Hyderabad: Muslim devotees during the 'Bibi Ka Alam' procession on the tenth day of the mourning period of Muharram, which marks the day of Ashura, in Hyderabad, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (File photo)

What does Hyderabad and Mysore have in common? No prizes for guessing. It is the fervour and zeal with which they observe Muharram and celebrate Dussehra. While Hyderabadis go all out to mark the triumph of truth over falsehood, the Mysorians do the same to commemorate the victory of good over evil. Both the events draw huge crowds and culminate in long-winding processions. Another common factor is the use of elephants to carry the historic relics. While in Mysore a decorated pachyderm carries the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari, in Hyderabad a caparisoned elephant transports the Bibi-ka-Alam on Youm-e-Ashoora, the tenth day of Muharram.
Well, the similarities between the religious rites of the two faiths end here. However, in Hyderabad Muharram, which marks the commencement of the new Islamic year, has both religious and historic significance. Particularly, Azadari (mourning), the highlight of Muharram is a subject by itself. The practice of public display of grief and lamentation is as old as Hyderabad. Charminar, the city’s most famous icon, is believed to contain many Shiite symbols, including an ‘Alam’ (copy of battle standards) in its stucco work. Qutb Shahi rulers, who were Shiite themselves, built a number of Ashoor Khanas (places where Alams are installed and mourning done) and funded the religious activities. The Asaf Jahi dynasty, which succeeded them, continued the tradition since its rulers, although Sunni married Shiite women.

Bibi Ka Alam on an Elephant during a Muharram procession, in

 Hyderabad on Friday. Pic:Style photo service.

Qutb Shahi influence

Such was the influence exerted by the Qutb Shahis that even the Rajas and Maharajas of their time wholeheartedly took part in Muharram rituals and organised Majlise Azadari (mourning sessions). Not just this. Their flags also carried the image of Zulfeqar, the sword of Hazrat Ali, so important in Shia Islam. As for Hyderabad, the Qutb Shahis procured rare relics like the piece of the wooden plank on which Syeda Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter, was given her final ablution. This important relic, which reached Golconda during Abdullah Qutb Shah’s period, is now enclosed in the Bibi ka Alam. Similarly, a tauq (shackle) placed around the neck of Imam Zain al Abideen when he was taken prisoner by the Yazeed army, now forms part of the Alawa-e-Sartauq Mubarak situated at Darulshifa. Another important relic is the Naal (war helmet) belonging to Hazrath Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet. It is popularly known as Naal-e-Mubarak. This Naal is believed to have broken during the battle of Karbala. Passing through several hands it reached Bijapur during the rule of Yusuf Adil Shah and from there it came to Golconda during the reign of Ibrahim Qutb Shah. There are many such historic remnants which are displayed for public viewing during Muharram in Hyderabad.

The tomb of Mohd Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad’s founder, 

in the Qutb Shahi Tombs complex. (Photo: Siasat)

200 Ashoor Khanas in Hyderabad

There are more than 200 Ashoor Khanas in greater Hyderabad, including 140 in the south zone. All of them come alive once the new moon is sighted. Badhshi Ashoor Khana at Patharghatti built by the city founder, Mohmmed Quli Qutb Shah, is the oldest one. Other prominent Ashoor Khanas are Bibi ka Alawa, Alawa-e-Khadme Rasool, Aza Khana Zehra and Husaini Alam Ashoorkhana. During Muharram they reverberate with azadari (mourning) and seena-koobi (chest beating) as the zakareen (orators) narrate in minute detail the events leading to the battle of Karbala which resulted in the martyrdom of Hazrath Imam Husain and 72 others.

The Ashoor Khanas used to serve as a hub of socio-cultural activity during the Qutb Shahi period and were responsible for the evolution of ‘marsiya’, a form of elegiac poem which commemorates the martyrdom and valour of Ahle Bayt, the family of Prophet. It was during the Qutb Shahi period that the art of making Alam started in Hyderabad and then reached North India where it is called ‘Tazia’. One Nizamuddin and his family are believed to have pioneered and perfected this art. There is a lot of meaning and message in the way the Alams are designed. A keen observer can decipher the motto of triumph of truth over falsehood in the design, it is said.

The Alam in the Naal-e-Mubarak Ashurkhana in Hyderabad. 

(Photo: Siasat.com/Md. Sibghatullah Khan)

Hyderabad’s historic Badhshahi Ashurkhana displaying all of its 

Muharram Alams. (Image: Abinaya Sivagnanam)

During the Qutb Shahi times the Badshahi Ashoor Khana was decorated with 10,000 lamps placed in 10 rows from the first day of Muharram. The Sultan used to personally visit the Ashoor Khana in the evening attired in a black dress and kindle a row each night. The 6th and 7th Nizam also took active interest in Muharram rites and visited the Ashoor Khanas.

Though foodstuffs have no religious significance, certain victuals like Dum ke Roat, Qubooli and Doodh ka Sharbat have got associated with Muharram. The month of mourning sees many Shia and Sunni households preparing these dishes. Of late Roat has come to represent Muharram as Haleem does Ramzan. Irrespective of faith, people are seen consuming this flat crunchy biscuit. Serpentine queues can be seen before bakeries. Subhan Bakery in Nampally witnesses huge footfalls all through Muharram – more so on the tenth day.

                                                   Dum Ke Roat (Photo: Bushra Khan/ Siasat.com)

The present wet spell is no dampener to the Shia devotees. All their programmes are going on as per schedule. “We are using waterproof to protect the Alams from rain”, says Syed Hamed Husain Jaffery of Shia Youth Conference. Meanwhile all is set for Youme Ashoora, the high point of the month on Saturday, when the historic Bibi Ka Alam is taken out in a procession. Other Alams also join and the procession culminates at Masjide Ilahi at Chaderghat. For this year the organisers have procured an elephant, Madhuri, from Kolhapur in Maharashtra for carrying the Bibi ka Alam on Saturday.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Siasat Daily

Dated July 29,2023.

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The world is at its wit’s end and worried too. Justifiably so.

Despite efforts to target and suppress Islam and its followers, both are growing exponentially. Particularly in Europe, more and more Muslims are taking up public spaces. Their social clout and political influence are on the rise, although it is way behind their numbers. They also have representation in Parliament though not in proportion to their population. The bottom line is: Muslims are very much a part of the West and a force to reckon with.

Scotland’s Hamza Haroon Yousaf, Somali American, Ilhan Omer, Netherlands’ Ahmed Aboutaleb, Pakistani descent  Sadiq Khan. Do these names ring a bell? Well, they are all Muslims and have made a mark in world politics on the sheer strength of their merit. They hail from different countries and backgrounds but what is common among them is exemplary leadership skills, resilience, an optimistic attitude, and a never-say-die spirit.

                                                                                 

                                                                                      Ilhan Omar

Though they can be counted on fingers, Muslims are slowly getting noticed in the European political scene and are in a position of authority in different spheres of life. The recent event of a Scottish Muslim priest blessing King Charles and Queen Camilla tells it all. Dr. Sayed Razawi, Chief Imam and Director General of the Scotland Ahlul Bayt Society, is perhaps the first non-Christian in British history to bless the king in a prayer meeting. Sending benedictions on the royal couple, he prayed that the King and Queen will be empowered by God with his wisdom.

This is not withstanding the anti-Muslim prejudice, ideological conflicts and negative stereotyping of Muslims in the media. Even as skeptics cry hoarse, there is widespread participation and integration of Muslims in European life. On their part the Muslims have become more organized and are learning to live in a plural society as a minority community. In countries like Britain, Germany and France a good number of them are successful entrepreneurs and professionals – enjoying social clout. Most of them are politically active too as they are getting elected to local, regional and national political bodies.

Before the rise of the West, Muslims were the torchbearers of knowledge for a thousand years. Science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy and arts flourished in their domain. If the European renaissance started in Spain the credit should go to the works of Muslim scholars and intellectuals. But they fell behind and lost this preeminent position due to lack of vision among the ruling elite. This is a story by itself. “However, with the dawn of the 21st century, there is a troubled awakening, a tempestuous assertion, a search for a soul, and the beginning of the quintessential quest”, writes M. Jamal Haider, an academic researcher, in his book – In the Name of the Lord.

Post 9/11 there is an eagerness among Muslims both in the US and Europe to assert their ‘Islamic identity’. More and more women are now taking to wearing headscarves while men are seen donning skull caps and beards. They are also now more regular in their mosque attendance notwithstanding pressure to conform to Western values. This is not all. Many European streets now have shops with signboards in Arabic and Eastern languages. But many feel in the decades to come the Western values might erode traditional Muslim beliefs.

Changing landscape in Europe

The 20th century saw the European landscape changing as Muslims with robust birth rates started immigrating. From Turkey to Germany, from North Africa to France, from Indonesia to Holland and from the Asian subcontinent to Britain millions of Muslims have shifted. In recent years asylum seekers, mostly Muslim, have migrated from the war torn Syria, Iraq, Palestine and other predominantly Muslim countries to Europe. The civil war in Somalia also forced a good number of Muslims there to flee to Holland and Scandinavia. Some of them have made a second migration to the United Kingdom.

According to a report from the Pew Research Centre, a nonpartisan fact tank Muslim share of the population throughout Europe has grown about one percentage point a decade – from 4 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 2010. And this pattern is expected to continue. By 2030 Muslims are projected to make up 8 percent of Europe’s population. Estimates show that there were 44 million Muslims in Europe in 2010. They now account for 10 percent of the French population, the largest in the Western world. Other European countries with a significant Muslim population are Germany (5.4 percent), Netherlands (5%), Belgium (4.0%) and Sweden (2.3 percent). Even if migration is completely stopped in the future, which is unlikely, Muslim population is still expected to grow due to high fertility rates among the current Muslim residents of Europe.

With their migration, religious and cultural differences have come to the fore. The question of living together has become a challenge in some countries. Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom sees it differently. In his book, The Dignity of Difference, he bats for reconciling hatreds. The difference, he says, is not something to be feared but to be welcomed.

Many wonder whether Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi’s prediction will come true. He had remarked famously that “Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe without swords, without guns, and without conquest and turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.”

Given the demographic shifts, there is no need to take this statement with a pinch of salt. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Europe. And so are its followers.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Siasat Daily

Dated July11 ,2023.

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No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. Home is where the heart is. But we see people leaving their homeland for greener pastures abroad. For dignity, safety and a better future people have been migrating to foreign destinations. It’s an expression of human aspiration. Migration is a process, not a problem.

So far so good. But of late there is a steady exodus of Indians. More and more people are choosing to renounce their Indian citizenship to become citizens of other countries. The reasons could be myriad. For some it is quality education, for some better lifestyle and health care facilities and for yet others better work opportunities and higher pay packets. For many blue-collar workers with in-demand skills accommodating jobs matters a lot.  Can this brain drain be stopped?  Looks next to impossible.

Figures presented by the External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, in Parliament show that a whopping 2,25,620 Indians gave up their citizenship in 2022 as against 1,31,489 in 2015. And since 2011 this number adds up to a staggering 16,63,440. According to an UN report nearly 18 million Indians were living outside their country of birth in 2020.

Well, Indians have been going overseas for study and work and it is not a new phenomenon. But what is surprising is the pace with which they are relinquishing their citizenship. This flies in the face of tall claims of Indian passports being much sought after.

The US, of course, continues to be a magnetic draw for many followed by Canada, Australia and the UK. Other top destinations are Sweden, Germany, Italy, Singapore, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Forget students and IT professionals, even high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are choosing to relocate. If statistics are anything to go by India is going to be the second biggest loser of its millionaires after China. Taxes and complex remittance rules are said to be the reason why the super rich are migrating.

There are always some push or pull factors for people to leave their country at enormous financial cost not to speak of the emotional upheaval of separating from their kith and kin. Mostly it is the promise of big bucks that draws one to attractive destinations. In the case of the US it is its technological advancement that appeals a lot to professionals. “I see immense value in gaining exposure to cutting- edge technologies and working on challenging projects”, says Mohd Ibrahim, a Solution Architect in Detroit’s Automotive Cluster. He shifted a couple of years ago from Pollachi, a sleepy town in Tamil Nadu to Detroit, the automobile capital of the world.

Another reason why young professionals prefer the US is the presence of tech giants and multinational companies which translates into better career opportunities and higher salaries. A Standardized work schedule with no pressure to work beyond 40 hours a week is another factor.  “It means we can spend more quality time with family”, says Ibrahim’s wife, Rukhsana Parveen.
The same is true of most other destinations as well. Ask any NRI and pat comes the reply: personal growth, professional success and an improved quality of life is the reason why they want to shift. Lack of basic amenities in India like clean drinking water, inefficient public health infrastructure, air pollution, and corruption are factors which have a major say in people deciding to jump ship. The unpalatable truth is that many people are losing hope in the land they grew up in.

In recent times many Muslims are also leaving rather fleeing India as they feel they are ‘no longer welcome’ in the country of their birth. What drives them out is the growing anti-Muslim prejudice and atmosphere of hate. Many feel insecure on account of what is called ‘institutionalised persecution’ of Muslims under the BJP regime. The storm kicked up by the ‘intolerance’ remark made by Bollywood actor, Aamir Khan, is still fresh in memory. But given the socio-economic condition of the community only a miniscule number can afford to leave. However, the educated and those from privileged backgrounds are heading to lucrative destinations at the first available opportunity.
Can we stop this trickle from becoming a tide? No way. At the most the pace can be slowed down. It can’t be reversed completely, say sociologists. Unless they are given a better life at home – competitive pay, professional opportunities, a decent education, a decent health care system and security people will continue to leave their land of origin.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Siasat Daily

Dated July 3,2023.

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 Photo: Google Creative Commons

Desperate times call for desperate measures. As they die by the dozens everyday in the aggression let loose by the Israeli military, Palestinians have devised a new way of increasing their numbers. It is artificial insemination most families are resorting to as their male members languish away in Israeli prisons. This new phenomenon has caught the Israeli authorities unawares even as it has enraged it no end. Despite strict vigil, successful attempts have been made to smuggle out sperm of Palestinian detainees out of the prison.

The other day a Palestinian detainee at the Ramon prison in southern Israel was caught by guards as he was trying to whisk away a bottle containing another prisoner’s sperm. Following this incident the prisoner who provided the sperm was identified and placed in solitary confinement. The Israeli authorities have also stepped up security and vigil at all its prisons.

Israel worried

This is not the first time that sperm smuggling of Palestinian prisoners has come to light. Such incidents have been taking place for quite some time and they have gained traction of late. It may appear farfetched but prisoners serving life imprisonment or long terms have chosen to deliver their sperm to their wives in the distant West Bank and Gaza strip for artificial insemination. As the sperm is smuggled out of prison, wives and families of the Palestinian prisoners are all ready to go for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Extreme care is taken to do a rush job since sperm has a short life and can survive for just a few hours outside the body. So far more than a hundred babies have been born through this method, it is said.

The Israeli-Palestine conflict is perhaps the world’s most intractable of conflicts. Clashes between the two continue to rage despite attempts to broker peace. In the last few years hundreds of Palestinians have been thrown into jails and sentenced to long years of imprisonment. Unprovoked attacks by the Israeli military have left a trail of death and destruction in the West Bank and Gaza strip.

As a result, the life of Palestinians has gone topsy-turvy. The unabated violence has left in lurch scores of young women whose husbands are incarcerated in prisons for terms ranging from 25 to 30 years. With prison authorities denying conjugal visits, women who intend to raise a family find themselves in a piquant situation. Most of them have had no physical contact with their husbands for years. And many of them will be over 50 years old when their husbands finally walk out from prison. At this age they consider their chances of getting pregnant pretty dim. Some who are blessed with only a daughter want to have a son to carry on their husband’s name. Under these circumstances getting impregnated through the ‘sperm smuggling procedure’ appears the best bet – although the whole thing is risky and fraught with danger.

IVF method has religious sanction

Artificial insemination also involves religious sanction and social acceptance, according to Mohammed Qabalan, director, Razan Fertility Centre. This problem was overcome with a senior Mufti giving a fatwa on the condition that the married couple had had sexual intercourse before the husband was arrested. The idea also received support from the late Yasser Arafat and the Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi. They felt the prisoners had a right to have their own children. The West Bank and Gaza strip are home to more than a dozen IVF clinics. The procedure is a bit costly but clinics like the Razan Fertility Centre does it free of cost as it feels it is a social obligation.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Siasat Daily

Dated July 1,2023.

The innovative idea had its origin in the year 2000 when a Palestinian engineer and his wife were undergoing treatment at a fertility clinic as they were unable to conceive. The man’s sperm sample was frozen before he was arrested. Later his wife successfully got impregnated with the frozen sperm. The man then spread the idea among other prisoners. Ammar al-Zaban is believed to be the first Palestinian prisoner to have fathered a child with his wife using smuggled sperm, it is said.

This novel concept is seen as a bio-political resistance and a defiant response to the Israeli occupation. It surely has upset Tel Aviv as it is worried about the slow but steady baby boom taking place in Palestinian homes. Will the Jewish state meet its Waterloo at the hands of ‘jihadi babes’ taking birth even as their fathers languish in its prisons?

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