Ma Tujhe Salam

Ma Tujhe Salam, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

The little Shia kids gain from the tutorial of their faith and its spirituality thanks to mothers like this lady, juloos , processions are the learning school of Shia Life..towards the path of Hussainiyat.

Our mothers sisters aunts grand parents are the corner stone of our Faith and its core strength..very soon this little kid will be cutting his back open , his head ready for kama matam.. yes these moments of Shia pain he will always remember , and in his eyes you can see the bright spark of Hussainiyat the Shia Way of Peace ..

The greatest teacher of Life is our Mother ..and through her I pay tribute to all Shia mothers the bulwark of our children's growth in all aspects of his or her personality.


Among the Shia mother , my mother is dead and gone I respect Mrs Yusuf Nasser whose feet I touch, she is mother of my friends Habib and Baqar Nasser ..I see my own mother in her eyes , she treats me like her own and I call her Ma.

Shia mothers are torch bearers showing us light , their influence on our lives is of paramount importance..the source of Shiasm lies in Mother ..the Supreme Mother who gave her two beloved sons so Islam could relive and be rejuvenated.

Than there was yet another mother who did not cry for her own children when they were brutally killed but wept for her brothers children - a unique mother the formidable Princess Zainab sister of Hazrat Imam Hussain.

I dont know what the child saw in my eyes this morning at 4 am near Zainabia, but yes he did beckon me and I took permission and shot this family.. to describe to you the emotion of Motherhood and Sacrifice in Shiasm.

I also met a guy a Hindu boy who assisted Deep Pal..as steady cam operator Shiv Shankar Singh who dressed in black ,mourning for Hazrat Ali had accepted Shia Faith as his walk of Life..This is a personal matter between him and his faith..I dont believe in conversions at all, but he was happy and contented and was happy that he told this to me..as Deep Pal and I worked for Mr Nitin Manmohan producer Neha Arts..

So this life in Mumbai..and nothing can stop me telling you the story of Shia children.. through pictures..

A person who now holds the place of my Mother is my mother in law Wassim Bano Qazilbash , she is a puny woman but a very formidable one, Imam Hussain is her Faith,.a faith that touches her love for Humanity , but than all alone at Nakhas she has faced the might of rioters during the Shia Sunni riots holding a rolling pin in her hand..and Ya Ali on her lips..


This woman from Sivan Bihar married Abbas Qasim Qazilbash my father in law - they have their ancestry , their Shajrah up to this date..a family that migrated from Iran..

She means a lot to me and though I have self exiled myself from the city of my birth Luckow I can never forget her for the values she has imparted to her children and my own three kids including 22 month old Marziya Shakir..my grand daughter and street learning photographer waiting in the wings.

Yes this post is my tribute to Shia Motherhood - the first chapter of Pain we call Ghame Hussain.. is taught to us by our Mothers..


My eyes are moist with tears as I write this but they were moist too when I shot this picture..Maybe I saw Marziya in the eyes of the kid..she has hardly been to any major juloos , she has never seen a man cutting his head or flagellating his back..but if I place a knife in her hand she will cut her head apart and this is the power of a Shia Womb only a Shia will ever understand..

Shiasm is sown as a seed of Faith in a mother's womb.. nothing more nothing less..

For those who dont know the meaning of my title it states
Mother I Salute You..with tears cascading down the slope of my motherless cheek..