Delhi: Dargah falls back on tradition, but historians say practice un-Islamic

NEW DELHI: The Nizamuddin dargah committee insists there is no discrimination against women. This after a Pune-based law student petitioned Delhi high court, citing the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala verdict, and demanded entry of women into the shrine of the Sufi saint.

Fareed Nizami, member of the committee and a descendant of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, was asked why women aren’t allowed inside the burial chamber of the saint who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries.

“It’s all because of a 700-year-old custom, and because there is not enough space for people in the sanctum sanctorum,” Nizami said.

He added, “Even women members of our family do not enter the grave.”

The petition by lawyer Kamlesh Kumar Mishra states: “Nizamuddin Dargah by its very nature is a public place and prohibition of entry of anyone in a public place on the basis of gender is contrary to the framework of the Constitution of India.”

Hazrat Nizamuddin died in Delhi in 1325. But the current mausoleum was only built in 1562. Incidentally, the grave of Moinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin’s predecessor and of the same Chishtiya order, is open to all.

Altamash Nizami, the ‘baradar’ and ‘peerzada’ of the dargah said, “There is no trust of the dargah. We are the Anjuman Peerzadgan Nizamiya Khusrawi coordination committee that manages the baradari system. We will respond when we get the notice from high court.”

Fareed Nizami also claimed, “We have a separate mosque for women and there is sitting arrangement at the dargah. There is only a stone-latticed wall or jaali that separates them from the grave, which they can see when they pray.”

And yet, a notice on a yellow board hung outside the burial chamber announced that women are barred entry.

Historian Sohail Hashmi said this restriction on the entry of women is at Nizamuddin only as there is no religious sanction for the norm. “There are many dargahs all over India where women are allowed. This shows that there is no Islamic rule barring entry of women, including the Ajmer dargah,” he said.

But Erum Khan, who runs an event management company and regularly visits the dargah, said, “If there is a custom at the dargah, we should respect it.”

The petitioner, however, challenged it on the grounds that this discrimination is only at Nizamuddin shrine and not other dargahs.