Hujoor Saidabadi[1] : Montorey shontaan proshob

[Part –1]

 

By Prabir Ghosh  

Translation : Shabnam Nadiya

 

Hujoor Saidabadi is the most popular Sufi mystic of Bangladesh.  Not even a fraction of the amount of newsprint that the newspapers and magazines of Bangladesh have spent over this fortyish claimant of supernatural powers has been spent on any other Pir or mystic.  Hujoor’s fans drew him to Kolkata pretty often.  Of course it wasn’t possible to apprise everyone one of his arrival by mail, so Hujoor would publish an advertisement in the newspapers announcing when and where he would be staying in Kolkata and when he would grant visitations to his fans.  Usually he would be staying at Hotel Hira in Grant Street, Esplanade.

Hotel Hira is located in a place ruled by some bigwigs of the Kolkata underworld.  

Hujoor Saidabadi’s full name is rather large – Alhajj Hujoor Dewan Mohammad Saidur Rahman Chishti Saidabadi.  Hujoor Saidabadi in short.  He arrived in Kolkata on January, 1991 and advertised in a popular magazine.  He said that he would remain in Kolkata from the 14^th to the 18^th of February.  

I decided, we would come face to face with Hujoor Saidabadi.  There was only one problem in facing him – professional thugs and killers.  We had received news that to keep his trip to Kolkata unhindered, this hujoor of the spiritual world had taken shelter under a kingpin of the underworld with political connections.  Professional killers and thugs had created a circle around the Hujoor.  A protective circle.  A circle to protect him from the rationalists of Kolkata.  

In the meantime, I collected a lot of information about Hujoor Saidabadi.  Journalists, writers and rationalist friends from Bangladesh sent a number of magazines published in Bangladesh about Saidabadi.  I read the Bortoman Dinkal, Shaptahik Songbad, Shaptahik Nipun, Bongobashi, Pakshik Shesh Songbad, etc.  The magazines were chock full with the doings and the deeds of the Hujoor.  Photographs of dozens of couples, who had given birth to babies through the Hujoor's prayers.  There were photographs of the Hujoor with the then President, Hussein Mohammed Ershad.  The fans claimed that from Khaleda Zia to Sheikh Hasina -- everyone came to the Hujoor's durbar sharif to pay their respects.  Cynics would say -- if an anti social element has millions of votes within the palm of his hand, then the president will of course pay homage to him -- this is the law of modern politics.  The number of admirers Hujoor has is even greater.  When Ershad was the President, he had presented Hujoor with about four and a half bighas of land in exchange for one taka.  The Hujoor's enormous five floor residence sprawls over the four and a half bighas.  An example of Islamic architecture.  Work is going on around the durbar sharif to construct a huge complex including a mosque and a madrassah.  A project worth billions of Taka.  The part that has already been built can easily compete with Kolkata's five star Hotel Grand or Taj Bengal.  Some people may be surprised at why Hujoor, despite being so rich, does not stay at one of Kolkata's five star hotels instead of the Hotel Hira.  I'm not.  Here Hujoor gets the protection of top gangsters.  He gets the certainty of being safeguarded from the rationalists. The advantage of being able to book the whole hotel. 

Hujoor's madrassah has already taken on quite an enormous size.  In 1991, the number of students in the madrassah was over 2,000.  Crowds of about 4,000 to 5,000 people form everyday.  They come wanting children, or for cures or for solutions to problems.  Hujoor prays for them and gives Dawa.  Interview fees are Taka 10, non-inclusive of fees for the Dawa.  Contributions towards the building of the complex are accepted.  There is no dearth of political leaders, industrialists, writers, actors, professionally successful famous people among his admirers. 

I appeared at Hotel Hira on the morning of February 16.  Outside the fans had already formed a quarter kilometer long queue.  Quite a few volunteers were handing out tokens and supervising the queue.  The looks and behaviour of the volunteers was really suspicious.  I noticed that as planned, there were a number of our members present in the queue.  "I'm from Ajkal, I'd like to interview the Hujoor"-- after I informed the reception counter, the manager delivered me to three men.  One of the three was a journalist for an Urdu magazine of Kolkata.  I had no difficulty understanding that all three were important.  They grilled me and photo-journalist Kumar Ray for about an hour.  Kumar's wife Shyamoli, ten year old Mitali and asthma-weary Noni were our companions.  We explained, in addition to interviewing Hujoor, we had come to ask for his mercy for these relatives of Kumar's and mine.  Trying to kill two birds with one stone.  Kumar had to show his identification.  The Urdu journalist thought I looked familiar.  I was glad that I didn't get caught with my slight make-up.  In the end, we passed all obstacles and mounted to the second floor.

A large room.  The whole room was covered in milk-white sheets spread over thick mattresses.  Hujoor welcomed us with a smile on his face.  Hujoor was clad in pristine white shalwar and an intricately embroidered punjabi.  His head and throat covered with a white scarf.  A robust physique.  There was a low stool in front of Hujoor.  The stool was also covered with a snow-white cloth.  We saw all three of our interrogators beside Hujoor.  Hujoor had booked all the rooms of the hotel for his Bangladeshi disciples.  He had taken them to Khwaja Mainuddin Chishti.  To Kolkata on their way back.  The clout that Hujoor’s disciples had throughout the hotel made me suspect that Hujoor had a close relationship with the hotel owners.  When I asked him, Hujoor smiled like the Mona Lisa instead of answering.

I sat down face to face with the Hujoor.  Kumar began taking pictures.  Hujoor hadn’t given the patients we had brought with us permission to enter the room.  They are sitting in a sofa in the first floor. They are to be called up at the right time.  There are some magazines published in Bangladesh beside the Hujoor.  There are atas, dates, apples, grapes and bananas arranged in a beautiful bowl on his other side.  There are almonds, dry dates, cashew nuts, pistachios and other dried fruit in another bowl.  Eggshells in a wicker basket.

Hujoor’s claim is that patients whom modern medicine has been unable to cure, women to whom modern medicine could not give the chance of motherhood, had been cured, had become mothers through the Hujoor’s prayers.  He presented Kumar and myself with a bundle of magazines to support his claims.  Plenty of photographs of couples and of couples with babies.  This is all evidence of childless couples being blessed with children.  He placed the 28 January – 26 February ’91 edition of Bortoman Dinkal in our hands.  Hujoor’s photograph splashed on the cover.  A colored inset photo of the admirers of Kolkata.  The inside pages are stuffed with various photographs of the Kolkata fans. 

I asked, If the husband is incapable of sterile, even then it is possible for the wife to conceive.  But has it ever happened that a woman who is incapable of bearing a child has become a mother through your prayers?

Hujoor said, Everything is possible with the mercy, the prayers of Allah.  If he wills it, even a man can bear a child.  Women are the race of mothers.  The fulfillment, the triumph of their lives lie in motherhood.  So when someone comes with wanting to be a mother, I can’t refuse her.

What do you do in those cases? I asked.

The childless couple must bring a raw egg and a ripe banana.  The wife holds the egg.  I chant the prayer then strike the egg three times.  If Allah takes pity then the raw egg becomes boiled in an instant.  I ask the mother to eat the yolk.  I pray over the banana and ask the mother to eat it. 

And in the case of illness?

I give prayers written on paper.  With certain illnesses the piece of paper with the prayer I soak in water, then tell them to drink the water once a day.  This water may have to be taken for seven days or more.  Then, with certain other illnesses I soak the prayer in oil and tell them to rub in the oil.  This massage also I instruct them to continue for seven days or more. 

I asked to indulge my eyes by seeing an egg being boiled with three taps.  I watched five couples come in one by one.  A single couple would enter the room each time.  Hujoor was addressing each woman as ‘Mother’ and sitting her down in front of him.  There was a low stool placed between them.  I was sitting beside him watching.  Kumar was taking pictures.  Hujoor was asking the couple about their problem.  All five couples had come asking for a child.  Have you seen a doctor?  How long have you been under treatment?  What did the doctor say? were the questions Hujoor was asking with the deepest tenderness.  Then he asked all five couples, Have you brought a raw egg and a ripe banana?  They had all brought them.  Hujoor was taking the egg from the woman’s hand, and after washing it in water, was drying it gently with a towel before handing it back to the woman.  Then, after praying for a few seconds, in each case, he struck the egg.  The eggshell shattered.  Three out of five eggs remained raw.  In two cases, surprised, I saw that the eggs had become boiled!  Hujoor was informing them with a mixture of sorrow and humility that those whose eggs had not become boiled had not received the mercy of Allah.  He asked the two couples whose eggs had boiled, Have you brought the banana?  As he prayed over the banana, a slight gesture of his called forth a disciple waiting by the door.  Hujoor commanded him – Explain all the rules and regulations to her carefully.  The disciple ushered the couples away.  One thing should be mentioned, the two couples whose eggs did become boiled were the two couples whose cause of childlessness was the incapacity of the husband. Those three whose eggs remained raw had reported that they were childless because of the wife.

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