Why J&K Waqf Board’s push to uniform Friday sermons triggered a political storm | Explained

Representative image. File | Photo Credit: Nissar Ahmad

The Story So Far: The J&K Waqf Board, headed by senior BJP leader and chairperson Darakshan Andrabi, held a meeting on October 11 at its office in Srinagar. It was attended by imams (prayer leaders) and khateebs (preachers) of hundreds of mosques and shrines affiliated with the Board. Ms. Andrabi informed the meeting about the creation of a core committee of Islamic scholars and preachers to decide on a uniform topic for Friday sermons in Jammu and Kashmir. Ishtiyaq Mohi-ud-Din, an Executive Magistrate at the Board, disclosed that the Board was pushing the idea for the past one month and a directive was already in place “to broach only one topic in sermons”. He also sought views from the religious persons on incorporating non-Waqf mosques under the new uniform sermon. J&K has both Waqf-affiliated and non-affiliated mosques and shrines. Ever since Ms. Andrabi took over the reins of the Board in March 2022, scores of family-run shrines were also taken over by the Board like Ziyarat Shareef Rayil Gund, Dargah-e-Faiz Panah, Mir Syed Taj-ud-Din Hamdani, Ziyarat of Hazrat Sultan-ul-Arfeen, Seer Hamdan Shrine etc. Both the management and financial control were taken over of such shrines across the Union Territory (UT), in a rare bid.

Why does Andrabi want uniform sermon?

Ms. Andrabi suggested the need for a uniform Friday sermons was to “forcefully and unitedly” raise concerns of the society, which included waywardness, late marriages, drugs etc. She argued that the pre-selected topics by the core committee of Islamic scholars will be an impactful way of addressing social issues plaguing the community. This is a departure from the history of mosques in J&K. All mosques and shrines in the past were free to decide on topics to be touched upon in Friday sermons, which has two parts: one that deals with local and contemporary issues and two, where sermon delivered by Prophet Muhammad is recited, ahead of the congregational noon prayers attended by thousands of worshippers every Friday. Traditionally, these sermons would touch upon both political and social issues in Kashmir. Mosques and shrines in Kashmir also have a history of rallying political movements. In 1931, the speech by Abdul Qadeer Khan at the Shah-e-Hamdan Shrine resulted in an upheaval against the Dogra rule in Kashmir. The Jama Masjid in 1964 turned into the platform to mobilise people over the theft of holy relics from the Hazratbal shrine. In the 1990s, anti-India rallies were held from most of the shrines in Kashmir. Ms. Andrabi’s bid is seen by many as an attempt to de-politicise religious places in Kashmir, which saw three decades of armed conflict, and limit their role to social issues, which the core committee of the Board will pre-approve. BJP legislator R.S. Pathania supported the move of the Board’s religious leaders.