do not, of course, have any implications of enforcement. But in times when dreadful acts are carried out in the name of religion, or are seen to be undertaken in the name of religion, the clarity they give to popular discourse is valuable. And when issued by prominent centres of religious thought like Deoband, they undermine those who act murderously with the illusion of clerical encouragement. Terrorism, as the Hyderabad meet underlined, cannot be connected to any religion.

This is why a contention last week by Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, is particularly outrageous. In a debate in the Security Council he drew a thread between terrorists in his country’s northwest and the clerics at Deoband. Leaders of the Jamiat Ulema -e-Hind and the Darul Uloom have rightfully refused to let it go uncontested. Haroon had argued: “It is for the clerics in Deoband, who wield great influence in the North West Frontier... and FATA, to come to Pakistan, get together and embed, offer a fatwa in Pakistan against suicide bombing and killings of Muslims in Pakistan and also in India.” As the deputy vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom told this newspaper: “I find it very hard to believe such a linkage has been drawn... we certainly exercise no influence over them [terrorists].”

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