NEW DELHI: Is namaz in mosque essential to Islam? The Supreme Court is likely to announce a verdict which could have an impact on the long-pending contentious issue of Ram temple on Ayodhya today.
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in its 1994 Ismail Faruqui judgment said that mosque did not constitute an essential part of Islam. In 1994, the Supreme Court said that namaz could be offered anywhere and that a mosque was not necessary for this.
The apex court is hearing appeals against the Allahabad High Court verdict of 2010, which had ordered a three-way partition of the disputed land between Muslims, Hindus and Nirmohi Akhara (a Hindu group).
The decision of the Allahabad High Court which divided the land into three parts has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Hindus and Muslims. The Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque was destroyed in 1992 by lakhs of karsewaks or right-wing volunteers in order to erect a temple to Lord Ram, who they said, had been born right there.
