Waseem Rizvi, former chairman of the UP Shia Central Wakf Board, is being criticised by Muslim organisations from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Death threats, fatwas and family ostracisation have been pronounced against him for his recent plea in the Supreme Court seeking to remove 26 verses from the Holy Quran.

According to Rizvi’s petition, these verses allegedly incite violence and were added to the holy book during the reign of the first three Caliphs. However, both Shia and Sunni leaders have held that not a single change has been made to the Holy Quran in the last 1400 years.

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Protests have been held in almost all parts of India, urging the government to arrest Rizvi and charge him with blasphemy. His brother also released a video, saying that the family had nothing to do with his ‘nonsensical’ ideas and that he was committing a ‘grave sin.’

This is not the first time Rizvi has courted controversy with his view. From Ayodhya to triple talaq and citizens’ register, Rizvi has often expressed views contrary to the common Muslim sentiment in the country

Earlier this month, Rizvi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to shut down madrasas. His contention being that these religious education institutions bred “terrorists”. This was condemned even by BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. “The mullahs and maulvis who are attacking me do not even send their own children to madrasas; their children go to convents, while they brainwash poor Muslim children and run their business of donations from across the world, particularly Saudi Arabia, in their name,” Rizi told The Print.

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Last year, he said that the Shia Waqf Board was in favour of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. This also did not go down well with the members of his community. He said all those against the temple must go to Pakistan or Bangladesh.

On the contentious triple talaq (instant divorce) issue, he had advocated a 10-year jail term for offenders instead of the three years proposed by the government.

In another announcement that did not go well with many Muslim organisations, Rizvi, announced he would gift 10 silver arrows if a 100-metre tall statue of Lord Ram was constructed. The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has proposed the construction of a grand statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.