AYODHYA MOSQUE ILLEGAL UNDER SHARIAT: AIMPLB
Nothing illegal as Supreme Court directives being followed, says trust formed by Sunni Board
LUCKNOW : All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Zafaryab Jilani on Wednesday termed the proposed Dhannipur mosque on five-acre land in Ayodhya “illegal”, saying the construction of the proposed mosque in Ayodhya would be against the Waqf Act and Islamic laws (Shariat). On the other hand, a trust formed by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) to build the mosque and other public utility establishments, maintained its stand and said that the mosque was being constructed as per the directives of the Supreme Court.
LUCKNOW: All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Zafaryab Jilani on Wednesday termed the proposed
Dhannipur mosque on five-acre land in Ayodhya “illegal”, saying the construction of the proposed mosque in Ayodhya would be against the Waqf Act and Islamic laws (Shariat). On the other hand, a trust formed by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) to build the mosque and other public utility establishments, maintained its stand and said that the mosque was being constructed as per the directives of the Supreme Court.
The blueprint of the mosque, a hospital and other public utilities to be built on a five-acre land at Ayodhya’s Dhannipur village was unveiled on December 19 in
Lucknow.
“According to the Waqf Act, mosques or land of mosques cannot be bartered. The proposed mosque in Ayodhya violates the Act. It violates the Sharia law as the Waqf Act is based on the Shariat,” said Jilani.
Calling the allegation baseless, UPSCWB said it was not violating Islamic laws or the Waqf Act.
“What we are doing is strictly as per SC orders. And anything that is being done as per SC directive cannot be illegal, ” said Athar Hussain, spokesperson for Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust formed to ensure the development of Dhannipur complex on the fiveacre land that was allotted to UPSCWB in compliance with the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya title dispute verdict of November 9, 2019.
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a “prominent” place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh. On the directive of the apex court, the Uttar Pradesh government allotted the five-acre plot in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur for the construction of the mosque.
For his part, Athar Hussain said that everyone interpreted the Shariat in their own way and by no means had the Islamic laws been violated.
He said the Supreme Court, in its order, specifically mentioned: “The Sunni Central Waqf Board would be at liberty, on the allotment of the land to take all necessary steps for the construction of a mosque on the land so allotted together with other associated facilities.”
This is not for the first time that AIMPLB has objected to the allotment of the five- acre alternative land and the proposed construction of the mosque.
In a high-profile meeting on November 17 last year, AIMPLB declined to accept the five-acre alternative land option as directed by the apex court and had decided to file a review petition. On December 12 last year, the Supreme Court dismissed all the review petitions filed against its November 9 verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute case.
“We have carefully gone through the Review Petitions and the connected papers filed therewith. We do not find any ground, whatsoever to entertain the same,” the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the petitions had said after holding in-chamber proceedings.
ON THE DIRECTIVE OF THE APEX COURT, THE UTTAR PRADESH GOVERNMENT ALLOTTED THE FIVE-ACRE PLOT IN AYODHYA’S DHANNIPUR FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MOSQUE