"The statement is baseless and smacks of a bigger conspiracy," member of All India Muslims Personal Law Board Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli said.
"None of the religious scriptures nor history proves that Lord Shiva was the first prophet of Muslims...Hindu religion does not even subscribe to the principle of the prophet," he said, adding it was an established fact that first prophpet of Muslims was prophet Adam and the last was prophet Mohammad.
The spokesman of All India Shia Personal Law Board Maulana Yasoob Abbas said the statement was aimed at seeking cheap publicity and was issued at the behest of divisive forces.
The noted Shia leader said it is time to take the progress of the country to another level and statements like these only harm atmosphere and development.
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Meanwhile, AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Nizamuddin when asked to comment on the statement of the Mufti said he does not find it fit to speak on it.
However, after the hue and cry over the statement, the JUH cancelled its unity conference, scheduled in Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh on February 27 fearing threat to peace.
"Religious leaders from Ayodhya and other places were scheduled to participate in the unity conference. But we are cancelling it after Ilyas's controversial statements that has posed a threat to unity and peace in the entire country," JUH district president and convernor of the conference Zubair Ahmad told reporters in Balrampur today.