On Friday (November 19), members of the Sikh community objected to the offering of namaz by Muslims at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Gurugram in Haryana. The development comes after reports claimed that the internal committee of the gurdwara had opened its doors to the Muslim community.
As per reports, several Sikhs were opposed to the idea of the Gurdwara management to allow Muslims to offer Jumma Nama within the premises of the sacred shrine. While speaking about the incident, a local named Jowahar Singh stated, “They cannot offer namaz in the gurdwara. Shri Guru Granth Sahibji doesn’t permit it. The prabandhak (management) committee allowed them to offer namaz but we are not in favour of it.” He added that the decision will be reviewed after the end of festivals on November 21 this year.
Another local resident named Gurucharan Singh further clarified, “People from all religions are welcome but there can only be Gurbani in a gurdwara and nothing else. The property of a gurdwara cannot be used for any purpose which goes against the ‘Maryada (customs) of Shri Guru Granth Sahibji.” According to the spokesperson of the management committee Daya Singh, an alternate site was provided to the Muslims to offer Namaz but they had refused in light of ‘Gurupurab celebrations.’
In its defence, gurdwara committee spokesperson Daya Singh clarified that only Sikh rituals are allowed within the sanctum sanctorum of the gurdwara. He further added that none should object to the offering of prayers by Muslims in empty areas such as the basement and parking spaces.
Hindu groups read the Gurudwara, distribute book on Guru Tegh Bahadur
A Hindu rights group, Sanyukta Hindu Sangharsh Samiti (SHSS) also reached the gurdwara where Muslims were supposed to offer Namaz. They distributed books titled “Guru Tegh Bahadur-Hind ki Chadar” and stayed at the premises between 12 pm to 2 pm. It must be mentioned that the Gurugram administration had earlier denied permission to offer namaz at 8 of the 37 public grounds to offer Jumma Namaz after local residents had objected to it.
As per the legal adviser of SHSS, Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, a total of 2,500 books on Guru Tegh Bahadur was distributed.”We did not go there to protest against the gurdwara management committee’s decision to offer their premises for namaz. We are not against anyone offering prayers indoors, be it from any community. We are against the practice of namaz being offered in public places. If someone is offering open space in their garage, house or place of worship to Muslims for namaz, that’s their own choice. We do not have any objection to it.”
Muslims refuse to offer namaz at Gurdwara
The Muslims, in the area, had claimed that they refused to offer prayers at the Gurdwara, keeping in mind the ‘Guru Purab’ celebrations. Led by Mufti Mohammad Salim (JUH President) and Altaf Ahmad (co-founder of Gurugram Muslim council), a Muslim delegation had met the Gurdwara committee members to thank them for promoting societal harmony. They also claimed to have offer prayers through the heart of the Sikh community.
Gurdwara Committee President in a spectacular U-Turn
Earlier, Opindia had got in touch with Sherdil Singh Sidhu, the President of Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha. It may be noted that Sherdil Singh Sidhu is the same person who had offered the Gurugram Muslims space to offer Friday Namaz prayers in the Gurudwara. On Thursday (November 18), news agency ANI quoted Sherdil Singh Sidhu as saying: “It’s ‘Guru Ghar’, open for all communities with no discrimination. There shouldn’t be any politics here. Basement is now open for Muslim brothers who want to offer ‘Jumme ki namaz’.” However, he later went back on his decision.
