Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has stalled billboards with pictures of Chief Minister AnandiBen Patel and the Islamic symbol of the crescent moon and star with a message claiming to be a verse from the Quran that says cows should be protected.
According to Indian Express, the Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board of the Gujarat government stalled the billboards in Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad greeting Muslims on the occasion of Janmashtami.
The verse on the billboard “Akramul Bakra Fainaha Saiyedul Bahaima” has been translated as “Show respect to cows as it is the leader of all bovines. Its milk, ghee and butter have therapeutic properties and its meat is the cause of several diseases”.
But Islamic scholars have denied that any such verse exist in Quran.
“I have never come across such a verse in the Holy Quran. It is possible that it may be an Arabic statement, wrongly attributed to the Holy Quran. It appears to have been used to mislead Muslims,” Mufti Ahmed Devlavi, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, told Indian Express.
When the daily approached Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board chairman Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria to find the source of the verse, he cited a 20-page booklet whose author and publisher was unknown to him.
Gujarat government spokesperson and cabinet minister Nitin Patel said he was not aware of the billboards.
