HYDERABAD/ LUCKNOW: The
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) sacked senior cleric and executive member
Maulana Sayyed Salman Hussaini Nadvi on Sunday for suggesting that Muslims can shift the
Babri Masjid away from the disputed site in
Ayodhya.
The decision came a day after Nadvi's interview to TOI, in which he had stated that the board had been hijacked by "extremist elements". AIMPLB released a 'Hyderabad declaration' that didn't mention Nadvi's sacking.
The board, after a two-day deliberation, reiterated its stand on Ayodhya, saying Babri Masjid was an essential part of faith in Islam and Muslims could never abdicate it or exchange the land. "Babri Masjid is a mosque and shall remain one till eternity," it said.
Nadvi, who drew flak for his Babri remark after meeting Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on February 8 in Bengaluru, said in Lucknow that he would launch a parallel body. AIMPLB's four-member panel, set up on Friday to suggest action against Nadvi, couldn't agree on expelling him.
Headed by board president Maulana Rabey Hassani Nadvi, the panel decided to "dissociate" from the cleric.
Nadvi had declared on Saturday that he wouldn't want to work with a board hijacked by "aggressive and extremist elements". "After I announced my disassociation and skipped Saturday's meeting, my sacking means nothing. I don't want to be part of a hijacked board," he told TOI in Lucknow.
"The board is saying it will wait for whatever the court decides, but my contention is why wait when we can sit together and decide for peace and stop a riot-like situation in future," Nadvi said.
On interference from the
UP Shia Central Waqf board, Nadvi said the Shia board should stay clear from the issue. "The Sunni Central Waqf Board is the prime party in the case and it is with me on the out-of-court settlement. Give us a period of three months and the matter will be resolved with talks," he claimed.
Nadvi later tweeted a link of a TOI story which quoted him saying that he "was forced to quit, will continue working for Hindu-Muslim unity".
