In Ayodhya, it's a sad Friday for Muslims

AYODHYA: Until Thursday, neithercommunity in this town was particularly exercised over the veracity of the claimthat Ram was born here. With the high court having decided to step in, however,the birthplace issue has become a polarizing one.At the noon prayers at the Badi Masjid in Ayodhya's Tedhi Bazaar, just a few hundred metres from where the Babri Masjid once stood, and the scene of horrific arson and rioting in 1992, Imam Haji Mohammed Aslam talks of the early years of Islam and steers mostly clear of matters current. Towards the end of his tehreek (sermon), though, he says, "Some times, you may pray for something very hard, and yet you do not get it and feel disappointed. You may feel you are being punished for a crime you did not commit. But there are some faults inside everyone that only Allah knows; try and fix them."After his tehreek, once his flock hasleft and he is locking up the neat, whitewashed mosque, Aslam strikes a slightlyless conciliatory tone. "We will always maintain peace and brotherhood with ourbrothers. But I will say this; courts are supposed to take decisions based onevidence, this was a decision based on faith," he says.Among hisdeparting flock is Mohammed Sagir, an area sales manager with a pharmaceuticalcompany. "The court respected the big brothers belief, but what about the littlebrothers?" he asks.Haji Mahboob Ahmad, the president of the localorganisation, Anjuman Mahafiz Masjid-wa-Maqabir & Muddai Babri Masjid,completes his namaaz and then talks to other members of the congregation, someof whom have questions for him. Ahmad says that the community will accept theverdict. "But if the court is meant to go by evidence, then its judgment waswrong," he adds."We have never wanted to discuss this birthplaceissue. Its what many of our Hindu brothers believe, so we fully respect it,"says Iqbal Ansari, the Faizabad-based proprietor of a lamp store. "But belief isa private issue, and what the court had to look at was cold facts, maps, piecesof stone, and take a decision on a property dispute. Now that the court hasdecided to talk about faith, and that too only that of one community, we aregoing to have to start talking too," he adds.Not once does the rhetoric cross into belligerence, but the resentment is hardening and hopes for reconciliation dimming. "After the judgment, we heard RSS leaders on TV say that now we should make our hearts bigger. We will now have to take the decision whether to make our hearts bigger or smaller," says Sagir.Whatrankles one community buttresses the claims of some in the other. AtKarsevakpuram, the compound which once housed thousands of kar sevaks, a groupof young men is exercising. "Once the court has said that the papers show thatthis is where Ram was born, all other questions and other claims need to stepaside," says Om Prakash, who has just finished his BCom from Faizabad."All doors are now open for the building of a Ram temple, andnothing else, on the spot," agrees Anubhai Sompura, the supervisor of theworkshop where one floors worth of carved pillars lie ready.