Why are India’s mosques turning into temple disputes?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 747 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From mosques to temples, old religious battles are back in India’s courts. A law passed after the Babri Masjid dispute was meant to stop exactly this. But new claims are moving forward again, as Hindu nationalism grows and many Muslims fear the protections once promised to them are slipping away.
In this episode:
- Yashraj Sharma (@yashjournals), Al Jazeera Reporter
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Sarí el-Khalili with Spencer Cline, Noor Wazwaz, Tuleen Barakat, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, another mosque in India is declared a temple. |
| 0:15.0 | This fits right in middle of the pattern of the Hindu politics. |
| 0:20.0 | They pitch Hindus against Muslims saying that Muslims are not natives or Muslims are enemies. |
| 0:25.6 | With mosques closing by court ruling and politicians fanning anti-Muslim sentiment after elections, |
| 0:32.3 | we get a look inside. |
| 0:36.5 | I'm Malika Bilal and this is The Take. |
| 0:46.8 | Hey everyone, as you're watching this episode, let us know what it brings to mind for you, |
| 0:52.1 | whether you're in India or elsewhere. We really do read your |
| 0:55.9 | comments and love hearing your take. So keep them coming. Now, here's the show. |
| 1:03.6 | I'm Yashara Sharma, and I'm a reporter based in New Delhi, and I work with Al-Isiral. |
| 1:09.2 | Well, Yashrach, welcome back to the take. I'd like if you could |
| 1:13.9 | take us to the Kamal Maula Mosque, which is now at the center of a very controversial court ruling. |
| 1:22.1 | What is it? What is this place and what was this ruling about? Yeah, sure. |
| 1:27.9 | So the structure that we refer to as the Kamal Mullah Moff. |
| 1:31.0 | It's a 13th century monument in Dhar. |
| 1:34.3 | It's in India's Madhya Pradesh state. |
| 1:37.9 | It's in central India. |
| 1:39.5 | And it's pretty much a non-district town and a small town. |
| 1:45.1 | But this monument and this place meant a lot for the people for this Muslim community, |
| 1:52.1 | which is also a minority in the district itself. |
| 1:56.2 | We spoke with a lot of them and, you know, people involved with the mosque. |
... |
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