Quran does not say mosque is required in every nook and cranny: Kerala High Court

Kochi, August 27: Using verses of Quran, the Kerala High Court refused to grant permission to build a new mosque in a locality in Kerala which already had many mosques. The Court said that the state already has many religious places where the faithful can worship and that the ratio of religious structures to the population in the state is very high.

 

 

The Court was hearing the case filed by Noorul Islam Samskarika Sangam which sought to change a commercial building to a Muslim place of worship. The area where the petitioner sought to build a Mosque already contains 36 Muslim prayer halls within 5 km vicinity.

 

The petition claimed that this would enable Muslims in the vicinity to access a mosque to offer prayers five times a day.However, the District Collector dismissed the application.

 

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan while hearing the case stated that the state of Kerala is known as ‘God’s own country’ and that it is full of religious places. “We are exhausted with religious places and prayer halls and we are not in a position to allow any new religious places and prayer halls except in the rarest of rare cases”, the judgement read.

 

The Justice also referred to the Quran and said that it was nowhere written in the book that there must be a Mosque for Muslim community in every nook and corner of the locality. Court further referred to the verses Juz 10 Surah 18 and Juz 1 Surah 114 of the Holy Quran and to Clause 1064 of Riyadussaliheen.

 

“The above verses of the Holy Quran, clearly highlight the importance of the Mosque to the Muslim community. But it is not stated in the above verses of the Holy Quran that Mosque is necessary in every nook and corner. It is not stated in the Hadees or in the Holy Quran that the mosque is to be situated adjacent to the house of every Muslim community member. Distance is not the criteria, but reaching the mosque is important,” the Court observed.

 

 

 

“If every devotee of Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jews, Parsis, etc. start to construct religious places and prayer halls near their residence, the State will face serious consequence including communal disharmony”, the Court stated adding that as per the police report, conversion of commercial building to a religious prayer hall might lead to communal disharmony in the area.

 

In the instant case, because 36 mosques already existed in the vicinity in question, the Court determined there was no need for yet another mosque in that area because Muslims could travel to other nearby mosques, especially given that most citizens have access to a vehicle or public transportation.

 

“It is true that Article 26(a) of the Constitution of India states that subject to the public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes. That does not mean that they can construct religious places in every nook and corner of the country. Kerala is a very small State”, the Court observed.