Omar, Mehbooba, Mirwaiz oppose J&K Waqf Board's push for uniform Friday sermons

Kashmir's religious leaders and political parties, including the National Conference and the PDP, termed the Waqf Board's proposal for standardised sermons across J&K mosques an interference in religious affairs

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Kashmir chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday (October 13, 2026) opposed the J&K Waqf Board's move to introduce uniform Friday sermons in mosques of the Union Territory and described it as "an interference in religious affairs".

"This is an unacceptable attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims and will not be accepted under any circumstances. The BJP-appointed Chairperson must immediately halt this misplaced attempt to please her masters," Mr. Abdullah said.

Mr. Farooq, who also heads a pan-J&K conglomerate of religious bodies, Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema, said, "Even the suggestion that a statutory body could determine or regulate what is to be preached from the mimbar (pulpit) is ridiculous , and will never be accepted by the Muslims of J&K."

He said the State or the government cannot assume the authority to determine religious discourse and script speech to be delivered, or interfere in matters of faith and religious practice. "This amounts to forcible State intrusion into the religious sphere, which is against law and principles of freedom of religious practice. The Waqf Board should remain within its administrative responsibility of management, maintenance and protection of the Waqf properties entrusted to it, rather than come up with such a devious agenda and unnecessary controversy," Mr. Farooq said.

Former J&K Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti termed the Board's move "totally unacceptable". "This is an interference in our religious affairs. Our religious preachers know well about the subjects to be talked about. It's them who spread and protected Islam in J&K. A board run by the BJP and the Minority Ministry headed by a non-Muslim cannot decide what should be in a sermon, which is meant to discuss local issues too," Ms. Mufti said.

She said it's a bid to push the BJP agenda on the lines of Uniform Civil Code in J&K. "Kashmir has become a laboratory for the BJP. What is applied here first is later introduced in the whole country. Mosques in J&K are built by the donations of locals and are not a personal property of the Board," Ms. Mufti said.

She demanded that the Waqf Board be handed over to the elected government. "Let Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads the MMU, get to decide on sermons. He is well within the rights of doing that as a cleric," Ms. Mufti said.

Former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu said if the BJP wanted to decide what our Imams say in Friday sermons, "what is left in this pretence of freedom of religion or the Constitution". "This is a page out of a Margaret Atwood novel. An assault on our religion, culture, language and history, one step at a time," Mr. Mattu said.

Ruling National Conference spokesman Imran Nabi Dar termed it as a bid by the BJP "to draft Friday sermons for mosques across Kashmir". "The BJP will decide what issues our preachers will talk about, what colour they will give them and what issues are brushed under the carpet. The content will be theirs, the wording will be theirs and the intent will be theirs. I am not a fundamentalist but the Muslim that I refuse to gulp this down," said Mr. Dar.

NC legislator Salman Sagar termed it "a matter of grave concern and called for serious reflection". "A mosque is not an instrument of political messaging, nor can its pulpit become a mouthpiece for any government or political organisation. Our Imams and religious scholars carry a responsibility towards their faith and society. Their sermons must be shaped by religious teachings, moral values and the needs of the community, not by instructions originating from political corridors. There must be a clear distinction between the authority of the State and the sanctity of religious institutions. Crossing that boundary would set a deeply worrying precedent," Mr. Sagar said.

Senior BJP leader and Board chairperson Syed Darakhshan Andrabi recently held an online meeting of Muslim preachers of J&K and floated the idea to have a uniform Friday sermon.

"One topic will be selected and the same topic will be highlighted [in the mosques]," Ishtiyaq Mohi-ud-Din, an Executive Magistrate at the Board, told hundreds of preachers who attended the meeting.

Ms. Andrabi ruled out any role of the chairperson or the Board official in deciding the topics of the sermons. "A committee of preachers will decide what topics should be touched upon in the sermons," Ms. Andrabi said.