Between May 9 and 14, when the anti-terrorist squad led a highway chase across Aurangabad and Nashik, they were also following a trail that didn’t lead to the usual suspects. Off the 11 men eventually arrested for the RDX haul case in Aurangabad, there were some who were not members or followers of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

They were from the Ahle Hadees sect, the Salafist Islamic movement. Flourishing on funds received from Saudi Arabia, the sect differs from both the Shias and Sunnis. Salafis insist that their beliefs constitute pure Islam as practised by the first three generations of Muslims. “We firmly believe that one should bend only in front of Allah,” says Shaikh Nazeer Shaikh Lal, the imam of the Ahle Hadees mosque in Aurangabad.

At Champa Chowk, between the heat and dust of a bustling market place, a quiet marble structure rises up. Inside the mosque, young students are being taught the basics of Arabic and the teachings of the Koran.

Ahmad claims that the mosque and madarsa runs on “some donations and the fee of Rs 20 collected per student per month”. And yet, the mosque is not registered with the Maharashtra Wakf Board and has been slapped with a notice recently.

“We have given them a month to explain why they have not registered any of their four mosques in Aurangabad with the Board,” says M Y Patel, CEO of the Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs. “It is mandatory for them and it also gives us a chance to audit their finances. Punitive action under the Wakf Act can also be taken.”

... contd.