Ayodhya: Dr Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chief imam of the All India Imam Organisation who attended the ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony Monday, has a message: “We need to forget about the past and move forward.”
“Humein puraani ranjisho (rivalries) aur dushmaniyon (enmity) ko khatam karke aage ka sochna hai (we have to finish old rivalries and enmity, and move forward,” he told ThePrint. “We have to ensure our future generations work for the betterment of the nation.”
When he got the invite for the Ram Mandir event, Ilyasi said, the thoughts in his mind were about the “country, development and love”. “I went there with paigham-e-mohabbat (message of love),” he added.
Ilyasi has received flak from several quarters over his decision to attend the consecration ceremony for the temple. The site where the temple stands has been a subject of dispute between Hindus and Muslims for decades.
Hindus say the land is the birthplace of Lord Ram, and, in 1992, hundreds of fundamentalists razed the 16th-century Babri mosque built there in the Mughal era. The site was handed over to the Hindu side by the Supreme Court in 2019 after a long legal battle, with the court saying the Muslim side would be given an alternative site of 5 acres to build another mosque.
Ilyasi said the enmity and strife between the two sides had gone on for too many years, and should end.
“This is the time to move forward. Our faith and religion can certainly be different… Our main dharm is insaan and insaniyat. We live in Bharat and are Bharatiya. We all need to make Bharat strong. Rashtra sarvapriya (the nation is supreme),” he added.
Ilyasi said his detractors could say anything because this was a democracy, “but to target and oppose a person who is going is not right”.
“To the parties and people who are opposing me — and I am being opposed a lot across the country — I just want to say apna nazariya badliye, nazaara khud badal jayega (change your perspective, and the view will change),” he said.
Being a chief cleric responsible for 5.5 lakh mosques, Ilyasi said, his job was to spread the message of love and harmony. “The job of the opposition is to oppose. I am a chief imam… and the message we want to give is that we want to live with each other peacefully,” he said.
Ilyasi said Indians needed to forget about the past and move forward, adding that dialogue was the only way ahead. “We have to coexist and fight hatred,” he added.
“Purani baaton ko bhool kar, miljul kar, pyaar se mohabbat se aage badhne ka waqt hai (it’s time to forget bygones and move forward with love),” he said.
All praise for Modi
Asked why work on a new mosque had not started, and if it was because the Muslim community was not keen to get involved in the project, he said, “A committee has been made for the mosque that is to be constructed, but right now is not the time to oppose but to be united.”
The imam was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly his remark at the ceremony that “Ram was the samadhan (solution), not vivaad (problem)”.
“We also want to say that the solution means when the country is moving towards development — the way it is striving to be a ‘vishwa guru’ — we have to stay in this country with love,” he added. “We have to stay united. We have to contribute to the development of this country.”
Bharat, he said, “is a country of spirituality from which the entire world learns”.
“People are getting benefits from Bharat’s ayurveda, yoga. Don’t link it with any religion but with the country,” he added.
The imam said the Prime Minister’s speech was not just for Hindus, but for all “Bharatwasis”. “He has declared Ram mandir a ‘rashtra mandir’. He meant this for everyone. He has given a message that all Indians need to come together and make India and Indianness strong.”
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
He is one of the real spiritual leader/human among all Indians. Namaskar hai aapko.