Dargah head opposes star visits

Their pilgrimage is meant for commercial promotion, he says

The religious head of the Ajmer dargah took  strong exception to the trend of  actors and producers of Bollywood visiting the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti prior to the release of their films or serials.

 He opined that these days, cinema in general, is promoting obscenity, which is a major reason behind the rapid degradation of moral values in the society. Hence, visits by film personalties for “a kind of promotion of their work” at the religious place is “highly objectionable”.

The holy places must not be used as a platform for such a purpose that is forbidden and against Islamic law but it is done by film stars repeatedly who come here to seek blessings for their films’ success and propagate the same through media,” Dargah Dewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, the hereditary descendents of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti, said in a statement here on Sunday.

 “It is surprising that Islamic intellectuals, scholars, ulemas are keeping a stoic silence on this issue. They should break their  silence and express their views strongly as they do in other cases.

I strongly condemn the visit by anyone who has an unfair purpose of coming to the holy place. Not only in Islam, but in any religion, anti-religious activity must never be tolerated,” he said.“Many film stars come here with CDs/DVDs of their work and offer it while praying for the success of the film  or serial, whatever it is, which is absolutely against the Islamic law,” Dewan said.

“They are using the holy place—a prime center of religious belief—for purely commercial purposes and for degrading moral values am­ong the people,” he said.
However, he clarified that he has objection over the visit which has a particular purpose,  and “not for a general visits”.

“Countless people irrespective of caste and religion come here to seek blessings at the dargarh and I have no objection if film stars come with a genuine wish. I have an objection to the visit which is with a specific motto to promote prohibited things,” he said.He also referred to a male singer-composer having visited the dargah in the past wearing a burka and a leading actress donning a skirt during her visit. “This is to attract attention and it is highly objectionable,” he added.