Mosque to be rebuilt on Ayodhya temple land
Arshad Afzal Khan
| Sep 1, 2016, 03.13 AM IST
AYODHYA: Nearly 24 years after Babri Masjid was demolished, resulting in communal strife across India, a 300-year-old dilapidated mosque would be rebuilt on land belonging to Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya. Days after local civic body declared Aalamgiri Masjid 'hazardous' and pasted notice banning entry into building, Hanumangarhi temple trust, which is in possession of the masjid land, not only allowed its reconstruction and agreed to bear cost but also welcomed Muslims to offer namaz in premises.
The Aalamgiri Masjid was built with the consent of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb by one of his generals in Ayodhya in 17th century. The structure and its land situated in an area called Argara came in possession of Hanumangarhi temple of Ayodhya after Nawab Shujauddaulah donated the land to the temple in around 1765, on the condition that namaz would continue at the masjid.
However, gradually the practice of offering namaz came to an end and the masjid was lying abandoned with no renovation or maintenance. Seeking its condition, Ayodhya municipal board recently put up a notice on its wall and banned entry into the masjid. It galvanized a group of local Muslims and they met Hanumangarhi's chief priest Mahant Gyan Das, requesting him the permission to get the masjid repaired. Their meeting ended in a pleasant surprise.
The temple management not only allowed the local Muslims to get the masjid reconstructed, but also offered to bear the cost. "I asked our Muslim brothers to renovate and reconstruct the masjid on our expense and also issued no-objection certificate for Muslims to offer namaz as this is also a 'Khuda ka ghar'," Mahant Gyan Das told TOI. "I am also extending support to reno vation of a mausoleum on the premises which is as old as the masjid," added Gyan Das, who has been holding iftar for Ayodhya Muslims during Ramzan.
Historian Roshan Taqui said, "After the battle of Buxar in 1764, Shujauddaulah, the Nawab of Awadh moved his capital from Faizabad to Lucknow. During his reign in Faizabad he had already donated the land in Ayodhya for construction of Hanumangarhi temple. After he shifted to Lucknow, when a delegation of mahants visited him and appealed for more land, the nawab donated four pucca bighas of land that already had on it a masjid built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb."
Days after his controversial demand for a Rajya Sabha seat for the wife of Yakub Memon, who was hanged in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, suspended Samajwadi Party leader Farooq Ghosi today said Muslims in the country would weigh the Prime Minister against gold if he rebuilds Babri mosque in Ayodhya.