The Shia Blogger of Mumbai

The Shia Blogger of Mumbai, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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shot by munna bhai photographer

Lately I have been wearing rubber slippers, though I prefer walking barefeet, the filth , the muck really does not bother me at all, I was completely barefeet at Ajmer and Ajmer Dargah streets are really really bad, more filthier than some of the filthy streets of Mumbai.

As my desicion to go to the Jashn of Wiladat Imam Hussain at Bandra Shia Khoja Masjid was quite spontaneous and out of the blue, I wore a turban, but wife found it to over imposing so I opted for this Sabri cap given to me by Peersaab Fakhru Miya of Hujra No 6 .Ajmer Sharif..

Peersaab a Sunni scholar of repute is a professed lover of Ahle Bayt , and promotes Hussainiyat , wherever he goes, he says quite clearly without Ahle Bayt Islam is incomplete.

He is a lover of Imam Hussain and a firm believer of Hazrat Abbas, so loving Hussain is beyond dogma, loving Hussain is not about Shiasm or Sunnism.

Loving Hussain is loving Humanity..and humanity is the river that flows into the Ocean of Godliness.

I wear saffron , a color that is the badge of my cultural inheritance, and as soon as Moharam begins I wear black and only black for the entire mourning period, 2 months eight days.

Navi or Idd e Zehra switches the black mode to color again for the remaining months.

Ramzan has its quintessential charm , but it is Moharam that the Shia is born for, the tears the matam, the majlis, drenched in blood..and a path of salvation called Ghame Hussain.

Moharam is is Azadari e Hussain within the heartbeat of a Majlis e Aza.


The House Imambada comes to life..resurgence of hope , piety and inner reflection..
I tone down on my jewelery too, I dont wear red , just a bit of turquoise and wooden beads .

Photography takes swirling turn it is shooting the ethos of my persecuted race within the drop of a tear, I say persecuted as much did our detractors try banning Azadari, calling us kafirs heretics, we survived and Moharam is nothing but a protest against everything that is Yazidiyat, a spiritual terrorism on the human soul backed by rabid clergy and the venom of the puritans.

The Shia child needs not learn he knows his birthright , yes Princess Fatima is the Source of our Heritage ..and Imam Hussain rekindles our spirituality...touching the unborn child in the mothers womb too..

The waters of Karbala are found in the human womb of sorrow and as tears in our eyes.. waters that will never dry from one generation to the next..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOw7tzTxJWc