Owaisi: Mosque an essential feature of Islam
A prominent Muslim voice in India and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi has differed with the Supreme Court’s views on the mosque and stressed the mosque was very much an essential feature of Islam.
Reacting to the verdict of a three-judge bench of the apex court which upheld the 1994 verdict of the same court that the mosque was not essential, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Owaisi said that it could have been better if the three member bench had referred the issue to the constitutional bench. “But as a Muslim I am telling you a mosque is an essential feature of Islam. It is mentioned in the Quran and in Hadith and it has been taught to me from childhood that if you pray in a mosque you will get 27 times more reward. So mosque is an essential feature of my religion,” he said.
When asked whether he will ■ seek a legal remedy against yesterday’s judgement, he said it was for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and its lawyer Zafaryab Jeelani to decide. When asked whether the judgement will lead to expeditious hearing of the Babri Masjid Ram Janambhoomi case, Owaisi said, “Only time will tell because the Chief Justice Misra was retiring on October 2. Only after the new Chief Justice comes will we know what will happen”, he said.
Owaisi however pointed out that the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the decision will not have any impact on the Babri Masjid case because that was a title suit.
“The important question I want to know is that if the masjid is not an essential feature of Islam then what about the other religious places? Are they essential features?
“I am of the opinion that the judiciary cannot decide what is an essential feature of a religion. I submit it respectfully that it is for the religious clergy to decide what is the essential feature of a religion,” he said.
“Anyway this is the Supreme Court judgement and now we will have to wait and see how the appeals will be heard.”