A lesson for Modi from UK’s Gujaratis

Narendra Modi may have managed to split Gujarat along communal lines with Ahmedabad becoming such a divided city that Muslims are too frightened to venture into Hindu areas and vice versa, but his poison does not seem to have infected the Gujarati community in London.

Ashura — the 10 th of Muharram, — was observed in Britain on Saturday by the large Muslim community. The great sacrifice by Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Imam Hussain to save Islam some 1400 years ago in the deserts of Karbala in Iraq is observed by Muslims all over the world on this day each year.

Muslims gather to mourn the violent death of Hussain and his near and dear ones by holding prayers, lectures and the singing of dirges that retell the sad incidents that took place in the sands of Karbala. The Muslim Khoja Shia community, who all hail from Gujarat are now settled in the UK in large numbers.

As is the case with most Gujaratis — no matter which community they belong to — they have entered the business domain and are doing well. While they have established mosques and imambaras around the UK for their daily prayers, during Muharram and particularly at Ashura the mosques are too small to accommodate all the faithful who wish to attend the lectures and so Church halls, school assembly halls and town halls are hired for the 10 days. A Shia group called the Bustan-e-Zehra, named after the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, have been hiring the Shree Kadwa Patidar Centre in North London for the last couple of years for Muharram services.

The Kadwa Patidar Samaj, whose members also all hail from Gujarat, are a small community not numbering more than 4,000 here. They set up the UK chapter of the Samaj some 35 years ago and on the occasion of their silver anniversary they built a magnificent centre in Harrow. Apart from donations, the Samaj urged every working Kadwa Patidar member to donate £240 per year for three years to fund the construction of the Centre.

The KP Samaj in the UK is small but very united and ensures that members help each other. The KP Centre is used by the Samaj to hold Navratri, Diwali and other religious festivities. Samaj youngsters gather here to play volleyball and table tennis and the elderly come on Tuesdays to sing bhajans and have lunch. The Centre is also licensed to register Hindu religious weddings and many marriages are held there.

This Saturday I saw an unusual but heart-warming sight. While hundreds of Muslim men, women and children dressed in full black, mourned the death of Imam Hussain in a sombre mood on the ground floor of the KP Centre. At the same time a similar number of Hindu men, women and children celebrated a marriage with full religious fervour on the first floor of the KP Centre. No party was prevented from following their beliefs in the manner they wanted to.

Both groups were fully aware of what was happening under one roof but apart from courteous greetings not a cross word was exchanged between anyone. This is harmonious and civilised behaviour. Modi can certainly learn a lesson from them!