1963 Hazratbal Shrine theft

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On 27 December 1963, Moi-e-Muqqadas, a holy relic believed by many to be a strand from the beard of Muhammad, went missing the Hazratbal Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to widespread protests across the Indian subcontinent.

The relic was recovered on 4 January 1964. No information about the thieves was disclosed.

History of the relic[]

The Hazratbal Shrine in 2010

The relic was brought to India in 1635 by Syed Abdullah. It was then passed through his son Syed Hamid to a Kashmiri businessman named Nooruddin. In the late 17th century, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb imprisoned Nooruddin and seized the relic, moving it to the Sufi tomb in Ajmer. Aurangzeb returned the relic in 1700 after Nooruddin had died. The relic was preserved by his descendants and kept in a place that later became the Hazratbal Shrine.[1]

Theft[]

On 27 December 1963 news broke out that the holy relic was stolen from the shrine. Around 50,000 people carrying black flags demonstrated in front of the shrine. According to The Times of India, the Srinagar superintendent of police said that he believed that the theft had occurred around 2 am when the custodians of the shrine were sleeping.[2]

The next day, the Prime Minister of the state, Khwaja Shams-ud-Din, reached the shrine and announced an award of 100,000 rupees for providing information regarding the theft. On 29 December, a curfew was imposed and police arrested the Congress leader Mohammad Shafi Qureshi. To investigate the theft, on 31 December, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sent the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation, B. N. Mullick, to Kashmir.[2] Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq set up the Sacred Relic Action Committee, of which he was the president.[3]

On 4 January 1964, the relic was recovered, and the Sadr-i-Riyasat Karan Singh organised prayers at a Hindu temple to help dispel communal tension.[4] When Mullick informed Nehru about the recovery, Nehru said to Mullick that "you have saved Kashmir for India". In his memoirs, Mullick claims that the information about the investigation was not disclosed. The Home Minister of India, Gulzarilal Nanda, also said in the parliament that the thieves "shall be identified".[5]

Aftermath[]

Chief Minister Syed Mir Qasim writes that, even though the relic was recovered, its authenticity was not verified.[1]

The incident led to riots in the Indian state of West Bengal and East Pakistan. There was a huge refugee influx in a small time frame of three months period between December 1963 and February 1964 to India as a result of these riots.[6]

A fictionalized version of the incident is the subject of Salman Rushdie's short story "The Prophet's Hair" (1981).

References[]

  1. ^ a b Mīr Qāsim, Sayyid (1992). My life and times. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. pp. 95–96. ISBN 81-7023-355-0. OCLC 27815766.
  2. ^ a b "Hanging By The Relic". Kashmir Life. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  3. ^ "The mystery of Moi-e-Muqqadas theft". Rising Kashmir. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  4. ^ Schofield, Victoria (2003). Kashmir in conflict : India, Pakistan and the unending war. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 103. ISBN 1-4175-6080-0. OCLC 57182067. Archived from the original on 2013-09-09.
  5. ^ "Forgotten probes". Greater Kashmir. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  6. ^ Das, Mayurakshi. "Title: Calcutta Cauldron: City-life during the January 1964 Riots". Indian History Congress Proceedings.
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