Raza Academy, which operates from a small office in south Mumbai, has once again found itself in the limelight – this time for organizing a protest against the Tripura violence in Amaravati on Friday. The protest led to stone pelting, due to which BJP will call bandh In the city the next day.
Earlier, in 2012, a protest by Raza Academy founder Muhammad Saeed Noori along with others at Azad Maidan turned violent. What is Raza Academy, and why Shiv Sena Leader Sanjay Raut called it “BJP-promoted dress”? Indian Express telling.
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When and why was Raza Academy established?
Raza Academy was established in 1978 by Muhammad Saeed Noori along with few others. Noori has been the president of the organization since 1986. The Academy was formed primarily with the intention of printing and publishing books written by Ahmed Raza Khan, the founder of the Barelvi sect, which has considerable followers in South Asia, and other Sunni Muslim authors. Religion.
According to their website, “It was established for educational awareness among minorities, to raise voice against atrocities on minorities and also for all matters related to minority.” It has an office at Mohammad Ali Road, South Mumbai.
Who is Saeed Noori, the founder of Raza Academy?
According to claims, working in the sewing thread business, Noori formed the Raza Academy to promote the cause of Sunni Islam. He has not received any formal Islamic education. The academy is not associated with any academic work of note, but over time has been more identified with Muslims organizing protests across the city.
Why is the organization in the news after the violence in Amravati?
Protests have been organized by Muslims in many parts of Maharashtra, including Amravati, Malegaon and Akola, against the anti-Muslim violence in Tripura. The Raza Academy had called for a protest march in Amravati on Friday after weekly prayers. A few instances of stone-pelting were witnessed at the house of a BJP leader in the procession, resulting in breaking of a window and injuring one person.
After this, the BJP called for a bandh in Amravati on Saturday. Around 6,000 of its party workers and other affiliates came forward to execute it, during which violence broke out and some Muslim-owned shops were torched.
Subsequently, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut termed Raza Academy as “an organization promoted by the BJP”. Raut alleged that “for years it has been working to help the BJP”, implying that the Akademi had set the stage for the BJP to engage in violence the next day.
Noori did not answer phone calls.
Controversy has been included in Raza Academy
The Raza Academy has been involved in burning effigies of Salman Rushdie in Mumbai in 1999 after the government granted him a visa to visit India. Rushdie was facing a fatwa after his book, The Satanic Verses.
Another target of Raza Academy is Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, whose visit to Mumbai was opposed by the organisation. It also attempted to disrupt an event featuring him in the city.
Others against whom the Raza Academy has protested include the BBC, which used a picture of the Prophet Muhammad in one of its videos. In 2015, the group issued a “fatwa” against composer AR Rahman and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi in relation to the latter’s film “Muhammad: Messenger of God”. Rahman was working on the film.
Apart from the controversies, the Raza Academy, with the permission of the BMC, had facilitated the burial of Muslims who died during the Covid period. The academy says that they also helped during the 2018 Kerala floods.
Why was the Raza Academy criticized for the 2012 Azad Maidan riots in Mumbai?
On 11 August 2012, Raza Academy and Madinatullah Foundation organized a protest at Azad Maidan against the mistreatment of Muslims in Assam and Myanmar. However, the protests turned violent, resulting in the death of two people and injuring over 60 people, including the police. The protesters pelted stones and property worth Rs 2.74 crore was damaged. Raza Academy, Madinatullah Foundation along with other individuals were asked to pay for it, although Saeed Noori denied being an organiser.
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