Mammoth Islamic meet in Abu Salem’s hometown

By IANS

Lucknow : Better known as the home of jailed Mumbai underworld don Abu Salem, the otherwise nondescript Seraimeer town of Azamgarh district in eastern Uttar Pradesh will witness one of the biggest congregations Dec 29, with hundreds of thousands of Muslims from across the globe expected to participate in a mammoth Islamic meet.


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Such a meet is being held in India after a gap of 12 years. The last Islamic conference of this magnitude was organized in Jaunpur town of this state in 1997. Smaller meets of this type have been held on annual basis in Bhopal.

While the organizers insist that the meet would remain confined to taking up purely religious issues, matters like “framing of Islamic clerics” in terrorism related cases were likely to be raised at the conclave.

These include the arrest of Maulana Tariq Qasmi, a cleric and ‘hakim’ (unani doctor), who was booked last week on the suspicion of being associated with Bangladesh based terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI).

“The three-day meet is expected to draw nearly one million people from across countries like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and even Britain,” Maulana Khalid Rasheed, Lucknow’s naib Imam (vice head priest), told IANS here.

Rasheed, who also heads this mediaeval city’s oldest Islamic seminary, Firangai Mahal, said, “This is going to be the largest ever gathering of Muslims in India.”

“All roads already seem to be leading for Sherwan village of Seraimeer where a huge township has sprung up to host the meet.”

Maulana Bismillah, a prominent Islamic cleric of Azamgarh said: “A huge pandal covering nearly two bighas (about 50,000 sq feet) (of land) has been put up in an open field for the mammoth congregation.”

Asked what were the issues to be taken up at the meet, the Maulana said: “We believe in taking up purely religious issues.”

Ruling out the question of any discussion on politics, he asserted, “Matters even remotely connected to politics are allowed to be raised in any manner at the meet.”

He, however, went on to add: “But of course issues like the recent arrest of a respectable ‘hakim’ and a madrasa teacher who were framed as terrorists, could be raised at the meet.”

Heavy police deployment was being made in and around the venue, where the district administration too has pumped in manpower to cater to the requirement of drinking water, provide nearly 10,000 makeshift toilets and to ensure proper sanitation and health arrangements.

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