Ayodhya is revered by Muslims, and not because of the Babri Masjid

AYODHYA: Following the Supreme Court's decision to refer the Ayodhya litigation to a secret mediation process, the court-appointed three-member panel is in the temple town, hoping to resolve the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute through mediation. While for many, Ram and his ‘janmabhoomi’ are two sides of the same coin, the canvas of Ayodhya has, in fact, many more colours to it. Here, the saffron of Hindus co-exists with yellow, the hues of which are linked to Sufism. In fact, Ayodhya is known as ‘Khurd’ or ‘Chhoti Mecca', an identity coined by the locals to celebrate the pious and plural character of the place. “Ayodhya is home to at least 120 shrines including mosques, mazars, karbalas and eidgahs which are important to Muslims. Each of them attracts Hindus as well. Almost all 100 mosques in Ayodhya follow a strict vegetarian code as a mark of respect for the Hindu brethren,” Mahant Girishpati Tripathi of Tewari Mandir said with pride. medium66330909“The presence of these shrines jointly gives Ayodhya its identity of Chhoti Mecca. To a believer, Ayodhya is next to Mecca,” said Mohd Omar, a religious leader. Mohd Akram, a maulvi, added, “Secular Muslims see Lord Ram as a ‘paighambar’ (messenger of God). Religious texts describe him as an avatar and the Quran directs us to respect all paighambars.”Krishna Kumar Mishra alias Barfi Maharaj, convenor of Shri Saryu Avadh Balak Samiti, a 110-year-old people’s group working to conserve Ayodhya's heritage and legacy, said: “The mazar of paighambar Hazrat Shees makes Ayodhya a must-visit for Muslims.” Sarvesh Kumar, assistant professor of cultural geography at Banaras Hindu University, has documented the city’s Sufi heritage. “The mazars of Hazrat Shees, Nuh and Badi Bua are among the most frequently visited. It is a tradition in Hindu families to take newlyweds and babies to these shrines for blessings,” he said. Hazrat Shees is believed to be the son of Aadam, the first man, in Islamic tradition. “The shrine is at least 600 years old. He was the first child born on earth and lived a thousand years. Abul Fazl, chronicler during Emperor Akbar’s time, has mentioned the shrine,” said its caretaker Mohd Kaleen-ud-Din Firdausi. medium66330577Another popular shrine is Nughazi Mazar behind Ayodhya Kotwali. Caretaker Mohd Omar said the place is the mausoleum of Prophet Nun (Noah in the Bible). The shrine of Hazrat Ibrahim Shah from Tashkent is also thronged by devotees every evening, Khadimul Auliya (chief caretaker) Mohd Junaid Qadri said. The Hazrat is also known as 'zinda fakir' because it is believed that he is alive and meditating in a cave in Adgada area. 66330411“While most of the early Chisti Sufi shrines are from the 16th century, the tradition in Ayodhya goes back to the 14th century. This includes the shrine of Badi Bua, also unique because she was a woman, the sister of Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dilli, a Sufi saint of the Chishti order who was born in Ayodhya in the 12th century. After having spent 40 years of life in the land of Ram, he shifted to Delhi to live with Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. Badi Bua’s name was Rahmatullah Bibi,” said Kumar. There exist several historical graves in the surroundings of Badi Bua, including those of Shaikh Zainuddin Ali Awadhi, Shaikh Fatehullah Awadhi and Allama Kamaluddin Awadhi, the disciples of Shaikh Nasiruddin. medium66330668These mazars attract Muslim visitors even from abroad. “People from South Africa, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago visit Ayodhya only for these shrines. They club it with visits to places like Dewa Sharif in Barabanki and Syed Salar Sharif in Bahraich,” said Prateek Hira of Indian Association of Tour Operators. medium66331529Locals and scholars said it was unfortunate that Ayodhya’s syncretic culture had never attracted the limelight. “The place should be seen as a school of Sufism as many of these shrines have distinct traditions which are being lost as times change,” said BHU professor Rana PB Singh, who has brought out many papers on the tradition of Ayodhya. “The canvas of faith in Ayodhya is much bigger than it seems. Besides being the birthplace of Ram and home to more than 60 temples, Ayodhya is a manifestation of belief in the supreme ruler. The co-existence of people of different faiths, especially Hindus and Muslims, makes it an epitome of India’s syncretic culture,” said vice-chancellor of RML Avadh University Manoj Dixit, adding, "evidence of Ayodhya's tolerance is the fact that the temple town saw no communal clashes in 1992 while the rest of the state was burning after the Babri Masjid demolition." large66588981 68389114 68314177