gurugram: Even as right-wing Hindu outfits and some residents continued to prevent Friday Namaz in Gurugram this Friday, locals in Sector-12 were able to take refuge in Akshay Yadav's garage once again, where they made arrangements for peaceful prayers even as locals started protesting against a Namaz site at Sector 37.
But amid the hate, Gurudwaras in the city have come forward to offer their premises for Muslims to pray and this Friday was the second consecutive week that local Muslims were offered space by good samaritans like Akshay Yadav.
A resident of Sector-12, Akshay had come forward and offered his commercial establishments for Muslim devotees to offer their Namaz as they were denied of doing so in the public space in Sector-12A. Even though not in Gurugram, Akshay gave the keys to one of his Muslim friends, Taufiq, so that he along with other devotees can come and offer Namaz at his commercial establishment.
The goodwill from Yadav comes at a time when more residents buoyed by the support of Hindu right-wing groups are now protesting over Muslim devotees offering Namaz in the public space. This time, the residents of Sector 37 raised objections to Muslim devotees offering Namaz in their locality.
A group of youth who were playing in that area purportedly complained that their play was being disrupted by authorities in favour of Muslims. The youngsters along with a group of residents then began to protest and were placated by the authorities to allow Muslim devotees to offer
Namaz.
With a substantial number of residents and Hindu right-wing groups raising objections to the offering of Namaz in public spaces in Gurugram, certain Gurdwaras in the city have also offered space for devotees to offer Namaz in their premises.
However, with it being Prakash Purab (Guru Nanak's birth anniversary), Muslim devotees were not able to offer Namaz inside the premises because arrangements for celebrations were ongoing inside the Gurudwaras.
But even though Namaz was not offered inside Gurudwaras, Muslim groups in Gurugram visited Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Sadar Bazar and expressed their gratefulness to the management for this initiative.
"There were celebrations at Gurdwaras today because of Guru Nanak's birthday and thereby our devotees did not offer Namaz at their premises. At a time when differences are being created for self-interests and one-upmanship, there are individuals and communities who are displaying the spirit of sharing, empathy and humanity in the true sense," said Mohammad Adil, a Muslim devotee.
From 37 sites that were earlier allocated to Muslim devotees for offering Namaz, the Gurugram District Administration has reduced it to 20, a decision that has also been accepted by Muslim representatives temporarily. The Muslim delegation has also stated that they are not willing to offer Friday Namaz on public spaces if they can provide land for the construction of mosques where they can then offer their prayers.