The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has ruled that the construction of mosques on encroached land is illegal and un-Islamic. A CII report said that without written permission from the owner of the land or without a sale-deed, a mosque’s construction was not only illegal, but also un-Islamic. It said that similar was the case with a mosque built on government-owned land in the absence of written permission. The CII gave its verdict following questions raised by the Karachi-based National Institute of Oceanology (NIO), whose land had been used without permission by an unknown group to build a mosque. Although the institute took up the issue with the Science and Technology Ministry – the parent department of the NIO – the group did not vacate its land. The NIO also questioned the Islamic status of prayers offered in mosques built on encroached land, but the CII did not comment on this issue.
There are a number of mosques in Islamabad that have been built on encroached land, and during a project to expand Muree Road, the Capital Development Authority had to demolish three such mosques.