Khalifatullah’s India Visit 2023

 

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius, and the International Sadr of the Siraj Makin Djawaharatul Kamal- the women’s wing of the Jamaat- Hazrat Ummul Mu’mineen Fazli Amena Varsally completed a historic visit to India between 16 January and 10 February 2023. The Holy visit took place under the will and shade of Allah's Grace in the dawn of a New Year, literally marking a new page in the Book of Time and the evolving spiritual lives of the Jamaat members in India, Masha Allah, Allah-u-Akbar!

 

In spite of the manifold and diverse Deeni works that keep them busy all through the year, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) and Hazrat Ummul Mu’mineen International Sadr Saheba chose to find time and be with the disciples and followers in India for a period of almost a month. The presence of these blessed servants of God in India- a journey that took place despite several hurdles, marked a spiritually- uplifting, and morally- ennobling experience for all those who were in the circle of the Divine Manifestation during those days of the Holy visit, Subhaan Allah.  

Disciples and followers of the Khalifatullah (aba) will certainly cherish for a long time the spiritual warmth and filial affection showered by him upon all of them all through the visit, in Tamil Nadu, in Kerala and elsewhere. Like the sunshine and the rain, the servants of God embraced all those who came in search of Divine Grace and succour in their midst. Many devout souls recognized the privilege of joining the High representative of God – the Khalifatullah- in his long invocations and sublime prayers, and the opportunity to directly listen to discourses on finer points of spiritual wisdom, and to hear about Allah’s help and assistance amidst all trials and tests of faith in the everyday lives of those who believe and entrust their affairs to the wisdom and grace of the All Knowing, the All Aware,- relying entirely on the will and pleasure of God, Alhamdulillah. Indeed, the Holy visit gave members of the Jamaat a unique and special opportunity to join and experience the signs of Divine presence and manifestations in their own surroundings in everyday life, Subhaan Allah, Masha Allah, Allah-u-Akbar! 

Hindu-Muslim Amity in India

We took a pledge from you, ‘Do not shed one another’s blood or drive one another from your homelands’. You acknowledged it at the time, and you can  testify to this. Yet here you are, killing one another and driving some of your own  people from their homes, helping one another in sin and aggression against them..’ (2: 92)

‘Lord, we fear he will do us great harm or exceed all bounds’ (20:45)

‘We have put our trust in God. Lord! Do not make us an object of persecution for the oppressors’ (10: 85)

‘Lord, we have put our trust in You; we turn to You; You are our final destination. Lord, do not expose us to mistreatment at the hands of the disbelievers. Forgive us, Lord, for You are the Almighty, the All Wise’.  (60:6) 

‘Truly those who persecute believing men and believing women, then do not repent, theirs shall be punishment of Hell, and theirs shall be the punishment of burning’. (85:11) 

An Unjust World

Today, millions of people suffer injustice, persecution and slaughter at the hands of unjust regimes around the world. In several nations- whether they are Muslim-majority or non-Muslim majority, minority communities are facing legal discrimination and political oppression. Consider the recent events impacting certain peoples, the harrowing accounts of systematic oppression are mind-numbing, and make for depressing reading: genocide of the Bosnian Muslims in Europe in the 1990’s; the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslims in Central African Republic; the high-handedness of the  Myanmar/Burma regime vis-a-vis the Rohingya Muslims; the inhuman treatment being meted out to the Uighur Muslims in China;  the throttling of civic, political and economic freedoms of Muslim- majority provinces in Russia (the situation of Chechnya/ Dagestan, Crimean Tartars, etc); the volatile situation in Kashmir; the fifth-generation/ long-suffering Palestinian refugees;  the situation of millions of refugees from, and internally displaced persons in, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, Yemen,  etc.  

The mindset of the self-exalting Pharaohs, hell-bent on persecuting the hapless children of Israel in ancient times, seems to be alive, as if it were, and bedevil, almost every nation and generation of people. The denial of human rights and community interests and political oppression is often serviced in the name of superior race; majority religion; superior caste; pure ethnicity; national culture; secular law, popular will, etc. Not just under despotic regimes, but also under so-called democracies, minority communities and their interests are trampled upon. The national ‘self’ is imagined in such a narrow way that the minorities are treated as the ‘other’ and the law is unleashed to deny and deprive the basic rights of such persons: citizenship, civic and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, etc. Hence, in the name of socially-codified communal prejudices in such democracies, the human dignity, basic identity, fundamental rights and other collective interests of the minority is unrecognized, and often, criminalized. 

The Darkness in Delhi

As I write this, my city, Delhi, is limping back to ‘normalcy’ after the dastardly, orchestrated, anti-Muslim violence of last week that claimed over 50 innocent lives, and critically- injured hundreds of others, ordinary people going about their everyday lives. Shops and establishments, vehicles and other properties, houses and the mosques of the Muslim community were particularly targetted by the criminal thugs on steroid. The communal fire and riots were ignited and perpetrated with a clear and malicious intent to destroy the peaceful and dignified co-existence of the Hindus and the Muslims of the city for several decades. By attacking the very livelihood of the minority community, the marauders and their political dons hope to break the harmony in society. With every communal violence, the 'distance' between communities increase, leading to 'apartheid-cities' segregating the people from one another, further and further. [Inset: 'A mosque in Delhi's Ashok Nagar was torched and a saffron flag associated with the Hindu far right was placed on the minaret' [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Al Jazeera]

Khalifatullah's Delhi Visit

The Legacy of Islam in India

Historically speaking, Islam spread in the Indian subcontinent through a gradual process lasting over centuries. While South India, Kerala in particular, witnessed the advent of Arab traders and early Muslim merchants from Yemen as part of the organic process of international trade in those early days of Islam in the seventh, eight, and ninth centuries; the North of India witnessed powerful military struggles for political dominion and the Muslim armies succeeding in establishing themselves as rulers in this vast land. Delhi, the capital city of India, has thus been a major centre of the Muslims over the millennia. Muslim dynasties, including the Grand Mughals, ruled over Delhi for over seven centuries before the British colonial era began in the subcontinent.

With the establishment of Muslim empires in India and the relative peace it brought into the region from the political turmoil in the extended neighbourhood of India, many Sufi saints and their disciples from different parts of the Islamic world began to travel to India and began settling down here, thereby triggering in its own way conditions for the spread of Islam through the nooks and corners of India. 

Among the major Muslim saints and sages of the medieval era, Godly men who settled in and around Delhi and other parts of North India, one can count several illustrious names: Hadhrat Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (ra), Hadhrat Mueenuddin Chishti Ajmeri (ra)(1132-1236); Hadhrat Faridudin Shakar Gunj(ra) (1212-1269); Hadhrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dehlvi (ra)(1233-1325);  Hadhrat Shiekh Ahmad Sarhindi (ra) Mujaddid Alf Sani (1563-1624), Hadhrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlvi(ra)(1703-62), etc.