Ayodhya case: Muslim body to accept SC verdict

Exuding confidence that the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case will be based on "evidence and not faith", prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Wednesday said it will respect the top court's ruling in the matter, and also appealed to Muslims to abide by it.

Jamiat chief Syed Arshad Madani, at a press conference, also claimed that its mediation offer that Muslims will give up the claim on the 'Ram Chabutra' provided the Hindu parties give up their claim over the three-dome portion and its courtyard area did not succeed as the Hindu parties, involved in the case, refused to budge, and claimed the entire land, including where the Masjid once stood.

"Be it Ram Lalla or the Nirmohi Akhara, they did not climb down and stuck to their stand. Mediation did not succeed," Madani said.

The Babri masjid case is not mere a case of land dispute but a test case of the supremacy of the law, Madani said.

"We believe SC will decide on the basis of law and not on faith," he said.

"Every justice-loving person wants the case should be adjudicated on the basis of hard facts and evidence not on the basis of faith and belief ," he said, adding that the supreme court also made it amply clear that it is a title suit case only.

The Babri Masjid has always remained as a mosque and is a mosque under the Shariah law and will remain till the day of judgment "even if the government or any power on the earth tried to change the status of the mosque by using its might", he said.

He said the case is based on historical facts and evidence that the Babri Masjid was constructed without demolishing any temple or any other place of worship.

"Therefore, any individual or organization has no right to surrender the mosque in the hope of getting any alternative," he said.

However, whatever the verdict of the Supreme Court, the Jamiat will respect the ruling, he asserted, while appealing to Muslims to abide by the verdict.

Jamiat is a pre-independence organisation, comprising Islamic scholars.

"The debate in the court is over, now we await the judgement. Our lawyer Rajeev Dhawan has made a very strong argument based on facts and we are confident that the decision will be in our favour. But, we have said time and again, the country is ours, the law is ours and the Supreme Court is ours. We have given evidence, whatever judgement is made, we will respect it," he said.

"We want to urge all citizens that they should respect the law and maintain peace in the country irrespective of whether the verdict is in favour or against," he said.

Referring to his meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in August, Madani said, the basis of that meeting was maintaining Hindu-Muslim unity.

"I am happy that, while sticking to our respective views, we have agreed on the point that Hindu-Muslim unity should be maintained in the country at all times. They (RSS) are also trying for this and we are also trying," he said.

"There has been a change in his (Bhagwat's) statements but we believe our dialogue will continue and will have fruitful result," the Jamiat chief asserted.

Asked about the verdict and the Jamiat's future course of action if it is in favour of the Muslim parties, he said that will be decided after the ruling when all Muslims will sit together.

Madani's remarks come a day after, senior RSS and BJP leaders reached out to prominent Muslim clerics and intellectuals and held a meeting with them during which it was stressed that irrespective of the nature of the court ruling there should neither be 'junooni jashn' (excessive celeberation) nor 'haar ka hungama' (brouhaha over defeat).

The meeting, held at the residence of Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, was attended by RSS leaders Krishna Gopal and Ramlal, former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary Mahmood Madani, Shia cleric Kalbe Jawad and filmmaker Muzaffar Ali.

The apex court is expected to give its ruling in the emotive and politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case before November 17 as Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is heading the Constitution bench in the matter, demits office that day.