Written by: Muskan Rathore (Intern)
Edited by: Anubhav Yadav (Content Head & Developer)
The Ex-Chairman of UP Shia Central Waqf Board, Waseem Rizvi pleaded for the removal of 26 Quran verses that illustrated violent aggravation was dismissed by the Supreme Court this Monday. Rizvi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in previous month for the removal of some verses of Quran which according to his claim violated the Law of the Land and therefore in turn preach terrorism, violence and jihad, thus endorsing enormous disapproval from the country.
In the petition filed on 11 th March, Rizvi prayed to remove 26 verses from the Quran which he claimed are used as “justifications” by Islamist terrorist groups for the attacks of violence on the non-practitioners or the civilians and therefore, were not a part of the original holy book of Quran but were supposedly added later on. The petition had activated a storm with various Muslim associations thus criticizing the former UP Shia Waqf Board chairman for ‘hurting the sentiments of Muslims across the world’.
The All India Shia Personal Law Board had earlier put forward their view that Rizwi’s plea was an insult to all the Muslims of the world, and therefore it has offended them considerably. In Bareilly, Mufti Ahsan Raja Qadri of the Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat, a noticeable center of Barelvi Muslims, had also criticized Rizvi’s contention and had put forward his opinion that there cannot even be a bit of change which would be possible in the holy book, Quran. He had reportedly made a statement where he said that “Waseem Rizvi is an enemy of the Quran and Islam. He is doing this to gather cheap popularity and to save himself from the Waqf scam.”
The petition referred to the following verses: Verse 9 Surah 5; Verse 9 Surah 28; Verse 4 Surah 101; Verse 9 Surah 123; Verse 4 Surah 56; Verse 9 Surah 23; Verse 9 Surah 37; Verse 5 Surah 57; Verse 33 Surah 61; Verse 21 Surah 98; Verse 32 Surah 22; Verse 48 Surah 20; Verse 8 Surah 69; Verse 66 Surah 9; Verse 41 Surah 27; Verse 41 Surah 28; Verse 9 Surah 111; Verse 9 Surah 58; Verse 8 Surah 65; Verse 5 Surah 51; Verse 9 Surah 29; Verse 5 Surah 14; Verse 4 Surah 89; Verse 9 Surah 14; Verse 3 Surah 151; Verse 2 Surah 191.
A petition submitted that the religion Islam is based upon the Principles of Forgiveness, Equality, Tolerance and Equity, but the literal interpretation made to the mentioned verses form a paradox with regard to these principles and hence in the present world incline the meaning towards terrorism and extremism.
The Supreme Court Bench of Justice Rohinton F. Nariman had formerly asked whether he was serious about filing the petition and whether he wants to press for the hearing. To which, his counsel affirmed to present the case and contended that “my submission is that these preachings advocate violence against non-believers. Children are kept at captivity at madrasas at a tender age. Students are not to be indoctrinated. These preaching’s cannot be in the market place of ideas. I have written to the Central Government for action, but nothing has happened… Central Govt and Madrasa Boards may be called upon to ensure what steps are taken to avoid literal teaching of verses advocating violence”. The court further heard the petition in brief, calling it “absolutely frivolous” and further proceeded to dismissing the petition and imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 as costs on him for filing the petition.