When it was feared that the South African newspapers would follow suit and print the offensive cartoons, an urgent High Court interdict was obtained to restrain the newspapers from printing any cartoons of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).
Although the application for the court order was made in the name of the Transvaal (Gauteng) Jamiatul Ulama, it was a joint venture by several Ulama organisations, and the first step was initiated by the Jamiatul Ulama of Kwazulu-Natal. The interdict is a temporary one. The return date is 28th February 2006. It remains to be seen if the newspapers are going to contest it.
THE TREACHERY OF THE TRANSVAAL JAMIAT
THE HIGH COURT interdict was the fruit of joint action by the Ulama notwithstanding the fact that the application was made in the name of only the Transvaal Jamiat. The stand of the Sunday Times prior to the interdict was:
• The paper had not taken a decision about publishing the cartoons.
• That freedom of the press should not be held hostage by pressure groups.
• The paper was aware of the sensitivities of the Muslim community, but it would not bow to any pressure group, no matter how strongly their views are held or how correct they may believe their position to be. This was stated in a letter to the
Transvaal Jamiat.
• The paper had declined to give the Jamiatul Ulama of Transvaal an undertaking not to publish the cartoons.
In view of this stand taken by the Sunday Times, the Ulama, including the Transvaal Jamiat, took the decision to apply for the court order, and to boycott the paper.
SECRET MEETING
The effectiveness of the boycott constrained the Sunday Times to open negotiations with the Jamiatul Ulama of Transvaal. In a treacherous move, the Transvaal Jamiat was in clandestine dialogue with the Sunday Times.
The Jamiat of Transvaal lacked the common and brotherly decency of informing its Natal counterpart, Jamiatul Ulama of Kwazulu-Natal of the secret meeting with the Sunday Times.
On issues of national importance, the two Jamiats (Transvaal and Natal) usually act jointly. Although the Sunday Times boycott too was initiated jointly, the Transvaal Jamiat deemed it proper to ignore the Natal Jamiatul Ulama, hold secret meetings with the Sunday Times and call off the boycott without informing or consulting with the Ulama of the other provinces, the Jamiat of Natal in particular.
UNILATERAL
Only after having concluded an ‘agreement’ with the Sunday Times which provided a free full page advertisement to announce the unilateral ending of the boycott, did the Transvaal Jamiat inform the Jamiatul Ulama of Natal of its decision and action.
The astonishing move by the Transvaal Jamiat is tantamount to treachery. It has stabbed the other Ulama and the Muslim community in the back. It has dastardly created a crack in the united stand which
had been adopted against the Sunday Times.
The terms of the Jamiat-Sunday Times settlement agreement remain a mystery. The reasons which goaded or constrained or stampeded the Transvaal Jamiat into the unholy agreement with the Sunday Times have not yet been divulged by the Jamiat.
JAMIAT’S POSITION
The only smattering of information which the Transvaal Jamiat provided is the full page free advertisement devoid of substance. It is bereft of substance because the position in relation to the Sunday Times currently is identical with its position prior to the High Court order.
In fact, despite the dialogue and proclaimed ‘agreement’ with the Jamiat of Transvaal, the Sunday Times in an editorial of the same issue which carries the Jamiat’s announcement, stated its initial position with greater clarity and defiance.
To add salt to the wounds of the Muslim community, the paper provocatively published on the editorial page, alongside its editorial, an article declaring the right to freely express profanity against any religion regardless of the offence this entails for the Believers.
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In its editorial and in the supporting article, the Sunday Times negates whatever nonsense the Transvaal Jamiat advertises in the free page the paper has offered it. In this treacherous debacle, the Transvaal Jamiat has demonstrated its utter incompetence to deal with issues affecting the whole Muslim community. It has displayed an uncanny knack for bending over its back to comply with the wishes of those who declare their intention and supposed right of caricaturing even God and making a mockery of our Deen.
The Transvaal Jamiat has once again done a somersault. It has repeated the treachery of betraying Islam on the occasion when it had abandoned its publicly stated principles and stand, to obtain a licence for its Radio Shaitaan. Anyone who desires to have more information about the treachery and betrayal committed by the Transvaal Jamiat regarding the shaitaani radio station, may write to us for a copy of the book explaining the Jamiat’s somersault from Haqq to Baatil, landing itself into the cauldron of shaitaan.
UNCHANGED
The very reasons for which the Jamiatul Ulama of Transvaal had applied for the court order, exist today. It is a blatant lie to claim that an agreement has been thrashed out with the Sunday Times. This paper has merely reiterated its original stand and has even solidified it. It has made absolutely no concession to the Jamiat.
The Jamiat of Transvaal, in an attempt to bamboozle the Muslim community, cites the Sunday Times contention of ‘Muslim sensitivities’. But that postulate was stated very unambiguously by the Sunday Times prior to the obtainal of the court order. Just as the Sunday Times had before the court order refused to give an undertaking not to publish the cartoons, so too does it remain adamant now in its refusal. It furthermore, has not given an undertaking that they will not challenge the temporary interdict in court. Why then was the Transvaal Jamiat the applicant in the action against the Sunday Times, and why did it participate in organising the boycott?
Nothing has changed since that time. The treachery of the Transvaal Jamiat is most reprehensible. It has allowed itself to be manoeuvred and manipulated by the Sunday Times. For some unknown and inexplicable reason, the Transvaal Jamiat has buckled under Sunday Times pressure—whatever that may have been—and betrayed the Ummah in general, and the Ulama in particular.
QUESTIONS FOR TRANSVAAL JAMIATUL ULAMA
In a letter to the Transvaal Jamiatul Ulama, Dr. A. C. Vayej of Durban, writes:
“The full page advertisement appearing in the Sunday Times Extra and a similar one in the main paper refers. Please indicate who paid for the advert—the Jamiat or the newspaper owners?
Did the jamiat enter into a deal with the paper to call off the boycott? If so, what are the details in the interest of transparency?
Were you threatened with legal action by the newspaper or its holding company?
The jamiat has once again fallen into the trap set, i.e. “divide and rule”, and contributed to divisions amongst ulema organisations and the ummah when unity was paramount in the defence of our Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).
You did not exactly cover yourself in glory in the proposed Muslim Personal Law Bill and have failed the Muslim community once again.
I trust you will have the courage of your convictions to be transparent and favour me with answers. Dr. Ahmed Vayej “
We have reproduced this letter since it reflects the concern of greater majority of the Muslim community of Transvaal, Natal and Eastern Cape.
