YouTube singer Farmani Naaz, who also participated in 'Indian Idol' a few years ago, has been criticised by a Deoband-based Muslim cleric over her rendition of 'Har Har Shambhu', a song praising the Hindu deity Shiva.
The devotional track was uploaded by Farmani on her YouTube channel during the month of Shravan. While many praised the song, there's a section of people who slammed Farmani for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Muslims.
Cleric Mufti Asad Qasmi said, "singing or dancing is haram in Islam."
"Islam me naach gana bilkul jayaz nahin hai aur shariat iski ijazat nahi deti hai. Yeh bilkul haraam hai. Is aurat ko Allah se tauba karni chayie. (Singing is forbidden in Islam. It's considered haraam. This woman should apologise to Allah," Mufti Asad Qasmi told ANI.
After receiving flak over her song, the Muslim singer Farmani requested people to stop criticising her.
"Hum ek kalakaar hai aur kalakaar ka koi dharam nhi hota .. hum gaane ke samay hum koi dharam nhi dekhte. Hume bhagwan ne awaaz di hai hum chahte hai hum us awaz se sabko khush kare. (An artist has no religion. God has gifted me a beautiful voice so it's my responsibility to make people smile by singing all types of songs)," she said.
Farmani hails from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. She rose to fame after participating in the 12th season of Indian Idol.
She makes a living from her singing career after her husband left her following the birth of their son.
She is quite popular on YouTube, boasting over 3.84 million subscribers.
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