Alipur-Hussaini Town of India

Dar Uz Zahra, Alipur, India  

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi

Alipur,  a  small  village was known as Belligunta 300 years ago, has emerged as a truly Hussaini town as visualized  by  Syed Mustafa Hussaini. He had settled in the village after the downfall of Adil Shahi kingdom of Bijapur. An Abidi Syed, Hussaini began preaching the teachings of Ahlebait-E-Athar among the locals and created the much needed awareness towards the martyrs of Karbala and their message to future generations in remote parts of Karnataka. With base at little known village Alipur near Bangalore, Hussaini  devoted his life to the propagation of Imam Hussain’s message till his last breath. His efforts received a fillip with the arrival of   poet-scholar Mohammad Shaffi Baqari arrived from Hyderabad 150 years ago. He founded the Madrassa Jafria. His son Abbas Baqari who lived upto an age of 115 years, made strenuous efforts and taught a lot of people in and around the village. He founded the Anjuman Jafaria that today controls the mosques, Ashurkhanas, Madrasa, Eidgah and Graveyard in Alipur.

Somewhere within each of Alipur’s residents lies a spark. Over the last two decades the village has shown stirrings of change. The main thoroughfare, Imam Khomeini Road, named after the Iranian spiritual leader, culminates in an outsized, onion-domed mosque on one end and a modest Imam Khomeini Hospital on the other. An old Ashurkhana has seen good days. A modern building has come up for its extension. Removed a furlong away is the village’s Eidgah and graveyard named Behisht-e- Ali standing in the serene and solemn surroundings. The Imamia Trust of Bangalore has also chipped in by building a resettlement colony for the wandering tribes of Persian-speaking gypsies, the erstwhile village spectacle makers. Women in black overall burqas walk freely in the sub-streets while school girls attend the Bintul Huda and Zainabiyah high schools donning headscarves.The village has dozens of  scholars trained in Qom in Iran and Damascus. However none could finish the Dars-e-Kharij to win a title of Ayatollah. A higher centre of theological education, Hauz Ilmiah came Baqarul Uloom up a few years ago.

Though most Alipur Shias are engaged in gem cutting and polishing business, their efforts have not gone unnoticed.There had been occasional visits by Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Khameinai, the successor to Ayatollah Khomeini to the seat of supreme spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic. The town has produced a battery of Urdu poets, apart from scholars of International repute. Harbouring an Imami population of 10,000 and fashioning the lives of its inhabitants according to the orders of the faith, Alipurconjures up an image of an Irani city with    a Madrassa Hussainia, a Zainabiya High School, an Imam Khomeini Hospital, a Behisht-e-Ali graveyard, an Al-Abbas Boys Hostel with a couple of onion-domed mosques and Ashurkhanas dotting its skyline. The village surely deserves a visit by Imamis to experience its otherwise placid life that wake up to rent the air with ‘Labbaik Ya Hussain, during Ayam-E-Aza.( References available on reuest. Image Courtesy Google )