GUWAHATI: History was created in Assam on Friday with women offering namaaz for the first time in the historic Azan Peer Sahab Dargah in Sibsagar at the initiative of Governor J B Patnaik and his wife Jayanti Patnaik.
A group of about twenty women offered the Friday noon prayers inside the dargah along with the First Lady while the men, along with the Governor, prayed outside. Earlier, it was planned to allow women to pray outside the main mosque in a specially erected pandal within the premises, but later the governor urged the authorities to allow the women to pray inside which was duly accepted. The prayers were led by Kazi, Maulana Abdul Kabir Sahab.
Speaking on the occasion, the Governor said women had made great strides in various field and it was not fair to keep them away from places of religious worship.
Syed Milan Shah Baghdadi, popularly knowed as Azan Peer (Faquir) Sahib was a Sufi saint, a poet, a preacher, a reformer and an Islamic scholar who came from Baghdad to Assam and reformed, reinforced and stabilized Islam in the region through his songs called ‘zikir’ and ‘jari’. Azan Peer was buried at Saraiguri Chapori on the banks of river Dikhow, about 22 km from Sibsagar at the dargah.
The governor had earlier ensured the entry of a group of women to the Patbausi Sattra in Barpeta also creating history as they were not allowed to enter vaishnav monasteries . (PTI)
