Sonu Nigam shaves head in response to cleric’s ‘fatwa’
Within a couple of hours of Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam getting his head shaved, the Muslim religious leader from Kolkata who announced ₹10 lakh reward for anybody shaving Nigam’s head wriggled out from paying it.
Though he promised to pay the amount just a day earlier, Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi, vice-president, West Bengal United Minority Council, said on Wednesday he had put forward three conditions and shaving his head was only one of those.
“The question of paying ₹10 lakh does not arise as I had announced the reward not only to shave his head but also to garland him with torn shoes and touring him around the country wearing it,” Quaderi said. “It was not a fatwa. I had expressed my opinion,” he said.
On Wednesday, Nigam got his head shaved at a press conference at his residence. Hairstylist Aalim Hakim shaved his head.
“Today at 2pm, Aalim will come to my place, and shave my head. Keep your 10 lakhs ready maulavi,” Nigam tweeted on Wednesday morning.
The controversy was triggered after Nigam tweeted on Sunday: “I’m not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India.”
On Wednesday evening, Quaderi also demanded Nigam apologise publicly for his tweets.
Noor-ur-Rehman Barkati, imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque of Kolkata, also known as the ‘Fatwa Imam’ for having given fatwas against a number of persons, including PM Narendra Modi and author Taslima Nasreen, told HT it was not a fatwa. “I had a word with Quaderi and he clarified to me that it was his opinion to counter that of Sonu Nigam. If the singer can have his freedom of expression, so has anybody else,” Barkati said.
The singer did not single out mosques but was also opposed to public address systems in other religious places of worship such as temples and churches.
Barkati, who is close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, also said, “If Nigam is disturbed by the sound of namaz and that of temple and church bells, he should shift his house to a spot where none of these reach him.”
Barkati also referred to a litigation in Calcutta high court in the 1990s where a person wanted to include the sound of azaan in the list of noises above 165 decibels to be prohibited. “Former chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray fought the petition and the court turned down the plea,” he said. Quaderi is a relatively less prominent name in Kolkata’s cleric circle.
At Wednesday’s press conference, the Bollywood singer also struck a conciliatory note and said that he was sorry if anybody was hurt by his comments.