New Delhi: An eerie calm dominates the whiteness of the Imamshah Bawa Dargah in Gujarat’s Pirana. The calm is not emanating from the serenity of the shrine, but from the emptiness which it is witnessing since May 7, when more than 13 tombs of this Islamic structure were destroyed including the tomb of Hazrat Pir Imamshah Bawa and his family.
The shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Pir Imamshah Bawa, is one of the many shrines in Gujarat which stand as symbols of the state’s syncretic shrine culture — where people from all walks of life and religions paid obeisance to the saints.
The tomb complex consisted of the shrine of Pir Imamshah Bawa’s four grandsons, a granddaughter, a mosque named after the Sufi saint, and a graveyard where Saiyeds, who are descendants of Pir Imamshah Bawa, are buried.
History of distortions
Pirana is a well-known, historical village, located 18 km away from Ahmedabad and known for the secular shrine of Hazrat Pir Imamshah Bawa who arrived in the village more than 500 years ago. Hailing from the revered Islamic family of Hazrat Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (RA), Bawa was a firm believer of co-existence and communal harmony. He established a religious denomination — order — school of thought, which became popularly known as Satpanth.
Over the years, as the Dargah attracted reveries from across Gujarat, a mosque and an Imambada as well as graveyard became a part of Imamshah Bawa Roza complex. For more than five centuries, the administration of this shrine and its related properties was carried out by joint participation of Saiyeds — being descendants of Hazrat Imamshah Bawa — and his followers called Satpanthies. The constitution of the shrine was sanctioned on September 26, 1939 and established the fact that this is the shrine of Muslim Pir Imamshah Bawa. The trust was named “The Imamshah Bawa Roza (Dargah) Sanstha Trust” and comprised of ten trustees, out of them seven were Satpanthies and three belonged to the Saiyed community.
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Till 1990, the administration of the shrine was carried out without any problem in a cordial manner by both the communities. Things changed as the Vishva Hindu Parishad launched a campaign to “reclaim” other places of worship held by the Muslim community in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition.
Post the demolition of Babri Masjid, Satpanthi followers were tortured and harassed for worshiping a Muslim saint. To negate this, Satpanthi trustees chalked out a plan to convert the shrine to a Hindu temple and relegate Imamshah Bawa as a Hindu god. This conversion plan was made possible because of the numerical majority of Satpanthies in the trust board. Notably, Imamshah Bawa is a figure revered by Muslims, Hindus and others for centuries.
Attempted conversions
In January 2022, the trust responsible for the maintenance of the shrine decided to build a wall between the shrine and a mosque next to it, cutting off smooth passage for believers between the two spaces — this replaced a wire partition that had previously existed in the premises.
The aerial view of the other graves and mosque in the Dargah complex. Photo: Special Arrangement
Following the construction of the wall, separating Muslims from the larger complex, many Muslims families migrated out of the village. Interestingly, erecting the wall not only separated the mosque from the Dargah complex, the graveyard, mosque, Imambada and other Dargahs are now set apart from the main shrine to camouflage the shrine’s Islamic identity.
Later, after the wall was successfully erected, the plan to build a separate temple within the complex created discontent among many as it buried the syncretism which the shrine has exuded for centuries. Post this development, Sunni Awami Forum filed a PIL against the construction of a new temple within the shrine premises, seeking restrictions on any such development by invoking the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
Even in August 2023, the Hindu trustees of the shrine attempted to rename it after Sadguru Hanstej Maharaj. Posters of deities and saffron flags appeared inside and around the Dargah on August 13 last year, and a 25-foot hoarding was put up outside the shrine after two days on August 15.
The descendants of the Pir Imamshah Bawa, who belong to the local Saiyed community protested the renaming. It was heavily viewed as “yet another effort to saffronise the shrine”. In protest, they began an indefinite fast.
As parliamentary elections were ongoing, Hindu groups around 5 p.m. on May 7 forcefully entered the premises of the shrine, which is anyways always open to them, with an intention to erase the existence of a saint who prayed equally for all.
Custodians of the shrine say that they welcome people of all faiths, but the attempt to convert it into a Hindu temple is a blatant attempt to fan communal tension.
Attaching images of conversions that happened to the shrine over the years. pic.twitter.com/Z6kzxl76dI
— Tarushi Aswani (@tarushi_aswani) May 9, 2024
Victims jailed
Saiyed Tahir Hussain, a descendant of Hazrat Imamshah Bawa is anxious now. “After 1992, right after Babri Masjid was martyred, Hindu extremists had their eyes on our Dargah too. Since then, they have used one gimmick or another to change the name of this Dargah and change its existence and establish the fact that it belongs to Hindu deities,” Hussain said.
“We have used all legal remedies to safeguard our heritage. During the May 7 incident, the extremists literally tried to dig out graves of the family of Hazrat Imamshah Bawa. This has broken us, we are pained. Even when they desecrated our Dargah, a majority of our own Muslim people were bundled up and sent to jails,” he added.
Hussain also explained how local Muslims were not against the idea of temples, rather he said several Hindus believed in the powers and divinity of Hazrat Imamshah Bawa. “Hindus loyal to the Dargah have also condemned the attack. Everyone has a right to worship whoever they want, but why is our Dargah being attacked like this? Even the Police tell us to approach the courts. There is no help whatsoever,” he lamented.
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Karsanbhai, a Hindu devotee who is a third-generation believer of Hazrat Imamshah Bawa told The Wire that the desecration of the shrine has hurt Hindus who respect this religious syncretic structure. “It was very wrong, they totally disrespected and even tried to flatten the tombstones. We are against this kind of bullying,” Karsanbhai said.
Nadim Saiyed, another descendant, sees a planned conspiracy behind the incident. “We find no reason to live now. This has been going on for years now, they want to usurp the property. They don’t care about Hinduism,” he explained.
Several descendants of the Saiyed community are leading this movement to safeguard the shrine at different levels, including approaching the law enforcement agencies and courts. However, since the last five years many individuals who are petitioners in cases pertaining to the Dargah were themselves booked and jailed.
Pertaining to the May 7 incident, two cross-FIRs were lodged at Aslali police station based on two separate complaints filed by two trustees of the Dargah — Siraj Hussein Saiyed and Praveenbhai Rajabhai Patel. While Saiyed’s complaint identifies 14 people as perpetrators and ‘unknown persons’, Patel’s complaint names 43 Muslims.
Local Muslims have alleged that Harshad Patel, a member of the trust and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office bearer from Arvalli district of Gujarat, had been threatening them since the past few months saying he would be getting rid of the graves soon, following which they had approached the local police. “The police had deployed personnel as well following our complaints. Since the police personnel were on election duty on May 7, the Hindu trustees took advantage and desecrated the shrine,” a local told The Wire. Patel have still not been arrested.
