Hindu deity in verse penned by certain Muslims (5)
I believe the answer is:
shiva
'hindu deity' is the definition.
(Shiva is an example)
'verse penned by certain muslims' is the wordplay.
'verse' becomes 'v'.
'penned by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are penned in).
'certain muslims' becomes 'shia' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'v' placed into 'shia' is 'SHIVA'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shiva that I've seen before include "powerful deity" , "Destroyer goddess of Hinduism" , "Major Hindu god with third eye in middle of forehead" , "God presiding over personal destinies" , "Hindu god, the destroyer" .)