Muslim law board expels member Maulana Salman Nadvi who proposed Ayodhya compromise formula

NEW DELHI: All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday expelled its member Maulana Sayyed Salman Husaini Nadvi who had claimed that there is a provision in Islam to shift the mosque.

Moulana Nadvi had mooted the proposal to hand over disputed land in Ayodhya, where Babri Masjid once stood, for the construction of Ram temple.

He had made the statement during a meeting with Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

"Committee announced AIMPLB Board will continue with its old stand that Mosque cannot be gifted, sold or shifted. Because Salman Nadwi has gone against this unanimous stand, he (Maulana Nadvi) has been expelled," AIMPLB member Qasim Ilyas said.

On Thursday, Sri Sri had met a six-member Muslim delegation in Bengaluru to find a solution to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute. The meeting lasted for three hours.

The six representatives who had attended the meeting included executive member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Sayyed Salman Husaini Nadvi, UP Sunni Central Waqf Board chairperson Zufar Farooqui, former IAS officer Anis Ansari, advocate Imran Ahmed, Maulana Wasif Hasan Waizi of Teeli Wali Masjid and director of Objective Research and Development Athar Husain.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of Shias, Sunnis and various other people from the Muslim community. The next meeting will be held in Ayodhya in March.

Later in the same day, AIMPLB had clarified that the land dedicated for masjid (mosque) cannot be sold, gifted or in any way alienated, reiterating its earlier stand on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute.

The board said this following a meeting of its working committee in Hyderabad.

In a statement issued later, the AIMPLB said, ''the board once again emphasises the basic level of Shariah that the land dedicated for Masjid cannot be sold, gifted or in any way alienated."

The statement was released by Maulana Umrain Mehfooz Rehmani, secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.