New Delhi, September 15: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision on the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 today and termed it incomplete and unsatisfactory.
Board spokesperson Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyas has said in a statement issued to the media that the Supreme Court has stayed some provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, but the Muslim society and Muslim Personal Law Board and justice-loving citizens expected that all those provisions of this bill would be stayed, which are not right according to the Constitution.
He said that we are extremely disappointed with this decision. He said that this is an interim decision and the full decision is yet to come. He said that we hope that the court in its decision will work to correct the constitutional violations committed in making this bill.
Jamiat Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind also expressed concern over the Supreme Court’s comment regarding Waqf by User
The Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind President Hazrat Maulana Mahmood Asad Madni, reacting to the Supreme Court’s interim decision regarding the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, said that the court’s comment related to ‘Waqf by User’ is a matter of great concern for us. We have to consider it seriously.
Maulana Madani said that many serious apprehensions were expressed in the court on our behalf regarding this law, one of which was that giving extraordinary power to the Collector or other administrative officers to determine the nature of Waqf property and abolishing the Waqf Tribunal would become a medium of government interference in the Constitution and religious rights. It is somewhat satisfying that the Supreme Court has put an interim stay on this and has also provided partial relief in some other cases. However, the biggest and most basic issue is that of ‘Waqf by User’.
Maulana Madani said that according to official figures, more than four lakh Waqf properties in the country fall under the category of ‘Waqf by User’, which includes one lakh 19 thousand mosques and one and a half lakh graveyard properties. More than 80 percent of these are not registered. In the current amended law, an attempt has been made to show that there will be no major loss by exempting already registered properties from it, but this amendment cannot be a solution to our basic concerns.
Maulana Madani said that keeping ‘Waqf by User’ out of the law is a clear disregard of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence and centuries-old religious tradition. This is a direct attack on the religious rights of Muslims, whereas the Constitution of India has guaranteed the protection of these rights.
He said that Jamiat’s stand has always been that Waqf is a purely religious and Shariat related matter, the law related to it should not include such provisions which weaken its religious status or hinder the right of Muslims to religious freedom.
Expressing disappointment, Maulana Madani said that the comments made by the court in paragraphs 143 to 152 of its interim decision have further complicated the issue of protection of “Waqf by User” and most of our mosques and cemetery properties are directly targeted by it. The court has said in its decision that the abolition of “Waqf by User” is not unilateral at first sight, because the condition of registration of Waqf existed since the Waqf Act of 1923. If the Waqf properties have not been registered for more than a century, then complaints cannot be made now.
Maulana Madani said that Jamiat Ulama, along with its lawyers and other social organizations, will continue this struggle with full seriousness and foresight.So that the protection of religious freedom and minority rights given in the Constitution of India can be ensured.