The Hazratbal Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir holds immense religious, cultural, and political significance, but its role has become increasingly complex and controversial.
Hazratbal houses the Moi-e-Muqqadas, the sacred hair from Prophet Muhammad's beard, making it one of Islam's most revered sites. The shrine serves as a center for worship, hosting important religious gatherings including Friday prayers with influential sermons, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha celebrations, and special occasions like eclipse prayers. These sermons traditionally focus on spiritual guidance, encouraging Muslims to do good and avoid evil.
The Hazratbal shrine also functions as a crucial gathering place for the Muslim community in Kashmir. It plays an authoritative role in cultural life with immediate social implications for the region's population. The shrine's Friday prayers create what can be called a "Friday effect," where communal gatherings amplify the influence of religious sermons on the community.
The shrine carries a past that has contributed to its complex political associations over the years, and its many moments of climaxes such as the theft of the holy relic (Moi-i-Muqaddus) and the Hazratbal siege.
While Hazratbal has always held a certain political significance due to its central role in Kashmir's Muslim community, the current situation represents a troubling shift where politics is increasingly overshadowing the shrine's cultural and religious importance.
The recent controversy over the J&K Waqf Board's plan to engrave an emblem on the inaugural stone sparked public protests, exposing flaws in the administration's approach. This ill-conceived plan demonstrated how poorly the authorities understood the shrine's sensitive nature and the implications of their actions.
But even before this controversy, the shrine was already undergoing a transformation into what some describe as a "whispering dome," suggesting secretive political maneouvering within its sacred walls. The Waqf Board chairperson, Darakshan Andrabi is a politically appointed person and is a BJP member. Her coterie now includes RSS-backed former militants named in police FIRs for cases of arson in the 1990s. Patronisation of such elements is leading to excessive politicization of the shrine.
The irony is stark: while the government appears to encourage this trend of increasing politicisation, it simultaneously calls for depoliticising the pulpit, creating a contradictory stance.
I have observed this duality firsthand. Dr Kamal-ud-Din Farooqui, head priest of the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar, who was removed from his position in April 2024 by the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board following false allegations over a public conversion to Islam that he presided over, is my father and has become a scapegoat of the political desires of the RSS-BJP leaders. It’s a conspiracy.
When politicians who lack basic religious knowledge interfere in religious matters, it raises fundamental questions about whether preachers can even discuss shared religious beliefs that may naturally align with or oppose certain political positions.
The November 2023 NIIT blasphemy incident exemplifies this dilemma. When an agitated crowd approached the imam demanding action against a student who made derogatory remarks about the Prophet of Islam, the religious leader faced an impossible situation. As an imam, his responsibility was to convince people to maintain peace while addressing their legitimate religious concerns, yet any response could be interpreted as political interference.
Religious leaders argue that certain topics, such as the Palestinian cause and Israel's actions, are religious obligations that imams cannot ignore, as these issues hold great importance for Muslims worldwide. Politics cannot be fully sifted from religion, as the poet Sir Muhammad Iqbal warned:
Juda ho deen siyasat sey to reh jati hai Changeze
Jab deen aur siyasat alhaida alhaida ho jaati hain
Tau Changez Khan aur Halagu Khan paida hotein hain
The BJP government's interest in promoting ‘Sufi Islam’ over other forms of Islam reveals a calculated strategy. This selective endorsement appears designed to contain political criticism while curbing voices of Muslims who disagree with government policies.
The irony is striking, as devotees of Hazratbal shrine, dominated by the Sufi school of thought, rejected the BJP-led Waqf board's attempt to install a national emblem, sparking public revolt and uniting various Muslim groups in opposition. Even those with deep faith in the shrine's Sufi traditions were provoked by what they saw as attempts to appropriate Waqf institutions through coercive methods and police pressure.
The government's strategy of promoting certain religious figures, such as hosting an individual claiming descent from Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani, demonstrates how the Hindu nationalist BJP government attempts to construct legitimacy while maintaining control over the Jammu & Kashmir Waqf board. This politicisation transforms the Waqf board from its intended charitable and spiritual purpose into a tool for political parties to consolidate power and influence the religious and socio-economic lives of Muslims.
The constitution grants freedom for individuals to practice any faith, and Islam opposes religious conversion by force or coercion. Politics cannot be fully separated from religion, but politicization of religion and religious spaces is unacceptable. Politicising religious matters for electoral gains contradicts Islamic religious practices.
The goal should be community construction, promoting harmonious and spiritual coexistence, requiring cooperation from political quarters and law enforcement agencies, as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Medina where Muslims gather to socialise while learning religious knowledge.
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