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Politics, Poetics and Pop in the Succession of Holy Relics: Examples from South Asian Muslim Society

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Politics, Poetics and Pop in the Succession of Holy Relics: Examples from South Asian Muslim Society POLITICS, POETICS AND POP IN THE SUCCESSION OF HOLY RELICS: EXAMPLES FROM SOUTH ASIAN MUSLIM SOCIETY Sachiyo KOMAKI* In South Asia, many mosques and shrines carefully preserve Islamic holy relics. A large proportion of them are articles which are believed to have belonged to the Prophet Muhammad and the rest are deemed to have belonged to his family, his companions or later renowned Muslim saints. Here I consider the cult of Islamic holy relics from an anthropological perspective, based on the theme of the "succession of holiness." Most of the holy relics open to the public are accompanied with a storied history in which dynastic rulers and renowned saints make an appearance. In this sense, the succession of holy relics is intimately connected with politics. However, the holy relics are also tangible objects that strongly arouse feelings of respect and affection for the Prophet, as well as act as a reminder of his life and times. It is likely that those who view the relics perceive umma or all Muslims, rather than a specific individual or group, as the successor to the relics. Herein lies an imaginative world, or poetics, concerning the succession of holy relics. Meanwhile, relatively inexpensive charms and amulets based on the motifs of certain holy relics are being circulated as souvenirs from holy places. This phenomenon, whereby holy relics in the form of charms and amulets are brought into an individual's private domain and venerated, means that they are also being passed down among the general populace. I would like to call this the pop aspect of the succession of holy relics. This paper considers from the above perspectives the aspects of politics, poetics and pop in the succession of holy relics based on my fieldwork in South Asia, in particular in North India and Pakistan. Keywords: cult of relics, South Asia, politics, poetics, pop Introduction This paper aims to consider the cult of Islamic holy relics in South Asia from an anthropological perspective, based on the theme of the "succession of * Associate Professor, Takasaki City University of Economics Vol. XLD 2007 71 holiness." What are called here Islamic holy relics refer to visible and tangible objects which have attracted religious faith and are known by such general names as tabarrukat, asar-e mubarak or asar-e sharif in South Asia. A large proportion of them are articles which are believed to have belonged to the Prophet Muhammad. However personal effects of people included in the category of holy person who were granted baraka by God, namely the family of the Prophet (his daughter Hazrat Fatima, his cousin on his father's side as well as son-in-law Hazrat Ali and his two grandsons Hazrat Hasan and Hazrat Husain), his companions and later renowned Muslim saints, are also revered as Islamic holy relics. It must be said that hitherto researchers have paid comparatively little attention to the holy relics in spite of the zealous and strong interest demonstrated by believers. Literally, the study of relics, or remains, has been left far behind even among anthropologists. Though there is plenty of anthropological literature focused on so-called saints whether they were real people or fictional characters, or whether they are living or dead, in most cases these were ultimately people whose pedigree or genealogy could be traced back to the Prophet, and the cult of relics has tended to be overlooked as a part of the cult of saints. However, both the cult of saints and the cult of relics are faith in a holy man or thing derived from the Prophet, and one should not be seen as a secondary phenomenon of the other. It has often been pointed out that the tracing back of a saint's genealogy as far as the Prophet endorse~ the honourable pedigree and the very sainthood itself. However, it has been shown that the succession of relics is also intimately connected with the endorsement of sainthood, and that in tum their succession by renowned saints and their families vouches for the authenticity of relics [Sanyal 1996: 105-110]. In other words, both saints and relics have the Prophet as their source and have an equivalent relation whereby their assertions regarding this source provide mutual reinforcement. Based upon this, what I would particularly like to emphasize is that relics become a powerful medium that creates a dyadic chain between the successor and the successee, which links the past owners and the present owner, and constructs some kind of social relation. Via the succession of holy relics, their present owner seems to make a claim, in a visible and tangible form, to have succeeded to some power from the previous owner. This power may be symbolical political power, or it may be supernatural magical power. Allow me 72 ORIENT POLITICS, POETICS AND POP IN THE SUCCESSION,OF HOLY RELICS to give an example. In recent memory, the Taliban leader Mullah Omar showed himself robed in the Prophet Muhammad's mantle when the Taliban administration was formed. According to Ahmed Rasid this happened as follows: On 4 April 1996, Omar appeared on the roof of a building in the centre of the city, wrapped in the Cloak of the Prophet Muhammad, which had been taken out of its shrine for the first time in 60 years. As Omar wrapped and unwrapped the Cloak around his body and allowed it to flap in the wind, he was rapturously applauded by the assembled throng of mullahs in the courtyard below, as they shouted u Amir-ul Momineen." This oath of allegiance or "baiat" was a procedure similar to when Caliph Omar (sic. may be Abu Bakr) was confirmed as the leader of the Muslim community in Arabia after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. It was a political masterstroke for, by cloaking himself with the Prophet's mantle, Mullah Omar had assumed the right to lead not just all Afghans, but all Muslims [Rashid 2002 (2000): 42]. Since his performance imitating the caliph directly connected to the assertion of a new leader of the Muslim community, the succession of holy relics is clearly no trivial matter in the understanding of contemporary Muslim society. This issue of succession is considered here from the three angles of politics, poetics and pop. 1 Here the term politics refers to the political nature of the act of succeeding to and possessing holy relics, and to the act of publicly displaying the "fact" of that succession and ownership. To put it concretely, this means drawing attention to the storied histories and ritual exhibitions of the relics. The poetics aspect focuses on the imaginative world embraced by the average pilgrims when they face the relics. In such cases, one may well imagine who is the "true" successor to the holy relics. Finally, pop is an analytical concept that follows Brooker's definition of "a consistent reference to and source in the materials and processes of consumer culture" [Brooker 1999: 190]. In concrete terms, it refers to the situation where holy relics have been mass-produced as charms and amulets and have become "commodities" for consumption. May not the purchaser of these charms and amulets be called a successor to the holy relics within a pop context? This paper considers from the above perspectives the aspects of politics, poetics and pop in the succession of holy relics. The examples below are based on my Vol. XLIT 2007 73 fieldwork in South Asia, in particular in North India and Pakistan. 1. Jama Masjid of Old Delhi In South Asia, many mosques and shrines carefully preserve holy relics that are deemed to have belonged to the Prophet and his family. For instance, Jama Masjid of Old Delhi, the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi, and Badshahi Masjid of Lahore, and so on. Most of these holy relics have a storied history in which dynastic rulers and renowned saints make an appearance. First of all, let us consider the case of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India, designed by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58). When one enters the main entrance facing the Mughal Palace Lal Qila, meaning the Red Fort, and turns right, towards the north-eastern comer of the mosque, one arrives at a locked white chamber. If one then express ones desire for a viewing to the mosque staff one may well be able to see the following relics. I have visited to these relics on February 12th, 2001 and February 27th, 2002. A few chapters of the Quran written on deerskin by Hasan and Husain. Both are written in Kufi script (the dominant early Arabic priestly script) and stored in shallow wooden cases with glass lids. A hair from the Prophet's beard. This is fixed in a chunk of resin and stored in a small glass container. According to the mosque staff, "there are only three places in the world with genuine hair of the Prophet. These are the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, and here, the Jama Masjid of Delhi." A camel hide sandal of the Prophet. This is stored among jasmine petals in a shallow wooden case with a glass lid. A footprint of the Prophet embedded in rock. According to a member of the mosque staff, these relics were carried off from Medina by Timur (1336-1405) and taken to India by Timur's descendant, the first Mughal emperor Babur (r. 1526-30), then inherited by the Mughal emperors. Until Shah Jahan enshrined them in this mosque, the emperors kept the relics in a room in their own fort.
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