Darul Uloom Deoband, India’s largest Islamic seminary, is back in the headlines for another “fatwa”, reported first by news agency ANI and amplified by sections of the legacy media – ostensibly to manufacture a controversy where none existed.
It all began with a cleric, Asad Qasmi, objecting to a chartbuster Shiv bhajan by former Indian Idol contestant Farmaani Naaz. Farmaani posted her rendition of the song, titled Har Har Shambhu, on her YouTube channel last month.
