When a leading Deobandi scholar supported 'Tazia', Muharram rituals

Can you imagine a Deobandi scholar supporting the practice of 'Tazia-dari' or performing rituals during Muharram?

Unimaginable, isn't it? Maulan Ashraf Ali Thanvi was passing by rural part of Northern Rajasthan that falls in Mewat region.

He reached a Muslim hamlet where most people had little awareness about religion.

They neither prayed, not could recite Quranic verses. Maulana Thanvi, a leading light of Deoband, asked them if they organised any event. "We have a platform, which is called Imam Husain Ka Chabutra. Here Tazia is kept during Muharram", came the reply.

"If a person who can read arrives, the Shahadatnama is read out here". Maulana Thanvi told them to ensure that the rituals were performed with more zeal and urged them to call 'Aalims' from outside during Muharram, for 'taqreer' [discourses].

After leaving the place, his companions who were quite surprised, asked him that how come Maulana Thanvi who always opposed these rituals, encouraged the locals and told them to continue the 'Azadari' [Tazia, Ashura related] rituals.

Maulana Thanvi replied, "these people have no link with Islam, except Imam Husain's name. If I discourage them at this point, there is little chance that there association with the religion would remain and they may turn towards irtidad.

However, if they continue the practices and call clerics from outside, the link would remain and they may learn basics of Islam too viz.prayers, fasting et al. Hence, it was important, to tell them to continue the practices", he said.

Clearly, it was his tact--hikmat. If he had begun with denouncing them, calling them ignorant or branding them as non-Muslims, it wouldn't have helped at all. Unfortunately, today, it has become a norm for people to call fellow Muslims, 'mushrik', without even realising that it is not permissible an one doesn't have the authority to pass such judgments.

Stop judging fellow Muslims: Criticizing other sects, targeting their beliefs, itch to raise objections on Muharram rituals

The Islamic month of Muharram has begun. With this, the annual ritual to criticise the practice of mourning and 'maatam' is also being witnessed.

On social media, there is a flood of messages through SMS, WhatsApp and social media posts, calling mourning and maatam [self-flagellation] as un-Islamic, wrong and backward practices.

This is a matter of belief--mourning the martyrdom of Prophet's grandson and his family in the battle of Karbala.

Shias perform 'maatam' to express their grief at the tragic events. Many Sunnis too mourn*, though they don't perform maatam.

Worse, people use abusive terms for those who perform these rituals.

What do you gain by questioning their practices or condemning them? They are a different sect and they have their own beliefs-traditions.

It hurts them when they are constantly targeted. How upset we [Muslims] feel when questions are raised on Qurbani during Eid-uz-Zuha [act of slaughter termed violent], and there is criticism of the practice by many non-Muslims.

It is unrealistic to expect that everyone will act as per your beliefs. And who are you to decide who is 'Muslim' and who is 'outside pale of Islam'. If you are a believer you should be humble and worry if you are on right path, rather than targeting-abusing others.

Weird: Expecting others to be like you!

Who has the authority to issue certificates of 'Islamic' and 'un-Islamic' behaviour? It is absolutely between God and the individual.

Besides, it is irrational to expect that everyone will behave just like you and adhere to religion exactly in the way, you have seen in your family or grown accustomed to.

Those who object to Muharram practices and call them 'wrong', 'cheap' or 'un-Islamic', should better introspect about their own thinking. When your ways are questioned, you get upset and get ready to pick up fight, don't you?

The sectarian itch prompts you to brand others, blame others. In recent years, this bug has bitten a huge populace. The arguments, counter-arguments and you get another reason to feel special--you are expert 'sectarianist'.

Obsession with sectarianism

"We must correct them, islaah is needed", is the standard answer. Really! So there is nothing else to correct--from social issues to educational matters, from language to character, and why not start it from your house?

The belief is that only we are right and others are wrong, is troublesome. Isn't it better to focus on improving oneself and one's family? Also, there are counter-arguments that Shias practice 'tabarra' and abuse the first three Caliphs.

Ask if you have ever heard anyone do it publicly and there is no response. The belief that all Shias do that is also strange. And, if someone does something in their homes, what will you do? Isn't this plain-hate?

How different is it from the right-wing extremists who presume that beef is cooked in a house and kill Akhlaq. Isn't this hypocrisy? The same majoritarian communalism towards a minority within your society!

When sects are different, why do you judge them?

It is a strange disease [most of us suffer] to target anyone who is not like 'us'--the us is what we have seen growing up in family or neighbourhood. You're are just not aware of the kind of cultural, sectarian and social differences, that exist across the world.

This is totally irrational and also against the basic tehzeeb [manners, decency] of living in a society. Everyone can't be like you. Still, if you insist on calling them names, then forget talk about Ummah and unity among Muslim sects.

In fact, a strange passion overcomes people when it comes to sectarianism. Sane people get into a totally different mode, writing posts after posts, dozens of comments, as if this is the biggest issue on the planet.

Sects are a reality, accept it

Sects are a reality. Not just Barelvi-Deobandi, but Ismaili to Bohra, and so on. When it comes to interpretations and 'hadith', people go as per their own sect's interpretation, terming other 'hadith' as zaeef or ignoring it.

For nearly 1300 years there were Muslim aalims who never so easily branded other as 'non-Muslims'. Aga Khan was in fact considered one of the major leader of Indian Muslims till Partition.

Many prominent leaders of Muslim community were Shia, Ismaili, even Mehdavia and those belonging to the other sects. There was less objection to others' practices and minor differences were ignored.

But in recent decades, it has become a favourite pastime to do tanqeed [criticism] and target others. People strongly feel what they feel, calling them that they are on wrong path, all the time, doesn't help at all.

READ: Either Barelvi or Deobandi. Difficult to be 'simply Muslim' amid growing sectarianism

[*The processions are taken out by Sunnis and Shias on Muharram. Shias carry 'Alams' and perform maatam. Tazias are mostly carried by Sunnis and also some Hindus. However, many urbane people dismiss Tazias as Hindu influence and look down upon even those Sunnis who take part in this rituals]

Hindu family taking out Tazia for 130 years: Muharram in India [Communal Harmony Project-5]

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

For 130 years a Hindu family in Central India's small town Guna has been observing Muharram with devotion. 

The 15-ft tall Tazia is made every year in the Kushwaha household.

The whole family works together for days before Moharram. Says Kailash Singh Kushwaha, "We are farmers but stop all work before Muharram and during the ten days of Ashura, every family member intensely observes Gham-e-Husain.

For two months I have been busy in making the Tazia, which is famous for the fine work, naqqashi and artistry. 

The family members take bath before coming to the room where the Tazia is kept.

'Over 130 years ago his ancestor Nihal Singh Kushwaha who was childless had vowed that he would bring out Tazia from his house if God gave him a child, and once he had the son, the tradition started, which continues till this day'.

In 1947, Guna was affected by the violence during partition and he was asked not to take out Tazia by a group, but the family members including Kailash's ancestor Bhabhoot Singh held swords in their hands along with the Tazia and carried on the tradition.

That's the kind of stories that are spread across this nation but don't get reported. These are the people who are in abundance in India. They may not have heard words like secularism but it is they whose lives are examples of communal harmony. It is due to them and their message to the people around them that this society maintains its sanity even in turbulent times.

Most of those including my own friends who like to call Tazia-dari as 'bidah', can't probably fathom the depth of their devotion towards the tragedy at Karbala that happened more than a millennium ago.

As far as I know, Shias don't generally take out Tazias [they have Alams and perform maatam].

Still a few Sunnis, many of them poor ones, carry on the tradition. But the zeal of Hindu familes like the Kushwahas and the thousands of others in this country depict in the true sense, the composite culture of India, for which we are always claimants but ourselves do little to enrich or protect it.

Also, see my past posts with some good photos on Muharram:

'Tiger' kids in Muharram procession

Government's Tazias, Sawaris and Eunuchs observing Muharram

Muharram in India: Shia, Sunni Muslims mourn Imam Husain's martyrdom [Photos- Part II]

Bibi ka Alam procession in Hyderabad

Muharram is observed with traditional solemnity across India. 

In hundreds of cities and thousands of towns, the processions are taken out on Yaum-e-Ashurah. 

Here are more photographs on the occasion of Muharram, which is observed to commemorate the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Husain and his companions.

The photograph of Shia Muslims performing 'Maatam' below is from Amritsar, once a City with half of its residents being Muslims.

But after partition, almost entire Muslim population of Amritsar moved out. Over the last few decades, the urban areas in Punjab have seen a growth of Muslim population.

Most of the migrant workers from Bihar, UP and other parts of India are now settled in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar.

As a result, there is a revival of Islamic observances in Indian Punjab. Till recently, only Maler Kotla pocket in Sangrur district had a concentration of Muslims.

It is in this context that maatam by Anjuman Yadgar-e-Husaini at the Imambada in Amritsar holds special significance.

Fireworks in Jamshedpur

The other photographs include that of the famous 'Bibi ka Alam' in Hyderabad Deccan. The procession is taken out annually on Yaum-e-Ashura.

There is a huge crowd of mourners from both Shia and Sunni sects who attend this observance. Hyderabad is a centre of Muslim culture in South India.

Photos of fireworks during Muharram are from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand province. The photograph of Tazia is from Ahmedabad, which is the capital of Gujarat state.

'Tazia-daari' is an age-old custom in entire Indian sub-continent.

Ya Husain

An eight-year-old Hindu boy, Manish Kumar, walks on red hot embers in Lucknow. Many Hindu families perform Azadari.

Muharram is a period of mourning and it is observed, NOT CELEBRATED. In India, Hindus and other religious communities also take part in the rites and rituals.

Imam Husain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, had achieved martyrdom at the battle of Karbala, while fighting against the army of the evil Yezid, in seventh century in present day Iraq.

Tazia in Ahmedabad

Ever since, the martyrdom is being commemorated across the world. Shias whiplash themselves to express their sentiments.

Sunnis on the other hand take out tazias. In Indian sub-continent, the uniqueness lies in the fact that Hindus also take out tazias [ie the replica of Imam's tomb].

They also organise distribution of the sherbet or tabarruk [holy food]. Read the story about such tradition and 'Hindu Imambaras' in DNA.

Here is the LINK