Ayodhya verdict: Prominent Muslim cleric Madani says UP Sunni Waqf Board should not accept 5-acre plot

Maulana Arshad Madani, head of influential Muslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, said that the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board should not accept the land that was given to them. “It was not a matter of the land. It was one of rights. The community pursued the Ayodhya case for 70 years not because of land but for its right,” asserted Madani.

The 78-year-old cleric said they have not yet decided if they should file a review petition or not. “The decision will be taken in a meeting of the working committee of the body, which will conclude this evening. After that, the decision will be made known to everyone,” explained Madani. The working committee comprises 21 members from around the country, all of whom have been called to the Capital. They will also be speaking to SC lawyers alongside to decide the future course of action.

“This is not a matter of Jamiat only. It is a matter of the whole Muslim community,” underscored Madani at a press conference at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind office in the Capital.

Madani said he doesn’t understand what kind of verdict the Supreme Court has given. “We can’t understand why such a judgement was made. Several judges are saying so too. The Supreme Court agreed that a temple was not demolished to make way for a mosque by Babur. They said that demolishing of the mosque was illegal and they also said that those who did so, committed a crime. But, yet they gave the site to the Hindus. We don’t know why such a judgement was given,” added Madani.

Earlier the case rested on the notion that the temple was destroyed to build the temple, said Madani, who also pointed out that now even that is not the case. “This is the highest court in the land. We cannot go anywhere else,” refuting the charges that they would go to the International Court of Justice. Maulana Madani said it was a fight of principles and rights.

“The case was never only about the Mosque. It was about our right on the Mosque. A mosque does not cease to be even if people don’t pray there. It is still a mosque,” said Madani.

Citing the Islamic law Shariat, Maulana Madani said the Babri mosque was only as important as any other mosque in the country. "According to the Shariat, only three mosques are important. They are Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Masjid-e-Nabvi in Madina and Bait-ul-Muqaddas in Jerusalem,” he had said earlier.

The Supreme Court, in its verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title case on Saturday, said the entire 2.77 acres of disputed land should be handed over to the deity Ram Lalla, who was one of the three litigants in the case.

The five-judge Constitution bench also directed the centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya to build a mosque.