Naseeruddin Shah slams Indian Muslims celebrating Taliban return in Afghanistan

Naseeruddin Shah

Veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah has released a video slamming Indian Muslims who have been celebrating the return of Islamist hardliner group Taliban in Afghanistan.

A video of Naseeruddin Shah calling out Taliban sympathisers in India has gone viral on Twitter, in which he can be heard calling the Taliban “barbarians” and their supporters “equally dangerous”.

The actor who is frequently in news over his views on political/ current affairs said Indian Muslims who are celebrating the Taliban return must question their beliefs.

Shah added: “At a time the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has left the whole world concerned, some sections of Indian Muslims are celebrating the return of the barbarians. They are no less dangerous.”

Naseeruddin Shah then urged fellow Indian Muslims to introspect on whether they really want to “reform Islam and support modernity or uphold and nurture the archaic, barbaric traditions and values”.

The 71-year-old actor further said: “As Mirza Ghalib had said long ago, my relationship with my God is unparalleled. I don’t need political religion. Hindustani Islam is different from the Islam that is practiced in the rest of the world, and may Allah see to it that a time doesn’t come where we are unable to even recognise that.”

After the video went viral, most Twitter users heaped praises on him, save some who rebuked him for commenting on Islam and its practices despite being a “non-practicing Muslim”.

Absolutely!
Taliban is a curse! pic.twitter.com/Bs6xzbNZW8

— Sayema (@_sayema) September 1, 2021

People who talk about reforming Islam forget that it is supposed to be the other way round.

{When it is said to them, “Do not spread disorder on the earth”, they say, “We are but reformers.”}

Quran (2:11)

— Shabih (@ShabihHasan) September 1, 2021