Through half-page advertisements published this morning in all editions across six states of the Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara, 17 prominent ulema and muftis from different sects have issued a joint statement warning all Muslims to beware of a man named Shakeel bin Hanif and his followers. Hanif, who is ‘Hazrat JI’ to his band of followers, claims to be Jesus and Imam Mahdi whose return to earth at the end of times forms part of the belief of Muslims.
Though Hanif claims to be a devout follower of Islam, according to the statement, he is a fraud and an apostate and so his followers too are apostates. Thus they are “outside the fold of Islam” and Muslims are advised to beware of the “mischief” of this “Dajjal”. Muslims believe Dajjal is an evil figure who will surface close to the Day of Judgment pretending to be Jesus returning to earth.
The joint statement asks Muslims to remain on high alert, immediately inform religious leaders of the activities of any of his followers, severe all relations with them and not allow them to enter their mosques.
The immediate prompt for the ad-blitz is the incident in Delhi two days ago when four followers of Hanif reportedly entered the Hari Masjid in Jamia Nagar to propagate their belief. The Rashtriya Sahara yesterday reported that “caught red-handed” they were handed over to the trustees of Hari Masjid.
The trustees reportedly tried to reason with the young men and later asked them to leave the mosque. As soon as they came out of the mosque the foursome allegedly resorted to stone throwing following which they were apprehended and handed over to the police who have registered an FIR against Hanif’s four followers.
Hailing originally from Darbangha in Bihar, young Hanif moved to Delhi in 1991 after being disowned by his family who refused to subscribe to his claims of being the promised Imam Mahdi and Jesus. He is currently believed to be living underground and propagating his faith among Muslims in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
While his present contacts are not known, a booklet in Urdu may be accessed online – wherein Hanif rebuts the many allegations against him – provides some interesting details of his background.
Here is ‘Hazrat Ji’ in his own words: “In 1991 I was studying in a college in Darbangha city and staying in a lodge. While the battle between Saddam Hussain and the Allied Forces was in its last stage, around the time of the last namaz of the evening, I received a command from Allah to dedicate my life in the service of Islam. I, therefore, had to abandon my college studies to devote myself to the task assigned to me.”
The joint statement says Muslims and the ulema who have already been fighting the “kufr” of the Ahmeddiyas for a long time have now to join battle against the new “apostates”. The Ahmeddiyas who consider themselves to be Muslims and followers of Islam but according to the other Muslims they are apostates and have had to face severe prosecution in Pakistan.