I shall not surrender to extremism – Manjhi Faqeer

by Tauqeer Abbas
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A fanatic charged Mob attacked on village of Faqeer Manjhi, a renowned Sindhi Sufi Singer and vandalised the Dargah/Shrine of his father and uprooted the name-board of his Astana but he survived the attack.

His nephew is accused of blasphemy on social media.

Mob attack took place in village Muhammad Ali Dawani adjacent to Birhoon city, 21 kilometers away from Sanghar district headquarter in Sindh, Pakistan.

‘Ikhlaq shah, Ghafoor Sanjrani, Imam Deen, Anver Chan, Ikhtiyar Shah, Attaullah Shah, Ameer Sanjrani and others attacked on village and threw the name-board of Dargah into Gutter after uprooting it. My father’ s name Durre Muhammad was written on name-board, they didn’t respect the name ‘Muhammad’ even, ‘ told Faqeer Manjhi a Urdu news website.

” Before few days some resident of the village had alleged that his nephew, son of his brother Akbar bodani had committed of blasphemy in a status updated by him on Facebook, but my nephew had shared verses from Quran. But this is not issue of just one social media post but in fact they have problem with my ‘Sufi Kalam’ sung by me. Extremists are going after me due to my Sufi signing. Once they had opened fire on my Dargah,’said Faqeer Manjhi.

‘ I condemn religious extremism through my Sufi singing, which is not liked by extremists. My grandfather had adopted Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai as his ‘Murshad( spiritual master) and me is also follower of Bhitai. I am not afraid of such attacks. I shall not stop from singing Sufi poetry,’ said also Faqeer Manjhi.

Manjhi Faqeer says, ‘In past, some miscreants had brought a Fatwa(religious verdict) against me written on official letter pad of Syed Nisar Hussain Shah, father of Syed Waqar Hussain Shah, a enthroned of Shah Abdul lateef Bhitai. According that Fatwa, I was accused of doing anti-Islam activities through Sufi singing. Miscreants had distributed 500 copies of that Fatwa. Various attempts were made to assassinate me. I am not going anywhere from here. I appeal to Government for providing me protection.’

He is creator of dozens of Sufi songs like :

‘ Who I am, Who I am
Nobody knows me
Some are on side of Rahman
Some are one side of Baghwan
But my prostration is for those, who are on side of humanity’.

55 years old Faqeer Manjhi is considered torch-bearer of traditional Sufi-ism and Sindhi mystical music and singing. He says that he had started to sing Sufi Kalam from age of 15.

Manjhi Faqeer not only organizes the Sufi Music concerts at his Dargah but sings Sufi Kalam/poetry at all small and big Dargahs/Sufi shrines of Sindh, Pakistan.

After charged Mob attack on Dargah of Faqeer Manjhi, social media consumers demanded to provide security to Faqeer Manjhi while condemning the incident.

Ibrahim Kunhr, Islamabad based journalist updated a status on his Wall on Facebook: ‘ We all should stand with Faqeer Manjhi. If extremists were not stopped then one day Sindh a land of Sufi Saints will transformed into the land for extremism. And then not only Faqeer Manjhi but every one will face wrath of extremism.

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