The Jammu and Kashmir government-led waqf board has barred Dr Kamal ud din Farooqi, the imam of Kashmir’s holiest Muslim shrine Hazratbal, from leading the prayers there for at least a week after he presided over an alleged public conversion of a Hindu man to Islam.
Farooqi told The Telegraph that he did not lead the prayers at the shrine on Tuesday but questioned the power of the waqf to prevent him from performing religious duties.
“I am not their (waqf) employee. Our family has been performing the duties of Imam-o-Khateeb (imam and orator) at Hazratbal for the past 350 years,” he said.
Hazratbal houses the relic attributed to Prophet Mohammad and is visited by lakhs of devotees every year.
Jammu and Kashmir police last week lodged an FIR against Srinagar resident Anayat Muntazir for alleged forced conversion of his domestic help Sandeep Kumar at the shrine during Jumat-ul-Vida (the last Friday of Ramzan). The police have detained Muntazir and Sandeep and investigations are on.
“The waqf board served me a notice informing me that I was presiding over the meeting of (the alleged) forced conversion. It claims that the conversion has created confusion and chaos among the general public,” Farooqi said.
“It says that it is not proper for me to retain the position of Imam-o-Khateeb and that I have been relieved of the duties till the completion of the inquiry, scheduled to be completed in seven days”, he added.
Farooqi, a retired professor and chief scientist at Kashmir Agriculture University and an imam, denied coercion and said Sandeep converted out of his own will.
The event that took place in the presence of thousands of people, whose videos were widely circulated, is seen as an affront to the BJP-led government at the Centre.
“That man (Sandeep) is even fasting in lock-up. Why should he do it if he is in their custody?” he asked.
“The event was not planned. While I was delivering a lecture, a few men approached me saying he (Sandeep) wanted to convert. I said there was little time left for Nimaz (but they insisted). How could I say no before a two-lakh-strong crowd to a man seeking to take Shahada? I asked him all questions about whether he was doing it voluntarily, faced any coercion or was he doing it for some allurement to which he responded positively. It all happened in front of waqf officials and the police,” he said.
The Hazratbal imam said there was not “an iota of doubt” that there was an effort to remove him permanently. “They (waqf) want a dummy, a puppet, who will listen to their diktats. They could not afford to dictate to me. There was no question of taking dictations from them,” he said.
BJP leader Dr Darakshan Andrabi is the chairperson of the waqf. When contacted, she initially denied that such a development had taken place and said she had no comments to offer.
