Ghar Wapsi: Wasim Rizvi, former UP Shia Waqf Board chief, converts to Hinduism

Ghaziabad, Dec 6: Wasim Rizvi, the controversial former Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board Chairman, has formally converted to Hinduism by quitting Islam. According to reports, Rizvi was formally converted to Hinduism by Mahant Narasimha Ananda Sarawati of the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad on Monday.

 

Reports suggests that Rizvi had stated that his dead body should be cremated according to the traditional Hindu ritual, and not buried after his death. Rizvi also mentioned that his funeral pyre should be lit by a Hindu seer Narasimha Ananda Sarawati of the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad.

 

 

The former Shia Waqf Board chief has been involved in several controversies after he filed a petition in the Supreme Court for the removal of 26 verses from the Quran, which he alleged promoted terrorism and Jihad.

 

Notably, Rizvi had earlier informed that he wanted to get convert to Hinduism. He was in regular touch with the temple’s Mahant for several days. He had released a video in which he said that he feared for his life as several radical Islamic outfits had called for his beheading. In his petition, Rizvi claimed that the objectionable verses have been added to the holy Quran much later.

 

"These verses were added to the Quran, by the first three Caliphs, to aid the expansion of Islam by war," Rizvi had mentioned in his petition. He had claimed that radical Islamists and terror groups use these verses of the Quran to justify Jihad. Rizvi also added that these verses were being used to mislead the uneducated Muslim youths, persuading them to take up jihad.

 

However, the top court had called the petition frivolous and had imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on him. After failing to get the terror-supporting verses removed from the Quran officially, Wasim Rizvi had penned a new Islamic Holy book, after omitting the said 26 verses from the Quran.

 

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi had on November 17 lodged a complaint against him for making alleged insulting statements against the Prophet. In the complaint addressed to the Commissioner of Police of Hyderabad, Owaisi alleged that Rizvi has written a book in Hindi where he vilified Prophet Mohammad and used objectionable language.

 

Owaisi had raised his objections against the latest book authored by Rizvi titled ‘Muhammad,’ which was released on November 4 from Dasna Devi temple at Ghaziabad in presence of Narasimha Ananda Sarawati.