Rivalry among Mangaluru Salafi groups quenches media’s thirst for ISIS story

coastaldigest.com web desk
October 4, 2017

Mangaluru, Oct 4: A controversial voice message by the leader of one of the coastal Karnataka-based Salafi groups has sent shockwaves in the region after local media gave massive coverage to the 11-minute clip in which the speaker apparently discouraged his followers from joining another Salafi splinter group and claimed that its members dress like ‘ISIS’ terrorists.

The audio clip, which contains some advices and warnings by Ismail Shafi, vice-president of South Kanara Salafi Movement (SKSM), to the members of his organisation, unexpectedly went viral as people began to share it on social media platforms.

The Beary language clip also grabbed the attention of the local police officers who heard the word ‘ISIS’ but couldn’t immediately understand anything else. “The Beary audio clip contains the word ISIS. We got it translated to Kannada. Now we are verifying the authenticity of the speaker’s claims and allegations. We will take necessary action based on the probe report,” said Sudhir Kumar Reddy, superintendent of the police of Dakshina Kannada.

The speaker in the audio clip has levelled a series of allegations on so called Dammaj Salafi group, a by-product of the ongoing churning process within the Salafi movement in Kerala and Coastal Karnataka, and warned Salafis against joining that group.

According to the speaker, the clerics of Dammaj group brainwash the youths and college students of Muslim community, persuade them to discontinue the studies, leave the country and die in so called jihad. He says that the new group, which has built a mosque at BC Road in Dakshina Kannada with the help of funds provided by a man from Al-Khobar, identifies itself as Salafi group but indulge in extremism.

He says that Dammaj group members are present in Mangaluru, BC Road, Ullal, Kalladka, Maripalla areas of the coastal district and they are financially supported by a Moodbidri-based man. “They wear black or brown gowns... Their intention is to cause damage to Salafi movement and put an end to its da’wa activities,” he says adding that they are backed by Jews.

He also cautions the Salafi parents against forging matrimonial alliance with the members of Dammaj group claiming that they take their better halves to countries like Yemen and Afghanistan. “In Kerala, they are facing the charge of supplying men to ISIS,” the voice said.

Some of the other attention-grabbing allegations levelled by the speaker against the Dammaj group members are: “They don’t mingle with people; they don’t interact with non Muslims such as Hindus and Christians; they believe that India is not suitable for them and they prefer to leave the country; they don’t send their children to the schools here; they don’t travel by buses here; they don’t do any job; they keep their women in house arrest after forcing them to cover all their fingers with ‘black bandage’; their ultimate goal is to wage so called jihad and die...”

Comments

MSS KHOBAR
 - 
Monday, 9 Oct 2017

Most of the half learned people they cause damage and spoil the true religion of Almighty which has come as guidance to all humankind.

 

Our prophet preached not to be too extreme in following religion.

He advsised to follow middle path. 

 

We should study : 1)Quran,       2)Hadees     3) Sunnah the footsteps of Prophet and his sahabah. This will suffice to be follow true and acceptable Islam.

 

When anybody see following a true religion,  it itself is a marketing of preaching its fact.

Definitely they will be impressed and people will have more urge to know and follow them.

 

These are the basics and common sensed teachings. Then there will be no enemies.

 

Action speaks louder than the voice.

 

Mohammed Fayaz
 - 
Thursday, 5 Oct 2017

Dear friends,

 

First of all police should keep close vigilant on all those people who have taken in charge of muslim groups of mangalore like Salafi, Sunni, Jamath,Tabliki,anti hadees etc. this people just use religion to play politics for thier own personal gain, blaming each other creating ruckus in society, All beary belong to one single family one single ummah why dont we unite. Ya Allah keep us away from all groupism and guide us on straight path Ameen.

shabeer Puttur…
 - 
Wednesday, 4 Oct 2017

First arrest Ismail Shafi and give him third grade treatment then truth will come out, this guy 27 years back was in Puttur, Normally puttur Hindus and Muslims were like brothers that time, this ismail shafi wrote some bad words about Hindu gods, which divided  Hindu Muslim hearts.

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News Network
April 5,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 5: An elderly couple from Bengaluru

with a travel history to Dubai joined the list of coronavirus patients in the state, taking the total number of cases to 146, the health department said on Sunday.

The list includes four deaths and 11 discharges.

The 68-year old man and his 62-year old wife, hailing from Madiwala in the city, had returned from Dubai on March 22.

They were quarantined at a private hospital and have been asymptomatic.

Meanwhile, the government appealed to people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat Congregation in New Delhi to contact 080-29711171 Arogya Sahayavani, the medical helpline number.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Army personnel on Sunday distributed food packets and other essential items to the needy and sprayed Calcium Hypochlorite solution in Koramangala and Vanarpet areas amid the coronavirus lockdown.

The Central government had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly virus that has left several thousand dead globally.

A total of 979 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

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Abu Muhammad | coastaldigest.com
January 16,2020

Even as the Muslims of undivided Dakshina Kannada district broke out of the “spiral of silence” and made history by leading an unprecedented protest against CAA, NPR and NRC as well as the categorial mistreatment of non-saffronites at the hands of the police across the country, mainstream media turned a blind eye to the spectacle at the Shah Garden Maidan in Mangaluru’s Adyar where about two lakh patriots with tricolor in their hands converged to assert themselves on January 15th, 2020, a date which will be remembered by the people of coastal Karnataka forever.

The largest gathering in the history of Mangaluru was absolutely peaceful, law-abiding and respectful. While the slogans of ‘Azaadi’ were reverberating in the atmosphere, the protesters were seen making way for vehicles and passersby, taking care of women and helping elderly citizens on the highway adjacent to the ground. Though the organisers and most of the participants were Muslims, they collectively identified themselves as “We, the people of India”.

The district administration and the police department hadn’t imagined or even dreamt of such a mammoth gathering after blocking the highway and banning public transport from 9 am to 9 pm. Many opine that this action was taken only to discourage the concerned from participating in the protest and to create fear in the hearts of the people who are yet to process the unjustifiable deaths of two innocent citizens in an unwarranted police firing a few weeks ago.

What has since surprised the protesters most is the mainstream media’s blatant attempt to downplay the significance of this largest ever gathering. Shockingly, it could not make it to the front pages of any of the state-level Kannada daily newspapers except city-based Vaartha Bharathi. In the absence of The Hindu, which had announced a holiday on account of Makar Sankranti, most of the English newspapers too pitilessly buried the historic event in their inner pagers. National TV channels too were evidently reluctant to cover the event until NDTV started telecasting the news of the protest.

This uneasy relationship between the media and minorities in coastal Karnataka has long existed, but the non-coverage of the huge protest of Jan 15 marks a quantum leap beyond the media’s traditional pro-Sangh Parivar stance and biases –– which in the past had often demonised non-saffronites –– to now completely ignore and suppress the people’s voice. This media bias has naturally evoked a sharp response from netizens, who took to social media to issue clarion calls to boycott the mainstream media forever.

Cleanliness Drive

Most major protest meets and rallies –– both religious and political –– leave behind tonnes of garbage, especially water bottles, placards and buntings. However, the organisers of the Jan 15 protest meet led by example by launching a cleanliness drive in the area soon after the protesters left the venue peacefully. The drive continued on Jan 16 too. (Ironically, amidst this ongoing cleanliness drive, a local news portal captured photos of a few plastic bottles scattered along the road at Adyar and published a report accusing the event organisers and participants of polluting the area!)

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