New Delhi: The management of a famous Muslim shrine in Mumbai seems prepared to allow women into the sanctum sanctorum.
The Haji Ali Dargah that houses the tomb of Muslim Saint Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari has barred from entering the shrine’s most sacred place.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium on October 18 informed a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur that could persuade the Dargah management to devise a mechanism to allow women’s entry into the inner sanctum. However, he could not elaborate as the bench did not take up the case due to paucity of time.
A controversy arose in 2014 when the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (Indian Muslim women struggle) petitioned the Bombay high court against Dargah trust stopping women from entering the inner sanctum. The women said that were no such restriction until 2011.
The high court on August 26 asked the shrine to allow unrestricted entry to women. The dargah trust then appealed against the order in the Supreme Court.
Subramanium told The Times of India that he had impressed upon the Dargah management about the apex court’s earnest desire for a progressive stand and succeeded in helping them reach a decision to allow women into the inner sanctum.
“The Dargah management will devise the mode and method for allowing women into the inner sanctum,” he said.
Asked whether it would be a separate entry for the women to reach the inner sanctum, Subramanium said it would be worked out by the competent persons in the management.
Taking into consideration Subramanium’s assurance, the bench continued the stay on the Bombay high court order permitting women to enter the inner sanctum.
The apex court had on October 7 stayed the high court order ment, it said the writing on the wall was that the Dargah management took a secular and progressive stand on the issue.
On behalf of the bench, the chief justice had said: “If you are not allowing anyone into the sanctum sanctorum, it is all right. But you cannot be allowing men and banning women. That is the problem.”
The Dargah Trust in 2012 decoded to ban women from entering the inner sanctum. The high court then ruled that such a ban violated Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (non-discrimination) and 25 (right to practice religion) of the Constitution of India. It directed that the status quo ante be restored and women allowed entry on par with men.
The state and the trust running the Dargah should take steps for safety of women, it had ordered.
The trust defended the ban saying entry of women close to the tomb of a male saint was a grievous sin in Islam. The Maharashtra government had batted for women’s entry.
Groups campaigning for equal religious rights for women said that if the Haji Ali shrine is asked to stop discriminating against women it will set a precedent for others too. “We are happy that the matter went to the Supreme Court. What the court says will be applicable across the country,” said Feroze Mithiborwala of Muslims for Gender Justice and a member of the Haji Ali Sab Ke Liye Forum which was set up to support the petitioners.
The Dargah is a mosque and tomb located on an islet off the coast of Worli in the southern part of Mumbai. It is one of the most recognisable landmarks of Mumbai. The islet is linked to the city precinct of Mahalakshmi by a narrow causeway, which is nearly a kilometre long.
An exquisite example of Indo-Islamic Architecture, associated with legends about doomed lovers, the dargah contains the tomb of Sayed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari.
It was built in 1431 in memory of a wealthy Muslim merchant, Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, who gave up all his worldly possessions before making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Hailing from Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan, Bukhari travelled around the world in the early to mid 15th century, and eventually settled in present-day Mumbai.
On Thursdays and Fridays, the shrine is visited by thousands of pilgrims, from various religions. On some Fridays, various Sufi musicians perform a form of devotional music called Qawwali at the dargah.
The accessibility to the dargah is dependent on the tides. As, the causeway is not bound by railings, when the causeway gets submerged during high tide it becomes inaccessible. Therefore, the dargah is accessible only during low tide. This walk on the causeway, with the sea on both sides, is one of the highlights of a trip to the shrine.