Less than five kilometres away from the Hazratbal shrine, which resembles the Taj Mahal in its white-marble facade and dome-minaret features, is the house of the Farooquis in Srinagar’s green Zakura area. Pansies populate the garden, English ivy climbs along the compound wall, and cypress trees grow tall against the blue sky.
Kamal-ud-Din Farooqui, 73, a retired scientist from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), has not been able to enjoy this space though.
A couple of months ago, he was barred from entering the Hazratbal shrine, where he serves as the Imaam-o-Khateeb, a priest who leads prayers and delivers sermons on auspicious days.
It’s a position he has held since 2016 and his family has been associated with the shrine for about 350 years. Also known as Assar-e-Sharief, the structure touches the Dal lake on one side, and is special for Muslims, as it houses a strand of Prophet Muhammad’s hair. Every Friday, lakhs of devotees throng its premises for Friday prayers.
On April 5, Farooqui presided over a ceremony ahead of Friday prayers, when a non-Muslim converted to Islam at the shrine. “My heart aches,” he says. “Every Friday, it pains me to cross the shrine but not stop there for prayers. I have to look for a shrine or mosque elsewhere, to offer jummah (congregational prayers).”
Hazratbal remains central to Kashmir’s politics, with the original structure built in 1623, during Mughal times, by Sadiq Khan, emperor Shah Jahan’s subedar. The construction of the current structure started in 1968.
Witness to several tumultuous political upheavals in the past century, the Farooquis were forced to stay away from the shrine first in 1993, when Kamal-ud-Din’s older brother, Bashir Ahmad Farooqui, then Imaam-o-Khateeb, was barred by a militant outfit from entering it.
It was in April 1993 that the infamous siege of the Hazratbal shrine took place, when a group of militants hid inside and exchanged fire with security forces, turning into a major stand-off in Kashmir’s history.
Bashir Ahmad had “dared” to describe the act of smuggling arms by militants into the shrine as “un-Islamic”. For this, he was punished. “My older brother was barred from entering the mosque for more than two years, and there was a threat to his life,” recalls Kamal-ud-Din.
The trigger
On April 8, 2024, the executive magistrate of the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Waqf Board, which runs the Hazratbal shrine, said in an order that did not feature his name, that he had “relieved Farooqui from the duties of Imaam-o-Khateeb till the completion of an inquiry or till further orders”. A three-member committee, headed by J&K Waqf Board chairman Syed Mohammad Hussian, is investigating the alleged conversion episode.
“I vividly remember completing my sermon when employees of the Waqf Board and two unknown people came to me. I was requested to help in presiding over the ceremony of conversion. Around 1.5 lakh devotees were waiting for me to lead the prayers. I couldn’t say no, fearing the law and order situation if word of my refusal spread among devotees. I followed Islamic principles and asked a few questions, about inducement and willingness. Once he clarified that it was not under duress that he was converting, I went ahead with the ceremony,” Kamal-ud-Din says.
The conversion saw Sandeep, a resident of Haryana, acquiring a Muslim name, Abdullah. The shrine resounded with pro-Islam slogans as Sandeep recited Kalima (reposing faith in Islam) at the shrine. The ceremony took place in front of Kashmir’s prominent politicians, who had assembled for the last Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramzan at the shrine.
They included former J&K Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah; his son, Omar Abdullah; J&K Apni Party’s Altaf Bukhari; former mayor Junaid Azim Mattu; and Peoples Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti.
The curious case of conversion
The conversion was broadcast live on scores of social media handles. It resulted in growing criticism in Jammu and Delhi. Members of the Waqf Board say that BJP leader and board chairperson Darakshan Andrabi expressed her unhappiness to Kamal-ud-Din.
The episode was followed by the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), 298 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riot), and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) of the Indian Penal Code.
The J&K Police, in the FIR, said the incident “evoked strong reactions beyond the borders of J&K, potentially fuelling sectarianism and communal discord”. A senior officer says, “The investigation in the case is on.”
“In view of the allegations against Dr. Kamal-ud-din Farooqui for presiding over forcible conversion during Friday prayers, an emergency meeting of all leading Imam-o-Khateebs of the Board unanimously concluded that this incident has caused confusion and chaos among the general public and has the potential to disturb public harmony,” the Waqf’s order said. The Waqf felt that “both Islamic law and government regulations were not followed”.
The police questioned Sandeep, alias Abdullah, and his employer Anayat Muntazir. Family and neighbours in Nowhatta, where they live, say Sandeep was deeply impressed by the way Muntazir and his family members led their lives. The family is religious and is respected for that in the locality. Sandeep would even get up for sehri , special pre-dawn meals taken by Muslims in the Islamic holy month of Ramzan.
Neighbours recall that he would tell them he liked Islam’s simple path to reach God. Locals knew little of his life back home in Haryana though, except that he was working here for the money, and has been with the family for more than eight years. Sandeep and Muntazir are keeping low after the controversy and avoiding the media. The family has been questioned by the police. Even after the controversial conversion and the FIR, Sandeep would continue to fast during Ramzan, relatives of the family said, on condition of anonymity.
The four employees of the Waqf have been questioned so far to piece together the sequence of events. The CCTV footage was also surveyed “to establish any conspiracy”, officials said. However, so far, neither the Waqf nor the police have established any forcible conversion.
A caretaker of the Hazratbal shrine cited the case of Syed Waseem Rizvi, who converted from Islam to Hinduism in 2021, and acquired a new name, Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, in Uttar Pradesh. “Did an FIR follow in the Rizvi conversion case? No. Why in J&K?” he says.
Worry and fear
However, restless in his house, Dr. Farooqui shuffles the mementoes in his drawing room. He points out one he received for participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme and another for attending a G20 meeting in Srinagar last year. The real cause of concern is the full wooden almirah, in which lie piles of letters in a file cover containing three threat letters from militant outfits like The Resistance Front, which accuse him of supporting Andrabi to implement the BJP’s agenda in J&K.
“I survived a bomb attack in 1992, followed by kidnapping by militants, in 1994 and 1997. These threatening letters have been delivered in the past two years. I was compelled to ask for police security, when a threat letter surfaced at my main entry gate at home,” Farooqui said. He was also approached by men not known to him near the pulpit of the mosque and warned against siding with the BJP.
It has been more than two months now. Kamal-ud-Din , who holds a PhD from France’s University of Bordeaux, and has served as the chief scientist and Professor Emeritus, SKUAST-K, worriedly wonders about the inquiry and his chance at resuming a traditional duty.
“As an adviser to the Waqf in the past, my remit was to increase revenue from Waqf-owned orchards from Rs. 32 lakh to Rs. 92 lakh per year. My intervention resulted in a revenue of Rs. 2.5 crore in the past,” Kamal-ud-Din said.
The Hazratbal shrine is known for its moderate voices. The priests from the shrine are also put to service to douse communal tension, including the episode where a student from the National Institute of Technology, Hazratbal, had posted content against Prophet Muhammad in 2023, an act that Islam considers blasphemous. It was followed by on-campus and off-campus protests by students as well as locals in the Kashmir valley.
“I have always pursued the narrative of peace and focussed on how bloodshed will not take us anywhere. I bring parallels from the world of science and Islam to educate people about Islamic teachings,” Kamal-ud-Din said.
Pulpit politics
The Hazratbal shrine first attained centrality in Kashmir’s politics when a relic considered holy by Muslims worldwide was stolen on December 27, 1963. It resulted in mass demonstrations across the Valley, with protesters carrying black flags. Then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru intervened, and the relic was recovered in January 1964.
The reconstruction of the shrine between 1968 and 1979 saw NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah raising his political capital here. Since then, the pulpit of the shrine has been seen by locals as being close to the NC. In 1990, the separatist J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) used the pulpit to seek the independence of Kashmir from India.
The Waqf Board, under the BJP since 2022, has an orientation for pulpit politics. To segregate the pulpit from regional party politics, the Waqf Board has centralised the appointment of imams, khateebs (Quranic reciters), and muezzins, citing the “advanced age” of current preachers as a reason.
The board also removed donation boxes of traditional peers from the shrines in the Valley after August 5, 2019, when the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional position. The curtains were also drawn on the practice of dastaarbandhi (tying the turban), especially of politicians in the shrines.
“It seems we are also being targeted for being traditionally perceived as close to the National Conference,” Kamal-ud-Din said. “I will fight for my due though. It’s unfortunate the incident was politicised. The whole thing was a plot against me.”
His routine of religious rites has already changed after the incident. “I would lead prayers on all Fridays, Mondays, and Thursdays. I would deliver sermons on auspicious occasions. I fear I may miss my life’s first Id prayers at the shrine.”
The Muslims celebrate Id-ul-Azha to commemorate prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his beloved son Ismail to Allah. Difficult times are seen as tests from god, who will finally reward the patient devotee. The country will observe the festival on June 17.
Published - June 16, 2024 02:41 pm IST
