No Muslim dynasty ever damaged or built mosques on Hindu temples, claims AIMLPB : How the Muslim body has been lying through its teeth

Varanasi (UP) – On 2^nd February 2024, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) voiced disappointment over the Varanasi District Court’s decision to allow Hindus to worship in the Vyas Cellar of the Gyanvapi structure. The AIMPLB opined that the judgement was reached hurriedly. The Board intends to take the case to the Supreme Court. The AIMPLB, along with other Muslim organisations, emphasised the importance of implementing the Places of Worship Act of 1991 to avert disputes.

AIMPLB’s reaction comes after the Allahabad High Court refused to stop the puja at the Vyas Cellar in the Gyanvapi complex. The plea was moved by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee challenging the Varanasi District Court’s 31st January order allowing Hindus to perform prayers in the Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana, the southern Cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

“The claim that a temple was demolished to build a mosque is false. Islam does not allow taking away someone’s land to build a mosque. The Court ruled on it in haste and the Muslim side was not even given a chance to put forth its arguments in detail. This has hurt the confidence of minorities in the judiciary”, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani (President of AIMPLB) said in a press conference.

Furthermore, the AIMPLB leader went on to claim that even in the Babri dispute verdict, the Court accepted that the Ram Mandir was not razed to build a mosque, however, the Apex Court gave its verdict based on faith (Aastha) of one sect instead of facts.

Before this, Rahmani claimed that numerous Hindu temples, more than thousands of years old, are still standing despite several Muslim dynasties ruling the country. He further claimed that none of the Muslim invaders ever even scratched a brick of Hindu temples. “If they (Muslim rulers) thought that they would capture the places of worship of other religions, would these temples still exist”, Rahmani asserted.

Did Muslim ‘rulers’ never demolish a single Hindu temple ?

Irony died a painful death when the AIMPLB President said that many Muslim dynasties ruled India but they never demolished the temples of other religions. The Kashi Vishwanath Temple alone was attacked many times during the reigns of different Muslim rulers.

The Temple was first attacked in the 12^thcentury by Qutb al-Din Aibak with its peak damaged. The Temple was again demolished during the reign of Sikandar Lodi (1489–1517). The ultimate attack on the Temple was undertaken during the reign of Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb in 1669 CE. He demolished the Temple and replaced it with the Gyanvapi Mosque.

While the AIMPLB leader says that Muslim rulers never intended to destroy the places of worship of other religions, the Islamic record of Maasir-i-Alamgiri mentions that on 9th April 1669, Aurangzeb had issued a ‘Farman’ (Decree) “to governors of all the provinces to demolish the schools and temples of the infidels and strongly put down their teachings and religious practices”.
This is but one example of the numerous Hindu temples demolished on the orders of Muslim rulers.

In an accidental moment of truth, even Marxist historian Irfan Habib admitted that several temples in Mathura and Varanasi were demolished by the Mughals to build mosques on them. As reported earlier, the historian said in May 2022, “It is correct that Aurangzeb demolished the Temple but it is not specified that it was Lord Shiva’s Temple. It became a Shiva Temple after they found a Shivalinga. Aurangzeb demolished this Temple in Varanasi. Another Temple was demolished in Mathura. There’s no two ways about it. The question is can the Government demolish something that was built in 1670 ? It is against India’s Monument Protection Act”.

Gyanvapi dispute and ASI report

The Gyanvapi controversy extends back decades. However, in the year 2021, five women – Rakhi Singh, Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas, and Rekha Pathak, petitioned a local Court for the right to unrestricted worship at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, which is situated within the compound that has Idols of Hindu Deities.

In April 2022, the local Court ordered a survey of the complex, which sparked protests. The survey concluded in May 2022. Meanwhile, the Hindu side said that the Shivalinga was found in the closing hours of the exercise, while the Muslim side denied this and claimed it to be a ‘fountain’. The Court tightened security on the entire complex and ordered the sealing of the wazukhana (ablution area) within the disputed structure.

In 2023, the Varanasi District Court ordered an in-depth survey of the structure by ASI to determine whether it was erected on top of an existing temple, stating that a scientific investigation was required to uncover the truth. The judge, however, excluded the section over which a dispute had occurred, which stays sealed.

On 25^th January 2024, the ASI released its Gyanvapi survey report. The nearly 800-page report provided a detailed account of the edifice and the artefacts discovered inside, establishing that it was a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The report detailed artefacts such as a Shivalinga, a miniature Temple with Deity sculptures, and statues of Hindu Deities such as Vishnu, Krishna, and Ganesh that were buried in the structure’s Cellars S1, S2, and S3. The Cellars were found to be purposefully obstructed with rubble. The findings reveal that the site was once a Temple before it was turned into a mosque.

Babri verdict

Similar unfounded claims that there existed no Temple underneath the erstwhile Babri structure were peddled by propagandists ahead of the Pran pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir on 22^nd January this year.

In a historic ruling in 2019, the Supreme Court settled the five-century-long dispute with an unanimous decision, allowing the entire 2.77-acre disputed site for the construction of a Temple dedicated to Bhagawan Ram Lalla, one of the three claimants in the case.

The Supreme Court determined that the ASI report contained sufficient evidence to conclude that the Babri mosque was not built on vacant ground. There was a structure that supported the disputed construction. The Supreme Court had stated that the underlying structure was not Islamic.

The Apex Court had stated that the ASI abstained from recording a finding on whether the mosque was built after demolishing a Hindu Temple, and that title cannot be determined only based on the ASI’s expert report. The title to the land should be determined according to established legal principles.

While the Muslim side failed to provide evidence to show possessory title, the Hindu side established unimpeded possession of the outer courtyard.

(Courtesy : Ms Shraddha Pandey in opindia.com)

Editorial Perspective

Maasir-i-Alamgiri mentions that Aurangzeb had issued a ‘Farman’ to governors to demolish the temples of the infidels !