For decades, the Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar, in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, has been like a second home for 78-year-old Mohammad Rafiq.Rafiq has been the muezzin, who calls Muslims to prayer, at the mosque for 50 years. Before him, his grandfather Hafiz Naziruddin used to lead the prayers even before India gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listBut the mosque in the Bhojshala complex, a protected monument of archaeological importance, is out of bounds now for Rafiq and other Muslims in Dhar.The Madhya Pradesh High Court, hearing a petition claiming a temple predated the mosque at the site, ruled on Friday that the medieval complex is a temple dedicated to a Hindu goddess.On Sunday, the 13th-14th century monument was awash in saffron flags — associated with “Hindutva”, the far-right Hindu supremacist movement — as young men danced to religious tunes, filming the rituals on their phones. Local activists installed a temporary idol of the goddess as Hindu worshippers gathered in large numbers amid heavy police deployment. An idol of a Hindu goddess installed at the Bhojshala monument after the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that the Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar is a temple site for Hindus [Al Jazeera]The Kamal Maula mosque in the nondescript town of Dhar is not alone. Far-right Hindutva activists have made similar claims — that a given mosque was built atop a temple — across India, emboldened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014.Even the …
