Mumbai
Several Muslim leaders and scholars on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict, and asked people to maintain calm and peace.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous verdict on Saturday cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.
Maharashtra Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi said the SC verdict must be respected.
“We have full faith in the judicial system and we accept the verdict. We don’t need to get dejected and we should have faith in the people who fought the case on our behalf,” Azmi said, adding that people from the minority community should not react independently on the issue but let their leaders guide the response.
Chennai-based H Abdur Raqeeb, general secretary of Indian Centre for Islamic Finance (ICIF), an organisation pushing for Shariah banking in India, said he was unhappy with the verdict but respected it all the same.
“We respect the Supreme Court verdict but unhappy with the result. Further course of action will be decided after going through the judgement and consulting lawyers who appeared in the case. We will then decide whether a review petition will be useful,” Raqeeb, also a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board told PTI.
Former professor of Islamic Studies at south Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College, Dr Zeenat Shaukat Ali, termed the Ayodhya verdict “meticulous and scientifically thought out”.
“It is a perfect and balanced judgement and we all need to respect it and I am sure we will do it. The verdict is meticulous and scientifically thought out. It has very nicely balanced the aspirations of all the parties,” she said.
Feroze Mithiborwala, the president of NGO Bharat Bachao Andolan said, “The SC has alloted land both for a Ram mandir as well as a mosque in Ayodhya. A major chapter in Indian history had been given a closure and has the potential to promote communal harmony. (PTI)
