DNA Special: Curious case of offering 'namaz' at Mathura's Nand Baba Temple

Do you know which country has the most number of mosques in the world?  You could be guessing -- Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan or India. Yes, the answer is India. According to the 2011 census,  there are more than 3 lakh mosques in India. Although Indonesia, the largest Muslim-populated country, has also been counting mosques since 2013, and some people claim that there may be more than 8 lakh mosques, but formally the number of mosques in India is the highest.

Despite having so many mosques in India, if some people come to the temple and pray, what could possibly be the reason? It could probably mean, they are spreading the message of religious harmony or it could be to hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

The same thing happened at the Nand Baba Temple in Mathura on October 29, when two persons arrived and started praying at the temple. Their names are Faizal Khan and Chand Mohammad. The priests of Nand Baba Temple alleged that these people had not taken permission to pray at the temple. The Mathura Police registered an FIR in the case. The FIR also contains the names of Alok Ratan and Nilesh Gupta besides Faizal Khan and Chand Mohammad as accused. They belong to a Delhi-based organization called Khudai Khidmatgar.

The FIR alleges that these people not only prayed at the temple without permission, but it also made its photographs viral. The FIR also says that the police should investigate whether these movements have been made to disturb communal harmony. The sections in which the police have documented the FIR are sections related to committing crimes at a religious place, deliberately hurting the feelings of others and creating clashes between the two communities.

Now the question is, what was the need for some people to pray at the temple in a country where there are more than 3 lakh mosques? Those who prayed at the Nand Baba temple say they had taken permission from the temple administration and their aim was to enhance harmony between the two communities, but the Nand Baba Temple administration says the accused had not spoken to them about praying.

There are 3 lakh mosques in India, 2.5 lakh mosques in Bangladesh, but there is no exact information about the number of mosques in Pakistan. Indonesia also claims to have mosques ranging from 5 lakh to 8 lakh. There are about 40 lakh mosques all over the world. But you may have seen pictures of people praying on the streets many times. Such pictures keep coming from the whole world, not just India especially on Fridays when a large number of Muslims gather for Friday prayers on the streets disrupting traffic.

In countries like France, Muslims praying on the roads sometimes becomes a matter of dispute between France's non-Muslims and Muslims. Three years ago when some Muslims were praying on the streets of Paris, the locals started protesting and even sang the French national anthem loudly.

The first mosque in India was built in Thrissur, Kerala in the 7th century. This mosque is named Cheraman Jumah Masjid. This is one of the oldest mosques in the world. The world's first mosque was also built in the seventh century. The oldest mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, is named the Masjed Quba. That is when the first mosque in the world was built and it was around that time, mosques had started to be built in India as well.

Since Independence, the number of Muslims in India has grown rapidly and at the same time, the number of mosques in India has also increased. From 1951 to 2011, the number of Muslims in India has grown at an average of 10 per cent every year, while the rate of growth of the population of Hindus in the past decade has been less than 2 per year. The population of Hindus in India is about 96 crore and the number of temples is 20 lakh.

But the Nand Baba Temple incident makes us wonder if we can have idol worship in a mosque in a bid to spread communal harmony?

This also makes us recall the fact that the dispute between Srikrishna Janmabhoomi and Edgah Masjid of Mathura has reached the court. But we do not want to brush up any controversy here.

Meanwhile, there have also been reports of Hanuman Chalisa being read in some mosques. Three days ago, some people read Hanuman Chalisa at an Edgah in Mathura. Four people have been detained in the case. Today, there were similar reports from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh where some people read Hanuman Chalisa at a mosque. The maulvi, who allowed to read Hanuman Chalisa in the mosque, has been asked to fill a bond of Rs 5 lakh.

The Quran clearly says that no non-Muslim can come to the mosque, while Hindus also believe that the entry of non-Hindus into the temple is prohibited. Although India has been a witness to Ganga Jamuna Tehzeb, many Muslims respect Hindu deities and many Hindus also visit mazars and shrines.

It is claimed that the prayer at the Nand Baba Mandir can also be related to the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi controversy.

Let’s revisit the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi controversy in brief:

-The birthplace of Lord Krishna is in Katra Keshavdev area in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

-There are 13.37 acres of land owned by the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi Trust. About 2.5 acres of the same land remains a mosque.

-The Hindu side demands that there is a mosque over Shri Krishna's sanctum. And this mosque should be removed from here.

Now, the district Court of Mathura has accepted the petition in the case. The matter will be further heard on the 18th of this month.

The Hindu side, in its plea, has said that in the year 1669, on the orders of the then Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, the Srikrishna temple was broken and the Edgah Mosque was built on one of its parts.