Page 197 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions
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            hend the Muslims. One such situation occurred when on the 6th of
            December, 1992 the historic Babur mosque, built in the 16th century, was

            burned down.


                 THE VICIOUS ATTACK ON THE BABUR MOSQUE
                 Muslims living on Indian soil have been repeatedly exposed to bar-
            baric attacks, especially since the rise of radical Hindu nationalism over
            the past fifty years. One of the worst such attacks was the destruction of

            the Babur mosque in Ayodhya.
                 This mosque was commissioned by the Mogul emperor Babur Sah
            430 years ago, and is of great importance for Indian Muslims. This
            mosque was the cause of dispute for ages between Hindus and Muslims.
            Hindus claim that this historic building, a monument of Islamic civiliza-
            tion, was built on the birth place of Rama, one of their so-called deities,
            and therefore wanted to see it torn down in order to build a Hindu tem-
            ple in its place. The only basis of this claim is hearsay based on fairytale
            like legends. They themselves invented this nonsensical belief, and act-
            ed for centuries on it.

                 One of the foremost names on Indian history and Hinduism,
            Professor Brian K. Smith of the University of California, reveals some
            shocking facts about Ayodhya and the Rama temple in his work entitled
            “Re-envisioning Hinduism and evaluating the Hindutva Movement” .  93
            One of the pieces of evidence put forward by Professor Smith is a re-
            search paper by The Archeological Survey of India. The chairman of this
            organization, Prof. B. B. Lal, reported that following extensive research,
            no evidence could be found in support of the claim that there was ever

            a Hindu temple in the past in the Ayodhya area. Another source Smith
            relies on, is a research project by the University of Jawaharlal Nehru, one
            of India’s most respectable universities. The university’s historical re-



                                  Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)
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