Tag Archives: Shareef Chacha

Muslims who dominated headlines in 2021

Amazing Feats, Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri Award (since January 01st, 2024), Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Education - Gold Medallists, Toppers, Merits, Achievers (wef. June 12th, 2023), Leaders, Science & Technology, Scientists (wef. August 27th,m 2023), Sports, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

INDIA :

Danish Siddiqui in Afghanistan

As the year draws to an end, we have compiled a brief list of the Indian Muslims who have been in news during 2021.

Danish Siddiqui :

Danish Siddiqui was a Pulitzer Award winning photojournalist from New Delhi, who was killed by Taliban while covering the war in Afghanistan. An alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia, Siddiqui was one of the country’s most well known photographers who documented the Rohingya refugee crisis, Covid deaths and the Delhi riots to win several awards. In July 2021, Reuters assigned him documentation of the Afghanistan War as an embedded journalist with Afghan Special Forces. On July 16, Siddiqui was killed in action. Governments of India, USA, Afghanistan and United Nations expressed grief and shock on his death and thousands joined his funeral procession in DelhI.

Dr Shahid Jameel :

Dr. Shahid Jameel is a world renowned virologist and is one of the leaders of India’s fight against Covid-19. The Covid-19 outbreak has thrown new challenges to the scientific community. When the Government of India set up an Indian Sars-Cov-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG), which consists of 38 laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2, Jameel was appointed as the head of its scientific advisory group. He served the INSACOG in this position till May, 2021 and still advises different government and non-government bodies in strategising the war against Covid-19. 

Coach Naseem Ahmed with Olympian Neeraj Chopra

Naseem Ahmed :

Naseem Ahmed: On 7 August, 2021, Neeraj Chopra threw Javelin for 87.58 mts. and became the first Indian to win an Olympic Gold in track and field events. With this success, Naseem Ahmed of Panchkula also hit the headlines. Ahmed was his first coach, who coached Chopra for almost six years at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula. It was under his guidance that Chopra turned into an athlete from a chubby child. After returning to India, Chopra went to meet and receive blessings from his coach.

Mohammad Shareef alias Shareef Chacha receiving Padma Shri from President Ran Nath Kovind

Mohammad Shareef :

Mohammad Shareef is a bicycle mechanic from Faizabad, Ayodhya and hit the news headlines this year for receiving Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, from the President Ram Nath Kovind. In 1992, his son was murdered and was eaten by animals as nobody claimed it. This incident moved him so much that he took it upon himself to perform the last rights of unclaimed dead bodies. In the last 28 years, he has performed the last rights of more than 25,000 unclaimed dead bodies according to their religions.

Firoz Alam as an IPS officer (Left) and as a Constable of the Delhi Police (Right)

Firoz Alam :

Firoz Alam’s story is straight out of a fiction, where his character bears resemblance to those played on screen by several film stars. Alam, a resident of Hapur in U.P, was a constable with Delhi Police since 2010. In 2014, he started preparing for UPSC CSE. The work pressure and family responsibilities did not allow him to devote full time to the studies, like many availing coachings could do. After five unsuccessful attempts, in his sixth attempt he qualified UPSC CSE and joined as an IPS officer. His inspiring journey from a constable to IPS had taken the nation by a storm when he joined the training after leaving the job as constable.

Sadaf Choudhary 

Sadaf Choudhary :

Sadaf Choudhary came into limelight when the UPSC CSE results were declared in September and she secured 23rd rank. She was the highest rank holder among Muslims this year and will become an IAS officer. It must be kept in mind that since independence only 179 Muslims have secured ranks to get IAS allotted to them.

Mohammed Siraj praying at the gave of his father

Mohammed Siraj :

Mohammed Siraj is an Indian cricketer from Hyderabad who made it to the headlines in January by becoming the highest wicket taker from India during the India – Australia Test Match Series in Australia. To claim his 13 scalps, he played only three of the four tests in the series. The fact that his father had died just before the series and he was given an option to return to the country, which he declined citing his commitment to the nation made it even more special.

In the last test match at Brisbane, he bagged five Australian wickets to script a historic win and became a national hero. The headlines of the sports column were filled with his heroics, commitment and ability. Since then he has been a regular feature of the Indian Cricket team as a pacer. 

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Saquib Salim / December 30th, 2021

He cremates Hindus, buries Muslims, scorns communalism

Community Involvement / Social Issues, ,

Faizabad (Ayodhya) – UTTAR PRADESH :

His long kurta-pyjama is caked with mud as the almost 80-year-old Mohd Shareef crosses over several mounds in the  Taadwali Takia cemetry in Rakabganj to reach a green coloured room on the other end.

Hanging outside the room are three boards that proclaim “Lavaris mayyat/matti ka ghuslkhana” (bath of destitute unclaimed bodies).
Breezily, he unlocks the gates and walks into a room that has seen the last rituals of hundreds of bodies, Hindus and Muslims alike some with heads and some without, some reeking of the hours that had gone by since death befell them and some smothered in blood.

“Pradhan Mantri ji ka logo ko baantne wali baat kehna bilkul bhi sahi nahi tha. Hum Hindu aur Muslim dono ki mitti gale se lagate hain aur ye log sabko alag karna chahte hain (The Prime Minister should not say things that are divisive. I hold dear bodies of both Hindus and Muslims and these people want to divide us all),” remarked the old man who has, for the past 25 years, been performing the last rites of unclaimed bodies in Faizabad which has five assembly constituencies, including Ayodhya, that will go to polls on Monday (February 27). Since 1992, he has performed last rites of over 25,000 unclaimed bodies.

Shareef Chacha, as he is famously known, was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent ‘shamshaan and qabristan’ statement in a rally in Uttar Pradesh (UP) where he said that if land is allotted to cemeteries, it should be given for cremation  grounds too, implying that the Samajwadi Party favours Muslims.

“Ye sab vote ke chakkar mein neta log bolte hain par Hindus se hee izzat bani aur badhi hai meri. (These politicians make such statements for votes but it is only because of Hindus that I have earned respect in what I do). Our blood is one and my love is not restricted to a particular caste and religion,” he said, while commenting on the present political scenario as he flipped through the numerous photographs and award certifications received from both government and non-goverment entities.

Ask him why he chose this form of service and Chacha recounts his son’s death in February 1992. “He was my elder son Mohd Raes Khan (25) who had gone to Sultanpur to work as a chemist but went missing for a month. The Ramjanmabhoomi movement, that led to the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992, was brewing at that time. Raes was found murdered, his decomposed body in a sack. “Police located me through his shirt label that had the tailor’s name. It was then that I decided to not let any unclaimed body lying off the road to be devoured by stray animals,” said the old man who juggles being a cycle mechanic and shunting between graveyards and cremation grounds every day.

Since then, the man has been fulfilling the task with a few neighbours and supporters. “But these politicians and governments don’t do anything. They honour me but extend no monetary help to the cause or to me. Raes was my sole earner and now I live in a rented tin-shed with my depression-struck wife, a son who is into bad habits and is mentally disturbed and a daughter. My two other sons, who live separately, gave up on me because of the work I do,” he said. “Only a few days back, many candidates came here to ask for vote and to take me in their cars for campaign. I told them that I need a stronger light for the room to perform last rite rituals at night, and I haven’t heard from any of them since,” he added, dejected.

With hardly enough to make the ends meet, it’s cash donations and shrouds that help Shareef Chacha continue with his service. As a routine, he covers every police station, nearby hospitals, railway stations and mortuary for any unclaimed body. It is only after a body has been in the morgue for 72 hours that it is handed over to Chacha.

“I am old and have had to keep helpers. Santosh at the ghaat burns the bodies with Hindu rituals that I send him and others, like Mohd Ismail and Shyam Vishwakarma, and some boys help me bury the dead. Sometimes, they don’t even charge for their own labour, like for babies.

But resources are difficult. For burying a Muslim, Rs 5,000 are needed, while for a Hindu cremation around Rs 3,000-3,500 is required for 350 kg of wood,” said Chacha.
It is only when he hears the Azaan that Chacha takes a few moments out of his service. “No Hindu ever asks me to stop cremating Hindu bodies, instead I’m always invited and honoured as a special guest to their wedding and pujas. To all those who prosper in the name of communalism, where is the communal fight of Ayodhya and Faizabad?” he asks.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / by Yusra Husani / TNN / February 25th, 2017