The Hijras and Dargahs

The Hijras and Dargahs, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Whatever insulting or derogatory remarks the radical cleric of Ahle Hadees Mehraj Rabbani might have said about the hijras and the Holy Saint Khwajah Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer Sharif as alleged in the media.. the fact remains that the so called radical hate spewing cleric has not contributed to the glory of Islam and Peace and Brotherhood as the Holy Saint of Ajmer .

Ajmer is a place where God lives and he lives there as much as he lives in Mecca or Medina .. Ajmer Shaif is the reflection of Karbala as the Khwajah promoted a religion of peace a religion of Humanity .. we Shias call it Hussainiyat.

To understand Islam Imam Hussain and his sacrifice is very essential a sacrifice that changed the face of Islam as painted in blood by Lanatullah Yazid.

Lanataullah Mehraj Rabbani too.

I have seen the devotion of the Hijras to Ajmer Sharif , they lavish all their wealth and love on the Holy Saint , he protects them and understands their pain and their anguish.

They my miss any event in their lives but not the Urus of Khwajah Gharib Nawaz.
Never.

He pulls them towards the gates of Peace as he pulls the rest of Humanity and me too.

I am a Shia but irrespective of what the Shia belief maybe towards Dargah and Sufism , I follow the Kaif of the Sufi , I go in trance and I dont smoke hash , humanity is a part of my religious background embedded as Faith..

I dont bad mouth any religion save the religion that condones murder terrorism and misplaced martyrdom..I dont mind if you consider me less Muslim but you certainly would be insulting me if you considered me less human or less Indian.


I am a street photographer a street poet and a blogger my scriptures are the silence of my soul, I breathe Sure Yasin..the Surah that keeps me alive and allows me to see the next dawn of my Life.

I shoot hijras I have written a lot about the Hijra angst, all my own observations as a person who poetizes images and the imagery of a drama of life.

Sometimes I think Hijras are better examples of Islamic thought than gun toting eunuch who hide their face plant bombs kill their own and also kill the rest of Humanity..

And I would rater be called a Hijra than be called a Misguided Jehaddi.

An these hijras I shot are million times more human more god fearing than those eunuchs in Karbala with prayer beads in their hands watching with fear the Holy Prophets Grandson being brutally slaughtered worse than the sacrificial Goat during Bakra Idd that is given water to drink before they slit its throat...and those eunuchs neither protested nor did anything to save Imam Hussains life.

When I write this I will be condemned for being a Shia ..but than if being human is being a Shia or being a Shia is being a Kafir than I am happy to belong to the faith I belong too.

So now you have one of the reasons why I shoot peace loving Hijras of Hindustan.

And I am a Hindu by my cultural inheritance , I was born in Hindustan the same land of Peace that Imam Hussain wanted to come to in order to avoid Muslims killing Muslims on the plains of Karbala.

So from a drop of a tear that fell from the eyes of Princess Fatima the Shias were born I readily believe in this ..and I am nothing but a drop of a tear in an ocean of Pain we call Ghame Hussain.


Dedicated to my Peersaab Fakhru Miya Hujra No6 Ajmer Sharif.