While most Indian citizens have accepted the Supreme Court judgment on Ram Janmabhoomi title suit, few Muslims, who love to identify themselves as “liberals”, have started a tirade against the judgment on social media. Since they can’t legally challenge the verdict (because of not being the petitioners to the original case) they have started running social media campaigns and writing open letters. These are their usual tricks to brainwash and mislead the common man, and malign any organisation and body that opposes their fundamentalism under the garb of liberalism.
One such Muslim ‘liberal’ Irena Akbar, a former journalist with Indian Express, who is visibly angry just like Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Saba Naqvi, and Assaudin Owaisi on the judgment, started a trend on Twitter #MosquesofIndia, appealing people to share photographs of various mosques in India.
I propose trending #MosquesofIndia hashtag. Pls share pics of mosques in cities/towns/villages in India. They may be large/historical or small/simple. Every masjid is a place of worship. This is Teele Waali Masjid in Lucknow, built by Aurangzeb. Stands on a hill or ‘teela’. pic.twitter.com/7fdlKtVxOV
— Irena Akbar (@irenaakbar) November 15, 2019
Soon other Islamists like Rana Safvi, joined in and started tweeting photos of various mosques of India. Irena started retweeting them.
Jama Masjid Champaner #mosquesofindia pic.twitter.com/2iTzs2gHl8
— Rana Safvi رعنا राना (@iamrana) November 15, 2019
In a separate tweet, she also gave her reasons for starting the trend, and evidently it was linked to Babri Masjid.
So why are we trending #MosquesofIndia ?
Because Babri Masjid may have been demolished, but you can never wish away Indo-Islamic heritage that is spread across India, in its beautiful, serene mosques. We love our architecture, our heritage and we celebrate it. Alhamdulillah!— Irena Akbar (@irenaakbar) November 15, 2019
Soon the trend became number one in India, at outfits like Shekhar Gupta’s The Print, did a story on it. BBC Urdu too joined in, not wanting to left behind. While they were happy, that it occupied numero uno spot for a brief time in Twitter trends, Irena also expressed her dismay at the trend vanishing from top 20 on Twitter soon after.
How is it that #MosquesofIndia which was trending at no.1 a few hours ago has completely vanished from the list of top 20 trends? I understand it would go down the list, but disappear completely from top 20? Just after it had reached the top? Strange.
— Irena Akbar (@irenaakbar) November 16, 2019
However, trending this hashtag had one unintended consequence though. It exposed few more mosques, which were essentially temples earlier, evident from their Indic architectural style and design, a far cry from usual dome and minaret structures. See some tweets below.
Masjid In ramnathapuram, tamilnadupic.twitter.com/leJnNrX1EN
— khaleelரஹ்மான் (@RahmanRahmanawn) November 15, 2019
This is a mosque in Ramnathpuram. As evident from photographs, you can see a sanctum sanctorum, shut with a door and a covered courtyard immediately outside it, is an essential temple style. A study of Islamic monuments invariably shows that mosques across the world generally have an open courtyard. While apologists can claim that Islam adopted local architectural style and it was a mosque from beginning, the second photograph shows additions in form of minarets, painted in white and green, again a typical feature of contemporary mosques. It is an established fact that Muslim invaders had plundered over 40,000 temples to build mosques over them. Even Babri Masjid of Ayodhya had material used from an erstwhile destroyed temple. There is a famous book written by Sita Ram Goel and Arun Shourie, in decade of early 1990, by the name Hindu Temples; What Happened to Them?
Coming back to mosque in Ramnathpuram, the name of the town itself has evidence of something related to Ram. Holy site of Rameshwaram is situated in Ramnathpuram district. In the above-mentioned book this mosque is documented. A PDF version of this book is available here. Go on the link, use control F, type Ramanathapuram District and you will find five sites listed as erstwhile Hindu temples by Sitaram Goel. The above mosque is Jami Masjid, Kilakari. I would however like to urge every Hindu to purchase this book.
Also the Khanqahi Shahi-I-Hamdan, Srinagar#MosquesofIndia
(Such a serene place) pic.twitter.com/xn0fzBNNVP— Amlan @[email protected] (@orphean_warbler) November 15, 2019
This is Shah-I-Hamdan mosque in Srinagar. This is also referred to, the book. In the PDF version, on page 79, you will find it as “Dargãh and Masjid of Shãh-i-Hamadãnî in Kalashpura. On the site of the Kãlî Temple.”
These are just couple of examples from the tweets posted under #MosquesofIndia. Sitaram Goel and Arun Shourie have done a fantastic work by compiling over 40,000 temple sites converted into mosques. It’s the duty of every self-respecting Hindu, to read this book.
While Gyanvapi Masjid and Idgah of Mathura are situated on erstwhile Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Krishna Janmabhoomi temple are even visible to naked eyes and there is no need of archeological evidence to prove it as it was needed in Ram Janmabhoomi case.
Read: “I want my masjid back,” Owaisi continues his tirade against the Ayodhya judgement
Few other notable mosques made by vandalizing old temples are Rudra Mahalaya – Jami Masjid, Patan in Gujarat and Bhadrakali Temple – Jama Masjid in Ahmedabad. A ruined temple complex of Rudra Mahalaya is located at Siddhpur in Patan district of Gujarat. The magnificient Rudra Mahalaya temple was built in the 12th century AD by a ruler of Gujarat, Siddhraj Jaisinh. The temple was dismantled by Allauddin Khilji during 1410-1444 and later Ahmed Shah I, who converted some part of it into the conjoing mosque. While Jama Masjid, which was built during 1424 AD in Ahmedabad (originally known as Karnavati) made by Ahmed Shah I on a Hindu temple of Goddess Bhadrakali.
Many Hindu motifs such as lotus flowers and creepers, mandalas, elephants, coiled serpants representing the Kundalini, celestial dancers and bells are found carved on the 100 odd surviving pillars that line the temple complex, showing that it was built over destruction of a Hindu temple.
A day will come, when Hindus, if not in our lifetime, sometime in future, would reclaim all of these holy sites.
