City Faith – Ladies Are Allowed Inside, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah
Defying the repulsive tradition.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]
The shameful thing about Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah, one of Delhi’s holiest Sufi shrines, is that women are not allowed inside the chamber where the 14th century saint lived, died and was buried. They may pray outside the door to the tomb, or cling to its walls, or sit in the courtyard but they cannot enter into the tomb.
Why? “According to Islamic law, women are not allowed near graves,” says Altamash Nizami, a dargah caretaker.
If that is the case, then why are women permitted inside the tomb of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz, a sufi shrine in Ajmer, Rajasthan? “The tomb hall in that shrine is very big and so there is a large distance that separates the pilgrims from the tomb,” says Mr Nizami. After a pause, he says, “In Nizamuddin, the tradition of not allowing women is being followed for 700 years.”
How can a sufi saint, who is expected to be kind to everyone, be prejudiced towards a woman who loves him as much as a man? “I don’t think it was a prejudice,” says Sadia Dehlvi, the woman author of Sufism: the Heart of Islam. “It was their understanding of the Islamic tradition.”
Ms Delhivi says that some sufis during their lifetime were accessible to women and some were not. “It depends on the nature and attitude of a sufi saint. For instance, Naseeruddin Mahmud Chirag Dilli never met his women followers directly so I understand if we cannot enter his tomb. But to my knowledge Hazrat Nizamuddin used to interact with women. Like Ajmer’s Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, he was accessible to everyone – the rich, the poor, the men and the women. I think the ban on the entry of women in Nizamuddin’s tomb is a later imposition by the dargah’s khadims.”
As a protest against this repulsive tradition, The Delhi Walla invites women to view the images taken by him inside Nizamuddin’s tomb. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you are standing inside the shrine, or outside, or anywhere else in the world,” says Ms Dehlvi. “It’s about making connection with the heart.”
Agreed. Still, it is not fair.
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
Ladies are allowed inside
THESE PRACTICES LEAVE A BAD IMPRESSION ON CHILDREN’S PSYCHE
Hi Mayank
Thank you for taking me in to see the inside of the Dargah forbidden to women.
A regular visitor to your site, I enjoying learning about the city I have lived for more than a decade but yet know not enough.
Mayank you are treading on dangerous territory. Do not question. You have a huge following amongst your admirers,just carry on in the same way.
Regards
Win Win
kya kar sakte hain yaar? but vry sad.
[QUOTE BEGIN]
How can a sufi saint, who is expected to be kind to everyone, be prejudiced towards a woman who loves him as much as a man?
“I don’t think it was a prejudice,” says Sadia Dehlvi, the woman author of Sufism: the Heart of Islam. “It was their understanding of the Islamic tradition.”
[QUOTE END]
Ha ha ha ha, bullshit response, mere play on words. It CERTAINLY is gender based discrimination.
Why am I not surprised? When it comes to religions (applies to all religions), even analytical and learned people with scientific mind can be sensitive and touchy and will churn out any bullshit to justify nonsense, they will sometimes even go to the extent of using their superior analytical, oratory or articulation skills to merely play on flowery words to justify. With due respect (to those scholars and their talent), please do not insult our intelligence (certainly not directed at MAS, but in general directed at people who fit the bill mentioned in my previous statement). I suggest the further reading of famed atheist Javed Akhtar’s very thought provoking speech at ‘INDIA TODAY ENCLAVE – Saturday, 26 February, 2005’ (scroll to the bottom of the page in the link). Basically he says religion is hoax and saleable commodity.
http://www.javedakhtar.com/inner/interview.html
Well done and thanks Mayank, for breaking down the barriers and allowing the FAIRER GENDER inside.
Dear Mayank and Vishal!!!
What do you mean by inside ??? Inside the boundry of “graveyard” full of hundreds of known and unknown graves, or inside the particular chamber for the grave of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya R.A. or inside the grave itself. This is not a matter of gender discrimination. Let us know, that why do the people either men or women vist the graves of the holy perdsonalities, and what do the expect from them, and what are the manners to meet and greet a live and a died person. Graveyard is a place of peace and everyone can vist a graveyard just to “threaten” his own soul and take a lesson for his own life. They can also vist the graveyard to chant holy verces of QURAN for the soul f the dead burried there. There are some manners to meet and greet a live person. So there should be some manneres to visit the grave of a died one. Women are precious in Islam. Let them be precoius, and let them do their work accordingly. If I chant some verses of Quran from my bedroom, and I pray to Allah that its reward should be in favour of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, or I chant the same verces inside the chamber of the grave of the same holy personality and I pray the same to Allah, there will be no difference. So, Please dont bother about the fundamentals of Islam. I have something more for you, if you really want to bother. I know you always face the irritating folks outside the shrine and inside the shrine. Somebody will offer you water, somebody will offer his services to look after your shoes, somebody will hold you from one side, and another will hold from another side. Moreover, somebody will offer you flowers and sweets to buy them. You are a live person, I know these things mean a lot for you. But for a grave, a peaceful place, a place to take a lesson for our lives….. what it is all ??? Did you ever write about these goons inside the dargaah premises ???