All along his life that spanned for 83 years, Dr Kalbe Sadiq was deeply committed to the Indian ethos, and firmly believed that love, not hate, can sustain the unity of Indian society. For this he was always willing to go too far to any extent that none of the religious scholars of his time could not dare to do so.

One fine morning in 2009, he announced he would take a holy dip at the Ganges during the Kumbh in Haridwar unfazed by the strong criticism it would evoke.  “ I have decided to take a holy dip in the Ganges at Haridwar as  if it washes away the sin it can also wash away the difference between Hindus and Muslims”

Dr Sadiq contacted many of the seers in Haridwar and Rishikesh and his move was welcomed by  both communities –  barring the hard-core vested interest groups.  At another function in Lucknow, he did not object when a Hindu priest applied vermillion on his forehead. “Why should I object if it is tradition of one community with whom I grew up  and brought up and played with them,” he would say.

Having seen the continuing strife in Lucknow, which has been the hotbed of Shia-Sunni riots since his birth, he announced in 2015 he would offer the Eid ul Fitr prayers with the Sunni brothers, and behind the Sunni Imam.  This created a flutter all over India, but an unfazed Dr Sadiq went ahead with his plan.  What a positive response it later evoked!

With his small band of followers, he travelled to the Sunni Jami masjid and offered prayers.  “  If my gesture could  put an end to this unwarranted difference, I would travel to any place.  This madness has to stop”

He was beyond being a reformer. He wanted to change the psyche of the people, and desperately wanted to demolish the walls of  hate and segregation, even if he had to walk that extra step.  He remained firm with his belief, irrespective of its consequences.

Not many would know that Dr Sadiq, for more than three decades, had broken the stereotype of the Muslim community’s approach to the lunar calendar.  He would predict the exact day  on which  Ramazan would fall, and the day when Eid would be celebrated.

Initially many protested at his approach, but year by year he was proved right,  and the people began to follow what Dr Sadiq would declare. “I am not a soothsayer;  it is simple science.  If you compute the trajectory of the moon,  you will decipher the date.  It is just science,” he said.

In 2005 the US administration banned his entry, and held him at the airport for three days, before deporting him to London.  There was large scale protest against the American move.  Dr Sadiq came home, and said it hardly mattered to him. “I had gone to meet my people.  What is the issue. They will come here.”

Born in Lucknow in a prominent Shia family, the Khawandah-e-Ijtihaad in 1937, his father, Kalbe Hussain, was a leading Islamic scholar and orator. His brother Kalbe Abid was also an Islamic scholar.

He received his early education from the Sultan Ul Madarus madrasa, before  moving to the Aligarh Muslim University for a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later went on to pursue his master’s degree in Arabic Literature from the same University. His doctorate was from Lucknow University.

His father Maulana Kalbe Husain  recognized the vast expanse of his son’s  knowledge and his rationality and predicted the young man would go places.  This was  soon evident.  He travelled to many countries and interacted with top Shia scholars in Iran and Iraq, besides many Sunni scholars in Egypt and elsewhere. With his travels, and  the changing milieu,  he shifted his focus to education, and would say the community must look forward to the changing syllabus. He founded the Tauheedul Muslimeen Trust on 18 April 1984 with the objective of giving educational assistance and scholarships to needy and poor students. The many educational, charitable and constructive projects that were running under his supervision include the Tauheedul Muslimeen Trust, Lucknow, Unity College, Unity Mission School, Industrial Training Center, Hiza Charitable Hospital, all in Sicknote Unity Public School in Allahabad, the Aligarh M.U. College, and the T.M.T Medical Centre, in Shikarpur.

He launched “Unity Free Education Programmes” in Lucknow, Jaunpur, Jalalpur, Moradabad, Aligarh and many ither Muslim centers, apart from a Widows’ Pension Scheme and an Orphans’ Educational Sponsorship Scheme.

Kalbe Sadiq will also be remembered for the reconstruction and expansion of the famed Imam Bargah of Ghufran Maab, Lucknow, and the renovation of the tomb of prominent Urdu elegy writer and Marsia Khwan Hazrat Meer Anees in Lucknow. He was also the President of The Era’s Medical College and  Hospital,  Lucknow. He was the popular general secretary of All India Shia Conference, besides being a member of Anjuman-e-Wazifiya-e-Sadat-o-Momineen.

Education was his prime concern; he wanted the community to go for modern education, to develop a scientific temper along with religious studies.  He succeeded at many places, and as a one-man army he was  always dreaming high for his community and his country.

“There is no short cut to good education.  This is my aim that the community must come forward and seek quality education. Only then the community and nation would grow.”

Dr Sadiq wanted to break the shackles of the old  fundamentalist and conservative approach in education. “Quality religious education needs quality modern approach.”

One thing that distinguished him was his understanding of the developing situation.  On Ayodhya recently he  did not fight shy to say that even if the Muslims won the Ayodhya court case, they should gracefully hand over the site to their Hindu brothers.  It required a courage to say this, and Dr Sadiq was a courageous man.

[SAH Rizvi, known in media, literary and political circles as Ziya Rizvi, is a senior Editor and political analyst]

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President of The Era’s Medical College & Hospital Lucknow,  and the general secretary of All India Shia Conference and All India Milli Council vice chairman Maulana Dr Kalbe Sadiq’s death is being mourned by many across the country today.  Dr. Kalbe Sadiq passed away yesterday, November 24 in Lucknow, the city of his birth.

Namaz e Janaza Amme Mohtaram Dr Kalbe Sadiq Sahab Qibla. Iltemas e Surah Fateha #KalbeSadiq pic.twitter.com/TMF67cnjrX

— Maulana Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi (@SaifAbbasNaqvii) November 25, 2020

Dr Kalbe Sadiq has always been hailed as an Islamic scholar, philosopher, reformer, educationist, and philanthropist. He has traveled across the world, delivering lectures and meeting people. He hailed from a family of scholars, his father Maulana Kalbe Hussain was a well known Islamic scholar, and his brother Kalbe Abid was a former chairman of the theology department at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Dr Kalbe Sadiq received his early education from the madrasa-e-Sultan ul Madaris, and later attended AMU, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also earned a Master’s degree in Arabic Literature from AMU, and later earned his Doctoral degree from Lucknow University.

Various obits posted to remember him and his contribution to the education of the community, recalled that he founded the Tauheedul Muslimeen Trust on 18 April 1984 to reward scholarships and educational assistance to students. Other educational, charitable and constructive projects running under his supervision include: Tauheedul Muslimeen Trust;  Unity College; Unity Mission School; Unity Industrial Training Center; Unity Public School; M.U. College; Unity Computer Centre; Unity Free Education Programmes; Hiza Charitable Hospital; T.M.T Medical Centre, all based in his home state Uttar Pradesh. He also pioneered the T.M.T’s Widow’s Pension Scheme, and oversaw the reconstruction and expansion of the Imambargah of Ghufran Ma’ab, and the reconstruction and renovation of the tomb of prominent Urdu elegy writer and Marsia Khwan Hazrat Mir Anees.

It was in 2017, that the senior Shia cleric, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq had said that Indian Muslims will have much to gain if following a Supreme Court verdict in their favour, they voluntarily handed over the Babri Masjid site to Hindus. Maulana Sadiq’s comments were made in the course of his speech at the inter-faith World Peace and Harmony conclave in Mumbai. Anticipating a hostile Muslim response to his suggestion, he had reasoned that if the Supreme Court judgment was not in favour of Muslims they should gracefully accept the decision of the highest court in the land. If however, the verdict was in their favour Muslims should voluntarily surrender their claim and hand over the disputed land to Hindus.

By giving away one thing that is precious, one often stands to gain in thousands, he reasoned, “I would rather urge the community to give away the disputed land to Hindus whose feelings are so deeply attached to the place.” His personal opinion on the issue had fuelled a major discussion.

Today, many across communities recalled the celric who always spoke about unity and peace. Even his funeral is said to have been an ecumencial Shia-Sunni one.

Joint Shia-Sunni, Namaz-e Janaza of Maulana Dr. Kalbe Sadiq Saheb

Zamin ne cheen liya Ilm ke Khazane ko
Milega dusra Sadiq Na Ab Zamane ko
~Ambar Turabi pic.twitter.com/rmWxdsRrMb

— Mardud e Haram (@jon_snow_T) November 25, 2020

Little tribute to one of my favorite Maulana
Dr. Kalbe Sadiq Naqvi who was an Islamic
scholar, reformer, educationist & preacher.
(1939 – 2020)

You all are requested to recite Surah al
Fateha. May ALLAH Bless him highest
ranks in Jannah. A great loss, Indeed..! pic.twitter.com/oe7zmfPzmU

— Anjuman e Masoomeen (@hydmasoomeen) November 25, 2020

Related:

By giving away the Babri Mosque Muslims will win a million Hindu hearts: Senior Shia 

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Maulana Kalbe Sadiq. Photo credit: Times of India

Two days ago Shia leaders and activists from Mumbai condemned the Shia Central Waqf Board for submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that rebuilding the Babri Mosque some distance away from the disputed site was acceptable to it. Now senior Shia cleric, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq on Sunday has said Indian Muslims will have much to gain if following a Supreme Court verdict in their favour, they voluntarily handed over the Babri Masjid site to Hindus.

Slamming Wasim Rizvi, chairperson of the Shia Central Waqf Board presented little difficulty to many Shias as Rizvi is widely perceived to be an “opportunist” who is close to the BJP. With Maulana Sadiq, however, it is a different matter. A sober, highly respected person, he is also the vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a body which all along has stuck to the once-a-mosque-always-a-mosque standpoint.

Maulana Sadiq’s comments were made in the course of his speech at the inter-faith World Peace and Harmony conclave in Mumbai on Sunday. Anticipating a hostile Muslim response to his suggestion, he reasoned that if the Supreme Court judgment was not in favour of Muslims they should gracefully accept the decision of the highest court in the land. If however, the verdict was in their favour Muslims should voluntarily surrender their claim and hand over the disputed land to Hindus.

By giving away one thing that is precious, one often stands to gain in thousands, he reasoned. “I would rather urge the community to give away the disputed land to Hindus whose feelings are so deeply attached to the place.”

But the maulana’s suggestion found no favour from the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, Zafaryab Jilani who told The Times of India: “The AIMPLB, which is an umbrella organization of various Muslim bodies in the country, maintains its stand that land of a mosque cannot be given, gifted, donated or sold or exchanged. The same holds true for Babri Masjid as well. We all in the AIMPLB, including board’s vice-president Maulana Sadiq, are bound by that decision. I wonder how and why he said this. It appears to be his personal opinion.”

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Allah is the rightful owner of a mosque and therefore no individual or organization has the right to give it away. “Masjids can be managed by Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Sufi, Deobandi, Salafi, Bohri but they are not the owners. Allah is the owner,” tweeted the Hyderabad MP in an obvious reaction to Shia Waqf Board’s latest stand.
        
Meanwhile, the BJP was quick to welcome the statement of Maulana Sadiq. “Maulana Sahab (Sadiq) has won our hearts. Lord Ram is neither of Hindus nor of Muslims. He is soul of India,” said Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, who spoke after the cleric at the event.

In a 30-page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on August 8, the Shia Waqf Board had asserted that the Babri Masjid site was its property and only it was entitled to hold negotiations for an amicable settlement of the dispute. The affidavit further stated that a mosque can be constructed at a place near birth place of Lord Ram.
 
For Maulana Sadiq apparently the issue is not who – Sunni or Shia – has the rightful claim to the Babri Masjid property but the fact that the place is dear to the hearts of Hindus and therefore it should be given away as a goodwill gesture.  
 

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