http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/imam-of-indias-biggest-mosque-has-a-successor-his-19-yr-old-son/99/
19-year-old Shaban Bukhari to succeed Ahmed Bukhari as imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid
By Geeta Gupta | New Delhi | October 25, 2014
The
Imam of India’s biggest mosque, Delhi’s Jama Masjid, has decided who
his successor will be: a 19-year-old student who is pursuing his
Bachelors in Social Work. Shaban Bukhari is also the younger son of Imam
Syed Ahmed Bukhari.
Shaban
will be formally anointed as the Naib Imam, or the vice Imam, of Jama
Masjid by his father during a ceremony in Delhi on November 22, when he
will be just one step away from a position that is a powerful symbol of
Muslim interests.
At
the moment though, Shaban appears to be an unlikely candidate for the
job. Continually prompted by his father to give the right answer, the
shy student of Amity University told The Indian Express, “I am far from
politics; I am still a student. I don’t like the communal politics that
happens today. Any caste or religion-based tension is an attempt at
distancing communities — it is bad politics and very bad for the
progress of the country. Politics has to be issue based.”
In
Islam, the Imam has the limited function of leading the prayers, and
the priestly class has almost no other role. But in the 1970s, during
and after the Emergency, the position of Imam of Jama Masjid acquired
political significance, with various parties trying to enlist his
support.
The current Imam has carved out a
political space for himself, and has also been in the news for his
tussles with the Waqf board which oversees the affairs of all the other
mosques except Jama Masjid.
This year, the
Imam’s endorsement of the Congress party for the Lok Sabha elections,
after Sonia Gandhi met him, had hit the headlines. Earlier, there were
attempts by the BJP during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s prime ministership to
woo him, as also the Samajwadi Party — that political clout appears to
have diminished now because of his shifting loyalties.
Shaban
will have “to be trained”, said Syed Ahmed Bukhari, who will retain his
title as long as he lives before making way for the 14th generation of
“Shahi” Imams – the title Shahi, conferred by Shahjahan the Mughal
emperor, holds no relevance today.
“He (Shaban)
will take another 10 years till he is trained to be the Shahi Imam of
the Jama Masjid. He has already started spending time with me. He will
travel around the world with me and learn from me – just the way I
learned from my father,” he said.
The announcement, however, has also raised some eyebrows.
Family
sources said the 12th Imam, Syed Abdullah Bukhari, while announcing the
next in line had also declared that his son Syed Ahmed Bukhari would be
succeeded by his eldest son, continuing a tradition that has been in
place since the time of Shahjahan, who built the Jama Masjid and
conferred the title of “Shahi Imam” on Syed Ghafoor Shah Bukhari in
1656.
“The previous Imam had said that the
present Imam would be succeeded by his eldest son from his first
marriage whose name is Arif Bukhari. But he has been disowned by Imam
Bukhari,” said a source within the family.
Imam
Bukhari said that Shaban’s elder brother, Arhan, refused to take up the
title when offered. “Shaban has more of a religious bent,” he said.
Shaban
said he has also been “unofficially” helping his father. “I want to
serve the people in whatever way possible. I am also studying Imamat to
be be the Imam. My training with my father started about one year back
and I have unofficially been assisting him since then,” said Shaban, who
studied at St. Xavier’s School in Nainital and is now into the second
year of his undergraduate programme.
The
Bukhari household, meanwhile, is gearing up for November’s ceremony that
will be held at Jama Masjid for which about 1,000 Muslim religious
leaders from across the world will be invited. With the reading of the
Quran, Syed Ahmed Bukhari will declare Shaban Bukhari his successor,
after which a pagadi ceremony would be held, when each guest will lend a
hand in tying a long cloth around the new Imam’s head.
“I
am going to do it differently from what my father did,” said Syed Ahmed
Bukhari. “My father had invited all the top political leaders for my
investiture ceremony. But I am inviting only Muslim religious leaders.”
During
the week thereafter, the Bukhari family will host at least three
dinners: for the religious leaders; for about 3,000 “namazis” in Delhi;
and the biggest, on November 29, for top diplomats and politicians from
within India and abroad.
Once
officially appointed, Shaban will need to religiously perform the namaz
five times every day, and also conduct the Friday prayers. When asked
if he would mix politics with religion in his discourse, the father cut
in: “It is my duty as a religious leader stop people from doing anything
wrong. Reading the Friday prayers does not mean imparting a bookish
sermon. It means making the namazis aware of good and bad, and to show
them the right path. This is how it should be.”
(Courtesy: The Indian Express)
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