Hazrat Peer Charkisha Babar Dargah Jame Masjid, Saidpur
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Location
Swagat Battacharjee, A Day At The Mosque Where Even Hindus Pray,April 25, 2018: Youth Ki Aawaz
From: Swagat Battacharjee, A Day At The Mosque Where Even Hindus Pray,April 25, 2018: Youth Ki Aawaz
Barely a half-hour drive south of Silchar, the Hazrat Peer Charkisha Babar Dargah Jame Masjid stands out as one of the rarest yet most beautiful examples of unity in diversity.
Located in the Saidpur Pt-IV Village of Cachar in Assam, the mosque was built in 1918. Closing in on its centennial year, the most exciting part about this Islamic establishment is the fact that even Hindus hold this mosque in high regard.
“Whoever comes here with faith and hope never returns empty-handed,” says Aliullah Ayubi, who is in his fifth year as the imam of the mosque, as he takes me around the mosque with him. “People from all backgrounds and all religions come here to seek peace and solace, and the almighty one never fails to please any of them.”
The mosque is located on the National Highway Number 306 that connects the states of Assam and Mizoram. This route was infamous in the past for the several accidents due to challenging road conditions. Today, sumos, trucks, buses and all other passers-by alike, make it a point to halt outside the mosque and say a quick prayer. The passengers then hand out some money to the gatekeeper of the mosque as an offering.
Significance
Swagat Battacharjee, A Day At The Mosque Where Even Hindus Pray,April 25, 2018: Youth Ki Aawaz
“Praying here ensures us a safe journey to our destination,” says Rajesh Das, a passenger on his way to Aizawl as he hands over a ₹10 note to the gatekeeper. “God is one,” says Lallianzuala, another passenger who hails from Kolasib in Mizoram. A Mizo and a Catholic, Lallianzuala says he has been travelling this route for business purposes for over a decade, but has never faced trouble on the way.
“The mosque does not run on any trust. The love and the offerings made by the believers are more than enough to keep the mosque running,” claims the imam. He then adds that the mosque receives anything from about ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 from the public on an everyday basis. This money is then used for the maintenance of the mosque and to provide lunch to the poor and the daily wage laboreurs in and around the mosque.
Inside it, I was greeted by a person named Zakiruddin from a nearby village who had come to offer his daily prayers. “People often come here to seek solutions to their diseases or financial distresses. Once those problems get sorted, they come back here and offer clothes and food to the people living in the village,” he says.
He went on to tell me about the time when his wife had been so unwell that even the doctors had given up hope. He said that it was because of a prayer he had offered here that she was healed.
Later, I convinced him to sit down with me for a cup of tea at a tea-stall outside the mosque. He spoke about the one time when his childhood friend Sourav was dealing with a terrible financial crisis about two decades ago. “A prayer at the mosque turned his life around,” he says. “He has done well with his life ever since. He is a wealthy businessman at Karimganj right now. He continues to visit the mosque at least once every year and distributes clothes among the poor.”
Before I left, the imam handed me a taabeez and said that it would keep me away from negative thoughts and evil forces. He asked me to revisit the mosque again, sometime in the future. I bade him goodbye and left with some good stories and experiences to share with everyone. In a country where the debate on religious tolerance is at its peak, stories like these come as a breather as they remind us all of the foundations on which the idea of modern-day India was built – tolerance, unity, equality and peace.
