Faizel Patel – 03/09/2020
KwaZulu-Natal attorney Yakoob Baig says the actions and utterances of Isipingo Beach resident Chandra Ellaurie to limit the athan is conducive to blasphemy.
Baig has laid charges of crimen injuria, blasphemy and hate speech against Ellaurie on Wednesday at the Isipingo police station.
Ellaurie sought a court interdict to silence the athan and shut down the Madrasah Taleemuddeen Islamic Institute’s operations in the residential neighbourhood saying it disturbed his peace and enjoyment of his property.
Judge Sidwell Mngadi ruled the Madrasah must ensure that the athan from the institute is not audible within the buildings of Ellaurie’s property, 20 metres away.
Speaking to Radio Islam, attorney Yacoob Baig says Ellaurie’s actions is a declaration for his blatant intolerance of Islam, which is unconstitutional.
Baig says it is obvious that Ellaurie has an inherent anti-Islamic agenda, which needs to be unmasked, and punitive consequences must be considered.
“The fact that he spoke in a very derogatory manner about Muslims constitutes hate speech and crimen injuria and this is ultra vires, it goes against the dictates of the constitution and this is why we decided to go ahead and press these charges.”
Baig says while Muslims are not being vindictive against Ellaurie, they want to see justice take its course.
“It’s one thing to be critical and disapprove of another person’s religion, but to insult them and to say derogatory things is something else. So we didn’t want to tolerate this as the image of our beautiful, pristine deen is at stake here.”
Baig says the Muslim community are quite amenable to engage with Ellaurie provided he has a “change of heart”
“In fact I was asked by one brother that shouldn’t we pardon him. I said yes, if he comes forward, our deen teaches us to be amenable, to be reasonable. But if we don’t take this matter up, the others will say look, there’s some semblance of truth in what this man has uttered and this is why Muslims haven’t done anything about it.”
Baig says they decided to approach the Equality Court because it specialises in matters of such a nature.
Listen to the interview with Yakoob Baig
0 Comments