When we talk about Love, how does jihad plays a role in it? With the recent rising cases in India regarding Inter-religion marriage and especially Hindu-Muslim Marriage; Love Jihad comes as a criticism. Does Love Jihad actually exist? Or it is a term used to divide communities?
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan once stated “The word ‘jihad’ has nowhere been used in the Qur’an to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather a mean ‘struggle’. The action most consistently called for in the Qur’an is the exercise of patience. In September 2019, the Supreme Court mentioned a fascinating objective fact, on account of the instance of Anjali Jain who wedded a Muslim man in Arya Samaj sanctuary after he changed over to Hinduism. The young lady’s family asserted that his change was a hoax and he had changed over back to Islam after marriage. The court said that while Inter-faiths relationships are useful for the general public and should be empowered the girl’s interests need to be protected as well.
The court’s emphasis on protecting the girl’s interests open new dimensions of looking at the alleged cases of Love Jihad. It is significant first to characterize Love Jihad. A stricter definition would restrict the wonders to the situations where a non-Muslim individual is baited into a relationship, with the aim of changing her over to Islam. Because of the close and muddled nature of such a relationship, such an expectation is difficult to demonstrate in an official courtroom, regardless of whether the case includes different wrongdoings like beatings and badgering. Moreover it is believed that The phrase “love jihad” is meant to inflame dark fears that Muslim men who woo Hindu women might be trying to convert them to Islam — a prejudice that the Hindu right has tried to stoke for nearly a decade (Stated in Washington post). Where cases like Nikita Tiwari and Anjali Jain highlights Love Jihad in society it often becomes enforcement. With the UP government Romeo Juliet law it can be said that use of the term has spread on social media with the rise of the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a time when religious hatred is growing on Facebook in India, its largest market.
In recent turn of events Tanishq advertisements was banned in order to calm down the public. The Advertisement where a Muslim mother-in-law accepted her Hindu daughter-in-law triggered the public that they are promoting love jihad. In the previous not many years, in any case, from a certain point of view network endogamy apparently were terrible and culturally diverse relationships an indication of public solidarity. This is the reason, in any event, while setting thoughts of “Love jihad”, its advocates needed to in principle contend that it included a few components of criminality. In any case, the most recent couple of long periods of unencumbered Hindutva have considered even that misrepresentation to be dropped. There is no requirement for a canine whistle any longer: presently even a glad, deliberate between strict associations can be discoloured with the terrible, common designation “love jihad”. And therefore the statement by Supreme Court plays a very important role; “Girls interest needs to be protected”.
Manasvi Srivastava
Manasvi is keen to watch things with her inquisitive lenses; she tends to find answers of all her curiosities. She is currently pursuing her graduation in journalism from Kalindi College, University of Delhi.
