Reacting to the objectionable statement by UP Shia Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi on homosexuality being prevalent in the country's Madarsas, Islamic clerics on Saturday held a meeting in Agra, announcing the expulsion of Rizvi from Islam.

In a meeting held in the Noori Mosque of Agra, Mufti Mudassar Ali Qadri approved the proposal of Rizvi's expulsion from Islam, rationalizing the decision by claiming that with his objectionable statements against Islam, Rizvi had become a danger to the country's peace and harmony.

He also demanded a CBI inquiry against Rizvi for his links with anti-national elements.

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Mufti Qadri announced that following Moharram, the Shia and Sunni communities will hold joint protests against Rizvi.

Meanwhile, a prominent Shia Muslim lawyer of Agra told India Today on the condition of anonymity that Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad has met UP CM Yogi Adityanath on this matter and requested immediate action against Rizvi for his statement and warned Yogi that if there are any riots or communal violence because of such statements by Rizvi, the government will be entirely responsible for that.

Jamit-ul-Quresh President Mohd Shareef Kale said that Rizvi had previously equated Indian Muslims as terrorists by claiming that the Pakistani terror machinery is recruiting Indian Muslims as jihadis by colluding with Indian Muslim clerics who were spreading falsehood in the name of Islam. This statement directly implicated Indian Muslim clerics as terror recruiters, which was unacceptable.

He said that Rizvi even called the fatwa given by the global leader of Shia community Ayatullah Agha Shistani as wrong. Rizvi had quoted the fatwa of another Ayatullah Makrem Shirazi by claiming that no Muslim could be expelled from Islam without his permission.

Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad Chairman Sami Aghai charged Rizvi of trying to hog the media limelight by making such atrocious statements because the Indian Muslims have already kicked him out of their midst and he is now excommunicated from the community.

He said that Rizvi's statements should not be given importance as he is not a representative of the Muslim community, being expelled from Islam.

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