The recent verdict of an Indian high court on the Babri Masjid dispute between Hindus and Muslims can have disastrous consequences for hundreds of other mosques built during the 700 -year-long Muslim rule in India.

Babri Masjid, named after the Moghul emperor Zaheer-ud-Din Muhammad Babar, was built by one of his commanders, Meer Baqi Tashqandi, in 1528 in Ayodhya, an ancient town in northern India. Ayodhya figures prominently in Hindu epics and is reputed to be the birth place of Hindu deity Lord Rama.

The mosque stood there for 300 years but there was no dispute about the land where it was built. It was only after decline of the Moghul Empire and the coming of the British Colonial rulers that some Hindus came up with theory that the mosque was built at the site where a Hindu temple stood in ancient times and Lord Rama was born at the place right under the middle dome of the mosque. The controversy suited the 'divide and rule' policy of the new rulers; they therefore let it simmer causing a rift between the extremist elements of the two sides. However, after the independence of India with the Hindu majority coming into power, the extremist Hindu organizations launched a campaign demanding that the mosque be demolished and the supposed ancient Hindu temple should be rebuilt at the site. On a December night in 1949 idols were planted by Hindu zealots inside the mosque. The idols were removed by the Muslims. But the incident started a big controversy about the mosque attracting attention of political parties and religious groups of both sides.

The climax came in 1992 when mobs of Hindus led by leaders of some extremist parties and armed with picks, axes and hammers, raided the mosque and in a matter of hours demolished its domes while the Indian police stood watching helplessly. India's ruse of secularism was exposed before the whole world.

The aggrieved Muslims went to the court to retrieve the mosque site so as to rebuild the structure and to save thousands of other mosques built during the Muslim rule in the country. After a long drawn out litigation the high court bench at Luck now gave its verdict on September 30 ,2010 dividing the mosque land between the Hindus and Muslims, the former getting two thirds and the later one third of the area, interalia accepting the Hindus' claim and legitimizing the demolition of the mosque by Hindu zealots. To the shock and dismay of the Muslim community and of many non-Muslims too, the court decided the matter on the basis of 'mythology and faith' closing their eyes to the facts.

This judgment of a high court allowing the unsubstantiated claim of the Hindus may have disastrous effects on the fate of hundreds of mosques and historical buildings built during the Muslim rule in India. The Hindus' claim was not confined to the Babri Masjid. The extremist parties, the so called Hindutva group, have drawn a list of 300 other mosques, which, they claim, are built over ancient Hindu temples and monuments. Now the list is reported to have been enlarged to 2999 mosques. Even some of the best known Muslim shrines like the famous Ajmer Sharif, are being described by the Hindu fundamentalists , to have been raised at the sites of old Hindu temples.

The hopes of the Muslim community now rest with the Indian Supreme Court which can hear the appeal against the high court judgment. But gravity of the situation warrants that the rest of the Muslim world should not behave as silent spectators to the impending mass destruction of the precious Muslim heritage in India. In view of the large number of historical mosque threatened by the Hindu fundamentalists, it is a matter which the OIC should take up with the government of India.

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