On Monday (29th January), Islamic scholar Atiq ur Rehman attempted to downplay the desecration of Hindu temples by Islamic invaders and claimed that the Muslim community should be credited for not destroying evidence of mosques being built atop Hindu temples.
During a panel discussion on the disputed Gynavapi masjid and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on News18, Rehman brazened out, “The Muslim side could have wiped off everything. Every sign of Mandir could have been wiped off but they kept it.”
“Why did they keep it? Because they were given an assurance that it wouldn’t be challenged. And they respected those artefacts,” he remarked.
Muslim scholar Atiq ur Rehman says Muslims should be appreciated for preserving the remnants of the demolished temple because they were assured that it won't be challenged. He sounds like Audrey Trashcan's brother who said Mughals built more temples than they destroyed. pic.twitter.com/RD72VclAro
— Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) (@HinduHate) January 30, 2024
“You should appreciate this fact instead of making an issue out of it. You should appreciate that they kept as they were historically very important monuments,” he further continued.
Journalist Anand Narasimhan intervened, “Why did they keep it since 1677 CE, sir? Did they keep it because it was a mosque or did they keep it as Swami Chinmayananda said that these were victory monuments.”
“Did they keep it because they wanted to show that it was a victory? These are victory monuments. Waqf Board has so many properties. Masjid could have been built anywhere? Why are they built on Ram Janmabhoomi, Krishna Janmabhoomi and so on,” he added.
Swami Chinmayananada on victory monuments
During an interview with Ram Madhav in 1993, the spiritual leader Swami Chinmayananda spoke about Ram Janmabhoomi and the disputed Babri Masjid.
He had said, “That building (Babri) is called by misnomer that it is a mosque. It is not. There were no minarets. They had not offered their prayers. Why did they build it? They broke down our Rama temple and built it there as a victory monument.”
In the context of Gyanvapi mosque, Swami Chinmayananda had added, “First let us have this Rama Temple. Afterwards, there are two more monuments which are built upon our Krishna’s birth place and Kashi Viswanath.”
Atiq ur Rehman concedes that Muslims cannot offer namaz at Gyanvapi
It must be mentioned that Atiq ur Rehman had conceded during the panel discussion that Muslims cannot offer Namaz at Gyanvapi Mosque as the mosque was built atop a Hindu temple.
Later, he resorted to mental gymnastics and began inquiring whether Hindus had the right to offer prayers at the mosque. At that point, journalist Anand Narasimhan informed him that the site was not ‘disputed’ for the Hindu community.
Before that Atiq ur Rehman says Muslims cannot offer namaz at Gyanvapi bcos it is disputed. Then he says it should be applicable to Hindus too, that they cannot do puja on a disputed site. 🤡 pic.twitter.com/4HXi9DqIBG
— Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) (@HinduHate) January 30, 2024
He added that even though the temple was defiled, the deity underneath had perennial rights. And as such, Hindus have the right to pray at the site given that the Hindu temple was not constructed atop a mosque.
Denial of ASI report
On 25th January, the report by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the Gyanvapi Masjid was made public. It revealed the existence of a large Hindu temple structure underneath the disputed structure.
As expected, Muslim peitioners refused to believe the report and vowed to challenge it before the higher Judiciary. SM Yasin, Joint Secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) remarked, “It is our first and foremost responsibility to keep the mosque safe… ASI has given the report as per its reputation. This is a report and not a decision.”
He claimed, “The Gyanvapi mosque was built 600 years ago by a zamindar (landlord) of Jaunpur. It was renovated by Mughal emperor Akbar during his rule. Then the expansion and renovation of the Gyanvapi mosque was done by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Muslims have been offering namaz for about 600 years ago…and will continue to do so in future too.”
Inscription of Aurangzeb’s order for mosque construction was erased
In the 850-page long detailed report, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has revealed that efforts were made to erase parts of the inscription of Aurangzeb’s order to make the mosque in place of the temple.
The inscription was found on a loose stone slab of sandstone recovered from the lower room of the south corridor. It contains Arabic and Persian scripts and the text says, Allahu Akbar, Bismillahi – Ar- Rahman-Ar-Rahim, and other such text. However, in the 6-line text on the slab, the lower two lines have been erased.
But the ASI had photographed the same slab earlier in 1965, in which all the text was intact. The report noted that the photograph of this stone inscription was recorded in ASI records in the year 1965-66. Which shows that the slab has been damaged after 1965.
According to the detailed ASI report, the erased inscription conveyed information about Aurangzeb’s order and mentioned the timeline, that is, in which year the construction of the now-existing structure took place and when expansions to the existing structure were carried out.
As per the records, the construction of the mosque took place in 1676-77 CE. The mosque was later repaired with sahan in around 1792-93 CE.
On comparing the two inscriptions, it was established that “attempt was made to erase last two lines of the inscription mentioning about the construction and expansion of the mosque.”
Idols of Hindu gods buried in Gyanvapi cellars, blocked with debris
The ASI report stated that several artefacts related to the temple were deliberately kept hidden, they were found in cellars which were blocked by debris and walls. As per the ASI report, on the Eastern part of the complex, there are six cellars, three on southern side and three on the northern side on the both sides of the sealed area. There are two more cellars on the north, closer to the structure.
The cellars were made below the ground level when the pre-existing structure was modified and extended towards the east, the report states. The underground cellars were used for various purposes, however most of the cellars were found blocked, either completely or partially. For the study, ASI cleaned the cellars and removed a large amount of debris, recovering several signs of a pre-existing Hindu temple.
The most important artefacts were found in the southern cellars, S1, S2 and S3. ASI says that there are five entrances from S2 to S1, but all of them were blocked with lakhauri bricks and/ or stone blocks set in lime mortar. Similarly, all four entrances to S3 were blocked filling soil or keeping stones and architectural materials.
When the ASI teams entered cellar S3 by clearing the entrances, the found that the cellar was deliberately filled with soil and debris. Holes were make on the ceilings and soils and debris were dumped through that holes, blocking the cellar.
The report says that cellar S2 was used as a dumping place of large number of diverse things ranging from bamboos, to terracotta and metal pots, doors and windows, architectural members, etc. A number of architectural members were found stacked over the blocked entrances of the western wall.
When the debris was removed from the cellar, several things purposefully buried were exposed. This included a miniature temple, sculptures of Vishnu, Shaiva Dwarpala, Hanuman and other stone objects as well as terracotta figurines. “A miniature shrine with sculptural depiction of deities is another noteworthy find,” the ASI report says, talking about the miniature temple found in S2.
The report added that Shiva linga and Yonipatta in good numbers were doing in cellar S2 and the western wall area. It states that Two sculptures of Vishnu were also recorded from cellar S2, one of which is a complete image and another one is only the parikara part of an image depicting the figure of seated Vishnu.
Islamists, left-liberals continued to call ‘Shivling’ as fountain in wuzukhana
Soon after the discovery of a Shivling inside a wuzukhana of the disputed structure of Gyanvapi Masjid in May 2022, left-liberals and Islamists expectedly suffered a prolonged meltdown on social media.
They made casual ‘Hinduphobic’ remarks and mocked Hindu deities in an attempt to discredit the discovery of the Shivling inside the disputed structure of Gyanvapi masjid in Varanasi.
The usual suspects, who have a notorious past of chiding Hindus for being unapologetic and proud of culture and heritage, took to Twitter to mock Hindus for celebrating the presence of Shivling inside the disputed structure.
Some deliberately called it a ‘fountain’ while others compared Shivling to everyday objects.
