New Delhi, Sep 13: Muslim scholars have commended the Centre's Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which intends to overcome the shortcomings and enhance the efficiency of the administration and management of the Waqf properties, and said it will benefit the community.

Muslim preacher Mohammad Kasmin, after a meeting of religious leaders and preachers held in the national capital on Thursday to discuss the Bill, told IANS that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making decisions for the person standing at the lowest rung of the country.

He said that the Waqf properties are for oppressed Muslims. However, in the last 70 years, political parties and some Muslim leaders have done a lot of wrong with Waqf. The decisions being taken by Prime Minister Modi are for oppressed persons so that they can also progress along with the progress of the country. Keeping this in mind, the bill has been brought, Kasmin added.

"We support this (bill) and appeal to the Muslims in the country not to look at this bill with a negative view; they should raise questions after reading it," he said.

About Jamiat Ulema, he said it is a 100-year-old Muslim organisation, having two offices on the Waqf land. "In such a situation, why will the Jamiat Ulema support the amendment?"

About amendments proposed in the bill, Kasmin said, the changes that are happening in the Waqf Board are "very wonderful". "All Muslims across the country will benefit from this... I hope that Muslims will understand this and will stay away from the political parties that are spreading confusion about the bill," he said.

Religious leader Tahir Ismail, who was also present in the meeting, told IANS the government's intentions should not be doubted and the way some people are occupying the Waqf Board's land in every district, they should be removed. The poor Muslims should be given that land. The way hospitals and colleges should have been constructed on Waqf lands were not built, he said.

Now, it seems that everything is on the right path. Any Muslim who has a problem with the bill should put his point before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), he added.

According to Ismail, the rights of the Waqf Board have only been misused in the past. "Those who were really entitled to the land did not get that land. The (Waqf) properties at prime locations have been either occupied by mafias or the Waqf Board has made them (mafias) its tenants," he said, adding that the amendment will create some balance now. Those who are actually entitled to these properties will get the benefit. The bill is in the national interest and also for Muslims' benefit, he said.

Muslim scholar Nazia Hussain said that Prime Minister Modi, who backs women's participation in the Waqf Board, is absolutely right and women should participate actively in the board.

She told IANS that the way the Waqf Board Bill is being amended is very important. "Nothing has happened in it for the last 70 years. Only a few people have benefited. This bill should be passed. Muslim women should participate actively in it and put forward their problems. Those who were handling the board till now did nothing. If they had done their work properly, perhaps this amendment would not have been needed today."

--IANS

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