By Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—The 55-year-old Iqbal Ansari, who was the chief litigant in the Babri Masjid case that was decided by the Supreme Court in November 2019 in favour of the Ram Janmamabhoomi Temple and the Babri Masjid site was awarded to the temple party, has received an invitation to attend the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ or consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya to be held on January 22. He is among more than 8,000 persons who have been extended invitation to participate in the temple’s inauguration. However, it is not immediately known for certain about any other Muslim activist, political or religious leader having been extended the invitation.
But the important question is: Shall Muslims attend the inauguration of a temple built on the site of a 550-year-old mosque that was illegally demolished by a mob of anti-social elements led by some politicians?
There are two reasons why any self-respecting Muslim will avoid to attend the ceremony even if invited. The First: The Supreme Court handed over the site of the mosque to the temple party despite all material evidence being in favour of the mosque. The court decided in favour of the temple based on “aastha” (religious belief of the majority), and not on evidence. So, it was a “decision” of the court, not justice with the Muslim party which had all the rightful claim over the site through material evidence and also the fact that Muslim prayers or what is called ‘Namaz’, or ‘Salah’ in Arabic, was being performed uninterruptedly since its construction in September 1528 (Hijri year 935) by Mir Baqi. The Muslim prayer inside the mosque was stopped only after the surreptitious installation of idols in the central dome of the mosque in the night of December 22-23, 1949.
It is quite natural for Muslims to feel aggrieved over the court’s decision. However, they had no option than to accept it because the judgement came from the highest Court of the land and there is no appellate authority over it. Only Parliament had the right to overturn the apex court’s decision. But it could not be expected from the BJP which is in power at the Centre since 2014 because it is the same party that had campaigned since 1990 to demolish the Babri Masjid and build a temple over its site. So, it was the dream come true for BJP leaders. And the Ram temple issue was used by BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to polarize the communities throughout the country, in each and every village, town, city and street. The root cause of the current anti-Muslim polarization and Islamophobia in India lies in Advani’s campaign through Ram Rath Yatra across the length and breadth of the country. All along the yatra, Muslims were insulted by using slanderous language against them like addressing them as “Babar ki Aulad”, a narrative to describe Muslims as invaders and aliens, not natives of India. This poisoned the atmosphere against Muslims in rural as well as urban India.
So, it was a great injustice heaped on the Muslim minority of the country when the Babri Masjid site was awarded to the temple party based on “aastha” and the apex court ignored the material evidence in favour of the mosque. Could a self-respecting individual or a community that has been humiliated to such an extent will agree to attend the inauguration of a temple or a building constructed on the site of their five-centuries old mosque?
The Second reason is related to Islamic ideology of Oneness of Allah, or God in English language, and Prabhu and Ishwar in Sanskrit language. According to Islam, which is based on the teachings of the Quran revealed by Allah and the statements of Prophet Mohammed, no one is worthy of worship except Allah. Muslims respect all the prophets like Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed but they don’t worship them. Worship is exclusively for Allah alone though we profoundly honour all the prophets. Worshipping any human being, his/her image, statue, idol, trees, animals, river, mountains or any other thing, or raising someone to the status of Allah, is called ‘shirk’, which means idolatry, polytheism, and the association of Allah with other deities. In Islam, “shirk” is the biggest sin in the eyes of Allah and doers of ‘shirk’ will never be pardoned. The only place for them in the life Hereafter is hell from where they will never come out. This is undisputed Islamic belief.
While Ram was an ideal human being and an obedient son as per Hindu mythology and spent 14 years of his life in exile on the dictates of his father, no amount of virtue in him could raise him to the status of Allah, God or Ishwar and Prabhu as per Islamic belief. According to the Quran, Allah is One and Only One. He is Eternal and Absolute. He is the Creator of everything. He has not begotten anyone through the process of reproduction nor was He begotten through the process of reproduction. This absolutely makes clear that no human being or any other thing can be Allah or God, and hence, nothing except Allah deserves to be worshipped. Since the consecration ceremony of Ram temple is about worshipping a human being’s idol being glorified as God, this is not acceptable under any circumstances as far as Islamic belief is concerned. That is why Muslims personally avoid events and programmes in which there is any element of “shirk”.
But this should not be construed that Muslims don’t believe in co-existence. The Quran in verse number 108 of Chapter 6 (Al-Anam) clearly asks Muslims not to insult those whom non-Muslims invoke or turn to worship other than Allah, lest they(non-Muslims) insult Allah in enmity without knowledge about Allah, the true God. In the same verse, the Quran further says that Allah has made pleasing to every community their deeds. But when they return to their Lord, He will tell them what they used to do in this world. And then Allah will deal them based on their deeds. So, this is the warning in the Quran for everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims, all of whom have full autonomy in this world to choose about whom and what to worship.
