Re: Eight held in Punjab village over ‘trial by fire’ ritual
no, i don’t think so.
i’ve been to Banda where my sister used to live for years. she told us that most Muslims in Banda are from Rajasthan…a large number of Hindus came to the city of Banda where the king was known for his generosity and mehmaan-navaazii. some of the Hindus [most of the Muslim population of the city in present day Banda] converted to small but kept their relationship intact with their Hindu counterparts. these Hindu families converted to Islam some 500 years ago and they still have soft corners in their hearts for the murtis of their ancestor’s gods and goddesses. they were heavily influenced with each other’s faith and hence they performed some rituals together. later on these two communities polarized but Hindus kept their tradition of Muslim rituals.
i wanna tell you one real incidence. i along with my sister went to her friend’s house for dinner. it was a cold winter evening and we were in the room [past daalaan/dogahii]. i noticed that in one of the corners of the room, there were some murtis…i hesitantly, due to curiosity, asked the host as to why they have murtis of the Hindu gods and goddesses. his wife explained that our ancestors were Hindus not too long ago [say about 200 years ago] so did NOT feel like throwing them away…as a result, they put those murtis in a corner…they, of course, did NOT poojo those murtis.
I’ve seen murtis of Buddha in some Sindhi houses.. Not for worship purposes, but for relating themselves to Buddhist origins and 5000 years old history. There was recently a statement by a Mullah (Judge) in Islamic Forum saying that people in rural Sindh are naam ke Musalmaan
