Overview

• The April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, left 26 tourists dead, with militants targeting those unable to recite the Kalma.
• Survivor accounts revealed that victims were questioned about their religion and coerced to recite the Kalma under threat of death.
• Professor Debasish Bhattacharjee from Assam survived by reciting the Kalma, a sacred Islamic verse, which led the attackers to spare his life.
• The Kalma, a declaration of faith central to Islam, was misused by the attackers, contravening Islamic teachings that reject compulsion in religion.
• Media coverage has highlighted the six traditional Kalmas taught in South Asia, which serve distinct devotional purposes, and their misuse in the attack.