Religious wrangling: Battle for a house of God

Two parties lay claim over administrative control of a mosque.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad administration is facing serious difficulties in resolving a controversy over ownership of a mosque in Sector F-11/4.

The mosque was sealed by police to avoid a possible clash between two groups over the ouster of prayer leader Abdul Razzaq on charges of embezzlement by the Islamic Centre Trust that runs the mosque.

Dr Anis Ahmad, who got the trust registered, was elected chairman of the mosque committee in 2001. He said the mosque is not for any specific sect and everyone, irrespective of sectarian beliefs, could offer prayers there. He said that the imam breached the trust deed by accepting a direct donation of $1,400 and keeping the trust out of the loop.

On the other side, some local residents refused to accept the decision and challenged its validity. On April 16, the dissidents constituted their own mosque committee, headed by Rana Muhammad Ilyas.

Ilyas said that although Dr Ahmad was elected chairman of the mosque committee, he formed the trust illegally without taking the residents of the area into confidence.

However, he could not furnish a valid reason when asked why no voice was raised against this “illegal” trust or its chairman during the last ten years. However, he claimed to have challenged the validity of the trust several times, but other people remained silent spectators.

Muhammed Rafique, one of the supporters of Abdul Razzaq, claimed that in May 2011, the chairman of the trust announced that two portions of the Masjid Al Momineen be converted into marriage halls, adding that a majority of the congregation got upset and raised reservations on this unilateral decision.

However, Dr Ahmad said that the alleged marriage hall was actually a separate section where women could come to offer prayers, maintaining that women had also the right to offer prayers in mosques.

Auqaf Department Deputy Director Afsar Khan said the ‘new’ committee’s members did not appear before him within the stipulated two months, as per the Islamabad High Court orders, and he announced his decision in favour of the trust. “However, as there is a case pending before a civil court, I only asked the trust to run the affairs of the mosque till the final verdict.”

The new committee members did not even bother to fulfil their promise to accept a neutral prayer leader until the court’s final verdict, an official of the Islamabad administration said.

Ilyas claimed that on November 24, the trust’s management, with the help of 70 to 80 people and with the connivance of the police, broke the locks of the mosque and occupied it. “Despite our written complaint to the Shalimar police, instead of taking any action against the occupants, sealed the mosque, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2011.