Welcome move

In a welcome move, the Supreme Court of India Monday rightly dismissed an outrageous writ petition filed by former UP Shia Waqf Board chairman Syed Wasim Rizvi seeking removal of certain verses from the Holy Qur’an. A bench headed by Justice RF Nariman dismissed the writ petition observing that it was “an absolutely frivolous writ petition”. The Court also imposed Rs 50,000 as costs on the petitioner for filing the petition. When the matter was taken, Justice Nariman asked the counsel if he was serious about the petition. “Are you pressing the petition? Are you seriously pressing the petition?”, Justice Nariman asked at the outset. The bench was not at all inclined to entertain the matter and dismissed it. Dismissing the petition at the very outset and fining Rizvi is a welcome move by the apex court. The petition had incensed Muslims over Rizvi’s blasphemous demand.  A case under IPC Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) was registered against him by the Charminar police in Hyderabad. Rizvi has a penchant for courting controversies. In 2018 he wrote a letter to the prime minister seeking closure of all madrasas as they bred “terrorists”. For Muslims, the Qur’an is a book of guidance. It illustrates beautiful stories and exemplary parables; scientific miracles; laws; etc. The copious amount of information in the Quran is still being studied and understood. The Quran was sent as a miracle to the last Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him). Prophets like Musa (AS) and Isa (AS) were also sent Holy Scriptures, but except for their central message of monotheism, they were revealed in relevance to their particular time and place. Unlike its predecessors, the Quran’s message is for all of mankind, irrespective of place and time. The Arabs, contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were well known for their eloquence and prose; the Quran’s verses were so beautifully structured that the whole legion of Arab poets and orators could not produce a single verse like it. The Quran itself challenges the disbelievers: “Say, O Prophet, ‘If all humans and jinn were to come together to produce the equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal, no matter how they supported each other’” (Quran, 17:88).  What makes the Quran unique from the previous scriptures is the fact that Allah Himself has vowed to preserve it from being changed, “It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder, and it is certainly We Who will preserve it” (Quran, 15:9). It is the miracle that has been preserved for all generations to come until the Day of Judgment.