Soon after Minister for Minority Affairs Smriti Irani, against the backdrop of a representation from the Ahmadiya community, stated that waqf boards does not have the authority to excommunicate anybody, a Hyderabad-based Muslim group objected to her statement.
In a statement, the Majlise Tahaffuze Khatme Nabuwwat Trust TS and AP said that their position had nothing to do with tolerance, but was based on established principles of Islamic theology, and a consensus of Islamic scholars from different sects and schools of jurisprudence. “It is neither the point of tolerance, nor the matter of intolerance, but a matter of believing the fundamentals of Islam or not,” an excerpt from the statement reads, even as it lays emphasis that they should be considered a different community.
It was in 2012 that APSWB of the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh(AP), led by then chairman Syed Ghulam Afzal Biyabani, passed a resolution seeking to remove from the board’s purview institutions belonging to the Ahmadiya community. The board then made the announcement before the media. “We were acting in light of a fatwa issued at that time. We wanted to hand over properties of the Ahmadiyas from the (AP State) Waqf Board to the Endowments Department,” Mr. Biyabani told The Hindu on Thursday.
What followed was the Ahmadiya community, seeking the AP State High Court’s intervention, and challenging the board’s resolution.
Mohammed Sohail, a former president of the Ahmadiya community in Hyderabad, said, “A writ petition was filed soon after the resolution was passed. See, how can you excommunicate anybody from any faith? It is unconstitutional. The Indian Constitution speaks about diversity and there are different people living in this country who have the right to follow their faith,” he said.
According to those who are aware of developments, the undivided state of AP had over 40 Ahmadiya mosques. While it is unclear as to how many are there in Telangana, Mr. Sohail said that there were at least five in Hyderabad.
A source at the Telangana State Waqf Board, requesting anonymity, said that there had been no move to either denotify or delist Ahmadiya properties ever since the new State was carved out. The source, who worked with the board in undivided AP, said, “The properties that were registered as waqf decades ago will continue to remain waqf properties as no move to remove them was made. It seems that they (Ahmadiya community) are managing their own institutions,” he said.
A controversy erupted after it was reported that the Andhra Pradesh State Waqf Board (APSWB) passed a resolution declaring the Ahmadiya community as not Muslim. However, the board has reportedly denied passing any such resolution.
