AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi Thursday said it would have been better had the Supreme Court referred the issue of whether mosque was an integral part of Islam to a Constitution bench.
Responding to questions from reporters on the apex court's verdict on the Ayodhya land case, he, however, said the judiciary cannot and should not decide what is an essential feature of a religion and it is for the clergy of the religion to decide.
The apex court Thursday declined to refer to a larger bench the "questionable observation" in its 1994 verdict that "mosque is not an essential part of the practice of Islam".
In a majority verdict of 2:1, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the civil suit has to be decided on the basis of evidence, adding that the previous verdict has no relevance to this issue.
Owaisi said it was a matter of national importance.
"The fact is that Masjid is an essential feature of Islam. As a Muslim I am telling Masjid is an essential feature of Islam. It is mentioned in Quran... What surprises me is that when it came to 'triple talaq' the Quarnic verses were mentioned but now when the matter of Masjid came those Quranic verses are being completely forgotten, he said. The Hyderabad MP also sought to know if Masjid was not an essential feature of Islam, what about other religious places.
"Are they essential feature? Because I am of the opinion that judiciary cannot decide what is essential feature of a religion.I submit respectfully that it is for religious clergy to decide what is an essential feature of a religion. Unfortunately the judiciary has decided this and I respectfully submitted my opinion," he said
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