Mosques can't be handed over just because clerics say so: Owaisi

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said that mosques cannot be handed over to anybody simply because a cleric says so as Allah owns places of worship.

His statement came in the backdrop of the Shia Central Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh telling the Supreme Court that a mosque could be built in a Muslim-dominated area at a reasonable distance from the disputed site in Ayodhya.

"Masjids cannot be given just bcos 1 Maulana says so, Allah is the owner not a Maulana once a Masjid always a Masjid," Owaisi tweeted.

"Masjids can be managed by Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Sufi, Deobandi, Salafi, Bohri but they are not owners ALLAH is the owner even AIMPLB cannot give," he posted on social networking site Twitter yesterday.

"Masjids are built by people who believe in Day of Judgment and fear ALLAH only. It is duty of Muslims to offer namaz in masjid that is protection," he added.