Ayodhya Mosque Trust, Naqvi Slam Asaduddin Owaisi's Haraam Remarks

Hyderabad: Hours after AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi called Ayodhya mosque “Haraam” (un-Islamic), secretary of the Ayodhya Mosque Trust, Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), and Athar Hussain said his remarks were part of his political agenda.

Speaking at an event in Bidar on Tuesday, Owaisi had said the Ayodhya mosque on 5acre land was against Islamic tenets and said people should not donate for its construction or offer prayers.

Athar Hussain stated that no piece of land on this earth can be ‘Haraam’, where namaz is offered to Allah.

'Owaisi's ancestors might've never taken part in the 1857 revolt against British'

Husain said Owaisi came from a region that had not borne the struggle or felt the trauma of the first war of independence. "It's possible his ancestors never took part in the 1856 revolt against the British. We are from Awadh, which was the crucible of revolution and are dedicating the IICF center in Ayodhya in the memory of one of our greatest freedom fighters, Ahmadullah Shah, who liberated Faizabad from the British for at least a year," he said, adding if commemorating his martyrdom by naming the center after him was 'Haraam' as well.

'Ayodhya mosque was against Islamic tenets'

Owaisi said he was speaking after taking opinions from religious scholars and claimed that even ulemas from All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said that it should not be called a masjid and prayers cannot be performed there.

Responding to this, Hussain said, “I don’t think our charity hospital, which will heal and serve hundreds of sick and infirm free of cost will be Haraam.”

He further said that feeding the hungry is part of their religion adding that their community kitchen would feed 2,000 people every day.

‘Union Minister Slams Owaisi’

Union minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday slammed him for the statement and said there is no remedy for such "fatwebaaz" people. "These people who have emerged as new-fatwebaaz, there is no remedy for such fatwebaaz. The Supreme Court has given its verdict and every people in the society obeyed the order," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

"Along with the acceptance of the Supreme Court order with full honor, the construction work has also begun at the Masjid-site with harmony. There is a habit of some people who talk in the air, so let them talk," he added.

Meanwhile, the process for starting the construction of a mosque in the Dhannipur village in Ayodhya began on Republic Day with the unfurling of the tricolor and a tree plantation drive at Dhannipur. The mosque will be bigger than the Babri mosque.

On December 19 last year, the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) - the trust created by Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, had released the blueprint of the mosque and other structures designed by Professor SM Akhtar, the dean of the faculty of architecture at Jamia Milia University.

At previous conferences, the IICF has outlined how a community kitchen (saarvjanik bhojnalaya) and a modern library will also be set up in the Ayodhya mosque complex. Meanwhile, the members say the design of the mosque has also been prepared using modern technology, which will be egg-shaped without any dome. The two-storied mosque will not have any minaret. Solar power will be installed in the mosque, and around 2,000 people will be able to offer 'namaz' at the same time, the organization had previously announced.