Revision as of 21:01, 23 September 2014

Both Hindu and Muslim

My name is Khan and I am a Hindu, say many in this UP village

Ishita Mishra, TNN, The Times of India Sep 13 2014

During the rule of Aurangzeb (1658-1707), villagers of Khera Sadhan in Agra, a village of about 10,000 roughly 50 km away from Agra, were asked to either convert to Islam or leave their homes.

Faced with such a threat, almost all of them changed their religion then. After Independence, a group of local leaders exhorted the townsfolk to go back to Hinduism. Some did, others didn’t. But religion since then hasn’t mattered to the people here.

The mother of Khushnuma Vikram Singh, a Thakur, is a Muslim, his father Kamlesh Singh a Thakur. His sister Sita is married to Inzamam and his wife Shabana considered naming their newborn Santosh.

In 21st century Khera Sadhan, it is common to have a family of four brothers with two of them Hindu, two Muslim. Or have a husband who doesn’t care about the religion of his wife, or her children for that matter. There, Muslims worship in temples and Hindus go to the dargah. Eid and Diwali are both sacrosanct.

Shaukat Ali (born 1959) arranged for his youngest brother Raju Singh to marry Lajo, daughter of Sunil Thakur and Reshma. The wedding ceremony was attended by Shaukat’s brothers Rizwan Ali and Kishan Singh. The nikah will be held at a temple.

The people of the village are amazed when they hear stories of people fighting about inter-faith unions, says Salim Thakur, a Geeta and Quran by his bedside.

His neighbour and first cousin Love Kush Singh has been offering Eid prayers in the village mosque for as long as anyone can remember. Not all, though, are happy. Some say those in nearby villages make fun of them for being neither here nor there. They believe that the people of Khera Sadhan are confused and ride two boats at the same time.