Muslim women’s board objects to mosque on land given by government
LUCKNOW: The All India Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) on Friday objected to the plan for construction of a mosque on five-acre land in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya.
The government allotted the land to Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) for construction of the mosque in compliance with the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya title case.
Shaista Amber, social activist and AIMWPLB president, said, “I truly respect the Supreme Court verdict, but I personally believe that a place of worship should not be on given land. It should be constructed on land purchased by an amount earned with honesty. I don’t think the mosque should be constructed on the allotted fiveacre land. Instead, the board (UPSCWB) should think of constructing a hospital, school or any source of employment generation on the given land, in order to serve the society. Then, it would serve the purpose.”
On Monday, eminent Urdu poet Munawwar Rana too had raised the issue. He wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting the construction of a grand hospital on the entire five-acre land in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya district.
The poet had also suggested the hospital be named after Lord Ram’s father King Dashrath.
In the letter, Rana had also expressed his willingness to donate his ancestral land, measuring 5.5 acre, along the Sai river in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh for the mosque.
“A mosque cannot be built on a piece of land given by government or on acquired land. Hence, I am willing to give my ancestral land in Rae Bareli for the construction of the mosque,” he had said.
Athar Husain, spokesperson for Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust formed by UPSCWB to ensure construction of the mosque and other public utility establishments on the fiveacre land in Ayodhya, said there was no such fatwa on offering namaz on a piece of land owned by the government.
“Do people not offer namaz at airports and railway stations?” he asked.