Shia Board urges AIMPLB to surrender nine mosques to Hindus

After staking its claim on the disputed land in Ayodhya and offering to surrender the same to Hindus, the UP Shia Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) has now raked up the issue of Mathura, Varanasi and other religious places where mosques were built by Muslim rules.

In a letter shot off to the Chairman All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, the Shia Board Chairman Dr Waseem Rizvi has urged Muslim Board to surrender nine religious places to Hindus, including Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya.

The letter contains names of nine disputed religious places across country-- four in Uttar Pradesh, two in Gujarat, one each in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

They are Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Keshav Dev Temple in Mathura, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Atal Dev temple in Jaunpur (All in Uttar Pradesh), Rudra Mahalaya temple in Batna Gujarat, Bhadrakali temple in Ahmedabad Gujarat, Adina Mosque in Pandua West Bengal, Vijaya temple Vidhisha Madhya Pradesh and Mosque Kuvutul Islam Qutub Minar Delhi.

The Board Chairman Dr Waseem Rizvi pointed that Islamic laws do not allow construction of mosque on a land grabbed by destroying other religious places. “Prayers offered at such mosques are not accepted under Quran and Sharia,” he pointed.

Dr Rizvi said that there are enough historical evidences to prove that these mosques were constructed forcibly by Muslim rulers on lands belonging Hindu temples. “Time has come for the Muslim Board to take a decision in the light of Islam and surrender these mosques / lands to Hindus in accordance with the Islamic laws,” urged Dr Rizvi.

Significantly, Shia Board raised this demand a day after the Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravishanker made a similar statement in Varanasi and Gorakhpur urging Muslims to hand over Babri mosque land to Hindus. He is mediating with litigants and religious heads of both communities to work out an out of court settlement to vexed land dispute, pending before the Supreme Court.

“Besides these nine mosques, there are scores of other mosques in the country which were built in similar manner and should be handed over to Hindus as well,” demanded Dr Rizvi.

“Will you approve offering of ‘namaj’ at a mosque which is built on the land of other religious place?” asked the Shia Board Chairman from Maulana Nadvi, who is considered one of the most eminent Islamic scholar in the country.

Earlier, Shia Board had submitted an agreement in the Supreme Court in which it had offered to surrender disputed land in Ayodhya to Hindus for the construction on Ram temple and shifting of mosque to Hussainabad in Lucknow.