Maximum Questions

Mumbai's Muslims fear the amended Waqf law will erode community ownership

- Shweta Desai

IN the chaos of central Mumbai's Bhendi Bazar, the Haji Ismail Habib Musafirkhana building, covered in black tarpaulin and bamboo scaffolding, stands in quiet ruin. In the late 19th century, the building was a celebrated resting place for travellers and Hajj pilgrims. By the 1990s, it gained notoriety as the residence of underworld don and India's most wanted terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim, whose family lived in two rooms on the top floor. The weathered structure now stands mired in a heated legal battle over ownership and redevelopment.

Contested claims on Musafirkhana as a waqf or non-waqf property have become a major stumbling block in the Rs 4,000 crore Bhendi Bazaar Redevelopment Project—the ambitious plan to transform the Muslim ghetto into a modern, upscale neighbourhood. Representatives of the Musafirkhana Trust have claimed that the property is waqf and has an established mosque where namaaz has been offered since time immemorial, whereas the Dawoodi Bohra community's Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), undertaking the redevelopment, has argued that the building only had a prayer hall and not a mosque.

The redevelopment project spanning 16.5 acres with over 250 buildings, 3,200 families, and 1,250 shops is one of the largest urban renewal efforts in the country.

On April 8, just days after the Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Maharashtra State Waqf Tribunal passed a legal order declaring Musafirkhana a non-waqf institution, clearing the way for the building's demolition and development.

“The Waqf Board has not been transparent in its decision to declare Musafirkhana as non-waqf, as the procedure investigating its historical records as waqf property was ongoing. We have got a stay order from the Waqf Tribunal until further notice,” say advocate Yusuf Baugwala and his wife Sana Baugwala, who filed a case in the High Court against its redevelopment.