Shaista Fatima/New Delhi

Desperate times call for desperate measures but when society, the microcosm of human existence is filled with false news and hate speeches, the message to bring forth a message of harmony becomes a dire need. Something similar happened with Haji Syed Salman Chishty, the 26th generation GaddiNashin of Dargah Ajmer Sharif and Chairman Chishty Foundation, who has to his credit of representing the Sufi message of Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty “Love towards All, Malice towards none” in more than 80 countries.

The past week brought the whole Sufi community to a standstill when a man posing as the Khadim (volunteer worker) of Dargah made a video filled with hate speech and posted it on social media platforms. The video went viral within hours of its upload and was even picked up by leading media platforms without verifying the contents and the identity of the person involved.

A press release was published by the office of GaddaNashin to curb the damage already caused by the fake news.

Also Read: Haji Salman Chisti of Ajmer issues clarification on the imposter row

In an exclusive interview with Awaz the Voice Haji Salman said, “the first thing is that the people who act on individual whims and individual accord mustn't be connected or related to any community at large…” Sounding deeply hurt by the erratic response by the media agencies while he himself was out of the country Salman says, “a section of the media, unfortunately, whenever any incident happens, puts the blame on the entire community, which is absolutely unethical and wrong…”

He expressed his concerns about the ongoing radical regime, he said, “obviously the radical thoughts that are creeping into society are alarming. We must be aware of these radical thoughts of violence, especially in the name of faith, creed, colour, religion that too in India. He said that India had never resonated with such radical thought process owing to its rich cultural heritage, “India has always been the land of peace and and the Indian Muslims have always been the followers of the Sufi Saints who have always united the communities and brought together different cultures and traditions..”

Salman explains the concept of universal brotherhood by saying, “the Sufi Bhakti traditions are so strong from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Rajasthan to Bengal, that it has been almost impossible to infiltrate these sacred thoughts…” He goes on to explain how bigotry has affected different parts of the world, “we have seen violence in the name of faith and religion in different parts of the world like North African countries where organizations like Boko Haram, Al Shabaab are notoriously damaging the sarcosanctness of peace or the organizations like Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban that are trying to curb the basic essence of Isla…but in India they were never been able to infiltrate because of the strong ethos of the sufi cultural and traditions…”

Haji Syed Salman with a Hindu Cleric

Salman says the current regime where the youth of India is getting a strayed is really a cause of worry, he adds, “..it is unfortunate that some youths are getting brainwashed and are towing the line with slogans like “Sar Tan Se Juda”….we as kids have never heard of any such slogans or violence in the name of our beloved Prophet or Islam..Ajmer Dargah is known for imbibing one and all….” He explains how Dargah has been a converging point of all religions, “We have always welcomed people from all faiths, traditions, culture and religions… in fact, the langar (free food service), that we serve in the Dargah Ajmer Sharif is purely vegetarian that too from the past 800 years, so that the people visiting here for finding peace would never have second thoughts…”

He further told Awaz the Voice reporter that the emotion of langar is very sacred, “It can be eaten by everyone, we don't even use onion and garlic so that the Jain community can visit the Dargah without any reservations or restrictions…” He says, “that is how the Chishty Sufis have always taken the care of the human heart as it is most sacred to us…”

He told Awaz that the imposter is a history sheeter and a drug addict and is in no way any cleric, “the person who is calling himself Salman is by no means a cleric..or whatever the title that the media agencies are bestowing on him…the media is portraying it as the view of the Sufi community which is really sad…” He said that the Ajmer Dargah condemns any act of violence in the name of religion and denounces any person who does so by taking their name, “ we have requested the police authorities to provide exemplary punishment and do all the investigation as to from where these slogans have infiltrated our country…”

He says he really wants to know as to who really are these individuals who are infiltrating the ranks of the sufis, the traditions and the rituals of Dargah and are trying to destroy the moral and social fabric of the society, he says, “the teaching of the sufis are the last strong hole where radical thoughts, have never been able to penetrate…and we’d want that to prevail..” He told Awaz the Voice that Chishti was a Sufi order, and anyone who follows the Sufi order can have the surname Chishti but that doesn’t give them the right to represent Dargah or commit an act of violence.

He adds, “any person, whether he's from Ajmer, or from any part of India or anywhere in the world who has drifted away and violated the sacred teachings of the Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, that are based on the principle of unconditional love, has no place in Dargah..” When asked whether he sees any end to such madness that is going on he says, “you know the end is when the communities start denouncing such slogans irrespective of any faith, not only Islam or Muslims but any faith..any call for violence coming from whether he's a Maulvi, Chishty, Swami or Maharaj is a condemnable act…whichever religion or tradition, if they're calling for violence and they don't belong to that…”

He strictly says, “no one should claim the hate mongers nor should anyone protect them… they should be denounced publicly, humiliated publicly, so that nobody ever tries to raise such slogans or call for violence, death and destruction in the name of religion..” He says that the media must be careful, “media plays a responsible role, they should only focus on the news or the individual who is calling for violence and must not collaborate him or her with the sacred tradition, religion, sacred places and community at large for any individual act of violence…”

In answer to the question as to what measures are being taken from their end Salman says that they are calling out for people to bring about nobel thoughts, nobel teachings, “nobility has to be there in your character and not only on social media, your character reflects what faith you profess..” He says, “Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti asks us to learn from nature, he says that if one wants to be close to the creator one has to develop three attributes of nature..they are Suraj jaisi shafkat (sun like grace), Darya jesi Sakhawat (river like generosity) aur (and) Zameen jesi Khatir Tawazo (earth like hospitality)…”

He adds, “One must never break a human heart as it is the most sacred part of human’s existence …in fact Sufism asks humans to abstain from using words that may break anyone’s heart..” He went ahead and requested social media companies to be careful of the content they were allowing to be posted on their platforms, he said, “the companies must be very, very responsible whether it is Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, they must immediately take down such handles who are spreading fake news or violence…there should be a strict law against such hate mongers on social media…”

Haji Salman Chishty with a kid 

Haji Salman concluded by saying that their office has not only released a press release renouncing any accountability of the hate speech but have also written to the media house for taking down the misinformation, he said, “we have written to the Press Council of India, the Editors Guild, and organizations like ABP, Zee, Dainik, Aaj Tak..” He adds, “whoever has used our image wrongly in terms of this story, they must take it down. If not, then we will initiate a legal notice and defamation case from Delhi to all these networks….” His end remarks stated, “It is so unreasonable that the editors of these creative organizations do not conduct any background check and just lash out invective left right and centre…this is a big big lapse and a very, very irresponsible behavior of that section of the media…”

ALSO READ: “Flavours of food are same across the border...”, home-chef Nighat