Niharika Lal & Divya Kaushik (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 14, 2015)

A R Rahman, who was supposed to perform at an event in the city yesterday, cancelled the gig at the last minute

Though the organizers claimed the cancellation was due to 'unfortunate circumstances', a source told us, "He cancelled it because of the fatwa issue. Ab yahan aayenge to media fatwa ke baare mein sawaal puchegi."

A Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim group recently issued a fatwa against Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi (of Children Of Heaven fame) and Rahman for the film Muhammad: Messenger Of God. The film's music is by Rahman and is first of the trilogy on the life of Prophet Mohammad. The group also wrote to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking a ban on the movie.

Though the organizing committee of the event confirmed that the reason behind Rahman's no-show was the fatwa, a member from Rahman's team said, "We had to cancel our visit to Delhi owing to Rahman's work commitments. He is travelling to Europe for work and could not be in Delhi. We are not releasing any official statement on this so far."