Weekend
of 20 till Monday 23rd
of November!
Salaam
my friends!
This
has been a very hectic and productive weekend!
This
friday that was, me and Beatrice went out to explore the Mazaars in
our neighboorhood after our Urdu class. To explain shortly, a Mazaar
is a specific trait for Islam in South and Central Asia which is
basically founded on the notion that a holy person/saint or important
person for the local Muslim community gets his or her shrine which
people come to take part in processions to honor the dead person or
to get blessings to cure themselves from illness.
It
is a very interesting feature of contemporary South Asian society
since it would seem polytheistic and ”non-Muslim” in other parts
of the Islamic world since it is some kind of religious practise
outside a Mosque but also dedicated to someone else than Allah.
This
has certain influences from Hindu polytheism and especially the
Mandir culture and worship. An excellent evidence of interreligious
and intercultural mixing. In the Mazaar they play music and brun
inscence as well as offer flowers, typical Hindu traits in sacrifice
rituals and Bhajans to deities in Hindu religious spheres. Also these
traits are banned in a mosque which is focused on praying to Allah
and to focus on his message. The Mazaar is therefore not a center for
prayer for Muslims since it is a place for healing or spiritual help.
Also a lot of non-Muslims work at Mazaars and go there regurarly,
also in our neighborhood. Another example of South Asian cultural
transcendency.
We
visited two small Mazaars and then we visited the Shah Najaf
Imambara. An Imambara is basically a monument to a Nawab or former
Shia Muslim ruler of Lucknow and also a shrine/tomb for his family
but also a place of gathering for Shia Muslims. This can be explained
in the minority status of Shia Muslims in India, and their stronghold
was in Lucknow and the Nawabi culture. The Nawabs were the local
dynasty of Muslim rulers who ruled western Uttar Pradesh before the
arrival of the British East India Company and British colonialism.
This
monument was really spectacular and it was built to honor Nawab Ghazi
ud Din Haider and his three wives. One of his wives was acutally a
converted Muslim of British ancestry as well as his two Indian wives.
The man who worked there also told us that the main division between
Shia and Sunni in India is the use of Mazars in Sunni Islam and
Imambara's in Shia Islam. It is also visible through the use of
Mazars, which is much more wide spread and Imambaras are really rare,
mostly centered around Lucknow.
Saturday
morning and around lunchtime we went to the Nadwa Tul Ulama, or the
Islamic university for men in Lucknow and got a guided tour of the
entire university from our teacher Ayaz. We also got to meet a lot of
students and also exchange students from Thailand, Malaysia, England,
America, Indonesia etc, as well as some teachers and librarians as
well as the boss for international students.
After
that visit we went to town for some shopping and relaxation. After
all this endevaours I felt really sick and spent the rest of the
Saturday and also Sunday in bed, trying to study and read. It went
so-so. I usually have such a high degree of duty, but sometimes my
body just needs to relax and heal.
This
day, Monday, we have mostly studied and completed our Urdu
assignments. We have also planned an exciting schedule for our
Non-Lucknow teachers who will arrive in the week to see some sights,
in Hindi of course. We are going to give them the guide and then
guide them in Hindustani around the town.
This
week's subject will be Urdu in the media sphere, so our focus will be
on Urdu in media and news. By the way, me and Beatrice passed our
course in Development Theory so we had to celebrate with some Indian
pastries to reward ourselves! No shame!
Waleikum
Salaam
Namaskar
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