Following reports of the internal committee of Gurudwara Singh Sabha in Haryana’s Gurugram permitting Muslims to offer namaz in the Gurudwara, the Sikh community is reported to have raised objections to the same.
According to available information, several members of the Sikh community raised objections to the Gurudwara management’s decision of permitting Jumma Nama within the premises of the shrine. Jowahar Singh, a local, stated that the Sri Guru Granth Sahib doesn’t allow the offering of namaz within the shrine. He further opined that the Prabandhak committee (management) may permit it but the community members aren’t in favor of the move while adding that a review of the decision would be undertaken after the Gurupurab festivities are completed on November 21.
Another resident named Gurucharan Singh stated that even though people belonging to any religion could visit the Gurudwara but nothing other than Gurbani can be offered inside it. “The property of a gurdwara cannot be used for any purpose which goes against the Maryada (customs) of Shri Guru Granth Sahibji”, he opined.
The management committee’s spokesperson Daya Singh said that they had provided an alternate site to the Muslims to offer Namaz but the latter refused in view of ‘Gurupurab celebrations.’
“In its defense, gurdwara committee spokesperson Daya Singh clarified that only Sikh rituals are allowed within the sanctum sanctorum of the gurdwara. He further added that none should object to the offering of prayers by Muslims in empty areas such as the basement and parking spaces”, says OpIndia quoting Singh.
Sanyukta Hindu Sangharsh Samiti (SHSS), a Hindu rights organization, also reached the spot to distribute a book titled “Guru Tegh Bahadur-Hind ki Chadar”. They were at the premises where Muslims were supposed to offer namaz between 12 and 2 PM. Earlier, the Gurugram administration had refused to grant permission for Jumma namaz (Friday prayers) at 8 of the 37 public grounds since residents had raised objections.
Kulbhushan Bhardwaj who is the legal adviser of SHSS stated that they have distributed 2500 books and that they hadn’t gone to the shrine to protest. The organization wasn’t against any community offering prayers indoors but is against namaz being offered in public places.
The Muslims in the area had also allegedly refused to offer namaz in the Gurudwara in view of the Guru Purab celebrations. A Muslim delegation led by Mufti Mohammad Salim (JUH President) and Altaf Ahmad (co-founder of Gurugram Muslim council) thanked the Gurudwara management committee members for ‘promoting social harmony’.
(Featured Image Source: OpIndia)
