All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) and several other Shia organisations have expelled former Shia Waqf Board chairperson Waseem Rizvi from Islam and called him a ‘murtad’ after he filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court demanding deleting of some of the verses from the Holy Quran.
In a video message, AISPLB official Dr Yasoob Abbas condemned Rizvi for approaching the Supreme Court for elimination of 26 verses of the Holy Quran. He alleged that the said verses “incite violence”, and that it were “added in the period of the first three Khalifahs”.
“Rizvi should be arrested immediately for rabble-rousing. He is an agent of anti-Muslim forces and with the CBI investigating corruption in the waqf board, he is doing all in his imagination to hold on to their support,” eminent Shia scholar and general secretary of Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Hind Maulana Kalbe Jawad was quoted as saying by Times of India.
“If the government does not arrest him, it will be clear that it wants chaos and rioting too. Rizvi is neither a Shia nor a Muslim,” he added.
Addressing people before Friday prayers at the Eidgah, Maulana KHalid Rasheed Farangimahali said that the court should dispose of Rizvi’s petition which has hurt Muslims across the world.
“Allah has taken the responsibility of his Holy book and said that not even a letter or punctuation in it will change till Qayamat. Who is Rizvi then to make such tall claims? His petition should not be entertained, strict legal action be taken against him and the government arrest him for breaching peace,” he said.
On Saturday, Muslims in Kashmir held multiple protests against Rizvi. Jammu and Kashmir Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a conglomerate of various Muslim organisations in the state condemned the mischievous and malicious agenda of Rizvi. They said that this move was deliberate and aimed at provoking Muslims and feeding into the agenda of Islamophobes hostile to Islam and full of hatred.
On Sunday, a massive protest was held at the Bada Imambara in Lucknow against Rizvi and people demanded his immediate arrest.
In Hyderabad, the Charminar police registered a case under Sections 295A and 153A of IPC against Rizvi for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims, based on a filed by one Syed Aale Mohammed Quadri, an advocate from Hussaini Alam.
