04-27-2005, 01:22 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wakf, walk off
SirâAs resolved at a public meeting on April 21 at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, we demand that all wakfs should be abolished in India. The main reason for this is that all property owned by them belong to Allah, the merciful. In an Islamic state, sovereignty rests with Allah. This means that all wakf property is micro-Islamistan. Wakfs function outside the purview of all laws like, income tax, Urban Land Ceiling Act, etc. Most wakf properties are results of conquests and confiscation. They were either a part of war booty distributed to commandersâ favourites as rewards or a source of funds for the pursuit of jihad. It is not sacred since this property does not find any mention in the holy Quran. Moreover, wakfs have been abolished in a number of Islamic countries such as Turkey-1924, Egypt-1842, Tunisia-1957, Syria and Lebanon post-World War l and the Muslim-populated provinces of the erstwhile Soviet Union in the wake of the 1917 Revolution. If we combine all that the wakf possesses as property, it would emerge as the greatest urban feudal body in India. According to a report in a national daily, in Delhi alone the wakf owns maximum property, next only to the DDA. The UP Sunni Wakf Board has demanded ownership of the Taj Mahal on the ground that it contains qabrs. If this logic were to prevail, innumerable areas across the country would sprout up as micro-Islamistans. The princely states were integrated in 1948 and the zamindari system abolished. Why then have wakfs not been taken over? This reflects the stateâs bias for one community over the others and this anomaly must be rectified at the earliest.
Prafull Goradia
General Secretary, Jana Sangh <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
SirâAs resolved at a public meeting on April 21 at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, we demand that all wakfs should be abolished in India. The main reason for this is that all property owned by them belong to Allah, the merciful. In an Islamic state, sovereignty rests with Allah. This means that all wakf property is micro-Islamistan. Wakfs function outside the purview of all laws like, income tax, Urban Land Ceiling Act, etc. Most wakf properties are results of conquests and confiscation. They were either a part of war booty distributed to commandersâ favourites as rewards or a source of funds for the pursuit of jihad. It is not sacred since this property does not find any mention in the holy Quran. Moreover, wakfs have been abolished in a number of Islamic countries such as Turkey-1924, Egypt-1842, Tunisia-1957, Syria and Lebanon post-World War l and the Muslim-populated provinces of the erstwhile Soviet Union in the wake of the 1917 Revolution. If we combine all that the wakf possesses as property, it would emerge as the greatest urban feudal body in India. According to a report in a national daily, in Delhi alone the wakf owns maximum property, next only to the DDA. The UP Sunni Wakf Board has demanded ownership of the Taj Mahal on the ground that it contains qabrs. If this logic were to prevail, innumerable areas across the country would sprout up as micro-Islamistans. The princely states were integrated in 1948 and the zamindari system abolished. Why then have wakfs not been taken over? This reflects the stateâs bias for one community over the others and this anomaly must be rectified at the earliest.
Prafull Goradia
General Secretary, Jana Sangh <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->