Jaipur: Zainul Abedin Khan, the spiritual head of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s dargah in Ajmer, was sacked from his post by his younger brother, who declared himself the new dargah diwan. The move came just a day after Zainul had urged Muslims to shun triple talaq and beef.
Syed Allauddin Alimi said he had the support of his family in sacking Abedin and appointing himself as the new “diwan”, or spiritual chief. He claimed to have assumed office in front of the Murusi Alma, a hereditary contingent of people in service of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti.
“By declaring triple-talaq as anti-Islamic and against the Sharia, he (Khan) has ceased to be a Hanfi Muslim. He has lost the right to continue as the diwan of Ajmer Dargah because one needs to be a Sunni and a Hanfi Muslim for that,” he added.
Mr Alimi claimed he took the step on the basis of an oral fatwa by a mufti, who told him that Mr Khan had turned into a murtad (a person not belonging to the Hanfi community) by violating the principles of the Hanfi School of Islamic thoughts. “We consulted ten different muftis from various states to get their opinion,” he added.
However, Mr Khan claimed this was just his brother’s ploy to siphon funds from the monetary offerings received by the Ajmer dargah. “This office is hereditary and nobody can challenge its authority, as decided by the Supreme Court judgment passed on September 8, 1987,” he said.
He also hit back by removing Alimi from the post of secretary at his office, and appointing his own son the place. “I have removed Alimi from the post because he has not participated in dargah rituals for a long time now,” the Diwan said.
During the 805th annual function at the shrine that was attended by religious heads of various shrines from different parts of the country, Mr Khan had created a sensation by declaring that he and his family members had shunned the beef and urged fellow Muslims to follow in order to create an example of communal harmony with their Hindu brethren. On the practice of ‘triple talaq’, Mr Khan said that it was not only irrelevant today but also against the sentiments of the Quran.
