Muslim-dominated old city of Hyderabad, known for its extravagant gala marriage functions running into wee hours, is now witnessing a novel drive against the “Un-Islamic” practices.
However, the initiative to put an end to the problems caused by “midnight marriage functions” and sound pollution by the DJ music bands has not come from any community organisation, religious heads and community elders but from the city police.
Top officials heading the police in the sensitive old city have struck upon an interesting idea of seeking “fatwas” or religious decree from a prominent Islamic Seminary Jamia Nizamia in Hyderabad to drive home the point that the happenings in the Muslim marriages in the city were in flagrant violation of the Islamic tenets or Shariah.
In reply to five queries from Police Officials the Mufti of Jamia Nizamia Moulana Mohammed Azeemuddin has issued a fatwa that imposition of curbs by the police on dancing and orchestra in the Muslim weddings was not an interference in the Islamic Shariah law as these practices do not conform with the Shariah. “They can impose the ban on such practices”, he ruled.
The move came after alarming increase in the trend of most of the nikah or wedding ceremonies taking place very late into the night or even after midnight and continuing well into the wee hours of the next day causing hardships not only to the guests but also the people in the vicinity of function halls.
“In most of the cases grooms with their barat were reaching the shaadi khanas several hours late accompanied by the DJ music and bursting crackers”, said a senior police official.
South Zone Deputy Commissioner V Satynarayana, the brain behind drives against many social evils in the old city said that the late night weddings were posing serious law and order problem. “In many instances people were also dancing with swords in such marriage processions causing harm to the people. We have also incidents of stabbings and at least one death in violence during the late night weddings”, he said.
Armed with fatwa that the late night weddings and the way they were being celebrated was wrong, the city police was now gearing up to impose a restriction on wedding celebrations beyond midnight. “We will take action to ensure that the weddings take place as per the schedule mentioned on the wedding cards. We will also impose complete ban on the orchestra, dancing and the bursting of crackers”, a top police official said in the light of the fatwa.
Contrary to the tradition of the community finding fault with every police measure in the city, the community elders and religious and social organisations have hailed the move. “The community itself had become exasperated because of the worsening situation of late night marriages. On the wedding cards they give 7 or 8 pm as the time of nikah ceremony but the groom comes leisurely at 11 pm. It has become so bad that I and many others have stopped attending the weddings specially in the old city”, said Dr Mazhar Hussain, Director, Confederation of Voluntary Associations.
Rejecting objections from certain quarters he said, “It is not an interference in any religious matters. Where is it written that wedding ceremonies should be held at such a late hour causing immense problems to the guestsIJ Does Islam allow hiring of dancersIJ”, Hussain asked.
Some people however questioned why should the police bother about the issues like timing of wedding ceremonies and music and dance in themIJ And why it has to rely on a religious decree.
Mazhar Hussain said that anything, which poses a law and order problem was very much in the purview of the police. “If you cause noise pollution and creating nuisance in residential areas people complain to the police.
It is question of women’s security and crimes like theft as ladies move around with jewellery late in the night”, he said.
At the same time he felt that it was a wake up call to the community. “It is regrettable that such an initiative did not come from within the community and the outsiders have to pinpoint the social evils. It is high time for the community to take up and deal with the issues on its own”, Hussian added.
Now the police are planning to convene a meeting of the religious heads of the Muslim community to seek their cooperation in creating awareness against these wrong practices.