Ajmer dargah chief's brother 'sacks' him for backing beef ban

Ajmer dargah dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Wednesday faced an attempt by his brother Alaudin Alimi to sack him over his remarks supporting beef ban.

Abedin’s remarks on banning beef and triple talaq have created a feud in the family of the dewan, or the spiritual head, of the Sufi shrine.

Abedin had said that the government should ban the slaughter of all bovine animals.
Reacting to this, Abedin’s brother Alimi, a lawyer, claimed that he has the family’s support in sacking Abedin and anointing himself as the new dewan of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine.

“I was shocked to read my brother’s statement in newspapers. Islamic clerics told me that he has now become a non-Muslim due to his statement against the Quran,” he told DH.

“The government does not appoint the dewan since the designation is a spiritual one. He has no right to remain the ‘sajjada nashin’.  So, I have declared myself the new ‘sajjada nashin,” he said.

As Alimi’s claim became known, Abedin addressed a press conference saying he stood by his statements.

“My brother is unnecessarily creating a controversy and spreading false information on social media. No one has given him the right to bring me down from the post of dewan. He looks to be under stress and by his statements, he appears mentally unfit,” he said.