Kashmir’s Waqf Board faces backlash over uniform Friday sermons

A proposal to introduce common themes for Friday sermons at affiliated mosques and religious institutions in Indian-administered Kashmir has triggered backlash from political leaders and Muslim religious bodies.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday called the proposal "unacceptable," accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of interfering in Muslim religious affairs and urging the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board chairperson to withdraw it.

"The BJP appointed Chairperson must immediately halt this misplaced attempt to please her masters," Abdullah said in a post on US social media company X.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti also criticized the move, questioning who would decide what imams should preach.

"Our imams and maulvis know what to say and when to speak," she said, calling for the board to come under the administrative control of the Jammu and Kashmir government.

The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board is under the control of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party rather than the local elected government.

The Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a grouping of religious organisations, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq strongly condemned the move and said "that determining sermon content was the responsibility of Islamic scholars and not an administrative body."

It urged the board to focus on managing and protecting Waqf properties.

Former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Mattu also questioned the implications for religious freedom.

"If the BJP wants to decide what our Imams say in Friday sermons, what is left in this pretense of 'freedom of religion'??? Or the Constitution??" he said on X.

The controversy follows Waqf Board Chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi's announcement of a core committee of muftis, imams and khateebs to identify and finalize common sermon topics for affiliated institutions.

However, she denied that the board had issued any order making common themes for Friday sermons compulsory in its affiliated mosques.

She maintained that religious scholars and preachers were free to decide the subjects of their sermons without interference from the board.