LUCKNOW: The air hung heavy with grief as people from all walks of life began trickling into Unity College campus in Thakurganj since early Wednesday to pay homage to Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, who passed away late Tuesday.
Within hours, the motley crowd turned into a sea of mourners who then walked over two-and-a-half kilometres, taking the 83-year-old cleric on his last journey to Imambara Ghufranmaab, where he was laid to rest.
An Islamic scholar and an educationist with scientific temperament, senior vice-president of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Kalbe Sadiq breathed his last around 10pm on Tuesday at Era’s Lucknow Medical College. He was battling cancer for the last three years.
In ICU on November 17, the cleric died of severe pneumonia, septic shock and kidney failure.