Mosque In Ayodhya Will ‘Embrace Modernity’; To Be Dedicated To Great Freedom Fighter Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah

The Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) told Times of India that the mosque in Ayodhya to be built as directed by the Supreme Court of India will be dedicated to the 1857 war hero Ahmadullah Shah.

Shah was referred to as the ‘Lighthouse of Rebellion’ in the Awadh region during India’s first war of independence against the British.

IICF has been constituted by the Sunni Waqf Board to build the mosque and the trust maintains that a final call on this issue will be taken after deliberations with different platforms.

“The trust is seriously contemplating on the proposal to dedicate the Ayodhya mosque project to the great freedom fighter Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah. We have received suggestions from different platforms and will officially make an announcement soon after deliberation,” Athar Hussain, secretary of IICF, was quoted in the report.

The trust had formerly decided against allocating the name of any Mughal emperor with this propose mosque on the five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Ayodhya.

The blueprint of the project was rolled out last month and the IICF had committed that the new mosque will detach itself from the past and depict the future in ‘true spirit of Islam’. They also said that this mosque will embrace ‘modernity’.

Shah was apparently known as Moulvi Faizabadi and passed away on 5 June, 1858 whilst leading an armed revolt against the British forces. He is reported to have freed Faizabad and major parts of the Awadh whilst also setting off uprisings in different parts of the region.

Historian Ram Shankar Tripathi even claimed that royals like Kunwar Singh of Arrah and Nana Sahib from Kanpur battled alongside Shah during the revolt of 1857.