Muslims Want Mosque in Ayodhya

Ayodhya, Oct. 2: Ayodhya’s leading Muslims want to build a mosque on the portion of land allotted to the community by Allahabad High Court and the temple town’s Hindu priests see no problem with that.

“Three months from now, we will offer namaz on the land given to us,” Haji Mohammad Aslam, the imam of Ayodhya’s biggest mosque, Teri Bazaar Masjid, said during Friday prayers yesterday.

The high court had asked for status quo to be maintained for three months.

“It (the land) belonged to Muslims. Now the court has given us one-third of the land. We have every right to construct a mosque at the site and offer prayers,” the imam said, hailing the court verdict and dismissing calls from some quarters to donate the land for building a grand Ram temple.

Santosh Tiwari, a priest at the makeshift Ram temple at the disputed site, sees no problem with a mosque and a temple standing side by side. “Hindus and Muslims were praying at the site even before the demolition in 1992,” he said.

“If the court has given them the land, our Muslim brothers are welcome to build a mosque at the spot. I do not foresee any tension,” added Tiwari, a priest in the service of Ram Lalla Virajman since 1991 who claims he was witness to the Babri Masjid demolition and wrapped the idols in a bedsheet to protect them from harm.

Delivering his Friday sermon, Aslam said Muslims should rejoice that the high court had recognised that a mosque existed at the disputed site.

“It is our community’s fault that we do not pray at several of our mosques. This (the verdict) is a punishment for our drawbacks. Thank Allah for what we have got. We should take a lesson from this and resolve that henceforth we would head towards the nearest mosque as soon as we hear the azaan,” he said.

Muslims should not lose hope, Aslam added. “Any place where prayers are offered is considered a mosque and it will remain such till qayamat (end of the world),” the imam said.

“The Supreme Court will do justice. Have hope.”

Later, he told The Telegraph that he had tried through his sermon to soothe any anger at the verdict. “It is important that people do not start listening to extremist elements,” he said.

Mohammad Sageer, a member of the local community, echoed hundreds who had gathered for the Friday prayers when he said: “Islamic law is clear on the point — a place where namaz is offered always remains a mosque. The onus isn’t just on Muslims to show large-heartedness but more so on Hindus, being the elder brother, to lead the way.”

Priests at Hanumangarhi, affiliated to the Nirmohi Akhara that has also been given a third of the land, said elements aligned to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were raking up a needless controversy about the mosque being near the proposed temple.

“Hindus and Muslims had prayed together at the site for centuries. We live together in Ayodhya,” a mahant at the Nirmohi Akhara said.