Lucknow (UP): The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has reacted sharply and condemned the survey of Varanasi's Gyanvapi masjid and sealing of 'wuzu khana' (ablution area), terming it a gross injustice to Muslims. In a statement issued late on Monday evening, the board said the current situation created about the Gyanvapi mosque was completely unacceptable to Muslims and Gyanvapi "was a mosque and will continue to remain a mosque till the end".
AIMPLB General Secretary, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said, "Gyanvapi is a mosque and will remain a mosque. The attempt to transform it into a temple is nothing more than a conspiracy to spread hate by communal forces. In 1937, in the case of Deen Mohammad Vs State Secretary, the court had decided on the basis of oral testimony and documents that this entire compound (Gyanvapi mosque complex) belongs to the Muslim Waqf and Muslims have the right to offer namaz in it," he said. The court had also decided how much area is of the mosque and how much is of the temple. At the same time, the ablution area was accepted as the property of the mosque, Rahmani added.
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"Then in 1991, the Places of Worship Act was passed by Parliament, which states that the places of worship as they were in 1947 will be maintained in the same condition. Even in the Babri Masjid judgment, it was said that now all places of worship places will be under this law," he further added.
The AIMPLB general secretary also said the claim of the mosque being a temple should have been immediately rejected by the court, but the civil court of Varanasi ordered the survey and videography. The Waqf Board has approached the high court in this matter and the case is pending there. The Gyanvapi mosque management committee has also approached the Supreme Court against the civil court's decision. The Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud will hear this case today.
However, Rais Ahmad Ansari, an advocate of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that manages the Gyanvapi mosque, has called petitioners' claim about a "Shivling" being found at the mosque "misleading"."There's only a fountain in the mosque's wuzu khana," Ansari said.
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His statement came after a court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi ordered the sealing of the spot where "Shivling" was reportedly found and Hindu petitioners claimed that a 'Shivling' had been found in the survey. The court order was based on a petition that was filed by an advocate that there was some concrete evidence that needed to be protected.
An appeal has been filed by the Masjid Committee against the Allahabad High Court's order allowing the court-appointed Commissioner to the Inspector, conduct a survey and videography of the Gyanvapi mosque. The Gyanvapi mosque is adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
At present, the Varanasi court has directed the Archaeological Survey of India to probe the structure of the Gyanvapi masjid. On April 18, 2021, five Delhi-based women, among others moved the court with their plea where they sought permission for daily prayers before the idols of Hindu deities on the outer walls of the masjid. The petitioners also sought to stop their opponents from causing any damage to the idols. An advocate from the Hindu side, Madan Mohan Yadav, has claimed that the Shivling is facing the Nandi and is 12 feet by 8 inches in diameter.
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with Agency inputs
