At its inter-faith conference in New Delhi last Saturday, which was attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council (AISSC), a Muslim body set up four years ago, passed a resolution, calling for banning the Popular Front of India (PFI) and any religious organisation involved in radicalism or incidents like the recent killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur.
The AISSC’s move to demand a clamp-down on the PFI was in sync with the stand it has taken earlier on several issues – from seeking curbs on radical Islamic factions in the country to backing various government announcements with regard to the Muslim community.
The AISSC has, however, regularly drawn criticism from other Muslim organisations, and even from within the Sufi groups at times, for being “too close to the central government”.
The AISSC’s founder-chairman, Syed Nasiruddin Chishty, is the son of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah’s Dewan (spiritual head), Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, and has been declared as his successor.
While Chishty has sought to distance his organisation from his father’s legacy, the latter’s influence on the AISSC’s role has been evident.
No stranger to controversy within the Muslim community in the past, the Ajmer Sharif Dewan has spoken in favour of the beef ban being firmly enforced by the BJP-led governments, claiming that his family would also not eat it. He has supported the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu & Kashmir, and the ban on triple talaq among other issues. He had even backed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 – reversing his position only after a severe backlash from the community, that prompted him to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him not to implement the CAA.
“They (Dewan and his son) are too close to the central government. And this is not the first time. They have always been close to the government regardless of the party in power – whether it has been led by the Congress or the BJP,’’ says a Sufi leader on condition of anonymity.
Responding to such allegations, Chishty, while speaking to The Indian Express, says that the AISSC makes a distinction between the Indian government and any political party. “Of course we support the government. We will always support the Indian government – it is the government of the country. We are not saying that we support any political party. These are two different things. The Prime Minister, home minister, defence minister – they are ministers of the country and not of any one political party,’’ he says.
To reinforce his point, Chishty says the AISSC had earlier this year opposed the imposition of ban on hijab in Karnataka pre-university colleges, as it is “against the fundamental rights of women’’.
Chishty says the AISSC has been working unofficially since 2010, but was officially established and registered in 2018.
“There were some reasons behind it. Of course fighting radicalism is a part of our agenda, but we also needed to organise dargahs in the country. In the pre-Independence era, the sajjadanashin (a custodian or trustee of a sufi saint’s shrine), or the dargah head received great respect, not only from his followers but also from the rulers. They were always given a seat at the court darbar, including by the British in 1887, when the Dewan was given a permanent seat as the Shaykh-ul-Mashaikh. But this position gradually eroded over the years, first because of the post-Independence laws that were brought in, and then also amongst the followers,” Chishty says. “My mission is to strengthen the position of the sajjadanashin. The dargahs are also involved in a number of legal disputes, including disputes within the families for their control. So, our organisation assists their heads in these disputes.”
The position of Dewan Zainul Abedin’s family as Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s descendants and its hold over the Ajmer Sharif Dargah have been questioned by many from within the Muslim community, with a section claiming that the Sufi saint’s direct descendants had shifted to Pakistan in 1947.
Since taking charge of the Dargah that very year, the Zainul Abedin family has had fended off other claimants to the Dewan’s position. When Zainul Abedin announced his support for the bans on beef and triple talaq, he was challenged by his brother advocate, Alaudin Alimi, who even issued a fatwa against him claiming to have replaced him as the Dewan. “That was a family dispute, which was resolved within a week,’’ says Chishty.
In 2014, Ajmer Sharif witnessed a clash between two groups of Khadims serving at the Dargah purportedly over the control of the massive donations that the shrine receives annually.
“We therefore want to strengthen the organisation of the Dargah, and protect the Sajjadanashin from such disputes. We also want amendments in the Waqf Act to recognise the Sufi culture – which includes music and ‘chadar charhana (placing a shawl on the graves of saints)’ which is a part of our culture, but not of Islam. The rights and position of the Dewan must be recognised by the Indian government,’’says Chishty.
Over the last couple of years, Chishty has been holding “peace meetings’’ across the country – in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and various other places in states such as Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh – to deliberate on issues concerning Sufis and oppose the Islamic radicalisation.
Following the abrogation of Article 370, Chishty led a delegation to J&K to “assess the ground situation’’. “Yes there was a certain amount of frustration amongst the people there for not being consulted on such a big decision. But we found things to be normal. We did not find any atrocities carried out by the Indian security forces,’’ Chishty claims.
“The minority community in India is not feeling insecure. There is anger among certain sections, yes. But we have appealed to the government to talk to us as stakeholders when they take any decisions regarding the community. Apart from this, we want to spread the word
that the Sufi way of Islam, of universal brotherhood and peace and harmony, is the correct way,’’ he adds.
The Sufi followers belong to the Muslim community’s Sunni sect, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the country’s estimated 20 crore Muslim population.
