Ahmed Bukhari is the 13th
Shahi Imam
The Shahi Imam is the Imam of the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi.
History
Mughal Emperor Shahjahan appointed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari, who originally came from Shah of Bukhara, Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, ...
of the
Jama Masjid, Delhi
The Masjid-e-Jehan-Numa, commonly known as the Jama Masjid () of Delhi, is one of the largest Sunni mosques in India.
Its builder is the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, between 1644 and 1656, and inaugurated by its first Imam, Syed Abdul Ghafoor ...
.
Ancestry and appointment
Ahmed Bukhari succeeded his father,
Abdullah Bukhari
Abdullah Bukhari (; 1922–2009) was the 12th Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Delhi. , on 14 October 2000 as Shahi Imam of the
Jama Masjid
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See:
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in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
.
[Jama Masjid gets new Shahi imam on 14 October 2000]
The Milli Gazette newspaper, Published 1 November 2000, Retrieved 18 May 2017 On 22 November 2014, his son,
Shaban Bukhari, was formally designated to be the next Shahi Imam.
[Syed Abdullah Bukhari, former Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi passes away]
The Hindu newspaper, Published 9 July 2009, Retrieved 18 May 2017
Controversy
In 2014, in an interview with ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'', on being asked on his decision of inviting Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...
and ignoring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the anointment ceremony of the naib imam or the imam's deputy, Ahmed Bukhari defended his position saying, "Modi claims to be the Prime Minister of 125 crore Indians but conveniently and deliberately avoids addressing Muslims. He has shown he doesn't like us. He is the one who has been maintaining distance from the community. So, I too chose to maintain my distance."
[
Though other Muslim leaders like Kamal Farooqi said that such acts gave the entire Muslim community a bad name and stressed that Bukhari didn't represent Indian Muslims.
A criminal case was lodged against him along with Habib-ur-Rehman and Nafisa in 2001, after an incident on 3 September 2001, when a mob, led by Bukhari assaulted on-duty police and civic agencies officials trying to remove encroachments from near CGO Complex in Lodhi Colony.]Delhi Police
The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...
has been unable to arrest him because of communal tension for the past ten years.[
During the 2015 U.P. Assembly Elections, Bukhari wrote a letter to ]Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialism, socialist figure and founder of the Samajwadi Party. Over the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three t ...
criticizing him for not nominating Muslim candidates to Rajya Sabha. In response, U.P. minister and senior Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
leader Azam Khan alleged that Bukhari was accusing the Government of not giving equal rights to Muslims because he wanted his brother and son in law Umar Ali Khan to get Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
Tickets.
After the Dadri Lynching Case, Bukhari alleged that Azam Khan cannot go to the place of incident but was talking of going to United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
to hide his incompetence. He also called Azam 'nihayat badtameez Muslim wazeer'. Azam Khan denied the charge and accused him of being hand in glove with Hindu right wing organizations.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukhari, Syed Ahmed
Indian imams
21st-century imams
Indian Quran reciters
Indian Islamic religious leaders
Shahi Imams of Jama Masjid