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Controversy over control of Model Town mosque

By Rana Kashif

LAHORE: Two groups of Model Town Society (MTS) residents are at loggerheads over the administrative control of Jamia Mubarak Masjid on Circular Road in G-Block.

Sources said Dr Muhammad Jamal Abbasi on behalf of a group of Model Town residents had filed an application with the Industries Department on September 16, 2007, seeking to register a committee called the Anjuman-e-Jamia Mubarak Masjid.

They said the applicant had stated that the anjuman’s founders wanted to get the anjuman registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. Sources also said the applicant had also submitted a memorandum of the anjuman stating its functions.

They said that along with the above mentioned documents the applicant filed an affidavit stating that the mosque did not have an anjuman and therefore the anjuman be registered and a registration certificate be issued so that it could run the mosque’s affairs.

Sources said that Advocate Sardar Balakh Sher Khosa on behalf of a second group of Model Town residents had filed an application with the city’s nazim, asking him not to register any anjuman in connection with Jamia Mubarak Masjid.

Khosa had alleged in his application that the mosque’s self-assumed administration was damaging its image after restricting worshippers from several acts.

He demanded the mosque’s administrative control be given to the Islamic Trust Model Town, an independent body that looks after the affairs of mosques and graveyards in Model Town.

Sources said the second group of residents had also asked the Industries Department not to register any anjuman in connection with the mosque, and to give the mosque’s administrative control to the Islamic Trust Model Town.

The applicants had claimed that they did not trust anyone except for the Islamic Trust to take care of the mosque, sources added.

They said both groups of residents were pressuring the Industries Department to accept their demands.

Sardar Balakh Sher Khosa told Daily Times that had been praying at the mosque for the past 27 years, gave the azan (call to prayer) and also sat in aitikaaf (to cut oneself from the world and pray to God) at the mosque.

He said the mosque had no administration or an elected body and alleged that a self-assumed administration led by Dr Muhammad Jamal Abbasi was trying to administer mosque affairs without the consent of worshippers.

He alleged that the self-assumed administration was rigid towards worshippers and constantly pestered them on how to pray.

He alleged that worshippers were barred from giving azan and children were not allowed to read the Quran in the mosque. He also alleged that there was no check and balance on the funds collected by the self-assumed administration.

He alleged that the self-assumed administration did not have any bylaws or elections.

He also said a vast majority of worshippers had written to the Islamic Trust Model Town chairman for the administrative control of the mosque, as it was in the best interest of worshippers.

He said the MTS and union council concerned had issued no objection certificates to hand over the mosque to the Islamic Trust.

He also said the Islamic Trust’s administration had announced in the press that it had received the no objection certificates issued by the MTS and union council concerned and that it was considering forming a committee for the mosque under its rules and regulations.

Advocate Dr Jamal Abbasi said his elders had built the mosque in 1932 and that they had been managing the mosque’s affairs well since then. He said the issue was not political or racial or sectarian.

He said that as far as the mosque’s funds were concerned, they were being managed on a self-help basis and did not exceed more than the mosque’s expenditures. He said the MTS had approved the mosque’s site plan and that a second generation of his family was managing the mosque’s financial affairs.

He said the mosque had its own khateeb (someone who delivers sermons at a mosque on Friday), imam (mosque leader) and moazen (person who gives the call to prayer).

He said giving the azan was the moazen’s responsibility and that he was paid for it. “It is not the responsibility of others to give the azan. The person who is trained to give the azan should give it,” he added. He also said the mosque was for praying and not for learning the Quran.

He said all allegations against the ‘administration’ were baseless and that the Islamic Trust Model Town had no connection with it because it had not contributed to the mosque’s welfare. He said it would be in the interest of worshippers to get the anjuman for the mosque registered. He also said anybody could head the anjuman.

MTS president Tahir Hussain Kardar said the society administration had issued the non objection certificate in connection with handing over the mosque’s administration to the Islamic Trust. He said one group of residents was trying to take control of the mosque, while the other opposed it. He said that being the society president he was trying his best to resolve the issue fairly and that he would hopefully succeed.

Muhammad Khalid, an Islamic Trust official, said the trust had received an application from a group of residents, asking it to take control of the mosque. “However, the trust hasn’t decided anything and is looking into the issue. It doesn’t benefit in both cases,” he added. Qazi Anwar Zahoor, district officer (industries), said the department had received applications from both groups of residents. However, he said it wrote to the capital city police officer to investigate whether the mosque was in anyone’s control. He said all decisions would be made once the police made its report.

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