The decision to bar entry of women into the mazaar of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai has reached the Bombay High Court. With successive state governments not taking any decisive action, it is now left to the judiciary to resolve the issue
By Meena Menon
Sometime in 2012 when women went to the Haji Ali dargah off the Worli seaface in Mumbai, they found their access to the mazaar (tomb) of the famous Sufi saint Haji Ali Shah Bukhari blocked with steel. Since then, for two years, activists Noorjehan Safia Niaz and others have been trying to regain entry which had been closed in the name of Sharia, according to the trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah.
After exhausting all options, Niaz and Zakia Soman, joint founders of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) filed a PIL in August, 2014 in the Bombay High Court. While the last hearing on August 19 did not take place, Niaz said that the previous order in July had asked the petitioners and the government to sort out the issue.
The matter is still pending as another hearing due on October 9 had been postponed to October 13, 2015. Niaz recalls that earlier, the inner sanctum was open for everyone. “The development was shocking for me as we used to visit it often since we were children. The shrine has separate entrances for men and women but we were allowed to go right up to the mazaar and pray,” she says. According to her, she was able to enter the sanctum till March 2011 but it was around July 2012 that the steel bars were put up and women had to pray from a little distance.
The BMMA activists met the president of the Haji Ali Trust, Abdul Sattar Merchant in July 2012 and the petition quotes the reasons given by him for not allowing women near the mazaar. “Women wear blouses which are wide-necked and they bend down on the mazaar (tomb) thus showing their breasts. “Unko unke pallo ka hosh nahi rahta hai’ (they don’t pay attention to the pallu). Sattar told BMMA that the decision was taken for the safety and security of women. He held that the rule is written in the Sharia and hence they were following it. He admitted that earlier they were not aware of the provisions of the Sharia and had made a mistake. As soon as they realized it, it was rectified.
The BMMA was indignant about this Sharia rule and decided to survey all the 19 dargahs in Mumbai in 2012. They found that only seven of them did not allow women to pray beside the tomb. “If this is part of the Sharia, it should apply everywhere,” Niaz said.
The women then sought the intervention of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission which transferred the matter to the state minorities department. A meeting which was called by the department was not attended by the trustees of the dargah. The Haji Ali Trust also did not respond to letters from BMMA.
The 550-year-old dargah symbolised the syncretic culture of Mumbai, in a sense, and the liberal Sufi tradition, Niaz adds. The PIL demanded, among other things, that the high court declare that women have an equal right of entry and access to all parts, including the inner sanctum of the dargah, on par with the male devotees.
The petitioners said they were aware that gender discrimination was being practiced at several places of worship cutting across religious lines. They were of the considered opinion that all discriminatory practices, wherever they were existing, were unconstitutional and ought to be prohibited and prevented. The petition also pointed out the failure of the state to take a decisive step in this matter.
On August 5, 2015, the division bench of the Bombay High Court said that the Haji Ali Trust disputed that women were allowed to enter the sanctum before 2012. The court held that, “Notwithstanding the controversy as to whether women were permitted prior to 2012 or not we had requested the trustees to consider the request and take a decision and if possible resolve the inter se dispute by finding an amicable solution to the problem. However, we are informed that no decision is taken so far.”
The bench hoped that the trustees will apply their mind and consider the request of the petitioners and take a decision, one way or the other. If the decision is not in favour of the petitioners, the court said it may consider if such relief can be granted by the court after hearing both sides.
The trustees have not responded to any of the calls for meeting by the petitioners. The Congress-led state government at that time did not take much interest in the case and did not even file a reply although it was one of the respondents. Even when the matter was taken up in 2012, the Maharashtra State Minorities Commi-ssion had said it was a religious matter and it was not within the purview of the government to take a decision. The current chairperson of the Commission, Mohammed Hu-ssain Khan, said it was a religious matter and he did not wish to comment on it.
The Haji Ali Dargah complex with the tomb of saint Haji Ali Shah Bukhari and a mosque is built on rocks off the sea. It was given its present-day shape in the early 19th century, according to its website. Over 10,000 to 15,000 visitors pay homage daily and the website proclaims that “people from all parts of the world without restrictions of caste, creed and religion” visit the dargah.
The PIL said the restriction imposed on the entry of women into the inner sanctum emanated from a very conservative and extremist Salafi ideology which was against the values of personal freedom and dignity, and especially against women’s freedom and equality. Denying women access to the tomb of the Haji Ali dargah infringes upon the fundamental rights of the women guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Even if the Sharia says something which is contrary to the principles enshrined in constitution, it is the constitution alone which, as the supreme law of the land, should prevail over contravening personal laws.
— The author has served as deputy editor of The Hindu