Offering namaz should not cause inconvenience to others: Farangi Mahli

AIMPLB member Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli said offering prayers should not cause inconvenience to anyone. He, however, maintained namaz on roads was not a daily affair and done only on Fridays.

Lucknow: Commenting on the controversy over namaz on roads, All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli on Sunday said prayer offering should not cause any inconvenience to anyone.

"Namaz is a prayer before Allah. It is not right to offer prayer by causing inconvenience to anyone," Farangi Mahli told media.

He, however, said namaz on roads was not a daily affair and takes place only on Fridays.

"In some mosques, when there is no space left for people, they offer prayers on the roads on Fridays. But if anyone has any objection to it, the namazis should make an extra effort to reach the mosque in time for it," he added.

Touching upon the issue of alleged incidents of people being forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram', Farangi Mahli said: "As far as Hinduism is concerned, there is no scope of getting something done forcibly. Lord Ram has not recommended it anywhere."

"Lord Ram is a 'maryada purshottam' (propriety of conduct). How can anyone behave in an undignified manner in his name," he asked.

"Those who are behaving in this manner need to read more about Lord Ram so that they could know more about the one in whose name they are doing such things," Farangi Mahli said.

The general secretary of the AIMPLB, Maulana Wali Rehmani, however, said that it was not wrong according to the Shariat to offer namaz in an open place.

He refused to elaborate when asked if roads were not open space.

"Let people read into what I have said," he said, adding that it had become a habit of some "saffron-clad people" to behave in an arbitrary manner against Muslims.

In Hathras, some Hindutva organisations had objected to namaz on roads and had organised the recital of Hanuman Chalisa outside the Hanuman temple in Sikandararau area and had said it should be done every Tuesday.

In Aligarh too, some right-wing Hindutva organisations had decided to recite Hanuman Chailsa but the district administration took prompt action and banned all religious activities on roads.