Dear Arfa, if your ‘I Love Muhammad’ is so harmless then why is it leading to Muslim mobs attacking Hindus and police?

Dear Ms. Arfa Khanum Sherwani,

It is heartwarming to see your zeal for protecting “three simple words- I love Muhammad”. Sure, it is an expression of religious identity. Sure, it is the right of every Indian citizen to exercise their faith. But when you assert that Indian citizens have the right to express their religious identity, one would presume that would include Hindus as well. Does it, Ms Arfa Khanum Sherwani? And if you believe that Hindus too have a right to express their faith, why are you silent when the very Muslim community, of which you are a member, openly target Hindus for saying “I love Mahadev.”

In Bahiyal village of Dahegam, Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, on the night of September 24, 2025, Hindus were attacked during Garba celebrations. The violence was sparked by a social media post by a Hindu youth that read, “I Love Mahadev”. The post enraged your co-religionists, who then approached the man’s shop, forcing him to flee for safety. In his absence, the shop was vandalised and set ablaze, as CCTV footage later showed several Muslim men breaking into the premises and causing damage.

The unrest quickly escalated into full-scale violence. Stones were pelted, rods were wielded, and vehicles were set ablaze in a Garba- a Hindu religious event, which was held nearby. More than eight vehicles belonging to Hindus were attacked, and one shop was completely burnt down. Even police officers who rushed to the spot to restore order were assaulted, with two police vehicles sustaining heavy damage. Eyewitness footage from the site captured chaotic scenes of Muslim men hurling stones, while the cries of a Hindu mother searching for her son in panic could be heard in the background, underlining the terror caused by the mob.

According to local media reports, a shop owner, who was sitting outside at the time, recounted that a mob of nearly five thousand people descended during the night and deliberately targeted his shop. He explained that his village has only about 80 Hindu households, surrounded by a much larger Muslim population. The mob, armed with stones and weapons, stormed the premises and ransacked it, leaving Muslim ones untouched. He further noted that the attackers were not limited to young men but also included minors who had joined the violence.

The incident was clearly targeted at the Hindu community, as the Hindu man’s simple expression of devotion to Lord Shiva became the pretext for aggression. This was not a clash but a one-sided communal attack sparked by intolerance against Hindus and their devotion.

So tell me, Ms. Sherwani, if three simple words should never be considered threatening, why are Hindus violently punished for saying “I love Mahadev”? Where is your righteous outrage then?

Let me ask you this, Ms Arfa Khanum Sherwani – what if the Hindu youth had not fled? Do you believe your co-religionists, who were vandalizing the shop and indulging in violence, would not harm the Hindu boy? And if they did harm the Hindu boy, would you say that they had a right to do so because Muslims hold the exclusive right to feel aggreieved enough to strip non-Muslims of their liberty?

Tell us – do you believe that the mere expression of Hindu devotion is an affront to your faith? That the mere existence of Hindus is reason enough for the Muslim community to indulge in violence? Tell us, Ms Sherwani – do you believe Muslims have the exclusive right to express their religious identity, even though, that religious identity is so often based on stripping non-Muslims of their faith?

Since you seem so distressed about Muslims being “criminalised” for chanting it, let us look at how those three ‘benign’ words have actually been used by members of your community to wreack havoc across the country. These are not peaceful words of love. They are deployed as a war cry by Islamists. Frenzied crowds of Islamists have paired this chant with Sar Tan Se Juda (beheading) threats, stone pelting, arson, vandalism, and direct attacks on police.

Let us sample this poster.

I am 100% willing to concede that you have the right to put up posters with “I Love Muhammad” – it is an expression of your faith and one should respect it. But, as a Hindu, whose community and its members are under siege, I ask you – why does your community feel the need to add, “If ever there is a war in your name, even cowards like us will stand in the first row”.

What war is your community waging, Ms Arfa? Who is war directed at? What will your community do if they emerge victorious? Do you know who else spoke about this mythical “war”? PFI. You know what they wrote? They wrote a document detailing how the impending war would mean annihilating Hindus – making a list of Hindus and murdering them. Turning India into an Islamic nation which would have no place for non-Muslims, for Hindus. Would you, Arfa, tell PFI and your co-religionists to ‘change their strategy, not their ideology’, like you told the Jihadis at Shaheen Bagh so that you can continue to keep up your secular pretenses?

Violence has broken out in multiple states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat. Police were attacked and stones were thrown at them in various cities amid loud slogans of “Sar tan se juda” during the marches. A cleric even a issued death threat to an inspector involved in a similar incident in Bareilly.

Yes, the slogan can very well be a harmless expression of devotion and the Muslim community should have the right to express their faith. The problem is, however, that Islamists weaponise their faith as an expression of the exclusionist, supremacist ideology that ultimately and almost always, ends up in Hindus being attacked, persecuted, subjugated and massacred.

Hindus said “I love Mahadev.” Muslims responded with stone pelting, arson, and selective targeting of Hindu shops. Muslims said “I love Muhammad” but coupled it with riots, giving threats of beheading and violently clashing with police. Do you not think that instead of questioning the Indian state or Hindus, you should be questioning those who presumably besmirched the name of the faith you so lovingly espouse?

But we know it won’t be. We know you won’t question your co-religionists and that hardly comes as a surprise. This is not new behavior from you, Ms. Sherwani — your Hinduphobia is well established. In August 2024, you mocked Hindu faith by posting an image that replaced a Shivling with a dustbin, an act so vile that a police complaint had to be filed. In September 2024, you dismissed documented cases of Love Jihad, Spit Jihad, and Land Jihad as “fake propaganda,” willfully ignoring the testimonies of Hindu victims who suffered through them. Then in January 2025, you defended The Wire’s coverage that attempted to shield Islamists arrested in Hamirpur for forced religious conversions, choosing to attack the police instead of acknowledging Hindu families torn apart by coercion. The list is endless.

In truth, Arfa – you will never find resonance with Muslims like Dr APJ Kalam. You will never respect those like Arif Mohammad. You will never stand up for those from the Muslim community who put Bharat first and genuinely, truly consider Hindus as their brethren. You, Arfa, will only speak up when Islamists run rampage and target Hindus. You, Arfa, are the ideological backbone of the Jihadis.