BJP-controlled Waqf Board seeks control over Friday sermons in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Kashmir (MNTV) — A BJP-controlled Muslim religious endowment board in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir has proposed deciding what topics imams can address during Friday sermons, triggering strong opposition from Kashmiri political leaders who accuse India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party of attempting to control Islamic religious discourse in the Muslim-majority region.

The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board plans to establish a committee of Islamic scholars and preachers to select common themes for Friday sermons, known as khutbahs, delivered at mosques and shrines under its administration.

The proposal would shift control over sermon topics from individual imams to a committee established by the board, whose chairperson, Syed Darakhshan Andrabi, is a BJP leader appointed to the position.

Although the board maintains that religious scholars rather than government officials will choose the topics, it has not disclosed how committee members will be selected or whether imams will retain the freedom to deliver sermons independently.

The initiative has raised concerns about political interference in Islamic worship in Kashmir, where Friday sermons traditionally provide religious guidance while also addressing social issues affecting Muslim communities.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the proposal as an unacceptable intrusion into Muslim religious affairs.

“This is an unacceptable attempt by the BJP to interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims and will not be accepted under any circumstances,” Abdullah said.

He demanded that the board’s chairperson immediately withdraw the initiative, describing it as an attempt to please her political superiors.

Srinagar Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi also rejected the proposal, arguing that mosque pulpits must remain independent of political authority.

“The Waqf Board’s plan to dictate Friday sermons is an assault on our faith, dressed up as ‘coordination,’” Mehdi said.

“No committee should decide what our Ulema say in the house of Allah,” he added, referring to Islamic religious scholars.

National Conference leader Imran Nabi Dar warned that the arrangement could allow the BJP to determine which religious and social issues Kashmiri Muslims are permitted to discuss.

“They will decide what issues our preachers will talk about, what color they will give them and what issues are brushed under the carpet,” Dar said.

“The content will be theirs, the wording will be theirs and the intent will be theirs,” he added.

Dar expressed confidence that prominent Kashmiri religious leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, would oppose the initiative.

Defending the proposal, Andrabi said a committee of Islamic scholars would identify common themes addressing social concerns, including drug abuse and women’s issues.

She insisted that neither she nor government officials would directly select sermon topics and that traditional Islamic sermons would remain unchanged.

However, questions remain about the committee’s composition, its independence and whether preachers would be required to follow its recommendations.

During an online meeting with religious preachers, board official Ishtiyaq Mohi-ud-Din disclosed that instructions had already been issued approximately a month earlier asking imams to address common sermon topics.

The board is also exploring ways to extend the initiative to mosques outside its direct administration.

The controversy comes against the backdrop of longstanding tensions over religious and political autonomy in Indian-administered Kashmir, where New Delhi revoked the region’s special constitutional status in August 2019 and brought it under greater federal control.