On Monday, Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which sought removal of certain verses from the Holy Quran alleging that they violate the law of the land and promote extremism.
A Bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy imposed costs of Rs. 50,000 on the petitioner Syed Waseem Rizvi.
Rizvi, in a plea, alleged that certain verses in the Quran are a threat to the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of the country. He sought a declaration from the court to hold those verses unconstitutional, non-effective and non-functional.
The plea also sought directions to appoint a committee of religious experts to get an opinion on the subject matter of the petition.
Rizvi, former Chairman Uttar Pradesh Central Waqf Board and President, All India Shia Yateem Khana alleged that few of the messages of God, the Almighty Allah wrote in Holy Quran, are negative and promote violence and hatred.
As per the plea filed by Rizvi, Verse 9 Surah 5, is negative and promotes violence and hatred.
Rizvi submitted that the message written in (a) to (e) of number 42(1) makes it clear that Allah is giving a message to every human being not to fight among themselves, not to quarrel with each other, not to kill anyone and not to disagree with followers of other religions, as preached in the 109.1 Holy Quran which mentions “LakumDeenakumWaliyaDeen” or “To you, your religion, to me mine” as the basic tenet of Islam based on the concept of tolerance and brotherhood among people coming from different religions.
The plea stated that the matter involves the entire Muslim community at large, which is subject to ridicule worldwide on account of the interpretation of the said verses, which have no basis or nexus with the objects which the holy book aims to achieve.