The meeting was attended by Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Mukhtar, Director General of the MWL’s Office of External Relations, and Dr. Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Mukhtar, Director General of the MWL’s Office of International Islamic Studies.

During the meeting, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa and Sheikh Dr. Mahdi Salafi discussed several issues related to Islamic affairs and the concerns of Muslim peoples and minorities, especially in the Indian subcontinent.

Sheikh Dr. Mahdi Salafi stressed the MWL’s centrality in serving Muslims and representing their issues, and noted the importance of implementing the guiding principles of the Charter of Makkah.

His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa praised the efforts of Jamiat-e-Ahlehadees in India and its role in serving Muslims in the country. He also stressed the importance of cooperation between the MWL and Jamiat-e-Ahlehadees in serving Muslims and promoting Islamic values.

At the end of the meeting, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa and Sheikh Dr. Mahdi Salafi exchanged gifts.

The Ahlehadees, also known as the Salafis, are a constituent group of Sunni Muslims. They adhere to the pristine teachings of Islam as enshrined in the Quran and Prophet’s sayings, and reject what has not been enjoined by the Islamic Shariah. They do not invoke Saint’s blessings, and they do not stick to any of the Sectarian Jurisprudence.

Their estimated population is about 25-30 million in India. The Markazi Jamiat AhleHadees is their representative organization, founded in December 1906. It has 21 branches at state levels, more than 200 branches at district levels, and 40,000 at local levels. It has thousands of its followers all over the country who play a great role in the development of the country. Their representation in education, industries, agriculture, politics, and defence has been recognized and appreciated by the Government of India.

While Islamic traditions taught by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) make things easier and lighter.

An incredible campaign known as “Let’s Make Nikah Simple” started by a group of Kashmiri youth won applause in Kashmir valley with a lot of other NGOs and organizations planning to roll-out the concept in different areas of the state to cut down big-fat marriage ceremonies and customs, to a simple form of traditional Islamic wedding.

The campaign was started by a team called “Islam Way of Success (IWS)”, chaired by DRX Javeed Shameem. The campaign received green signal on 23rd of August 2020 by Shaykh Mohammed Yaqoob Baba Al-Madani who is the Mufti of a moderate Sunni-Muslim organization of Kashmir called as Jamiat Ahle-Hadees.

According to the manifesto of the IWS team, the campaign’s core agenda is to make Muslim marriages as simple as possible without any dowry culture—a culture whose origins go back to the Hindu marriage system where the father of the bride pays a huge amount of money to the groom. Moreover, high-demands and expectations from both the parties are also deemed as one of the reasons for delay in marriages.

The team claims that due to the dowry culture and other pompous customs, the Kashmiri society is inundated with the unmarried men and women, which is eventually causing societal degradation.

It’s believed that the women in the valley have crossed the age of 40 due to the unnecessaries.

The team describes the simple marriage ceremony in just six simple steps which they believe will lessen the burden on the society and will encourage the people to go for a “fast-track” process instead of big-fat weddings.

• First is, Ijab-o-Qubool where the two partners agree whole-heartedly for the marriage.
• Second is, the Mahar—an amount stipulated according to the Islamic tradition, which is gifted by the groom to his wife.
• Third is, Wali—a male member from bride’s side is incumbent to be present at marriage ceremony.
• Fourth is, the presence of eye witnesses.
• Fifth is, the marriage sermon.
• Sixth is, the simple Walima feast—which is Prophet Mohammed’s tradition to celebrate the marriage.

On the contrary, the team believes that various non-Islamic customs such as the dowry, the decorations and lavish feasts, the exchange of expensive gifts, the innovative ceremony of “Khatam Quran”—which takes place before a day of marriage, expensive dresses like Shervani and Legaa, and other post wedding ceremonies like Roth Khabar, etc. have burdened the society and are depriving the men and women from getting married. While Islamic traditions taught by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) make things easier and lighter.

Local news papers like Sadaa-e-Kohastan covered the campaign to make it known far and wide in the valley. The team believes to take the campaign on a larger scale in the future.

Asian News International (ANI) tweeted Moulana’s video where he mentioned that “India is Father of the World”, while the Arabs refer to Egypt as “Mother of the World”.

#WATCH Maulana Asghar Ali Salafi, President, Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind at a meet at NSA Ajit Doval's residence in Delhi, earlier today: This is not a victory for Hindus or Muslims, it is a victory for India & Indians, this verdict is in favor of everyone. #AyodhyaVerdict pic.twitter.com/VZhA0Wah59

— ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2019

India’s Supreme court passed judgement on Saturday that the 2.77 acres of land where Babri mosque was demolished on December 6 1992 should be given to the Hindu community to build a Temple of their deity Ram. And a five acres of alternate land was given to Sunni Waqf board to contruct the demolished mosque.