AIMPLB accepts Syed Salman Nadvi's decision to quit

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday approved Maulana Syed Salman Husain Nadvi’s “decision to quit” as its executive member, days after he met Sri Sri Ravi Shankar over the Ayodhya dispute and said at the board’s meeting that shifting of a mosque is possible according to the Sharia.

However, AIMPLB member Qasim Rasool Ilyas said “action” was taken against Nadvi after he disagreed with the board’s views on the matter.

Babri will remain a mosque till eternity and Muslims can never exchange land for the masjid, AIMPLB said in a statement issued on the concluding day of its 26th plenary held at Hyderabad.

The board said Babri Masjid is an essential part of faith in Islam and Muslims can never “abdicate” the Masjid.

“Moulana Salman Nadwi is no longer a board member. Sub- committee of the board accepts Nadwi’s (sic) decision to quit the organization,” the AIMPLB said in its official Twitter account.

Nadvi had last week met Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who had said he was exploring an out-of-court settlement in the long-pending Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, and Nadvi had also said that shifting of a mosque is possible in the Sharia.

Asserting that Nadvi had himself “disassociated” with the board’s views, Ilyas told reporters, “The board has taken a stand and took the action... This is the Board’s unanimous decision. Now he is a free man.”

Referring to Nadvi’s remarks that a mosque can be shifted as per the Sharia (Islamic law), he said the AIMPLB had made its stand clear that masjid is the “home for Allah”.

“Masjid always remains like that. It cannot be shifted or gifted or sold. This is Sharia. Salman Nadvi’s stand is opposite to this. He made it clear that he did not want to change his stand,” Ilyas said.

AIMPLB Secretary Zafaryab Jeelani and board member Kamal Faruqui told reporters that Nadvi had given statements against the board’s stand. “He (Nadvi) said he did not agree with the board’s stand. He made allegations against the board and he himself said he wanted to leave the AIMPLB,” Jeelani said, adding that Nadvi had said that he wanted to form a new board.

“He (Nadvi) skipped the meeting on Saturday and Sunday. As he himself is saying he wants to disassociate with the board, the committee unanimously accepted that he is no more a member... It is he who said he wanted to leave and left and we accepted it,” Jeelani and Faruqui said. When contacted, Nadvi only said that he was at the airport boarding a flight. One of his close aides said Nadvi had offered to quit the board on Saturday itself.Nadvi, who was present on the first day of the 26th plenary of the AIMPLB, which began on February 9, skipped the event on Saturday as well as on the last day. His meeting with Ravi Shankar last week had caused a flutter. “The atmosphere should be good (between the two communities).... There is permission for this in the Sharia. As per the Hanbali school of (Islamic) thought, a mosque can be shifted,” Nadvi had said.

He said though Muslims should conserve their mosque, it does not entail “fighting at the same place and taking it”.”We can shift the mosque. A grand mosque can be built... where a university can also be set up,” Nadvi had said.

He had earlier conveyed his views on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid issue at the Board’s meeting on Friday night. “However, there was a disagreement,” Nadvi had said. On its part, the AIMPLB had constituted a four-member sub-committee to examine Nadvi’s comments as well as his meeting with the spiritual guru.

The Supreme Court is hearing the final arguments in the politically-sensitive Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case.

The Allahabad High Court, in its ruling on September 30, 2010, ordered a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acres of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site, giving a third each to the Nirmohi Akhara, the Sunni Central Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh, and Ramlalla Virajman, the idol of the child Ram placed there.

AIMPLB in a statement said, “Babri Masjid is an essential part of faith in Islam and Muslims can never abdicate the Masjid nor can they exchange land for Masjid or gift the Masjid land. Babri Masjid is a Masjid and it shall remain a Masjid till eternity. By demolishing Babri Masjid, it never loses its identity as a masjid. And according to Shariah, it always remains a Masjid.”

AIMPLB chief Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadvi presided over the three-day meet which was attended by 400 members and special invitees from different spheres of life including ulemas (clergy), intellectuals, social and political personalities.

The meet discussed and decided to protect the Islamic Shariah. The board stressed the struggle for the reconstruction of the Babri Masjid would continue. “Without any doubt, we make it clear that the struggle for the reconstruction of Babri Masjid continues and the appeal in the Supreme Court is being fought rigorously with all the resources available at the disposal of the Board,” the statement said.

The AIMPLB further said the country’s topmost lawyers are appearing in the apex court in the case on behalf of Muslims. On the triple talaq issue, the board said a bill moved by the Centre to criminalise the practice is “anti-women” and is against the Shariah and the Constitution.

“The Talaq-e-Biddat bill moved by the Central Government is anti-women. It will create more difficulties for women. It is against Shariah and it is against the Constitution. The efforts made by the Board will continue to stop this bill in the Rajya Sabha,” the statement said.

The AIMPLB will start a country-wide awareness campaign against the bill and will also coordinate with Opposition parties that are against the Bill, it said.

The AIMPLB also decided that State-wide committees and district-level committees will be formed under the aegis of the central body for the purpose. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, which criminalises instant talaq and provides for up to three years of imprisonment for Muslim men if they indulge in it, has already been passed in the Lok Sabha, but it is yet to get a nod in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA lacks majority.