FB Discussions - India and secularism

(via Sunny Narang)

True Azadi comes with having the heart of a Shehzada , a Prince .

With the energy and innocence of youth and a big heart .

Last year I bought many books on Awadh . Awadh was embedded in what is known as the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (The mixed Hindu-Muslim culture) .

Lucknow is considered as the centre of India’s Shiite Muslim community. Many believe that India has the second largest Shia population in the world, after Iran.

In India the Shia-inspired cities have had a much stronger culture of religious innovation .

Azim Premji was born in Bombay in a Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim family with origins from Kutch in Gujarat. After partition, when Jinnah invited his father Muhammed Hashem Premji to come to Pakistan, he turned down the request and chose to remain in India.

Bismillah Khan was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the Third classical musician after M. S. Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be accorded this distinction.

Though a pious Shi'ite Muslim, he was also, like many Indian musicians, regardless of religion, a devotee of Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of wisdom and arts, and often played at Hindu temples, including the famous Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, on the banks of the river Ganga. He also performed for spiritual master Prem Rawat.

Among the Shias of India, an overwhelming majority belongs to the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) division, while the Shias among the Khoja and Bohra communities are Ismaili. Dawoodi Bohras are primarily based in India, even though the Dawoodi theology originated in Yemen. India is home to the majority Dawoodi Bohra population most of them concentrated in Gujarat out of over 1 million followers worldwide.

Nawab of Rampur (1719–1949),Nawabs of Oudh (1722–1858 AD)
and Nawabs of Bengal (1757–1880) were all Shia dynasties.

As per historical evidences and the genealogy maintained by the Sayyids who migrated to India from the Middle East, the history of Shia Islam in India traces long back, around 1000 years. According to historical records earliest known Muslim settlers in Awadh region (now a part of state of Uttar Pradesh) were father and son duo Saiyed Salar Dawood Ghazi and Saiyed Saiyed Salar Masud Ghazi.
In 1030 CE established themselves at Satrikh (also known as Sulaimanabad), district Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh.

Azadari or the mourning practice of Imam Husain ibn Ali is very much prevalent across India. One thing which is worth noting in Indian Azadari is the participation of non Muslims in Shia rituals on the day of Ashura.

The Hindu rulers of Vijayanagar during the 16th and 17th centuries even donned blackened garments and helped to arrange the Kala Tazia (Black Tazia) processions. Even the Scindias of Gwalior and the Holkar Maharajas of Indore conducted Majlis or Muharram congregations.

In Lucknow Hindus regularly join Muslims in the Azadari and Alam processions. The Sufi saints of India along with the Shi'ite Scholars encouraged the mixing and merging of indigenous elements from the rich cultural heritage of the land to that of Muharram thus proclaiming the message of peaceful co-existence among communities .