Clerics flay Shia Board’s Babri Masjid move
The UP Shia Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) move on Babri Masjid has drawn flak from both Sunni and Shia clerics, who have termed it as an attempt to drive a wedge between the two sects of the Muslim community.
“The mosque belongs to Allah and not to a Sunni or a Shia. I don’t think the issue deserves any more importance,” said Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, Imam of Lucknow Eidgah and member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad went a step further, accusing the Shia Waqf Board management of indulging in corruption and bungling in the waqf properties. “I have met chief minister Yogi Adityanath and informed him about the misdeeds and illegal land deals by the present waqf board management. I am sure this move is an attempt to deflect attention from the charges against the board,” he said.
A Shia body in Mumbai, Mujtama-e-Ulama Wa Khotaba, has also endorsed the stand of Maulana Kalbe Jawad.
“The affidavit by the Shia Waqf Board in the Supreme Court is just an appeal and it has no legal value in the eye of law,” said Zafaryab Jilani, convenor of the Babri Masjid Action Committee.
“The AIMPLB, which is monitoring the Babri case, has prominent clerics from both the sects of the Muslim community on its panel and there is no difference of opinion in the matter,” he said.
Shia Waqf Board’s stance is in stark contrast with the position adopted by it on October 6, 2010.
“We have decided to support the Sunni Waqf Board in its legal battle on Ayodhya title suit,” its chairman Waseem Rizvi had told the media. Rizvi did not take calls or respond to messages sent to him on his phone.
Both Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards are in the cross-hair of the Yogi Adityanath government after a 46-page report by the Central Waqf Council recommended dissolution of both the boards and institution of a CBI inquiry into their land deals.
By toeing a pro-temple line, Rizvi is said to be trying to be in the good books of the regime to save his skin.Another section of Muslim clerics, however, sees the Shia Board move as a conspiracy of the RSS to pave way for construction of Ram temple with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
“Through this move, those having vested interests are trying to create a wedge between Shias and Sunnis on the issue,” said Mufti Zulfikar, state president of All-India Imam Association.
Darul Uloom of Deoband, however, distanced itself from the issue. Talking to HT, seminary’s ‘mohtmim’ Mufti Abul Kasim Nomani said Darul Uloom was a centre for education and he would not comment on the issue.