The Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar held a meeting with Muslim leaders on Friday; including members from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Sunni Waqf Board. This attempts to renew the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Ayodhya.
Support poured in for an out-of-court settlement on the matter. The mediate was expressed after the AOL met eminent members of the Sunni Waqf Board, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and others.
A statement by the Art of Living read,
“They have supported the proposal of shifting the Masjid outside to another place. Many Muslim stakeholders are cooperating in this matter.”
Members of the meeting
Executive member of the Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Syed Salman Hussain Nadvi, Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board chairperson Zufar Ahmad Farooqui, Maulana Wasif Hasan of Teelay Wali Masjid in Lucknow and retired IAS officer Dr Anis Ansari were among all those present. In addition, the director of Centre for Objective Research and Development (CORD) Athar Husain Siddiqui was present.
Furthermore, businessman AR Rahman, London-based World Islamic Forum chairman Maulana Isa Mansuri, Lucknow advocate Imran Ahmed, former Haj committee of India chairman A Aboobucker and Dr Musa Kaiser of Bengaluru were the attendees.
Responses from around
This peace-mediating effort received a timid response from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. It kept distancing itself from the spiritual leader’s attempt to mediate in the issue. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and the VHP gave no appreciation to the spiritual guru’s efforts to resolve the Ayodhya temple dispute.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the parties in the dispute to file translated copies of documents in two weeks. A special bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will be hearing the case on March 14. Quite interestingly, it rejected the request to hear the case on a “day-to-day basis”.