Hallaur - Culture and Religion

Culture and Religion

Being a Shiite dominated town, Hallaur is becoming a Shiite center of eastern part of Uttar Pradesh because of having a good population of Shia Muslims after a few cities of north India as huge gathering can be seen during the month of Moharram. The great and renowned scholar and theologian from Saran district of (Bihar) state of India “Allamah Sayyid Sa'id Akhtar Rizvi” who actively promoted Islam in East Africa and wrote number of books on Shiite theology and jurisprudence had served as Imam of Jama Masjid of Hallaur in his early days. Late Haider Mahdi who was also a good orator and was conferred with the title of Zaigham e Hind . Itrat Hallauri, Qais Hallauri and Allamah Samar Hallauri are all time great poets Hallaur has ever produced. Khurshid Hallauri,Jamal Hallauri and Shakeel Hallauri are known for their classic poetry writing. Mayal Hallauri and Baqar Hallauri teachers by profession were also local poets. Sada-e-Dil was the epic which was composed and recited by Allamah Samar Hallauri on the opening day of All India Shia Conference(AISC). He was conferred the title of 'Allamah'by AISC presided by 'Maulana Kalbe Abbas' the present Imam of the Jama Masjid. More than half of the population of this place is scattered throughout the world and other places like Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Delhi, Aligarh, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai. Most of the immigrants of this town are well connected to their roots as they frequently visit their motherland especially during the month Moharram. A monthly Hindi magazine 'Dost Ki Baat' edited by Nafees Haider Hallauri and a newspaper named Hallaur Sandesh edited by Roshan Rizvi had also given glimpses of Hallauri thoughts and culture. They are a unique community and most of them have the same resemblance because they marry within their community with some exceptions.

"Anjuman Farogh Matam" and oldest "Anjuman Guldasta Matam" are the registered organisations behind all religious activities of Hallauris living in or outside Hallaur. "Anjuman Urooj Matam" is the youth wing of Farogh Matam and "Anjuman Ghuncha Matam" is the youth wing of Guldasta Matam. Every Hallauri is either affiliated to Farogh Matam or Guldasta Matam. Unlimited religious activities are performed by both parties round the year. Locally Farogh Matam is named as Hari Party whereas Guldasta Matam is nicknamed as Kali/Safed Party. Almost every Religious scholar of the country has visited Hallaur once or more to participate in Majlises organised by Farogh Matam and Guldasta Matam since almost last 100 years. Maulana Hasan Abbas Fitrat, Ilmul Hasan, Maulana Chand, Alhaj Tafseer Hasan, Maulana Lakhte jigar, Jamal Haider, Qaiser Abbas and his son Khushter Abbas, Er. Mehdi Abbas and Er. Aftab Haider and many other religious Scholars of Hallauri origin are doing their best to propagate Islamin different parts of India and world. . "Anjuman Yadgare Husaini" is the mother Anjuman of all Anjumans. Late Ali Hasan Tehsildar was the person who had institutionalised and streamlined the activities of this Anjuman and was instrumental in making it financially strong. Karbala of Hallaur is a major place of mourning for Imam Husain ibn Ali. Earlier it was only for burial of Taziya and few other occasional events but in recent past Karbala has emerged as an important place of worship and social gatherings. A Mosque-cum-Imambargah was constructed by (Late)Er. Sayyid Badrul Hasan in the premises of Karbala (later he constructed another Imambargah in old Karbala) A wave of construction activities started since then. Several shrines are constructed in recent past and several constructions are underway.

Shrines so far constructed in Karbala premises of Hallaur are as follows:

• Shrine of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib
• Shrine of Syedah Zainab bint Ali
• Shrine of Imam Zayn al-Abidin Al-Sajjad
• Shrine of Imam Ali al Reza.

Shrines planned to be constructed in Karbala premises of Hallaur as of March 2010:

• Shrine of Syedah Fatimah Zahra daughter of Prophet Mohammad.
• Shrine of Abbas ibn Ali, already a Dargah in name of Bab ul Hawaej Abbas ibn Ali exists in Hallaur.
• Shrine of Syedah Sakinah bint Husayn, already a small Imambargah exists in name of Sakinah Bint al Husain within Hallaur.