Once a mosque, always a mosque, Muslim personal law board says ahead of Ram Mandir ce
Once a mosque, always a mosque, Muslim personal law board says ahead of Ram Mandir ceremony
M.U.H
05/08/2020523
New Delhi: On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Tuesday called the Supreme Court judgment of November 2019 that awarded 2.77 acres of the disputed site in Ayodhya to the Hindu side, as “extortive (ghasibana faisla)” and the act of taking possession of the land an “illegal expropriation”.
On Twitter, the board referred to Turkey’s Hagia Sophia to make the point that a mosque remains one “until eternity”.
In a statement, AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said: “As the Supreme Court is the highest palladium of justice in our country, we have no option but to accept the judgment. However, we will definitely say that it was an unjust and unfair judgment.”
“The AIMPLB as the representative and the public platform of Indian Muslims and various other organisations spared no effort in their fight for justice for Babri Masjid,” he added. “It is important to state that this entire movement by the Hindutva elements was based on oppression, coercion, intimidation, embezzlement, usurpation and calumny. It was a purely political movement that had no relation to religion or religious teachings.”
The AIMPLB was not among the petitioners in the Ram Janmabhoomi case but did organise the Muslim side’s legal efforts.
The Supreme Court, while delivering the verdict last November, had held that the act of placing idols at the site in 1949 amounted to “desecration” and also said there is no evidence of the masjid having been built after razing Hindu temples as the remnants found after excavation go back several centuries before the mosque came up. It had also held that the 1993 demolition of the mosque by kar sevaks was an act that violated the rule of law.