Sosyal Medya

Politics

The Babri Masjid, Masjid al-Aqsa and the weak Muslim community
09-02-2024 13:29
Ibnul Ammar 
 
Israeli officials persist in discussing the notion of the promised land—an expansive territory—with the intent of erasing a significant portion of the Middle East, its people, and its history. Their plan includes the demolition of the Aqsa Masjid to make way for their temple on the site, arguing that it is the rightful location for the temple. While this may seem like a reasonable proposition to them, Muslims follow the teachings of the prophets who constructed the "temple," viewing it as a sacred place to worship Allah. Furthermore, even under Muslim rule, both Christians and Muslims have historically been allowed to worship in Jerusalem. As Israel continues its genocide in Gaza, with the global community appearing passive, another story of injustice against Muslims and their historical sites unfolds elsewhere in the world. This time, in India!
 
Recently, the Indian government inaugurated a temple known as Ram Temple located at Ayodhya. The temple was inaugurated on 24 January 2024. It cost approximately 200 million dollars to construct. The temple that was built at the current place of Ayodhya was a place of an ancient mosque known as "Babri Masjid". The mosque was built in 935 AH (1528-29) by Mir Baqi, who was one of the commanders of the Mughal emperor Babur. The mosque was known as "Masjid-i-Janmasthan" (The birthplace of the mosque) before the 1940s. The Hindu nationalists claim that the mosque was built on the birthplace of Ram, a principal deity of Hinduism.  The Hindu nationalists also claim that Mir Baqui destroyed a preexisting temple of Ram in the same place and then built the mosque. This caused a lot of controversies, for which there were several conflicts and court disputes between Muslims and Hindus, especially since the 19th century. The Hindu nationalists placed idols of Rama and Sita inside the mosque in 1949, for which the government later locked the mosque to avoid further disputes between the Hindus and the Muslims. However, on December 6, 1992, the mosque was destroyed by Indian nationalist groups, including the current government party BJP (Indian nationalist party), VHP (Indian right-wing Hindu organisation based on Hindu) and RSS (Indian far-right Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation). This resulted in a huge riot all over the Indian subcontinent, where around 2000-3000 people were killed. Almost all of the people who were killed in the riot were Muslims.
 
In September 2010, a high court in India known as Allahabad High Court decided to  construct the Ram Temple while Muslims were awarded one-third area of the land for the construction of a mosque. However, On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the entire land to be handed over to a trust to build the Ram temple. On the other hand, the Supreme Court ordered the government to give an alternative land to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to replace the Babri Masjid that was demolished in 1992. The government allotted a site in the village of Dhannipur, 18 kilometres away from Ayodhya and 30 kilometres by road from the place of the original Babri Masjid. The construction of the mosque started on 26 January 2021.
 
While the overall Hindu nationalists are happy for the inauguration of Ram Temple, the Muslims become sad about this decision despite the government having allocated a place for them to construct another mosque as an alternative to Babri Masjid. This is nevertheless a matter of emotion for the Muslims because it was one of the very ancient mosques not only in India but also in the entire Indian sub-continent. In fact, this mosque symbolised Muslim traditions as it was built during the Mughal period. On the other hand, the Hindu nationalist groups celebrated during the time of the inauguration of Ram Temple as if the temple was retaken in the birthplace of their deity.
 
It is disheartening to witness these events unfolding in the world without any objections being raised. The Indian Prime Minister's visits to Muslim countries go unchecked despite concerns about the treatment of Muslims and their cultural heritage. It is hard to imagine that a Muslim-majority country could engage in similar actions without facing severe international condemnation and sanctions for mistreating minorities.
 
In this case, it seems that the international community only perceives Muslims as the villains, showing a lack of concern when they are subjected to unjust treatment. The irony deepens as the Hindu community continues to grow in the Middle East, the heartland of Islam, while the most significant gesture India extends to its own Muslim population is the destruction of its mosques.
 
What adds to the distress is the fact that some Hindu migrants in the Middle East openly celebrated the inauguration of the temple, even taking to the streets. Among Muslim lands, Kuwait stands out as the only country bold enough to deport nine Indians for such celebrations—an action that is rightly viewed as insensitive and disrespectful towards Islam. It is worth noting that just months ago, the UAE played a role in inaugurating the largest Hindu Temple in the Middle East, further highlighting the contradictions in these recent developments.
 
Muslim countries must fully integrate Islam into their foreign policies. They need to be able to automatically put sanctions on countries that work against the interest of Islam. Failure to do so not only means supporting, albeit indirectly, the killing of our brothers in places like Palestine but also increases the risk of someone wrongfully seizing what belongs to the Muslims. Regrettably, many people choose to remain silent until they personally feel the impact.

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