Rafi@100: When Mohammed Rafi was told his money is illegitimate

New Delhi: Singer Mohammed Rafi, known for being a devout person and someone who would never let a hand reaching out to him go empty, was once told the money he donated to a mosque was "illegitimate".

Rafi’s daughter-in-law Yasmin Khalid Rafi recalled the conversation in her biography of the singer, “Mohammed Rafi: My Abba”.

Once donations were being collected for the Old Palasia Mosque in Indore. True to his nature, Rafi contributed a generous sum of Rs 5,000 but the money was returned to everyone's surprise.

The reason both shocked and broke Rafi.

“The mosque committee had decided that Rafi Saheb's earnings could not be used for the mosque. His earnings were not 'legitimate' since in Islam singing is not recognized as a permissible occupation and therefore many religious figures would reject money earned from such sources,” Yasmin wrote in the 2012 book.

Rafi was known to be a quiet person who spoke with long pauses, but that day he “appeared to lose control and blurted out all at once”.

“Allah has bestowed only this talent upon me right from my childhood, which I practise with great effort and integrity and it is open before the world. Even then my earnings are illegitimate? There might be two opinions on the subject, but if this is the basic message of Islam on this matter, then only Allah knows whose earnings are legitimate or illegitimate,” Rafi said, as quoted by Yasmin in the book.

Rafi’s inclination towards helping out with any religious cause or giving alms to those in need goes all the way back to his childhood in Lahore when a young Rafi was fascinated by a fakir.

Different accounts also suggest it was the influence of the fakir, who would sing songs by Sufi poets, that strengthened the resolve in Rafi’s heart to pursue a life in music.

According to Yasmin’s book, “Abba” always kept a box full of currency and small change with him in the car.

“When the car stopped at the traffic signals, beggars would call out to him, addressing him as, 'Haji Saheb', 'Rafi Bhai' or 'Rafi Saheb', and stretch out their hands. Abba would distribute money throughout the journey. He never refused an outstretched hand,” Yasmin writes.

Rafi would explain the reason behind this.

“This has been my habit since childhood. Once that fakir whom I used to follow in the lane where we lived told me that he needed money. I did not pause to think, for I was anxious to help,” he would say.

A barely 10-year-old Rafi took out all the money from the clay money box in which his parents kept their change and some savings, and gave it to him.

“For my pains I was scolded and got a whipping too,” Rafi would recall years later.

In another instance, recalled by Rafi’s son Shahid Rafi to author Sujata Dev in her biography “Mohammed Rafi: Golden Voice of the Silver Screen, the singer was so overtaken by emotions that he gave Rs 100 to a beggar.

Once as the city was in the grip of monsoon, Rafi decided to drop his son to school on his way to the studio. A beggar approached the car that was driving at a snail’s pace to ask for alms but Rafi found himself short of coins and said, “Inshallah, agli baar le lena” (God willing, take it next time).

The beggar looked inside from the window and broke into a song “Pehle paisa phir bhagwaan, Babu dete jana daan, dete jana”. This was a song by Rafi from “Miss Mary” (1957).

Rafi was so touched that he gave the beggar a Rs 100 note.