Maulana Mirza Muhammad Athar Sahib
Dr.Mazhar Naqvi
Maulana
Mirza Muhammad Athar, one of the most influential voices in Islamic world,
breathed his last in New Delhi today. Popularly known as Athar Sahib, he was laid to rest at Karbala Imdad Ali Khan near Rajaji Puram in Lucknow on February 27,2015 around 3 PM. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav placed wreath on his dead body and offered condolences to his bereaved family.Almost all Imami scholars attended his burial,including Shameemul Millat Maulana Shameem Ul Hasan. An internationally acclaimed Zakir-e-Ahle-Bait, Maulana had entered in
2011 the Limca Book of Records as orator of the longest continuous
series of sermons. A staunch supporter of Muslim Unity, Maulana was also
President of All India Shia Personal Law Board. Known for using the tragic events
of Karbala as metaphors to highlight problems of contemporary worlds, Maulana
had found entry into Limca Book of Records for delivering sermons from the
pulpit of Mughal Masjid, Mumbai, for 58 consecutive years during the first ten
days of Muharram (Ashra Majalis).Listeners dressed in black, crossing state
borders, used to come to hear hour-long address on Islam, Karbala and relevance
of Imam Hussain’s sacrifice to the modern world. His oratory skills not only
earned him admirers’ world over but also title of Khateeb-E-Akbar. Giant size television
screens across Dongri and Kesar Bagh were installed to enable people listen to
his sermons every year as the Masjid failed to accommodate his admirers and
mourners.
Hailing from Lucknow, Maulana had addressed
his first Majlis at the age of 22 in Mughal Masjid in 1957. He was the
son of the late Mulla Mirza Mohammad Tahir. Mirza Athar graduated from Sultan-ul-Madaris and
earned master’s degree in Persian from Lucknow University. In 2008, he
completed fifty years of continuous Muharram recitation in Mumbai. In addition
to his native Lucknow, he was popular all over India as well as in Pakistan,
the Middle East, UK, US and Australia. His Ashra sermons for the past few years veered
towards explaining the difference between Islam ‘the religion’ and the “Islamic
kingdom”. His sermon on ‘Islam and Terrorism’ in 2001 following the 9/11
attacks in America ranks among one of his most popular Ashra Majalis. Of late,
he has been exhorting Sunni and Shia sects to stop fighting and respect their
differences that stem from the disagreement over who took on the mantle of
Islam after the Prophet.“In the whole world, Islam is getting a bad name because
of groups like Taliban, ISIS, he used to say.
Hailing from Lucknow,
he had first come to the city as a 22-year-old for his first Muharram Ashra in
1957.In his last Ashra sermons at Mughal Masjid in October 2015, he had
thundered “Those in power, be it kings of yore, solely interested in
expanding kingdoms under the guise of Islam, or politicians of today; both have
caused damage to Islam the religion. It is the same game, only the names of
characters have changed. Earlier, kings used
their men to push things they did into the realm of religion to prove it is
right, now politicians do it. The unjust powers of the day and the religion of Islam have
no relation. The nature of kingdoms and rulers is different from the nature of
religion. In Kingdoms, king is supreme, whether right or wrong. The nature of
Islam is that Allah is supreme. The two cannot co-exist and should be kept
separate.” The theme of his last Ashra was ‘Insaniyat’ (humanity) and he had
selected the topic with Dadri lynching incident in his mind.
In his death, Imami community
has lost a crusader against terrorism. He used his oration for welfare of the
society and he will be missed for a long time. His death is third major setback
to Imami community of the world in the recent past. Earlier, Zakir-e-Ahle-Bait,
Sarkar Mehdi Sahib and Allama Suhail Afandi had also left for their heavenly
abode. May Allah bless all of them among his chosen ones?
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