Former Indian Idol contestant Farmani Naaz has been facing a huge criticism since her video singing a devotional song “Har Har Shambhu”, dedicated to Hindu god Shiva, went viral on social media.
In the month of Shravan, Farmani took to her social media YouTube channel and uploaded the song. While her comment section flooded with the appreciation and love for the song, she sang, there is a section of people from her community started targeting her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Muslim by singing the Bhajan of Lord Shiva.
About Farmani Naaz
Farmani Naaz hails from Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh and she became popular after she entered Indian Idol Season 12 as the contestant. She also has a YouTube channel by name “Farmani Naaz Singer” and has more than 3.8 million subscribers.
She is quite active on YouTube and often uploads songs there. Not only on YouTube, she is also active on Instagram where she has over 15 thousand followers. In 2017, she married Imran Ahmad, a resident of Hasanpur village. However, domestic strife marred her marital bliss and made things worse.
Her husband also had an extra-marital affair. Things didn’t go well with her when her newborn son developed some throat problem for which her in-laws pressured her to bring additional money from her parent’s home.
Due to this ill-treatment towards her, Naaz left her husband’s house and returned back to her native village Mohammadpur Maafi in Muzaffarnagar, where a youth heard her singing and recorded her voice to upload on social media.
This was the turning point of her life as she started gaining recognition for her beautiful voice. In 2021, she went on to participate in Indian Idol as she got the golden ticket there but she had to quit the show because her son had to undergo an operation.
Deoband Ulema Criticizes Farmani for Singing Shiva Bhajan
After her song went viral, a section of the society got offended. A Deoband-based Muslim Cleric (Ulema) slammed Farmani over her rendition of the popular song Har Har Shambhu.
In a statement to a new agency, cleric Mufti Asad Qasmi said that Singing or Dancing is Haram in Islam and Sharia does not allow this. He further said that Farmani should seek forgiveness from Allah.
Farmani’s Response to the Criticism
After being criticised for singing the bhajan. Farmani issued a statement in which she said that the artist has no religion and she forgets everything when she sings. She further said that she even sings qawwali. Even Mohd. Rafi and Master Saleem sang devotional songs. “I’ve never received a threat. There is a little controversy now, we came to know but nobody has come to our house to say anything”, she added.
Here is the music video of Farmani singing the devotional song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPHbHx_8tkA
The original song has been making round on social media since the singer duo Abhilipsa Panda and Jeetu Sharma made it popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujdLmkZPb-c