۹ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۸ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 28, 2024
 India’s Supreme Court told: Mosques important to Islam

Stressing the importance of a mosque in Islam, senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan on Friday told India’s Supreme Court during the hearing on the Babri Masjid-Ram temple land dispute case that the religion will suffer if prayer in mosques is not recognized.

Hawzah News Agency (Ayodhya, India) - Dhavan, appearing for the late M Siddiq, the original litigant of the Ayodhya case who is being represented through his legal heir, said, “Islam will collapse if prayer in mosque is not recognized as an integral part of the religion.” 

Citing the SC’s 1994 verdict in the case of Ismail Faruqui that had held that a mosque was not integral to prayers offered by Muslims, Dhavan said, “Islam says mosques are integral to faith.” 

He also termed the high court’s verdict dividing the 2.77-acre disputed Ayodhya land equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla as a panchayat decision. 

Opposing Dhavan’s demand, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government in the Ayodhya case, asked why the 1994 judgment was being discussed now when it was never challenged in any of the proceedings earlier.

The ASG said there was no need to send the case to the Constitution Bench and the same Bench should hear the case straightaway, the New Indian Express reported.

Babri mosque in Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was pulled down by Hindu zealots on December 6, 1992. The demolition led to widespread riots in which thousands of people died. 

The destruction of the mosque marked the culmination of a virulent campaign led by the now ruling BJP. 

A number of Hindus say the mosque was only built after the destruction of a temple. Some in the BJP want to build the temple on the ruins of the razed mosque. 

The plan continues to horrify India’s significant Muslim minority. 

Several incidents of violence against Muslims and other minority groups have fueled concerns as religious intolerance is growing under the Hindu nationalist government. 

India's history is pockmarked by horrific Hindu-Muslim communal clashes in the past.

 

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