After Ban, Friday Prayers Resume At Kashmir’s Grand Mosque In Time For Ramadan

Abdul Rashid recited scriptures from the Quran at Srinagar's Grand Mosque a day before the Friday congressional prayers were allowed at the mosque after being closed by the government for 30 consecutive Fridays. Photo by Arif Nazir

SRINAGAR, Jammu-Kashmir— The doors of the historic Grand Mosque in Indian-administered Kashmir reopened for Friday prayers this month — in time for Ramadan, expected to begin April 2 — after the Indian government had banned the weekly gathering there for 30 consecutive weeks.

The 600-year-old mosque in the capital of Kashmir, called Jamia Masjid, has always held the significance of a religious and political center for the people of this Muslim-majority Himalayan region. But Indian authorities in the central government see the Grand Mosque as a trigger point for protests challenging Indian sovereignty.

An Indian armed paramilitary security force stands deployed outside the closed Grand Mosque on Dec. 31, 2021. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

Security forces and policemen standing on guard at the gates leading to the mosque isn’t a new sight to the locals who have returned to pray together and hear sermons at the mosque.  

The chief imam of the mosque, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, did not step into his pulpit at the reopening on March 4 as expected. Farooq has continuously lived under house arrest since Aug. 5, 2019, when the Indian government revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir from the constitution. Prayers at the mosque have only been allowed a few times since the change in status.

Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a senior political analyst, calls the Indian government’s move of allowing Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque “a half-baked response to a large public demand.” Ramadan — a holy festival during which Muslims pray, fast and visit the mosque more frequently — is expected to begin on Saturday evening, April 2, and continue until May. Ramadan lasts between 29 and 30 days — until the next crescent moon appears and signals the arrival of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic Hijri calendar.

People offer daily afternoon prayers inside the Grand Mosque on Jan. 13, 2022. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

“Sensing the rising public discontent over the denial of worship in the largest mosque of Kashmir, the move is only aimed at distracting the masses when the chief priest is continuously kept under house detention,” Hussain said.

The mirwaizes have delivered sermons from the Grand Mosque for more than 150 years and are seen by many Kashmiri Muslims as the custodians of the Holy Pulpit.

The pulpit of the Jamia mosque from where Chief Priest Mirwiaz Umar Farooq delivered religious and political sermons on Friday congregation and religious days. Mirwiaz remains under house detention since Aug. 5, 2019. The mosque committee has been “expressing anguish and demanding the release of Mirwiaz for his traditional and religious obligations”. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

Mohd Ayoub, a cart owner and Kashmiri Muslim, told ReligionUnplugged.com that the government should allow Farooq to recite sermons.

“People’s association with this place has always remained hooked to the ‘Mimber-e-Pak’ (Holy Pulpit) and the mirwaiz calling sermons from it,” Ayoub said. People still feel a void as they’re allowed to offer prayers at the mosque but without their chief priest, Ayoub added.

The Grand Mosque can hold about 33,000 worshippers, and on special occasions, the roads and lanes leading to it are filled by worshippers to hear the sermons of the chief priest.

An employee of Anjuman-e-Auqaf, the mosque’s managing committee, opens one of the doors of the Grand Mosque for worshippers attending daily afternoon prayers. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

According to Anjuman-e-Auqaf, the managing committee of the Grand Mosque, the Friday congressional prayers haven’t been allowed for more than 160 times in the past six years.

In 2016, when riots erupted in Kashmir Valley over the police killing of popular separatist militant commander Burhan Muzzafar Wani, the authorities shut the Grand Mosque for 30 Fridays.

In the following years, the disallowing of Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque continued on and off. In 2018 the mosque was shut for 16 Fridays, and in 2019, the prayers weren’t allowed for 26 Fridays.

Women gather after attending Friday prayers in the Grand Mosque on March 4, 2022, after the mosque was closed for a consecutive 30 weeks. Zainab, a young worshipper among the group, said,  “This place is like Kaaba (in Mecca, where Muslims go for worship) for us, as we can’t go there, so we come here.“ It’s also one of the largest worship places in Kashmir where women can also attend Friday prayers. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Kashmir, the mosque remained shut for 21 Fridays, according to the mosque committee. In 2021, the Friday prayers were banned 46 times by the authorities, who cited COVID-19 protocols.

“Jamia Masjid is paying the price for the politics and the advocacy of the people’s rights that it stood for for decades,” said a local resident, Noor Bhat.

A veiled Kashmiri woman walks past a closed market outside the Grand Mosque on the last day of the year on Dec. 31, 2021. It was the 45th Friday of the year the mosque remained forcibly locked down. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

The Longing for Friday Prayers

Over the past several months that Friday congressional prayers have been banned, some faithful have resorted to off-routine visits to the mosque, which has been a haven for their spiritual and personal lives.

Umar Ahmad, 23, said he lives nearby and has been visiting the Grand Mosque to pray most of his daily prayers.

“It is a gift for us, and despite small mosques in my locality, I prefer coming to the Jamia Masjid most of the times,” he said.

Umar Ahmad, 23, reads the Quran after attending his daily prayers at the mosque. He said, “the closure of the mosque for Friday is sad.” Photo by Syed Shahriyar

He also added that the Grand Mosque is being targeted by the state with interference in Muslims’ religious rights to worship.

“The closure of the Jamia Masjid and the detention of its mirwaiz (chief priest) is aimed to alienate the people of the region from this space that has held the central significance in all the matters,” Ahmad said. He recalled that in his childhood days, he would come hours before the Friday congressional prayers started to get a space to pray as worshippers from all over Kashmir would fill the mosque.

Abdul Rashid’s trammeling voice has resonated within the Grand Mosque at least twice every week for almost six months.

To recite the Quran every Friday at Grand Mosque, Rashid, a resident of Rainawari Srinagar, has kept this routine for over four decades.

“In life, so many things became a part of our existence and define who we are,” Rashid said. His home is three kilometers (1.9 miles) from Jamia Masjid’s Nowhatta neighborhood. “Knowing the Jamia Masjid would be locked on Fridays, I visited at least twice every week to keep my longing heart at some peace.”

A Kashmiri woman walks past a deserted market outside the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on Jan. 14, 2022. The administration of the market is run by the Anjuman-e-Auqaf, the managing body of the mosque. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

The Grand Mosque is surrounded by a famous market locally known as Jamia Market, a well-known shopping center. The closure of the mosque has impacted the business of the shop owners, vendors and associated services.

Mohd Rafique, who owns a cosmetics and hosiery stall in the market, said his sales dropped drastically after India changed the status of Kashmir and closed the Grand Mosque on Fridays.

Mohd Rafique waits for customers inside his small  makeshift cosmetics and hosiery stall outside the Grand Mosque. “the closure of the mosque for Friday prayers has affected the business too, many of those attending prayers visit the market and shop from here,” he said. Photo by Syed Shahriyar

“We stick to hope like we always have, as the opening of the mosque likely will bring some business to the market,” Rafique said.

Kashmiri Muslim women for decades also have found spiritual solace in the Grand Mosque. While the mosque was closed, knocking the locked doors on Fridays became a ritual to many.

A woman prays inside a clothing shop outside the Grand Mosque. She had arrived to attend the Friday prayers at the mosque but found the doors closed that week. “If not praying inside the mosque but praying near to it got me peace from inside, I couldn’t leave the place without praying, hope we see the mosque opening soon for prayers.” Photo by Syed Shahriyar

When one woman arrived to the mosque in January only to find the doors locked, she raised her hands to the skies and cried out: “For how long we’ve to bear it, for how long they’ll keep us away from our religious duties!”

She almost fainted before a neighboring shopkeeper offered her a space to pray inside his shop. “I came with lot of hopes to attend the prayers,” she said, declining to give her name. “Nothing is more painful to see (than) the doors locked of a space where we speak our heart out, repent and seek blessings of our Allah.”

Arif Nazir is an independent journalist based in Kashmir. He’s a former staff writer for Mountain Ink and former features writer for Free Press Kashmir. His work has also appeared in the Kashmir Observer and Kashmir Lit. Follow him on Twitter @DarArifNazir.

Syed Shahriyar is an independent multimedia journalist based out of Srinagar, Kashmir. His work has appeared in the BBC, Al Jazeera, AJ+, Eater (Vox Media), Vice News, Getty Images, Le-Monde, RFI, Liberation and more. He was one of the nine journalists whose work was featured in the acclaimed photobook “Witness: Kashmir 1986-2016,” featured as one of the best photo books in the New York Times in 2017.